by B. J Daniels
Dillon took a step toward Chase. “Stop,” Mary cried, sure that the two were going to get physical at any moment. She looked at Chase, still shocked by his return as well as his declaration of love. “I’ll talk to you later.”
He smiled again then, the smile that she’d fallen in love with at a very young age. “Count on it.” He stepped back and tipped his Stetson to her, then to Dillon. “I’ll be around.” In a few long-legged strides, he climbed the slope away from the creek.
“You coming?” Dillon asked, sounding irritated.
She sighed and started up the slope away from the creek. As they topped the hill, she saw Chase had gone to the house and was now visiting with her mother on the front porch. She could hear laughter and felt Dillon’s angry reaction to Chase and her mother appearing so friendly.
He seemed to be gritting his teeth as he asked, “What’s his story, anyway? He’s obviously more than a friend,” Dillon said as he opened the passenger-side door of his pickup and glared in Chase and Dana’s direction.
“I told you, we grew up together,” she said as she slid in and he slammed the door.
Dillon joined her. He seemed out of breath. For a moment he just sat there before he turned toward her. “You were lovers.” It wasn’t a question.
“We were high school and college sweethearts,” she said.
“He’s still in love with you.” He was looking at Chase and her mother on the porch.
She groaned inwardly and said nothing. Of course with Chase showing up it was only a matter of time before he and Dillon crossed paths in a place as small as Big Sky. But why today of all days?
“He acts like he owns you.” Dillon still hadn’t reached to start the truck. Nor did he look at her. “Did he think he could come back and take up where the two of you left off?”
She’d thought the same thing, but she found herself wanting to defend Chase. “We have a history—”
He swung his head toward her, his eyes narrow and hard. “Are you getting back together?”
For a moment she was too taken aback to speak. “I didn’t even know he was back in town until a few minutes ago. I was as surprised as you were, but I don’t like your tone. What I decide to do is really none of your business.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chase hug her mother, then head for his pickup.
“Is that right?” Dillon demanded. “Good to know where I stand.”
“You know, I’m no longer in the mood for a hike or lunch,” she said, and reached for the door handle as Chase headed out of the ranch.
Dillon grabbed her arm, his fingers biting into her tender flesh. “He comes back and you dump me?”
“Let go of me.” She said it quietly, but firmly.
He quickly released her. “Sorry. I hope I didn’t—It’s just that I thought you and I... And then seeing him and hearing him tell you that he was still in love with you.” He shook his head, the look on his face making her weaken.
“Look, I told you. It came as a shock for me too,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m sorry if you feel—”
“Like I was just a stand-in until your old boyfriend got back?”
“That isn’t what you were.”
“No?” His voice softened. “Good, because I’m not ready to turn you over to him.” As he said the words, he trailed his fingers from her bare shoulder slowly down to her wrist. Her skin rippled with goose bumps and she shivered. “I still want to see that penthouse view. Can I call you later?”
She felt confused. But she knew that she wasn’t in any frame of mind to make a decision about Dillon right now. She felt herself nod. “We’ll talk then,” she said, and climbed out of the pickup, closing the door behind her. Still rattled by everything that had happened, she stood watching him drive away, as tears burned her eyes. Chase had come back. Chase still loved her.
But there was the threatening woman who’d called her saying she was his fiancée. Fiona. And no doubt others. And there was Dillon. Chase had no right to come back here and make any demands on her. He’d let her go for weeks without a word after he’d gotten the letter.
Chase and Dillon had immediately disliked each other, which Mary knew shouldn’t have surprised her. Dillon’s reaction threw her the most. Did he really have feelings for her? She felt as if it was too early. They barely knew each other. Was it just a male thing?
Still, it worried her. The two men were bound to run into each other again. Next time she might not be around to keep them from trying to kill each other.
* * *
Chase mentally kicked himself. He should have called, should have written. But even as he thought it, he knew he’d had to do this in person. If it hadn’t been for Fiona and her dirty tricks... He shook his head. He was to blame for that too and he knew it.
Well, he was here now and damned if he was going to let some deputy steal the woman he loved, had always loved.
He let out a long breath as he drove toward the ranch where he would be working until he started his carpenter job. All the way to Montana he’d been so sure that by now he’d be holding Mary in his arms.
He should have known better. He’d hurt her. Had he really thought she’d still be waiting around for him? He thought of all the things he’d planned to tell her—before that deputy had interrupted them.
Assuring himself that he’d get another chance and soon, he smiled to himself. Mary was even more beautiful than she’d been when he left. But now there was a confidence about her. She’d come into her own. He felt a swell of pride. He’d never doubted that the woman could do anything she set her mind to.
Now all he had to do was convince her that this cowboy was worth giving a second chance.
* * *
Hud read through the coroner’s report a second time, then set it aside. Prints were still being lifted from Christy Shore’s car, but the area around the battery where someone had disabled the engine had been wiped clean. Fibers had been found from what appeared to be a paper towel on the battery.
There was no doubt in his mind that Christy’s death had been premeditated. Someone had tampered with her battery, needing her to walk home that night so she could be run down. Which meant that the killer must have been waiting outside the bar. Just her luck that she had stayed so late that there was no one around to give her a ride somewhere.
The killer wanted him to believe the hit and run had been an accident. He’d already heard rumors that she’d been hit by a motor home of some tourist passing through. He knew better. This was a homicide, and he’d bet his tin star that the killer was local and not just passing through.
Picking up his notebook, he shoved back his chair and stood. It was time to talk to the two men who’d fought over Christy earlier in the night. Only one name had surprised him—Grady Birch, Deputy Dillon Ramsey’s friend—because the name had just come up in his cattle rustling investigation.
He decided to start with Grady, pay him a surprise visit, see how that went before he talked to the other man, Chet Jensen, the son of a neighboring rancher who’d been in trouble most of his life.
But when he reached the rented cabin outside Gallatin Gateway, Grady was nowhere around. Hud glanced in the windows but it was hard to tell if the man had skipped town or not.
* * *
Mary joined her mother in a rocking chair on the front porch after Chase and Dillon had left. Dana had joked about feeling old lately, and had said maybe she was ready for a rocking chair. Mary had laughed.
But as she sat down in a chair next to her, she felt as if it was the first time she’d looked at her mother in a very long time. Dana had aged. She had wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, her hair was now more salt than pepper and there was a tiredness she’d seldom seen in her mother’s bearing.
“Are you all right?” her mother asked her, stealing the exact words Mary had been about to say to her. Dan
a perked up a little when she smiled and reached over to take her daughter’s hand.
“I saw you visiting with Chase,” Mary said.
Her mother nodded. “It was good to see him. He left you his phone number.” With her free hand she reached into her pocket and brought out a folded piece of notepaper and gave it to her.
She glanced at the number written on it below Chase’s name. Seeing that there was nothing else, she tucked it into her pocket. “What did he tell you?”
“We only talked about the ranch, how much the town has grown, just that sort of thing.”
“He says he came back because he loves me, never stopped loving me. But I never told you this...” She hesitated. There was little she kept from her mother. “I got a call from a woman who claimed to be his fiancée. She warned me about contacting him again.”
Dana’s eyes widened. “This woman threatened you?”
“Chase says it was a delusional woman he made the mistake of spending one night with. Fiona.” Even saying the name hurt.
“I see. Well, now you know the truth.”
Did she? “I haven’t forgotten why we broke up.” She’d caught Chase kissing Beth Anne Jensen. He’d sworn it was the first and only time, and that he hadn’t initiated it. That he’d been caught off guard. She’d known Beth Anne had had a crush on Chase for years.
But instinctively she’d also known that her parents were right. She and Chase had been too young to be as serious as they’d been, especially since they’d never dated anyone else but each other. “You try to lasso him and tie him down now, and you’ll regret it,” her father had said. “If this love of yours is real, he’ll come back.”
She’d heard her parents love story since she was a child. Her father had left and broken her mother’s heart. He’d come back though and won her heart all over again. “But what if he isn’t you, Dad? What if he doesn’t come back?”
“Then it wasn’t meant to be, sweetheart, and there is nothing you can do about that.”
“Will you call him?” her mother asked now.
“I feel like I need a little space without seeing either Dillon or Chase,” she said. “I still love Chase, but I’m not sure I still know him.”
“It might take some time.”
“I guess we’ll see if he sticks around long enough to find out.” She pushed to her feet. “I need to get to my office.”
“I’m glad he came back,” her mother said. “I always liked Chase.”
Mary smiled. “Me too.”
But as she drove back to her office, she knew she wouldn’t be able to work, not with everything on her mind. As she pulled into her parking spot next to her building, she changed her mind and left again to drive up into the mountains. She parked at the trailhead for one of her favorite trails and got out. Maybe she’d take a walk.
Hours later, ending up high on a mountain where she could see both the Gallatin Canyon and Madison Valley on the other side, she had to smile. She was tired, sweaty and dusty, and it was the best she’d felt all day.
The hike had cleared her mind some. She turned back toward the trailhead as the sun dipped low, ignoring calls on her cell phone from both men.
* * *
Down the street from Mary’s building, Lucy studied herself in the rearview mirror of her SUV, surprised that she now actually thought of herself as Lucy. It was her new look and her ability to become someone else. It had started in junior high when she’d been asked to audition for a part in a play.
She’d only done it for extra credit since she’d been failing science. Once she’d read the part though, she’d felt herself become that character, taking on the role, complete with the accent. She’d been good, so good that she’d hardly had to try out in high school to get the leading roles.
Now as she waited, she felt antsy. Mary had come home and then left again without even getting out of her car. Lucy had been so sure that Chase would have made it to Montana by now. Waiting for him, she’d had too much time to think. What if she was wrong? What if he hadn’t been hightailing it back here to his sweet little cowgirl?
What if he’d left Arizona, then changed his mind, realizing that what he had with her was more powerful than some old feelings for Mary Cardwell Savage? What if he’d gone back for her only to find out that she’d drowned and that everyone was waiting for some poor soul to find her body along the edge of the river downstream?
The thought made her heart pound. Until she remembered what she’d done to his pickup engine. Who knew where he’d broken down and how long it would take for him to get the engine fixed. If it was fixable.
No, he’d made it clear that he didn’t want her. Which meant he would show up here in Big Sky. She just had to be patient and not do anything stupid.
She’d realized that she should approach this the same way she’d gone after prospective buyers in real estate. The first step was to find out what she was up against. Lucy smiled. She would get to know her enemy. She would find her weakness. She already had a plan to gain Mary’s trust.
Not that she was getting overconfident. Just as important was anticipating any problems—including getting caught. With each step toward her goal, she needed to consider every contingency.
Some precautions were just common sense. She’d purchased a burner phone. She hadn’t told anyone she’d known that she was alive, not even Patty. She hadn’t left a paper trail. Taking all her money out of the bank before what the authorities thought was an attempted suicide had been brilliant. Just as was wearing gloves when she tampered with Christy Shores’ battery.
It had been pure hell living with three older stepbrothers. But they’d taught her a lot about cars, getting even and never leaving any evidence behind. She’d used everything they’d taught her the night she burned down her stepfather’s house—with her stepfather, mother and stepbrothers inside.
But sometimes she got overzealous. Maybe she’d gone too far when she’d put the bleach into Chase’s engine oil. She’d considered loosening the nuts on his tires, but she hadn’t wanted him to die. Not yet. And definitely not where she wouldn’t be there.
But what if he couldn’t make it to Montana now? Shouldn’t he have been here by now? If he was coming. She was beginning to worry a little when she saw him. As if she’d conjured him up, he drove past where she was parked to stop in front of Mary’s building. Lucy watched him park and jump out. Her heart began to pound as he strode purposely toward Mary’s building to knock on the door.
Her stomach curdled as she watched him try to see into the windows before he stepped back to stare up at the top floor. “Sorry, your little cowgirl isn’t home,” she said under her breath. There were no lights on nor was Mary’s pickup where she always parked it. But it was clear that Chase was looking for her. What would he do when he found her? Profess his undying love? As jealousy’s sharp teeth took a bite out of her, she was tempted to end this now.
She’d picked up a weapon at a gun show on her way to Big Sky. All she had to do was reach under her seat, take out the loaded handgun, get out and walk over to him. He wouldn’t recognize her. Not at first.
He would though when she showed him the gun she would have had hidden behind her back. “This is just a little something from Fiona.” She smiled as she imagined the bullet sinking into his black heart.
But what fun would that be? Her plan was to make him suffer. The best way to do that was through his precious Mary. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t deviate from the plan. No more acting on impulse. This time, she wouldn’t make the same mistakes she’d made in the past.
As she watched Chase climb back into his pickup and drive away, she was trembling with anticipation at just the thought of what she had in store for the cowboy and his cowgirl.
Chapter 7
The next morning, Mary saw that Lone Peak Perk was open again. Just the thought of one of her ultimate cara
mel frappaccinos made her realize it was exactly what she needed right now.
Stepping through the door, she breathed in the rich scent of coffee and felt at home. The thought made her smile. She would be in a fog all day if she didn’t have her coffee and after the restless night she’d had...
As she moved to the counter, she saw that there was a new young woman working. Had they already replaced Christy? The woman’s dark hair was styled in a pixie cut that seemed to accent her dark eyes. She wore a temporary name tag that had LUCY printed neatly on it.
“So what can I get you?” Lucy asked with a slight lisp and a Southern accent as she flashed Mary a wide gap-toothed smile.
“One of your ultimate caramel frappaccinos to go.”
The young woman laughed. “That one’s my favorite.”
“I was so sorry to hear about Christy,” Mary said.
“I didn’t really know her.” Lucy stopped what she was doing for a moment to look over her shoulder at her. “I was shocked when I realized that Christy was the one who took my application. She was nice. I couldn’t believe it when I got the call. I hate that her bad luck led to my good luck. My application was on the top of the pile.”
“What brought you to Big Sky?” Mary asked, seeing that she’d made the young woman uncomfortable.
“Wanderlust. I had a job waiting for me in Spokane, but I found exactly what I was looking for right here in Big Sky, Montana. Is this the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen?”
Mary had to smile. “I’ve always thought so. Where are you from? I detect an accent.”
Lucy laughed. “Texas. I can’t seem to overcome my roots.”
“I’d keep it if I were you.”
“You think?” the woman asked as she set down the go cup on the counter in front of her.
Mary nodded. “I do. I hope you enjoy it here.”