A Night to Remember Read Free Page B

he would select. The irony of the situation was not lost on Joshua.
    How utterly ridiculous to think that having him eat the dessert that they brought would somehow give them an advantage ... an inside track toward advancement ... an easier climb up to the next rung. Promotions were earned in this firm. Wasn’t he the perfect example of that?
    Joshua bit back a sigh. He knew the politically correct decision would be to sample everything, but just the thought of eating all those sweets made his teeth ache.
    â€œWould you like me to serve you something, Mr. Barton?” a helpful country club staff member volunteered.
    Joshua smiled grimly at the young woman and shook his head. If only it were that easy. Relinquish the responsibility, let someone else make the decision.
    It was times like this that he really missed his mother. She would have known precisely how to handle the situation so no one would feel slighted or snubbed. Even his father, a bullheaded man known for his outspoken attitude, would have been an ally instead of an adversary this afternoon.
    But his mother had died five years ago and his father, forced into reluctant retirement by Joshua, was down in North Carolina with his new wife. Joshua was on his own.
    This was ridiculous. Moving swiftly down the length of the table, he reached out to grab the first item he saw when he noticed a large tin at the back edge of the table. Nearly, but not quite hidden.
    Rice Krispie treats? Joshua thought he recognized them, but they only faintly resembled the sweet cereal concoctions he and his mother had made together after school as they discussed the trials of his life as a third grader.
    With a nostalgic smile he reached for one of the large squares. It stuck to his fingers. Joshua suppressed a laugh, hoping not to offend the poor soul who had made these treats. He squared his shoulders, preparing to turn and face his audience. Both his facial expression and body language were deliberately set to dare anyone to challenge his dessert choice.
    However, he was spared the showdown. Suddenly there were loud shouts and yelling coming from outside the tent, followed by the resounding sound of a splash, and then more shouts.
    â€œMy goodness, what’s happening?” a concerned female voice asked.
    Joshua didn’t wait to be told. He quickly exited the tent with a sizable contingency trailing behind him. It wasn’t difficult to locate the source of all the commotion. There was a large crowd gathered at the edge of the pond. Thankfully he heard more laughter than cries of distress.
    One by one his employees noticed his appearance. Like a ripple on the water, the laughter running through the crowd ceased. Joshua felt a strange sense of isolation, as though his arrival had sucked all the fun out of the moment.
    â€œIs everything all right?” he asked no one in particular.
    Nobody answered but, like the Red Sea, the crowd silently parted and Joshua finally got a look at the source of all the commotion.
    And what a sight it was!
    A woman was sitting in three feet of very dirty pond water. The wet ends of her brown hair clung to her shoulders and there was a smudge of dirt on her left forearm.
    She was not a woman who would be labeled beautiful wet or dry. In fact, wet she resembled something that the cat dragged in, as his grandfather liked to say.
    Yet Joshua’s entire body reacted. There was color in her cheeks and her smile was radiant. Her hands were submerged somewhere behind her, presumably to keep her upper body from falling backward into the water. This awkward position thrust her generous breasts forward.
    The sight of those lush, wet curves caused many thoughts to form in Joshua’s head. All of them sexual and totally inappropriate.
    Joshua tried, but couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her chest. The wet fabric clung to her full, round breasts, leaving nothing to his suddenly very active imagination. He wondered how her round body would