“It’s You.” She staggered a little. “What?” “You. On the beach. Three years ago.” She blinked up at him, rubbed her fingertips across her mouth and then drew in a long, shaky breath. “Congratulations,” she said at last. “Finally you remembered.” “You knew?” he demanded, bracing his legs wide apart as he folded his arms over his chest. “You remembered and didn’t say anything to me?” “Why would I?” she asked, gathering up the fabric she’d dropped when he was kissing her. “You think I’m proud of that night?” “You ought to be,” he told her sharply, “we were great together.” “We were strangers. It was a huge mistake.” Dear Reader, Thanks to all of the letters I received asking for more KINGS OF CALIFORNIA books, I’m happy to offer you the first book in a new Kings miniseries—with more to come, I promise! Conquering King’s Heart is about Jesse King, a former world champion surfer. Jesse is the youngest of four brothers, and in the next two months you’ll be seeing more of them, as well. But for now, let’s talk about Jesse. He’s traveled all over the world, living life his way. Now he’s retired from competition and has settled down in Morgan Beach—a place that haunts his memory thanks to the “mystery woman” he met one night three years ago. Bella Cruz is that mystery woman, and she’s not happy that Jesse has moved into her hometown, changing everything she loves about the place. When these two meet again, the fireworks are well worth watching! The KINGS OF CALIFORNIA will continue in the next two months with stories about Jesse’s brothers Justice and Jefferson. Then of course, there’s still Jericho to be heard from. I hope you have as much fun reading this story as I did writing it. I love hearing from my readers! E-mail me at [email protected] or send snail mail to P.O. Box 1883, Westminster, CA 92684–1883. And please visit my Web site at www.maureenchild.com. Until then, happy reading! Maureen MAUREEN CHILD CONQUERING KING’S HEART Books by Maureen Child Silhouette Desire * Expecting Lonergan’s Baby #1719 * Strictly Longergan’s Business #1724 * Satisfying Lonergan’s Honor #1730 The Part-Time Wife #1755 Beyond the Boardroom #1765 Thirty Day Affair #1785 † Scorned by the Boss #1816 † Seduced by the Rich Man #1820 † Captured by the Billionaire #1826 †† Bargaining for King’s Baby #1857 †† Marrying for King’s Millions #1862 †† Falling for King’s Fortune #1868 High-Society Secret Pregnancy #1879 Baby Bonanza #1893 An Officer and a Millionaire #1915 Seduced Into a Paper Marriage #1946 †† Conquering King’s Heart #1965 Silhouette Nocturne ‡ Eternally #4 ‡ Nevermore #10 ‡ Vanished #57 MAUREEN CHILD is a California native who loves to travel. Every chance they get, she and her husband are taking off on another research trip. The author of more than sixty books, Maureen loves a happy ending and still swears that she has the best job in the world. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children and a golden retriever with delusions of grandeur. Visit Maureen’s Web site at www.maureenchild.com. To Patti Canterbury Hambleton. For years of friendship and laughter. For shared memories and too many adventures to count. For always being a touchstone in my life. I love you. Contents Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Epilogue One J esse King loved women. And they loved him right back. Well, all except one. Jesse walked into Bella’s Beachwear and stopped just inside the store. His gaze wandered the well-kept if decrepit building and he shook his head at the stubbornness of women. Hard to believe that Bella Cruz preferred this ramshackle building to what he was offering. He’d arrived in Morgan Beach, a tiny coastal town in southern California, nine months ago. He’d bought up several of the run-down, eclectic shops on Main Street, rehabbed some, razed others, then built the kind of stores and offices that would actually attract shoppers to the downtown district. Everyone had been happy to sign on the dotted line. They’d accepted his buyout offers with barely disguised glee and most of them were now renting retail space from him. But not Bella Cruz. Oh, no. This woman had been working against him for months. She’d spearheaded a sit-in campaign, getting a few of her friends to plant themselves in front of his bulldozers for an afternoon. She’d held a protest march down Main Street that consisted of Bella herself, four women, two kids and a three-legged dog. And finally, she’d resorted to trying to pull off a candlelight vigil in memory of the “historic” buildings of Morgan Beach. There had been five people standing outside his office holding candles the night the first big summer storm had blown in. Within minutes, they were all drenched, the candle flames drowned out. Bella was the only one left standing in the dark, glaring up at him as he looked at her through his office window. “Why is she taking this all so personally?” he wondered. It wasn’t as if he’d come to town to deliberately ruin her life. He’d come here for the waves. When professional surfers stopped riding competitively, they settled in a place where they could always find a good ride year-round. Most ended up in Hawaii, but, as a native Californian, Jesse had decided on Morgan Beach. His whole family still lived in the state and Morgan was close enough that he could keep in touch and far enough away from his three brothers that he wouldn’t trip on them with every step. He liked his family. A lot. That didn’t mean he wanted to live right on top of them. So he was building himself a little kingdom here in this small town and the only thing keeping it from being absolutely perfect was Bella Cruz. “The evil landlord stops by to gloat,” a low, female voice said from somewhere nearby. He turned around and spotted his nemesis, crouched behind the counter, rearranging a display of sunglasses, flip-flops and tote bags. Her dark brown eyes were fixed on him with the steely look of a woman about to spray a roach with Raid. “You’re not armed, are you?” he asked, walking toward her slowly. “Because you look as if you’d like to put me out of my misery.” “Out of my misery is more like it,” she answered wryly. Then she stood up and Jesse took in her latest outfit. Bella stood about five foot eight, which was good, because he liked his women tall enough that he didn’t get a crick in his neck when he kissed them. Not that he was thinking about kissing Bella. It was just an observation. She had wavy black hair that fell to the middle of her back, huge chocolate eyes and a lusciously full mouth he had yet to see curved into a smile. Pretty, he thought. Except for the clothes. Every time he saw her she looked as if she were about to pose for the cover of Amish Monthly: loose-fitting cotton tops and full, floor-length skirts. Probably just as well, he told himself. He liked his women curvy and by the look of her, she had all the curves of a box. Seemed strange to him, though, that a woman who made her living designing and selling women’s swimwear looked as if she’d never worn one of her own garments. “What do you want, Mr. King?” He grinned deliberately. He knew the power of that smile. Enough women over the years had told him just what his dimples did to their knees. Bella’s knees appeared to be rock solid. Oh, well. He wasn’t interested in seducing her