Because Of You. Kristina O'Grady

      

       One sizzling night… One life-changing moment!

      Beth Copeland has made a terrible mistake. She slept with her long time-crush Mark Asher…the man she couldn’t get out of her head, the man she dreamed about…the man who recently broke up with her best friend Kelsey Woods!

      Beth is consumed with guilt and is certain she will never let that one night of passion be repeated, but sometimes a gorgeous cowboy is hard to resist…

       Also by Kristina O’Grady

      Debutantes Don’t Date

      Damsel in Distress?

      The Copeland Ranch Trilogy

      I Choose You

      Because of You

      All For You (coming soon)

       Because of You

      Kristina O’Grady

       Copyright

      HQ

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2015

      Copyright © Kristina O’Grady 2015

      Kristina O’Grady asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      E-book Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9781474035491

      Version date: 2018-07-23

       KRISTINA O’GRADY

      has always loved telling a good story. She took up writing at a young age and spent many hours – when she should have been doing her math homework – scribbling romance stories in a book she hid in her sock drawer.

      She grew up on a cattle ranch in Western Canada and loves reminiscing by writing about cowboys and their horses.

      In 2000 Kristina met her own knight in shining armour/cowboy who swept her off her feet and across the world to New Zealand, where she now lives on a sheep and beef farm with her amazingly supportive husband, three gorgeous young kids, seven working dogs and one very needy cat.

      Because of You is her fourth book.

       Contents

       Cover

       Blurb

      Book List

       Title Page

      Copyright

       Author Bio

       Acknowledgement

       Dedication

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Epilogue

       Excerpt

       Endpages

       About the Publisher

      Without certain people the story of Beth and Mark would never have seen the light of day.

      Thank you to the HQ Digital Authors Facebook group who are always on hand to answer questions, give advice or to send virtual hugs, wine and chocolate my way when I need it. To belong to a group such as this is more than I ever dreamed possible when I signed up for this gig. Thanks for always having my back.

      Thank you to the Romance Writers of New Zealand (RWNZ) for all your support and friendship. I absolutely love having a group of like-minded people to hang out with that ‘get’ me.

      Thank you to the entire HQ Digital UK team for all the time you spend polishing my writing, marketing and making the best book covers known to man. You guys do a fantastic job.

      A special big thank you to my family and friends. I Love you.

      And finally to my editor, Victoria Oundjian, thank you for everything you do for me and for my writing. Without a doubt this book is here Because of You.

      To Mick, because I love you.

       Chapter 1

      Sunlight bounced off the white sheets and shone into her eyes. With a groan, Beth Copeland rolled over and covered her head with her pillow. God, her head hurt. It was way too early to be up. The mattress dipped beside her.

      WTF?

      She peeked out from under her pillow. Skin. A glorious expanse of golden skin greeted her eyes. It