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Steel Resolve
B.J. Daniels
Sometimes you can go home againIt's just not always safe… Mary Cardwell Savage’s ex, Chase Steele is back in Big Sky, Montana—with an unstable and dangerous stalker following close behind! Now Chase wants to prove that their love deserves a second chance. And this time, nothing will keep him from his heart's desire… not even a killer.
Sometimes you can go home again
It’s just not always safe...
Mary Cardwell Savage never meant to send that letter to her ex, Chase Steele. How could she know her words would bring the gorgeous cowboy back to Big Sky, Montana—with an unstable and dangerous stalker following close behind? Now Chase wants to prove that their love deserves a second chance. And this time, nothing will keep him from his heart’s desire...not even a killer.
B. J. DANIELS is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author. She wrote her first book after a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist and author of thirty-seven published short stories. She lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and three springer spaniels. When not writing, she quilts, boats and plays tennis. Contact her at bjdaniels.com (http://bjdaniels.com), on Facebook or on Twitter, @bjdanielsauthor (https://twitter.com/bjdanielsauthor).
Also By B. J. Daniels (#u334c3399-2d31-5bc5-abd0-da2e5de306d5)
Hard Rustler
Rogue Gunslinger
Rugged Defender
Cowboy’s Redemption
Dark Horse
Dead Ringer
Rough Rider
Stroke of Luck
Luck of the Draw
Renegade’s Pride
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Steel Resolve
B.J. Daniels
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09407-8
STEEL RESOLVE
В© 2019 B.J. Daniels
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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Note to Readers (#u334c3399-2d31-5bc5-abd0-da2e5de306d5)
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This one is for Terry Scones, who always brightens my
day. I laugh when I recall a quilt shop hop we made
across Montana. She was the navigator when my GPS
system tried to send us through a barn.
Contents
Cover (#u9e92bd88-4064-5d74-89ba-ca1dbcf8ab22)
Back Cover Text (#ub15d1258-6788-5a8b-ae2b-66e594806ff3)
About the Author (#ue79d3f62-db12-5f5e-b9c2-c24f2f64ee47)
Booklist (#u4c3b4d97-6c9b-50a3-9c66-00c8946f494d)
Title Page (#uca1fc90f-2176-50f2-912f-1d5d3e1b3094)
Copyright (#uc84a9c09-0fca-50df-ab99-dfa0080dfacd)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#u19761246-d3f5-57a8-9e45-98e933cdcaa5)
Chapter One (#u48bb9fb0-f4bc-5a34-bba5-9f59f7b5d866)
Chapter Two (#ub995379c-baea-5dfd-b1d5-58960718f657)
Chapter Three (#ua65b56bc-d372-5746-a636-32cfd3571cf1)
Chapter Four (#ubf79ed68-fb3b-5598-ae57-892b5da35002)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u334c3399-2d31-5bc5-abd0-da2e5de306d5)
The moment Fiona found the letter in the bottom of Chase’s sock drawer, she knew it was bad news. Fear squeezed the breath from her as her heart beat so hard against her rib cage that she thought she would pass out. Grabbing the bureau for support, she told herself it might not be what she thought it was.
But the envelope was a pale lavender, and the handwriting was distinctly female. Worse, Chase had kept the letter a secret. Why else would it be hidden under his socks? He hadn’t wanted her to see it because it was from that other woman.
Now she wished she hadn’t been snooping around. She’d let herself into his house with the extra key she’d had made. She’d felt him pulling away from her the past few weeks. Having been here so many times before, she was determined that this one wasn’t going to break her heart. Nor was she going to let another woman take him from her. That’s why she had to find out why he hadn’t called, why he wasn’t returning her messages, why he was avoiding her.
They’d had fun the night they were together. She’d felt as if they had something special, although she knew the next morning that he was feeling guilty. He’d said he didn’t want to lead her on. He’d told her that there was some woman back home he was still in love with. He’d said their night together was a mistake. But he was wrong, and she was determined to convince him of it.
What made it so hard was that Chase was a genuinely nice guy. You didn’t let a man like that get away. The other woman had. Fiona wasn’t going to make that mistake even though he’d been trying to push her away since that night. But he had no idea how determined she could be, determined enough for both of them that this wasn’t over by a long shot.
It wasn’t the first time she’d let herself into his apartment when he was at work. The other time, he’d caught her and she’d had to make up some story about the building manager letting her in so she could look for her lost earring.
She’d snooped around his house the first night they’d met—the same night she’d found his extra apartment key and had taken it to have her own key made in case she ever needed to come back when Chase wasn’t home.
The letter hadn’t been in his sock drawer that time.
That meant he’d received it since then. Hadn’t she known he was hiding something from her? Why else would he put this letter in a drawer instead of leaving it out along with the bills he’d casually dropped on the table by the front door?
Because the letter was important to him, which meant that she had no choice but to read it.
Her heart compressed into a hard knot as she carefully lifted out the envelope. The handwriting made her pulse begin to roar in her ears. The woman’s handwriting was very neat, very precise. She hated her immediately. The return address confirmed it. The letter was from the woman back in Montana that Chase had told her he was still in love with.
Mary Cardwell Savage, the woman who’d broken Chase’s heart and one of the reasons that the cowboy had ended up in Arizona. Her friend Patty told her all about him. Chase worked for her husband, Rick. That’s how she and Chase had met, at a party at their house.
What struck her now was the date on the postmark. Her vision blurred for a moment. Two weeks ago? Anger flared inside her again. That was right after their night together. About the same time that he’d gotten busy and didn’t have time, he said, to date or even talk. What had this woman said in her letter? Whatever it was, Fiona knew it was the cause of the problem with her and Chase.
Her fingers trembled as she carefully opened the envelope flap and slipped out the folded sheet of pale lavender paper. The color alone made her sick to her stomach. She sniffed it, half expecting to smell the woman’s perfume.
There was only a faint scent, just enough to be disturbing. She listened for a moment, afraid Chase might come home early and catch her again. He’d been angry the last time. He would be even more furious if he caught her reading the letter he’d obviously hidden from her.
Unfolding the sheet of paper she tried to brace herself. She felt as if her entire future hung on what was inside this envelope.
Her throat closed as she read the words, devouring them as quickly as her gaze could take them in. After only a few sentences, she let her gaze drop to the bottom line, her heart dropping with it: I’ll always love you,Mary.
This was the woman Chase said he was still in love with. She’d broken up with him and now she wanted him back? Who did this Mary Savage of Big Sky, Montana, think she was? Fury churned inside Fiona as she quickly read all the way through the letter, the words breaking her heart and filling her with an all-consuming rage.
Mary Savage had apparently pretended that she was only writing to Chase to let him know that some friend of his mother’s had dropped by with a package for him. If he confirmed his address, she’d be happy to send the package if he was interested.
But after that, the letter had gotten personal. Fiona stared at the words, fury warring with heartbreaking pain. The package was clearly only a ruse for the rest of the letter, which was a sickening attempt to lure him back. This woman was still in love with Chase. It made her sick to read the words that were such an obvious effort to remind him of their love, first love, and all that included. This woman had history with Chase. She missed him and regretted the way they’d left things. The woman had even included her phone number. In case he’d forgotten it?
Had Chase called her? The thought sent a wave of nausea through her, followed quickly by growing vehemence. She couldn’t believe this. This woman was not taking Chase away from her! She wouldn’t allow it. She and Chase had only gotten started, but Fiona knew that he was perfect for her and she for him. If anyone could help him get over this other woman, it was her. Chase was hers now. She would just have to make him see that.
Fiona tried to calm herself. The worst thing she could do was to confront Chase and demand to know why he had kept this from her. She didn’t need him to remind her that they didn’t have “that kind” of relationship as he had the other times. Not to mention how strained things had been between them lately. She’d felt him pulling away and had called and stopped by at every opportunity, afraid she was losing him.
And now she knew why. If the woman had been in Arizona, she would have gone to her house and—Deep breaths, she told herself. She had to calm down. She had to remember what had happened the last time. She’d almost ended up in jail.
Taking deep breaths, she reminded herself that this woman was no threat. Mary Cardwell Savage wasn’t in Arizona. She lived in Montana, hundreds of miles away.
But that argument did nothing to relieve her wrath or her growing apprehension. Chase hadn’t just kept the letter. He’d hidden it. His little secret. And worse, he was avoiding her, trying to give her the brush-off. She felt herself hyperventilating.
She knew she had to stop this. She thought of how good things had been between her and Chase that first night. The cowboy was so incredibly sexy, and he’d remarked how lovely she looked in her tailored suit and heels. He’d complimented her long blond hair as he unpinned it and let it fall around her shoulders. When he’d looked into her green eyes, she hadn’t needed him to tell her that he loved her. She had seen it.
The memory made her smile. And he’d enjoyed what she had waiting for him underneath that suit—just as she knew he would. They’d both been a little drunk that night. She’d had to make all the moves, but she hadn’t minded.
Not that she would ever admit it to him, but she’d set her sights on him the moment she’d seen him at the party. There was something about him that had drawn her. A vulnerability she recognized. He’d been hurt before. So had she, too many times to count. She’d told herself that the handsome cowboy didn’t know just how perfect he was, perfect for her.
Fiona hadn’t exactly thrown herself at him. She’d just been determined to make him forget that other woman by making herself indispensable. She’d brought over dinner the next night. He’d been too polite to turn her away. She’d come up with things they could do together: baseball games, picnics, movies. But the harder she’d tried, the more he’d made excuses for why he couldn’t go with her.
She stared down at the letter still in her hands, wanting to rip it to shreds, to tear this woman’s eyes out, to—
Suddenly she froze. Was that the door of the apartment opening? It was. Just as she’d feared, Chase had come home early.
At the sound of the door closing and locking, she hurriedly refolded the letter, slipped it back into the envelope and shoved it under his socks. She was trapped. There was no way to get out of the apartment without him seeing her. He was going to be upset with her. But the one thing she couldn’t let Chase know was that she’d found and read the letter. She couldn’t give him an excuse to break things off indefinitely, even though she knew he’d been trying to do just that for the past couple of weeks—ever since he’d gotten that letter.
She hurried to the bedroom door, but hesitated. Maybe she should get naked and let him find her lying on his bed. She wasn’t sure she could pull that off right now. Standing there, she tried to swallow back the anger, the hurt, the fear. She couldn’t let him know what she was feeling—let alone how desperate she felt. But as she heard him coming up the stairs, she had a terrifying thought.
What if she’d put the letter back in the drawer wrong? Had she seen the woman’s handwriting on the envelope? Wasn’t that why she’d felt such a jolt? Or was it just seeing the pale lavender paper of the envelope in his sock drawer that had made her realize what it was?
She couldn’t remember.
But would Chase remember how he’d left it and know that she’d seen it? Know that if she’d found it, she would read it?
She glanced back and saw that she hadn’t closed the top dresser drawer all the way. Hurrying back over to it, she shut the drawer as quietly as possible and was about to turn when she heard him in the doorway.
“Fiona? What the hell?” He looked startled at first when he saw her, and then shock quickly turned to anger.
She could see that she’d scared him. He’d scared her too. Her heart was a drum in her chest. She was clearly rattled. She could feel the fine mist of perspiration on her upper lip. With one look, he would know something was wrong.
But how could she not be upset? The man she’d planned to marry had kept a letter from his ex a secret from her. Worse, the woman he’d been pining over when Fiona had met him was still in love with him—and now he knew it. Hiding the letter proved that he was at least thinking about Mary Cardwell Savage.
“What are you doing here?” Chase demanded, glancing around as if the answer was in the room. “How the hell did you get in this time?”
She tried to cover, letting out an embarrassed laugh. “You startled me. I was looking for my favorite lipstick. I thought I might have left it here.”
He shook his head, raking a hand through his hair. “You have to stop this. I told you last time. Fiona—” His blue gaze swept past her to light on the chest of drawers.
Any question as to how he felt about the letter was quickly answered by his protective glance toward the top bureau drawer and the letter from his first love, the young woman who’d broken his tender heart, the woman he was still in love with.
Her own heart broke, shattering like a glass thrown against a wall. She wanted to kill Mary Cardwell Savage.
“Your lipstick?” He shook his head. “Again, how did you get in here?”
“You forgot to lock your door. I came by hoping to catch your building manager so he could let me in again—”
“Fiona, stop lying. I talked to him after the last time. He didn’t let you in.” The big cowboy held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
She pretended not to know what he was talking about, blinking her big green eyes at him in the best innocent look she could muster. She couldn’t lose this man. She wouldn’t. She did the only thing she could. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key. “I can explain.”
“No need,” he said as he took the key.
She felt real tears of remorse fill her eyes. But she saw that he was no longer affected by her tears. She stepped to him to put her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. Maybe if she could draw him toward the bed...
“Fiona, stop.” He grabbed her wrists and pulled them from around his neck. “Stop!”
She stared at him, feeling the happy life she’d planned crumbling under her feet.
He groaned and shook his head. “You need to leave.”
“Sure,” she said and, trying to get control of her emotions, started to step past him. “Just let me look in one more place for my lipstick. I know I had it—”
“No,” he said, blocking her way. “Your lipstick isn’t here and we both know it. Just like your phone wasn’t here the last time you stopped by. This has to stop. I don’t want to see you again.”
“You don’t mean that.” Her voice broke. “Is this about the letter from that bitch who dumped you?”
His gaze shot to the bureau again. She watched his expression change from frustrated to furious. “You’ve been going through my things?”
“I told you, I was looking for my lipstick. I’m sorry I found the letter. You hadn’t called, and I thought maybe it was because of the letter.”
He sighed, and when he spoke it was as if he was talking to a small unruly child. “Fiona, I told you from the first night we met that I wasn’t ready for another relationship. You caught me at a weak moment, otherwise nothing would have happened between the two of us. I’d had too much to drink, and my boss’s wife insisted that I let you drive me back to my apartment.” He groaned. “I’m not trying to make excuses for what happened. We are both adults. But I was honest with you.” He looked pained, his blue eyes dark. “I’m sorry if you thought that that night was more than it was. But now you have to leave and not come back.”
“We can’t be over! You have to give me another chance.” She’d heard the words before from other men, more times than she wanted to remember. “I’m sorry. I was wrong to come here when you weren’t home. I won’t do anything like this again. I promise.”
“Stop!” he snapped. “You’re not listening. Look,” he said, lowering his voice. “You might as well know that I’m leaving at the end of the week. My job here is over.”
“Leaving?” This couldn’t be happening. “Where are you going?” she cried, and felt her eyes widen in alarm. “You’re going back to Montana. Back to her. Mary Cardwell Savage.” She spit out the words as if they were stones that had been lodged in her throat.
He shook his head. “I told you the night we met that there was no chance of me falling for another woman because I was still in love with someone else.”
She sneered at him. “She broke your heart. She’ll do it again. Don’t let her. She’s nobody.” She took a step toward him. “I can make you happy if you’ll just give me a chance.”
“Fiona, please go before either of us says something we’ll regret,” Chase said in a tone she’d never heard from him before. He was shutting her out. For good.
If he would only let her kiss him... She reached for him, thinking she could make him remember what they had together, but he pushed her back.
“Don’t.” He was shaking his head, looking at her as if horrified by her. There was anguish in his gaze. But there was also pity and disgust. That too she’d seen before. She felt a dark shell close around her heart.
“You’ll be sorry,” she said, feeling crushed but at the same time infused with a cold, murderous fury.
“I should have never have let this happen,” Chase was saying. “This is all my fault. I’m so sorry.”
Oh, he didn’t know sorry, but he would soon enough. He would rue this day. And if he thought he’d seen the last of her, he was in for a surprise. That Montana hayseed would have Chase over her dead body.
Chapter Two (#u334c3399-2d31-5bc5-abd0-da2e5de306d5)
“I feel terrible that I didn’t warn you about Fiona,” his boss said on Chase’s last day of work. Rick had insisted on buying him a beer after quitting time.
Now in the cool dark of the bar, Chase looked at the man and said, “So she’s done this before?”
Rick sighed. “She gets attached if a man pays any attention to her in the least and can’t let go, but don’t worry, she’ll meet some other guy and get crazy over him. It’s a pattern with her. She and my wife went to high school together. Patty feels sorry for her and keeps hoping she’ll meet someone and settle down.”
Chase shook his head, remembering his first impression of the woman. Fiona had seemed so together, so...normal. She sold real estate, dressed like a polished professional and acted like one. She’d come up to him at a barbecue at Rick’s house. Chase hadn’t wanted to go, but his boss had insisted, saying it would do him good to get out more.
He’d just lost his mother. His mother, Muriel, had been sick for some time. It was one of the reasons he’d come to Arizona in the first place. The other was that he knew he could find work here as a carpenter. Muriel had made him promise that when she died, he would take her ashes back to Montana. He’d been with her at the end, hoping that she would finally tell him the one thing she’d kept from him all these years. But she hadn’t. She’d taken her secret to the grave and left him with more questions than answers—and an urn full of her ashes.
“You need to get out occasionally,” Rick had said when Chase left work to go pick up the urn from the mortuary. It was in a velvet bag. He’d stuffed it behind the seat of his pickup on the way to the barbecue.
“All you do is work, then hide out in your apartment not to be seen again until you do the same thing the next day,” Rick had argued. “You might just have fun and I cook damned good barbecue. Come on, it’s just a few friends.”
He’d gone, planning not to stay longer than it took to drink a couple of beers and have some barbecued ribs. He’d been on his second beer when he’d seen her. Fiona stood out among the working-class men and women at the party because she’d come straight from her job at a local real estate company.
She wore high heels that made her long legs look even longer. Her curvaceous body was molded into a dark suit with a white blouse and gold jewelry. Her long blond hair was pulled up, accentuating her tanned throat against the white of her blouse.
He’d become intensely aware of how long it had been since he’d felt anything but anguish over his breakup with Mary and his mother’s sickness, and the secret that she’d taken with her.
“Fiona Barkley,” she’d said, extending her hand.
Her hand had been cool and dry, her grip strong. “Chase Steele.”
She’d chuckled, her green eyes sparking with humor. “For real? A cowboy named Chase Steele?”
“My father was an extra in a bunch of Western movies,” he lied since he had no idea who his father had been.
She cocked a brow at him. “Really?”
He shook his head. “I grew up on a ranch in Montana.” He shrugged. “Cowboying is in my blood.”
Fiona had taken his almost empty beer can from him and handed him her untouched drink. “Try that. I can tell that you need it.” The drink had been strong and buzzed through his bloodstream.
Normally she wasn’t the type of woman he gravitated toward. But she was so different from Mary, and it had been so long since he’d even thought about another woman. The party atmosphere, the urn behind his pickup seat and the drinks Fiona kept plying him with added to his what-the-hell attitude that night.
“How long have you two been dating?” Rick asked now in the cool dark of the bar.
“We never dated. I told her that first night that I was in love with someone else. But I made the mistake of sleeping with her. Sleeping with anyone given the way I feel about the woman back home was a mistake.”
“So you told Fiona there was another woman.” His boss groaned. “That explains a lot. Fiona now sees it as a competition between her and the other woman. She won’t give up. She hates losing. It’s what makes her such a great Realtor.”
“Well, it’s all moot now since I’m leaving for Montana.”
Rick didn’t look convinced that it would be that easy. “Does she know?”
He nodded.
“Well, hopefully you’ll get out of town without any trouble.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“Sorry, but according to Patty, when Fiona feels the man pulling away... Well, it makes her a little...crazy.”
Chase shook his head. “This just keeps getting better and better.” He picked up his beer, drained it and got to his feet. “I’m going home to pack. The sooner I get out of town the better.”
“I wish I could talk you out of leaving,” Rick said. “You’re one of the best finish carpenters I’ve had in a long time. I hope you’re not leaving because of Fiona. Seriously, she’ll latch on to someone else. I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s just Fiona being Fiona. Unless you’re going back to this woman you’re in love with?”
He laughed. “If only it were that easy. She’s the one who broke it off with me.” He liked Rick. But the man hadn’t warned him about Fiona, and if Rick mentioned to Patty who mentioned to Fiona... He knew he was being overly cautious. Fiona wouldn’t follow him all the way to Montana. She had a job, a condo, a life here. But still, he found himself saying, “Not sure what I’m doing. Might stop off in Colorado for a while.”
“Well, good luck. And again, sorry about Fiona.”
As he left the bar, he thought about Mary and the letter he’d hidden in his sock drawer with her phone number. He’d thought about calling her to let her know he was headed home. He was also curious about the package she’d said a friend of his mother had left for him.
Since getting the letter, he’d thought about calling dozens of times. But what he had to say, he couldn’t in a phone call. He had to see Mary. Now that he was leaving, he couldn’t wait to hit the road.
* * *
MARY CARDWELL SAVAGE reined in her horse to look out at the canyon below her. The Gallatin River wound through rugged cliffs and stands of pines, the water running clear over the colored rocks as pale green aspen leaves winked from the shore. Beyond the river and the trees, she could make out the resort town that had sprouted up across the canyon. She breathed in the cool air rich with the scent of pine and the crisp cool air rising off the water.
Big Sky, Montana, had changed so much in her lifetime and even more in her mother’s. Dana Cardwell Savage had seen the real changes after the ski resort had been built at the foot of Lone Peak. Big Sky had gone from a ranching community to a resort area, and finally to a town with a whole lot of housing developments and businesses rising to the community’s growing needs.
The growth had meant more work for her father, Marshal Hud Savage. He’d been threatening to retire since he said he no longer recognized the canyon community anymore. More deputies had to be hired each year because the area was experiencing more crime.
Just the thought of the newest deputy who’d been hired made her smile a little. Dillon Ramsey was the kind of man a woman noticed—even one who had given her heart away when she was fifteen and had never gotten it back.
Dillon, with his dark wavy hair and midnight black eyes, had asked her out, and she’d said she’d think about it. If her best friend Kara had been around, she would have thought Mary had lost her mind. Anyone who saw Dillon knew two things about him. He was a hunk, and he was dangerous to the local female population.
Since telling him she’d think about it, she had been mentally kicking herself. Had she really been sitting around waiting to hear from Chase? What was wrong with her? It had been weeks. When she’d broken it off and sent him packing, she hadn’t been sitting around moping over him. Not really. She’d been busy starting a career, making a life for herself. So what had made her write that stupid letter?
Wasn’t it obvious that if he’d gotten her letter, he should have called by now? Since the letter hadn’t come back, she had to assume that it had arrived just fine. The fact that he hadn’t called or written her back meant that he wasn’t interested. He also must not be interested in the package his mother’s friend had left for him either. It was high time to forget about that cowboy, and why not do it with Dillon Ramsey?
Because she couldn’t quit thinking about Chase and hadn’t been able to since she’d first laid eyes on him when they were both fifteen. They’d been inseparable all through high school and college. Four years ago he’d told her he was going to have to leave. They’d both been twenty-four, too young to settle down, according to her father and Chase had agreed. He needed to go find himself since not knowing who his father was still haunted him.
It had broken her heart when he’d left her—and Montana. She’d dated little after he left town. Mostly because she’d found herself comparing the men she had dated to Chase. At least with Dillon, she sensed a wild, dangerousness in him that appealed to her right now.
Her father hadn’t liked hearing that Dillon had asked her out. “I wish you’d reconsider,” he’d said when she’d stopped by Cardwell Ranch where she’d grown up. She’d bought her own place in Meadow Village closer to the center of town, and made the first floor into her office. On the third floor was her apartment where she lived. The second floor had been made into one-bedroom apartments that she rented.
But she still spent a lot of time on the ranch because that’s where her heart was—her family, her horses and her love for the land. She hadn’t even gone far away to college—just forty miles to Montana State University in Bozeman. She couldn’t be far from Cardwell Ranch and couldn’t imagine that she ever would. She was her mother’s daughter, she thought. Cardwell Ranch was her legacy.
Dana Cardwell had fought for this ranch years ago when her brothers and sister had wanted to sell it and split the money after their mother died. Dana couldn’t bear to part with the family ranch. Fortunately, her grandmother, Mary Cardwell, had left Dana the ranch in her last will, knowing Dana would keep the place in the family always.
Ranching had been in her grandmother’s blood, the woman Mary had been named after. Just as it was in Dana’s and now Mary’s. Chase hadn’t understood why she couldn’t walk away from this legacy that the women in her family had fought so hard for.
But while her mother was a hands-on ranch woman, Mary liked working behind the scenes. She’d taken over the accounting part of running the ranch so her mother could enjoy what she loved—being on the back of a horse.
“What is wrong with Dillon Ramsey?” Dana Cardwell Savage had asked her husband after Mary had told them that the deputy had asked her out.
“He’s new and, if you must know, there’s something troublesome about him that I haven’t been able to put my finger on yet,” Hud had said.
Mary had laughed. She knew exactly what bothered her father about Dillon—the same thing that attracted her to the young cocky deputy. If she couldn’t have Chase, then why not take a walk on the wild side for once?
She had just finished unsaddling her horse and was headed for the main house when her cell phone rang, startling her. Her pulse jumped. She dug the phone out and looked at the screen, her heart in her throat. It was a long-distance number and not one she recognized. Chase?
Sure took him long enough to finally call, she thought, and instantly found herself making excuses for him. Maybe he was working away from cell phone coverage. It happened all the time in Montana. Why not in Arizona? Or maybe her letter had to chase him down, and he’d just now gotten it and called the moment he read it.
It rang a second time. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn’t believe how nervous she was. Silly goose, she thought. It’s probably not Chase at all but some telemarketer calling to try to sell her something.
She answered on the third ring. “Hello?” Her voice cracked.
Silence, then a female voice. “Mary Cardwell Savage?” The voice was hard and crisp like a fall apple, the words bitten off.
“Yes?” she asked, disappointed. She’d gotten her hopes up that it was Chase, with whatever excuse he had for not calling sooner. It wouldn’t matter as long as he’d called to say that he felt the same way she did and always had. But she’d been right. It was just some telemarketer. “I’m sorry, but whatever you’re selling, I’m not inter—”
“I read your letter you sent Chase.”
Her breath caught as her heart missed a beat. She told herself that she’d heard wrong. “I beg your pardon?”
“Leave my fiancé alone. Don’t write him. Don’t call him. Just leave him the hell alone.”
She tried to swallow around the bitter taste in her mouth. “Who is this?” Her voice sounded breathy with fear.
“The woman who’s going to marry Chase Steele. If you ever contact him again—”
Mary disconnected, her fingers trembling as she dropped the phone into her jacket pocket as if it had scorched her skin. The woman’s harsh low voice was still in her ears, furious and threatening. Whoever she was, she’d read the letter. No wonder Chase hadn’t written or called. But why hadn’t he? Had he shown the letter to his fiancée? Torn it up? Kept it so she found it? Did it matter? His fiancée had read the letter and was furious, and Mary couldn’t blame her.
She buried her face in her hands. Chase had gone off to find himself. Apparently he’d succeeded in finding a fiancée as well. Tears burned her eyes. Chase was engaged and getting married. Could she be a bigger fool? Chase had moved on, and he hadn’t even had the guts to call and tell her.
Angrily, Mary wiped at her tears as she recalled the woman’s words and the anger she’d heard in them. She shuddered, regretting more than ever that stupid letter she’d written. The heat of humiliation and mortification burned her cheeks. If only she hadn’t poured her heart out to him. If only she had just written him about the package and left it at that. If only...
Unfortunately, she’d been feeling nostalgic the night she wrote that letter. Her mare was about to give birth so she was staying the night at the ranch in her old room. She’d come in from the barn late that night, and had seen the package she’d promised to let Chase know about. Not far into the letter, she’d become sad and regretful. Filled with memories of the two of them growing up together on the ranch from the age of fifteen, she’d decide to call him only to find that his number was no longer in service. Then she’d tried to find him on social media. No luck. It was as if he’d dropped off the face of the earth. Had something happened to him?
Worried, she’d gone online and found an address for him but no phone number. In retrospect, she should never have written the letter—not in the mood she’d been in. What she hated most since he hadn’t answered her letter or called, was that she had written how much she missed him and how she’d never gotten over him and how she regretted their breakup.
She’d stuffed the letter into the envelope addressed to him and, wiping her tears, had left it on her desk in her old room at the ranch as she climbed into bed. The next morning before daylight her mother had called up to her room to say that the mare had gone into labor. Forgetting all about the letter, she’d been so excited about the new foal that she’d put everything else out of her mind. By the time she remembered the letter, it was gone. Her aunt Stacy had seen it, put a stamp on the envelope and mailed it for her.
At first, Mary had been in a panic, expecting Chase to call as soon as he received the letter. She’d played the conversation in her head every way she thought possible, all but one of them humiliating. As days passed, she’d still held out hope. Now after more than two weeks and that horrible phone call, she knew it was really over and she had to accept it.
Still her heart ached. Chase had been her first love. Did anyone ever get over their first love? He had obviously moved on. Mary took another deep breath and tried to put it out of her mind. She loved summer here in the canyon. The temperature was perfect—never too cold or too hot. A warm breeze swayed the pine boughs and keeled over the tall grass in the pasture nearby. Closer a horse whinnied from the corral next to the barn as a hawk made a slow lazy circle in the clear blue overhead.
Days like this she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. She took another deep breath. She needed to get back to her office. She had work to do. Along with doing the ranch books for Cardwell Ranch, she had taken on work from other ranches in the canyon and built a lucrative business.
She would get over Chase or die trying, she told herself. As she straightened her back, her tears dried, and she walked toward her SUV. She’d give Deputy Dillon Ramsey a call. It was time she moved on. Like falling off a horse, she was ready to saddle up again. Forgetting Chase wouldn’t be easy, but if anyone could help the process, she figured Dillon Ramsey was the man to do it.
Chapter Three (#u334c3399-2d31-5bc5-abd0-da2e5de306d5)
Chase was carrying the last of his things out to his pickup when he saw Fiona drive up. He swore under his breath. He’d hoped to leave without a scene. Actually, he’d been surprised that she hadn’t come by sooner. As she was friends with Rick’s wife, Patty, Chase was pretty sure she had intel into how the packing and leaving had been going.
He braced himself as he walked to his pickup and put the final box into the back. He heard Fiona get out of her car and walk toward him. He figured it could go several ways. She would try seduction or tears or raging fury, or a combination of all three.
Hands deep in the pockets of her jacket as she approached, she gave him a shy smile. It was that smile that had appealed to him that first night. He’d been vulnerable, and he suspected she’d known it. Did she think that smile would work again?
He felt guilty for even thinking that she was so calculating and yet he’d seen the way she’d worked him. “Fiona, I don’t want any trouble.”
“Trouble?” She chuckled. “I heard you were moving out today. I only wanted to come say goodbye.”
Chase wished that was the extent of it, but he’d come to know her better than that. “I think we covered goodbye the last time we saw each other.”
She ignored that. “I know you’re still angry with me—”
“Fiona—”
Tears welled in her green eyes as if she could call them up at a moment’s notice. “Chase, at least give me a hug goodbye. Please.” Before he could move, she closed the distance between them. As she did, her hands came out of her jacket pockets. The blade of the knife in her right hand caught the light as she started to put her arms around his neck.
As he jerked back, he grabbed her wrist. “What the—” He cursed as he tightened his grip on her wrist holding the knife. She was stronger than she looked. She struggled to stab him as she screamed obscenities at him.
The look in her eyes was almost more frightening than the knife clutched in her fist. He twisted her wrist until she cried out and dropped the weapon. The moment it hit the ground, he let go of her, realizing he was hurting her.
She dived for the knife, but he kicked it away, chasing after it before she could pick it up again. She leaped at him, pounding on his back as she tried to drag him to the ground.
He threw her off. She stumbled and fell to the grass and began to cry hysterically. He stared down at her. Had she really tried to kill him?
“Don’t! Don’t kill me!” she screamed, raising her hands as if she thought he was going to stab her. He’d forgotten that he’d picked up the knife, but he wasn’t threatening her with it.
He didn’t understand what was going on until he realized they were no longer alone. Fiona had an audience. Some of the apartment tenants had come out. One of them, an elderly woman, was fumbling with her phone as if to call the cops.
“Everything is all right,” he quickly told the woman.
The older woman looked from Fiona to him and back. Her gaze caught on the knife he was holding at his side.
“There is no reason to call the police,” Chase said calmly as he walked to the trash cans lined up along the street, opened one and dropped the knife into the bottom.
“That’s my best knife!” Fiona yelled. “You owe me for that.”
He saw that the tenant was now staring at Fiona, who was brushing off her jeans as she got to her feet.
“What are you staring at, you old crone? Go back inside before I take that phone away from you and stick it up your—”
“Fiona,” Chase said as the woman hurriedly turned and rushed back inside. He shook his head as he gave Fiona a wide berth as he headed toward his apartment to lock up. “Go home before the police come.”
“She won’t call. She knows I’ll come back here if she does.”
He hoped Fiona was right about the woman not making the call. Otherwise, he’d be held up making a statement to the police—that’s if he didn’t end up behind bars. He didn’t doubt that Fiona would lie through her teeth about the incident.
“She won’t make you happy,” Fiona screamed after him as he opened the door to his apartment, keeping an eye on her the whole time. The last thing he wanted was her getting inside. If she didn’t have another weapon, he had no doubt she’d find one.
Stopping in the doorway, he looked back at her. Her makeup had run along with her nose. She hadn’t bothered to wipe either. She looked small, and for a moment his heart went out to her. What had happened to that professional, together woman he’d met at the party?
“You need to get help, Fi.”
She scoffed at that. “You’re the one who needs help, Chase.”
He stepped inside, closed and locked the door, before sliding the dead bolt. Who’s to say she didn’t have a half dozen spare keys made. She’d lied about the building manager opening the door for her. She’d lied about a lot of things. He had no idea who Fiona Barkley was. But soon she would be nothing more than a bad memory, he told himself as he finished checking to make sure he hadn’t left anything. When he looked out, he saw her drive away.
Only then did he pick up his duffel bag, lock the apartment door behind him and head for his truck, anxious to get on the road to Montana. But as he neared his pickup, he saw what Fiona had left him. On the driver’s-side window scrawled crudely in lipstick were the words You’ll regret it.
That was certainly true. He regretted it already. He wondered what would happen to her and feared for the next man who caught her eye. Maybe the next man would handle it better, he told himself.
Tossing his duffel bag onto the passenger seat, he pulled an old rag from under the seat and wiped off what he could of the lipstick. Then, climbing into this truck, he pointed it toward Montana and Mary, putting Fiona out of his mind.
* * *
THERE WERE DAYS when Dana felt all sixty-two of her years. Often when she looked at her twenty-eight-year-old daughter, Mary, she wondered where the years had gone. She felt as if she’d merely blinked and her baby girl had grown into a woman.
Being her first and only daughter, Mary had a special place in her heart. So when Mary hurt, Dana did too. Ever since Chase and Mary had broken up and he’d left town, her daughter had been heartsick, and Dana had had no idea how to help her.
She knew that kind of pain. Hud had broken her heart years ago when they’d disagreed and he’d taken off. But he’d come back, and their love had overcome all the obstacles that had been thrown at them since. She’d hoped that Mary throwing herself into her accounting business would help. But as successful as Mary now was with her business, the building she’d bought, the apartments she’d remodeled and rented, there was a hole in her life—and her heart. A mother could see it.
“Sis, have you heard a word I’ve said?”
Dana looked from the window where she’d been watching Mary unsaddling her horse to where her brother sat at the kitchen table across from her. “Sorry. Did you just say cattle thieves?”
Jordan shook his head at her and smiled. There’d been a time when she and her brother had been at odds over the ranch. Fortunately, those days were long behind them. He’d often said that the smartest thing he’d ever done was to come back here, make peace and help Dana run Cardwell Ranch. She couldn’t agree more.
“We lost another three head. Hud blames paleo diets,” Jordan said, and picked up one of the chocolate chip cookies Dana had baked that morning.
“How many does this make?” she asked.
“There’s at least a dozen gone,” her brother said.
She looked to her husband who sat at the head of the table and had also been watching Mary out the window. Hud reached for another cookie. He came home every day for lunch and had for years. Today she’d made sandwiches and baked his favorite cookies.
“They’re hitting at night, opening a gate, cutting out only a few at a time and herding them to the road where they have a truck waiting,” the marshal said. “They never hit in the same part of any ranch twice, so unless we can predict where they’re going to show up next... We aren’t the only ones who’ve had losses.”
“We could hire men to ride the fences at night,” Jordan said.
“I’ll put a deputy or two on the back roads for a couple of nights and see what we come up with,” Hud said and, pushing away his plate and getting to his feet, shot Dana a questioning look.
Jordan, apparently recognizing the gesture, also got to his feet and excused himself. As he left, Hud said, “I know something is bothering you, and it isn’t rustlers.”
She smiled up at him. He knew her so well, her lover, her husband, her best friend. “It’s Mary. Stacy told me earlier that she mailed a letter from Mary to Chase a few weeks ago. Mary hasn’t heard back.”
Hud groaned. “You have any idea what was in the letter?”
“No, but since she’s been moping around I’d say she is still obviously in love with him.” She shrugged. “I don’t think she’s ever gotten over him.”
Her husband shook his head. “Why didn’t we have all boys?”
“Our sons will fall in love one day and will probably have their heartbreaks as well.” She had the feeling that Hud hadn’t heard the latest. “She’s going out with Deputy Dillon Ramsey tonight.”
Hud swore and raked a hand through his graying hair. “I shouldn’t have mentioned that there was something about him that made me nervous.”
She laughed. “If you’re that worried about him, then why don’t you talk to her?”
Her husband shot her a look that said he knew their stubborn daughter only too well. “Tell her not to do something and damned if she isn’t even more bound and determined to do it.”
Like he had to tell her that. Mary was just like her mother and grandmother. “It’s just a date,” Dana said, hoping there wasn’t anything to worry about.
Hud grumbled under his breath as he reached for his Stetson. “I have to get back to work.” His look softened. “You think she’s all right?”
Dana wished she knew. “She will be, given time. I think she needs to get some closure from Chase. His not answering her letter could be what she needed to move on.”
“I hope not with Dillon Ramsey.”
“Seriously, what is it about him that worries you?” Dana asked.
He frowned. “I can’t put my finger on it. I hired him as a favor to his uncle down in Wyoming. Dillon’s cocky and opinionated.”
Dana laughed. “I used to know a deputy like that.”
Hud grinned. “Point taken. He’s also still green.”
“I don’t think that’s the part that caught Mary’s attention.”
Her husband groaned. “I’d like to see her with someone with both feet firmly planted on the ground.”
“You mean someone who isn’t in law enforcement. Chase Steele wasn’t.”
“I liked him well enough,” Hud said grudgingly. “But he hadn’t sowed his wild oats yet. They were both too young, and he needed to get out of here and get some maturity under his belt, so to speak.”
“She wanted him to stay and fight for her. Sound familiar?”
Hud’s smile was sad. “Sometimes a man has to go out into the world, grow up, figure some things out.” He reached for her hand. “That’s what I did when I left. It made me realize what I wanted. You.”
She stepped into his arms, leaning into his strength, thankful for the years they’d had together raising a family on this ranch. “Mary’s strong.”
“Like her mother.”
“She’ll be all right,” Dana said, hoping it was true.
* * *
CHASE WAS DETERMINED to drive as far as he could the first day, needing to put miles behind him. He thought of Fiona and felt sick to his stomach. He kept going over it in his head, trying to understand if he’d done anything to lead her on beyond that one night. He was clear with her that he was not in the market for anything serious. His biggest mistake though was allowing himself a moment of weakness when he’d let himself be seduced.
But before that he’d explained to her that he was in love with someone else. She said she didn’t care. That she wasn’t looking for a relationship. She’d said that she needed him that night because she’d had a bad day.
Had he really fallen for that? He had. And when she became obsessed, he’d been shocked and felt sorry for her. Maybe he shouldn’t have.
He felt awful, and not even the miles he put behind him made him feel better. He wished he’d never left Montana, but at the time, leaving seemed the only thing to do. He’d worked his way south, taking carpenter jobs, having no idea where he was headed.
When he’d gotten the call from his mother to say she was dying and that she’d needed to see him, he’d quit his job, packed up and headed for Quartsite, Arizona, in hopes that his mother would finally give him the name.
Chase had never known who his father was. It was a secret his mother refused to reveal for reasons of her own. Once in Arizona, though, he’d realized that she planned to take that secret to her grave. On her death bed, she’d begged him to do one thing for her. Would he take her ashes back to Montana and scatter them in the Gallatin Canyon near Big Sky?
“That’s where I met your father,” she said, her voice weak. “He was the love of my life.”
She hadn’t given him a name, but at least he knew now that the man had lived in Big Sky at the time of Chase’s conception. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
* * *
HE WAS IN the middle of nowhere just outside of Searchlight, Nevada, when smoke began to boil out from under the pickup’s hood. He started to pull over when the engine made a loud sound and stopped dead. As he rolled to stop, his first thought was: could Fiona have done something to his pickup before he left?
Anger filled him to overflowing. But it was another emotion that scared him. He had a sudden awful feeling that something terrible was going to happen to Mary if he didn’t get to Montana. Soon. The feeling was so strong that he thought about leaving his pickup beside the road and thumbing a ride the rest of the way.
Chase tried to tamp down the feeling, telling himself that it was because of Fiona and what she’d done before he’d left when she’d tried to kill him, not to mention what she’d done to his pickup. The engine was shot. He’d have to get a new one and that was going to take a while.
That bad feeling though wouldn’t go away. After he called for a tow truck, he dialed the Jensen Ranch, the closest ranch to Mary’s. He figured if anyone would know how Mary was doing, it would be Beth Anne Jensen. She answered on the third ring. “It’s Chase.” He heard the immediate change in her voice and realized she was probably the wrong person to call, but it was too late. Beth Anne had liked him a little too much when he’d worked for her family and it had caused a problem between him and Mary.
“Hey Chase. Are you back in town?”
“No, I was just calling to check on Mary. I was worried about her. I figured you’d know how she’s doing. Is everything all right with her?”
Beth Anne’s tone changed from sugar to vinegar. “As far as I know everything is just great with her. Is that all you wanted to know?”
This was definitely a mistake. “How are you?”
“I opened my own flower shop. I’ve been dating a rodeo cowboy. I’m just fine, as if you care.” She sighed. “So if you’re still hung up on Mary, why haven’t you come back?”
Stubbornness. Stupidity. Pride. A combination of all three. “I just had a sudden bad feeling that she might be in trouble.”
Beth Anne laughed. “Could be, now that you mention it. My brother saw her earlier out with some young deputy. Apparently, she’s dating him.”
“Sounds like she’s doing fine then. Thanks. You take care.” He swore as he disconnected and put his worry about Mary out of his mind. She should be plenty safe dating a deputy, right? He gave his front tire a kick, then paced as he waited for the tow truck.
* * *
IT HAD TAKEN hours before the tow truck had arrived. By then the auto shop was closed. He’d registered at a motel, taken a hot shower and sprawled on the bed, furious with Fiona, but even more so with himself.
He’d known he had a serious problem when he’d seen the smoke roiling out from under the hood. When the engine seized up, he’d known it was blown before he’d climbed out and lifted the hood.
At first, he couldn’t understand what had happened. The pickup wasn’t brand-new, but it had been in good shape. The first thing he’d checked was the oil. That’s when he’d smelled it. Bleach.
The realization had come in a flash. He’d thrown a container of bleach away in his garbage just that morning, along with some other household cleaners that he didn’t want to carry all the way back to Montana. He’d seen the bleach bottle when he’d tossed Fiona’s knife into one of the trash cans at the curb.
Now, lying on the bed in the motel, Chase swore. He’d left Fiona out there alone with his pickup. He’d thought the only mischief she’d gotten up to was writing on his pickup window with lipstick. He’d underestimated her, and now it was going to cost him dearly. He’d have to have a new engine put in the truck, and that was going to take both money and time.
* * *
THREE DAYS LATER, while waiting in Henderson, Nevada for his new engine to be installed, he called Rick.
“Hey, Chase, great to hear from you. How far did you make it? I thought you might have decided to drive straight through all night.”
“I broke down near Searchlight.”
“Really? Is it serious?”
“I’m afraid so. The engine blew. I suspect Fiona put bleach in the oil.”
Rick let out a curse. “That would seize up the engine.”
“That’s exactly what it did.”
“Oh, man I am so sorry. Listen, I am beginning to feel like this is all my fault. Is there anything I can do? Where are you now? I could drive up there, maybe bring one of the big trailers. We could haul your pickup back down here. I know a mechanic—”
“I appreciate it, but I’m getting it fixed here in Henderson. That’s not why I called.”
“It’s funny you should call,” Rick said. “I was about to call you, but I kept putting it off hoping to have better news.”
His heart began to pound. “What’s wrong?”
His former boss let out a dry chuckle. “We’re still friends, right?”
“Right. I forgave you for Fiona if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You might change your mind after you hear what I have to tell you,” Rick said. “I didn’t want you to hear this on the news.” He felt his stomach drop as he waited for the bad news. “Fiona apparently hasn’t been at work since before you left. Patty went over to her place. Her car was gone and there was no sign of her. But she’d called Patty the night you left from a bar and was pretty wasted and incoherent. When Patty wasn’t able to reach her in the days that followed, she finally went over to her condo. It appeared she hadn’t been back for a few days.” Chase swore. She wouldn’t hurt herself, would she? She’d said he would regret it. He felt a sliver of fear race up his spine. As delusional as the woman was—
Rick cleared his voice. “This morning a fisherman found her car in the Colorado River.”
His breath caught in his throat. “Is she...?”
“They’re dragging the river for her body, but it’s hard to say how far her body might have gone downstream. The river was running pretty high after the big thunderstorm they had up in the mountains a few days ago.”
Chase raked a hand through his hair as he paced the floor of his motel room as he’d been doing for days now. “She threatened to do all kinds of things, but I never thought she’d do something like this.”
“Before you jump to conclusions, the police think it could have been an accident. Fiona was caught on video leaving the club that night and appeared to be quite inebriated,” Rick said. “Look, this isn’t your fault. I debated even telling you. Fiona was irrational. My wife said she’s feared that the woman’s been headed for a violent end for a long time, you know?”
He nodded to himself as he stopped to look out the motel room window at the heat waves rising off desert floor and yearned for Montana. “Still I hate to think she might have done this on purpose because of me.”
“She wasn’t right in the head. Anyway, it was probably an accident. I’m sorry to call with this kind of news, but I thought you’d want to know. Once your pickup’s fixed you’ll be heading out and putting all of this behind you. Still thinking about going to Colorado? You know I’d love to have you back.”
No reason not to tell him now. “I’m headed home as soon as the pickup’s fixed, but thanks again for the offer.”
“Home to Montana? You really never got over this woman, huh.”
“No, I never did.” He realized that when he thought of home, it was Mary he thought of. Her and the Gallatin Canyon. “It’s where I grew up. Where I first fell in love.”
“Well, I wish you luck. I hope it goes well.”
“Thanks. If you hear anything else about Fiona—”
“I’ll keep it to myself.”
“No, call me. I really didn’t know the woman. But I care about what happened to her.” He thought of the first night he’d seen her, all dressed up in that dark suit and looking so strong and capable. And the other times when she’d stopped by his apartment looking as if she’d just come home from spring break and acting the part. “It was like she was always changing before my eyes. I never knew who she was. I’m not sure she did.”
He and Rick said goodbye again. Disconnecting, he pocketed his phone. He couldn’t help wondering about Fiona’s last moments underwater inside her car. Did she know how to swim? He had no idea. Was it too deep for her to reach the surface? Or had she been swept away?
Chase felt sad, but he knew there was no way he could have helped her. She wanted a man committed to her, and she deserved it. But as he’d told her that first night, he wasn’t that man.
If only he had known how broken and damaged she was. He would have given her a wide berth. He should have anyway, and now he blamed himself for his moment of weakness. That night he’d needed someone, but that someone had been Mary, not a woman he didn’t know. Not Fiona.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.” He hoped that maybe now Fiona would finally be at peace.
Looking toward the wide-open horizon, he turned his thoughts to Mary. He couldn’t wait to look into her beautiful blue eyes and tell her that he’d never stopped loving her. That thought made him even more anxious. He couldn’t wait to get home.
* * *
DILLON WALKED HER to her door and waited while Mary pulled out her keys.
“I had a wonderful time,” he said as he leaned casually against the side of her building as if waiting to see if she was going to invite him up. Clouds scudded past the full moon to disappear over the mountaintops surrounding the canyon. The cool night air smelled of pine and clear blue trout stream water. This part of Montana was a little bit of Heaven, her mother was fond of saying. Mary agreed.
She’d left a light on in her apartment on the top floor. It glowed a warm inviting golden hue.
“I had fun too,” she said, and considered asking him up to see the view from what she jokingly called her penthouse. The balcony off the back would be especially nice tonight. But her tongue seemed tied, and suddenly she felt tired and close to tears.
“I should go,” Dillon said, his gaze locking with hers. He seemed about to take a step back, but changed his mind and leaned toward her. His hand cupped her jaw as he kissed her. Chastely at first, then with more ardor, gently drawing her to him. The kiss took her by surprise. Their first date he hadn’t even tried.
His tongue probed her mouth for a moment before he ended the kiss as abruptly as it had begun. Stepping back, he seemed to study her in the moonlight for a moment before he said, “I really do have to go. Maybe we could do something this weekend if you aren’t busy?”
She nodded dumbly. She and Dillon were close to the same age, both adults. She’d expected him to kiss her on their first date. So her surprise tonight had nothing to do with him kissing her, she thought as she entered her building, locking the door behind her and hurrying up to her apartment.
It had everything to do with the kiss.
Mary unlocked her apartment door with trembling fingers, stepped in and locked it behind her. She leaned against the door, hot tears filling her eyes as she told herself she shouldn’t be disappointed. But she was.
The kiss had been fine, as far as kisses went. But even when Dillon had deepened the kiss, she had felt nothing but emptiness. The memory made her feel sick. Would she always compare every kiss with Chase’s? Would every man she met come up lacking?
She didn’t bother to turn on a lamp as she tossed her purse down and headed toward her bedroom, furious with herself. And even more furious with Chase. He’d left her and Montana as if what they had together meant nothing to him. Clearly it didn’t. That’s why he’d gotten engaged and wasn’t man enough to call her himself and tell her.
Still mentally kicking herself for writing that letter to him, she changed into her favorite T-shirt and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Her image in the mirror startled her. She was no longer that young girl that Chase had fallen in love with. She was a woman in her own right. She dried her tears, the crying replaced with angry determination. If that was the way Chase wanted to be, then it was fine with her.
Her cell phone rang, startling her. She hurried to it, and for just a moment she thought it was going to be Chase. Her heart had soared, then come crashing down. Chase had moved on. When was she going to accept that?
“I couldn’t quit thinking about you after I left,” Dillon said. “I was wondering if you’d like to go to the movies tomorrow night?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’d love to.” Maybe she just hadn’t been ready for his kiss. Maybe next time...
“Great,” Dillon said. “I’ll pick you up at 5:30 if that’s all right. We can grab something to eat before we go to the theater.”
“Sounds perfect.” If Chase could see her now, she thought as she hung up. Dillon was handsome, but less rugged looking than Chase. Taller though by a good inch or two, and he wanted to go out with her.
She disconnected, determined to put Chase Steele behind her. He had moved on and now she was too. Next time, she would invite Dillon up to her apartment. But even as she thought it, she imagined Chase and the woman he was engaged to. While she was busy comparing every man she met to him, he’d found someone and fallen in love. It made her question if what she and Chase once had was really that unique and special. Just because it had been for her...
Mary willed herself not to think about him. She touched her tongue to her lower lip. Dillon had made her laugh, and he’d certainly been attentive. While the kiss hadn’t spurred a reaction in her, she was willing to give it another chance.
Her father didn’t trust the man, so didn’t that mean that there was more to Dillon than met the eye? Chase had always been a little wild growing up. Her father had been worried about her relationship with him. Maybe there was some wildness in Dillon that would make him more interesting.
As she fell asleep though, her thoughts returned to Chase until her heart was aching and tears were leaking onto her pillow.
Chapter Four (#u334c3399-2d31-5bc5-abd0-da2e5de306d5)
“How was your date?”
Mary looked up the next morning to find her mother standing in the doorway of her office holding two cups of coffee from the shop across the street. “Tell me that’s an ultimate caramel frappaccino.”
Dana laughed. “Do you mean layers of whipped cream infused with rich coffee, white chocolate and dark caramel? Each layer sitting on a dollop of dark caramel sauce?”
“Apparently I’ve mentioned why I love it,” she said, smiling at her mother as Dana handed her the cup. She breathed in the sweet scent for a moment before she licked some of the whipped cream off the top. “I hope you got one of these for yourself.”
“Not likely,” her mother said as she sat down across the desk from her. “The calories alone scared me off. Anyway, you know I prefer my coffee to actually taste like coffee. That’s why I drink it black.”
Mary grimaced and shook her head, always amazed how much she looked like her mother but the similarities seemed to have stopped there. What they shared was their love of Montana and determination to keep Cardwell Ranch for future generations. At least for the ones who wanted to stay here. Her three brothers had left quickly enough, thrown to the far winds. She wondered about her own children—when she had them one day with the man she eventually married. Would they feel wanderlust like Chase had? She knew she wouldn’t be able to make them stay nearby any more than she had him.
She took a sip of her coffee, hating that she’d let her thoughts wander down that particular path.
“I’m trying to tell if the date went well or not,” her mother said, studying her openly. “When I walked in, I thought it had, but now you’re frowning. Is your coffee all right?”
Mary replaced her frown with a smile as she turned her attention to her mother and away from Chase. “My coffee is amazing. Thank you so much. It was just what I needed. Normally I try to get over to Lone Peak Perk when it opens, but this morning I was anxious to get to work. I wish they delivered.”
Her mother gave her a pointed look. “Are you purposely avoiding talking about your date, because I’m more interested in it than your coffee habit.”
Laughing, she said, “The date was fine. Good. Fun, actually. We’re going out again tonight.”
Her mother raised a brow. “Again already? So he was a perfect gentleman?” Her mother took a sip of her coffee as if pretending she wasn’t stepping over a line.
“You’re welcome to tell Dad that he was,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Mary!” They both laughed. “So you like him?”
Mary nodded. Like was exactly the right word. She had hoped to feel more.
“You are impossible. You’re determined to make me drag everything out of you, aren’t you?”
“Not everything,” she said coyly. Her mother seemed to like this game they played. Mostly Dana seemed relieved that Mary was moving on after Chase. She didn’t like to see her daughter unhappy, Mary thought. It was time to quit moping over Chase, and they both knew it.
* * *
“SO HOW DID we do?” Deputy Dillon Ramsey asked his friend as he closed the cabin door and headed for the refrigerator for a beer as if he lived there.
“Picked up another three head of prime beef,” Grady Birch said, and quickly added, “They were patrolling the fences last night just like you said they would be. Smart to hit a ranch on the other side of the river. We got in and out. No sweat.”
“It’s nice that I know where the deputies will be watching.” Dillon grinned as he popped the top on his beer can and took a long swig.
“Trouble is, I heard around town that ranchers are going to start riding their fences. Word’s out.”
Dillon swore. “It was such easy pickings for a while.” He plopped down in one of the worn chairs in Grady’s cabin, feeling more at home in this ratty-ass place than in his nice apartment in Big Sky. “So we’ll cool it until the heat dies down.”
“Back to easy pickings, how did your date go?”
He grinned. “A couple more dates and I’ll have her eating out of my hand.”
Grady looked worried. “You’re playing with fire, you know. The marshal’s daughter?” His friend shook his head. “You sure this game you’re playing is worth it?”
Dillon laughed. “To be able to drive out to the Cardwell Ranch, sit on that big porch of theirs and drink the marshal’s beer right under his nose? You damn betcha it’s worth it.”
“Maybe I don’t understand the end game,” Grady suggested.
“I need this job until I can get enough money together to go somewhere warm, sit in the shade and drink fancy drinks with umbrellas in them for the rest of my life. I have plans for my future and they don’t include a woman, especially Mary Savage. But in the meantime...” He smiled and took a slug of his beer. “She ain’t half bad to look at. For her age, I get the feeling that she hasn’t had much experience. I’d be happy to teach her a few things.”
“Well, it still seems dangerous dating his daughter,” Grady said. “Unless you’re not telling me the truth and you’re serious about her.”
“I’m only serious about keeping the marshal from being suspicious of me. I told you, he almost caught me that one night after we hit the Cardwell Ranch. I had to do some fast talking, but I think I convinced him that I was patrolling the area on my night off.”
“And dating his daughter will make him less suspicious of you?”
“It will give him something else to worry about,” Dillon said with a grin. He knew he’d gotten the job only because of his uncle. He’d gone into law enforcement at his uncle’s encouragement. Also, he’d seen it as a get-out-of-jail-free card. No one would suspect a cop, right?
Unfortunately, his uncle had been more than suspicious about what Dillon had been doing to make some extra money. So it had come down to him leaving Wyoming to take the deputy job in the Gallatin Canyon of Montana.
“Mary Savage is a good-looking woman, no doubt about that,” Grady said as he got up to get them more beer.
Dillon watched him with narrowed eyes. “Don’t get any ideas. I’ve been priming this pump for a while now. And believe me, with your record, you wouldn’t want Marshal Hud Savage looking too closely at you. That’s one reason we can’t be seen together. As far as anyone knows, you and I aren’t even friends.”
* * *
MARSHAL HUD SAVAGE had been waiting patiently for the call since Deputy Dillon Ramsey had gone off duty. Still, when his phone rang, it made him jump. It wasn’t like him to be nervous. Then again, this was about his daughter. He had every right given his feelings about Dillon Ramsey.
He picked up the phone, glad to hear the voice of Hayes Cardwell, Dana’s cousin, on the other end of the line. It was nice to have several private investigators in the family. “Well?”
“You were right. He headed out of town the moment he changed out of his uniform,” Hayes said. “He went to a cabin back in the hills outside Gallatin Gateway. You’re probably more interested in who is renting the cabin than who owns it. Ever heard of a man named Grady Birch?”
The name didn’t ring any bells. “Who is he?”
“He has an interesting rap sheet that includes theft and assault. He’s done his share of cattle rustling.”
“And Dillon went straight there.”
“He did. In fact, he’s still inside. I’m watching the place from down the road with binoculars.”
“So it’s away from other houses,” Hud said. “Any chance there’s a truck around with a large horse trailer?”
“The kind that could be used to steal cattle?”
“Exactly,” the marshal said.
“There’s an old one parked out back. If they both leave, I might get a chance to have a look inside.”
“I doubt they’re going to leave together,” Hud said. “Thanks for doing this but I can take it from here.”
“No problem. What’s family for?”
“I’ll expect a bill for your time,” the marshal said. “Or I’ll tell Dana on you.”
Hayes laughed. “Don’t want her mad at me.”
“No one does. Also,” Hud added, “let’s keep this just between the two of us for now.” He disconnected and called up Grady Birch’s rap sheet. Hayes was right. Grady was trouble. So why wasn’t he surprised that his new deputy was hanging out with a man like that?
He’d known it the moment he laid eyes on the handsome lawman. Actually, he’d suspected there would be a problem when Dillon’s uncle called, asking for the favor. He’d wanted to turn the man down, but the uncle was a good cop who Hud had worked with on a case down in Jackson, Wyoming.
Hud rubbed a hand over his face. Dillon was everything he’d suspected he was, and now he was dating Mary. He swore. What was he going to do about it? In the first place, he had no proof. Yet. So warning Mary about him would be a waste of breath even if she didn’t find something romantic about dating an outlaw. Some people still saw cattle rustling as part of an Old West tradition. Also, his daughter was too old to demand that she stop seeing Dillon.
No, he was going to have to handle this very delicately, and delicate wasn’t in his repertoire. That didn’t leave him many options. Catching Dillon red-handed wouldn’t be easy because the deputy wasn’t stupid. Arresting him without enough evidence to put him away was also a bad move.
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