B.J. Daniels the Cardwell Ranch Collection (14 page)

“I
SHOULD HAVE
trusted you.” Dana hadn’t believed that he’d been set up, that nothing had happened. She hadn’t loved him enough. If she’d trusted him, if she’d even let him tell her his side of the story…

“Hey, there were times I didn’t believe in my innocence myself,” he said, holding her at arm’s length to look into her face. “I thought maybe I’d lost my mind. Or worse, that I was about to become my father.”

The blaze in the fireplace popped and cracked, the flames throwing shadows on the walls. She could hear the wind howling outside. Snow hit the windows, sticking, then melting down. Inside, the fire burned. Outside, the storm raged, the snow piling deeper and deeper.

She looked up into Hud’s eyes and saw nothing but love. All her anger at herself
and her sister melted like the snow at the windows.

She covered one of his hands with her own, turning the palm up to kiss the warm center. She heard him let out a breath. Their eyes locked, the heat of his look warming her to her core.

“Oh, Hud,” she breathed. She heard his breath catch, saw the spark of desire catch fire in his eyes. “I’ve never stopped wanting you.”

He groaned and took her with a kiss, his mouth capturing hers as he tugged her even closer to him. She could feel the pounding of his heart, felt her body melt into his.

“I didn’t want to live without you,” he said as he pulled back. “The only way I was able to get through the past five years was to believe that you still loved me.”

She touched his cheek, then cupped his face in her hands and kissed him, teasing the tip of his tongue with her own.

He moaned against her lips, then swept her up into his arms, carrying her to the rug in front of the fire.

She pulled him down to her. His kiss was gentle and slow, as if they had all night to make love. They did.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, his hand trailing down the length of her neck. He leaned in to kiss her, his hand cupping her breast, and she groaned with the exquisite pleasure of his touch.

The fire warmed her skin as he slowly unbuttoned her blouse and pressed his lips to the hard nipple of one breast, then the other. She arched
against him, her fingers working at the buttons of his shirt.

Their clothes began to pile up in the corner as the fire popped and crackled, the heat shimmering over their naked bodies, damp with perspiration and wet warm kisses.

Their lovemaking was all heat and fire, a frenzied rush of passion that left them both breathless.

Hud held her, smoothing her hair under his hand, his eyes locked with hers as their bodies cooled.

Dana looked into his eyes, still stunned by the powerful chemistry that arced between them. Nothing had killed it. Not the pain, not the years.

She curled into his strong arms and slept. On this night, no wind woke her with a premonition. She had no warning what the day would bring. If only for one night, she felt safe. She felt loved.

Dana drove to Bozeman to the
hospital before daylight the next morning. Her father was still in stable condition, sedated and sleeping. She peeked in on him and then drove back to Big Sky and the shop.

She spent the quiet early morning before the shop opened unloading the latest shipment of fabric and pricing it. Unfortunately the task wasn’t difficult enough that it kept her from thinking about last night with Hud.

She wasn’t surprised when she heard a knock at the back door and saw him.

“Good morning,” he said, but his look said there was nothing good about it.

“Good morning.” She couldn’t believe how glad she was to see him. She’d never stopped being in love with him and even when she hadn’t known the truth, he’d been much harder to hate in the flesh than he’d been in her memory.

He pulled off his hat to rake his fingers through his thick sandy-blond hair. It was a
nervous habit. She felt a jolt, wondering what he had to be nervous about.

“You left before I woke up this morning,” he said.

She nodded sheepishly. “I needed to think about some things and go see my father.”

“Think about some things?”

She sighed, picking up a bolt of fabric and carrying it over to its spot on the wall. “About last night.”

“You’re afraid I’m going to hurt you again?” he asked behind her.

She turned and looked up into his wonderful face. “Do you blame me? You left me for five years.”

“But if you believe that Stacy was finally telling the truth—”

“I do, but…”

“You still can’t forget,” he said softly.

She reached up to cup his rough jaw. He hadn’t taken the time to shave. Instead he’d rushed right over here. “Last night made me feel all those old wonderful feelings again that we shared.”

“You know I came back here because of you. Because I still love you. I’m sorry I didn’t come back sooner. I should never have left.”

“You thought you’d lost everything, your career—”

“Losing you is what devastated my life, Dana. It took a while to get my head on straight.”

She nodded. “I just need to take it slow.” She dropped her hand and turned her back to him. Otherwise, she would be in his arms and Hilde would find them between racks of fabric making love on the hardwood floor when she came in.

“We can take it
as slow as you need,” he said. “Just don’t push me away again.” He pulled her around to face him and into his arms, kissing her until she was breathless.

She leaned into his strong, hard body and rested her cheek against his chest, his jacket open, his cotton shirt warm and soft. She could hear his heart beating fast and realized she’d scared him with her disappearing act this morning.

“I’m sorry I took off this morning,” she said against his chest.

He hugged her tighter. “I know you’re worried about your dad. And Stacy.” He sighed. “Dana, I found out that your brother Jordan got into town the day of your birthday.”

She pulled back a little to look at him. “He lied about that, too?”

Hud nodded. “I’m sorry, but I think he’s responsible for what happened at the well the night before last, and if he is, I’m going to have to arrest him.”

She made a sound deep down in her throat as she realized that most of her family could end up in jail the way things were going. “Hud, you and I both know that if Jordan had found those bones in the well he’d have covered them with fifteen feet of dirt and never given them another thought.”

Blood was thicker than water. But this was Hud and the truth was the truth.

“And don’t try to make me sound so noble,” she said. “I didn’t tell you everything.” She told him about going to see her
father about his .38, then about finding Jordan searching the ranch house and finally that Jordan and her father had been arguing just before Angus Cardwell’s collapse. “Is Dad’s .38 the murder weapon?” she asked, her heart in her throat.

“We don’t know yet. But I’m worried. I’d like you to drive out with me to talk to Stacy.”

“When I stopped by her place last night on the way to your cabin,” Dana said, “she wasn’t there.”

“Maybe she’s come back. Or maybe she left something behind that will give us an idea of where she’s gone. If what she told you is true, then someone was behind setting me up. I need to know who it was. And why. If she was being threatened with jail, then, Dana, I have a pretty good idea who was behind it. I just have to prove it. I need your help. Your sister might open up if we’re there together.”

As if on cue, Hilde came in the back door on a gust of wind. She looked surprised to see Dana at work so early and even more surprised to see Hud. She looked from one to the other, her gaze finally settling on Dana. She smiled, obviously seeing what Dana had hoped to keep a secret.

“Hello, Hud,” Hilde said.

“Nice to see you again, Hilde,” he said. “I just came by to steal your partner for a little while.”

“Be my guest,” Hilde said, giving Dana a meaningful look.

“We’re just going to look for Stacy,” Dana said. “It’s a long story.”

“I’m sure it is,” Hilde said, still
smiling.

Dana groaned inwardly. Her friend knew her too well. Hilde had seen the glow in her cheeks this morning, the sparkle in her eye. Hud had always been able to put it there. “Let me get my coat.”

S
NOW WAS PILED HIGH
on each side of the highway. Beside it, the river gurgled blue-green under a thick skin of transparent ice.

“You’re sure she said ‘jail’?”

Dana nodded. “She looked scared, Hud. I guess that’s why I believed her. She seemed to think she was in danger.”

“I think she set me up to keep me away from Judge Randolph’s house that night,” Hud said. “It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

“You think Stacy had something to do with the judge’s murder?”

“Look at the evidence, Dana. The judge was murdered the same night Stacy drugged me at the bar and made sure I wasn’t the one who responded to the call about shots fired at the Randolph house. Instead, my father took the call. Or at least that’s the story.”

“What are you saying, Hud? You can’t seriously think your own father was behind it.”

“Stacy was being threatened with jail, isn’t that what she said? Now she seems to be running scared.” Hud glanced over at Dana. “I think she’s afraid because she knows the truth about that night.”

“You can’t believe your father killed the judge.”

He sighed. “I don’t know what I believe. The judge had Alzheimer’s. He was about to
be asked to step down from the bench. Unless he had hard evidence against Brick, then the judge wasn’t really a threat.”

“So then your father had no motive.”

“So it would seem,” Hud said as he turned off Jack-rabbit Road onto Cameron Bridge Road.

“Maybe the fact that the judge was killed that night was just a coincidence,” Dana said.

He wished he could believe that.

Stacy was in between husbands right now and living in the house she was awarded in the divorce settlement from Emery Chambers. The divorce that, according to Lanny, Hud had helped her get.

“It has to be about more than just splitting us up. Who would care enough to go to all that trouble?” Hud said.

“Stacy for one.”

“What about Lanny?” He saw Dana shiver. “What?”

“When he heard you were back in town he was very angry.”

Hud rubbed his still sore jaw. “I noticed.”

He drove a few miles down the river before turning into a graveled yard in front of a large older house. There were no fresh tracks in the snow. No one had been in or out since Dana had stopped by last night.

Through the windows in the garage, Dana could see that Stacy’s car was still gone.

“Let’s give it a try anyway,” Hud said, and opened his door.

Dana followed him up the unshoveled walk and waited while he
knocked. Through the trees, he could see an open hole in the ice on the Gallatin River, the water a deep, clear green. The air smelled of fresh snow and cottonwoods.

He knocked again, then turned to see Dana bend to pick up something from the snow beside the front step. A black glove.

“It’s one of the cashmere gloves my sister was wearing yesterday when she came to the house.”

His mouth went dry. Stacy had come back here after the family meeting, then left again?

He reached for the doorknob. It turned in his hand, the door swinging into the empty living room. He signaled Dana to wait as he moved quickly through the house, weapon drawn. Something about the empty feel of the house made him fear he wasn’t going to find Stacy. At least not alive.

Upstairs, the bedroom looked as if a bomb had gone off in it.

“It’s clear,” he called down to Dana.

“My God,” Dana said as she saw the room, the drawers hanging open and empty, clothes hangers on the floor or cocked at an odd angle as if the clothing had been ripped from them.

She moved to the closet and touched one of the dresses that had been left behind. “She’s either running scared or someone wants us to believe she is.”

He nodded, having already come to the same conclusion. If Stacy was as scared as Dana had said and decided to blow town, she would have grabbed just what
she needed. Or left without anything. She wouldn’t have tried to take everything. Or would she? Maybe she wasn’t planning to ever come back.

“Who are you calling?” Dana asked, sounding worried.

“I’m going to have some deputies search the wooded area behind the house,” he said. “Just as a precaution.”

Dana nodded, but he saw that she feared the same thing he did. That Stacy had been telling the truth. Her life had been in danger.

While they waited for the deputies to arrive and search the woods around the house, they searched the house again, looking for anything that would give them a clue.

They found nothing.

“Do you want me to take you home?” Hud offered.

Dana shook her head. “Please just take me back to the shop.”

“Hilde’s working with you all day, right?” Hud asked.

“Yes, I’ll be fine. We both have work to do. And maybe Stacy will contact me.”

He nodded. “I just don’t want you alone. Especially now with your sister missing.” His cell phone rang.

It was Roadside Café owner and former cook Leroy Perkins. “You were asking about Ginger’s old roommate the other day,” Leroy said. “I finally remembered her name. Zoey Skinner. I asked around. You’d be surprised how much cooks know about what’s going on. The good ones anyway can cook
and
listen.” He laughed. “Zoey’s working at a café in West Yellowstone. The Lonesome Pine Café.”

“Thanks.” Hud broke the
connection and looked over at Dana. “I need to go up to West Yellowstone. I’ll be back before you get off work.” He hesitated. “I was hoping we could have dinner together.”

“Is that what you were hoping?” she asked with a smile.

“Actually, I was hoping you would come back to the cabin tonight. I could pick up some steaks…But maybe that’s moving too fast for you.” He gave her an innocent grin. “I can’t stand having you out of my sight.”

“I told you I’ll be safe at the shop,” she said.

“I wasn’t thinking of your safety.”

She met his gaze and felt that slow burn in her belly. “Dinner at your cabin sounds wonderful. I just need to go home and feed Joe.”

“I’ll stop off and feed Joe and then pick you up at the shop,” he suggested.

She knew he just didn’t want her going back to the ranch house. The thought of it did make her uncomfortable, but it was still her home—a home she was fighting to keep. “I at least need to go out to the ranch and pick up some clothes. Why don’t you meet me there?”

She could see he didn’t like that idea.

“I’ll be waiting for you at your house,” he said.

She didn’t argue. She felt safe believing that no one would attack either her or Hud in broad daylight. But once it got dark, she would think again of the doll in the well and remember that she was more than likely the target. It chilled her to the
bone to think of what could have happened if she hadn’t gone up there with the shotgun.

“Just be careful, okay?” Hud said.

“You, too.” She touched his cheek and ached to be in his arms again. Whose fool idea was it to take things slow?

A
S
H
UD PULLED INTO
the lake house, he found his father shoveling snow.

“I don’t see you for years then I see you twice in two days?” Brick said with a shake of his head as Hud got out of the patrol car.

Brick set aside the snow shovel he’d been using on the walk. “I suppose you want to talk. It’s warmer inside.”

Without a word, Hud followed.

“I could make some coffee,” Brick said, shrugging out of his coat at the door.

“No need.” Hud stood just inside, not bothering to take off his boots or his coat. He wouldn’t be staying long.

Brick slumped down onto the bench by the door and worked off his boots. He seemed even smaller today in spite of all the winter clothing he wore. He also seemed stoved-up as if just getting his boots off hurt him but that he was trying hard not to let Hud see it.

“So what’s on your mind?” Brick said. “If it’s about the robbery again—”

“It’s about Stacy Cardwell.”

Brick looked up from unlacing his boots, cocking his head as if he hadn’t heard right. “What about her?”

“She admitted that she helped set me
up the night the judge was killed five years ago.”

Brick lifted a brow. “And you believe her?” He let his boot drop to the floor with a thud as he rose and walked stocking-footed toward the kitchen.

“She said she did it so she wouldn’t have to go to jail,” he said, raising his voice as he spoke to his father’s retreating back.

Brick didn’t turn, didn’t even acknowledge that he’d heard. Hud could hear him in the kitchen running water. He stood for a moment, the snow on his boots melting onto the stone entryway. “Did you hear me?”

“I heard you.” Brick appeared in the kitchen doorway, an old-fashioned percolator coffeepot in his hand. “I’m going to make coffee. You might as well come on in. You can’t hurt the floor.” He turned his back, disappearing into the kitchen again.