Cowboy's Reckoning

by B. J Daniels

  “How did you know that?” she asked, surprised.

  “Because it’s what you do. It’s what you enjoy.”

  She nodded. “How about fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens and—”

  He held up a hand. “I’m going to need to be able to waddle at least later if Barnes hits the house tonight.”

  “I’m not hungry either, but you were right. I need to cook.”

  “Go for it. I’m going to make sure that all the windows and doors are locked. If you need me—”

  “Oh, I’ll holler—don’t worry.” She went to work.

  * * *

  AS HE MOVED through the house, Henry listened to Billie Dee singing in the kitchen. The song didn’t have her usual cheerfulness in it, but she was making an attempt at normal. His heart swelled with love for the woman. He could smell chicken frying and marveled at what an amazing cook she was. His boys would love that about her.

  He thought of Tom and C.J. and felt his chest constrict. He had to be on his game tonight and not just for Billie Dee and the future he was planning with her. His sons and daughter needed him. Maybe one day, he and Billie Dee would be grandparents.

  That thought startled him a little. He didn’t know if she had children. If she’d ever been married. If she had family somewhere.

  Telling himself there would be time for all that, he moved through the house as darkness closed in around it. Barnes would come like a thief in the night. But where would he strike first? And would he come alone?

  That was what Henry tried to figure out as Billie Dee began to sing “Amazing Grace” in the kitchen. It was one of his favorite songs. He stopped for a moment to listen. The sound of shattering glass at the back of the house was quickly followed by Billie Dee’s scream.

  Before he could move, the window next to him shattered. He spun around, pulling his weapon as he did, but he wasn’t quite quick enough. The brick caught him in the temple.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  BILLIE DEE SCREAMED as a brick shattered the window in her kitchen door and came crashing into the room. A second later, Gary Barnes came barreling in. She dropped the metal spatula she’d been holding and scooped up the gun she’d left on the counter within reach.

  Turning, she got off one shot before he grabbed her, ripped the gun from her hand and pinned her against the kitchen counter.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t come after you?” he growled next to her ear as he tossed the gun behind him. It skidded across the floor and under her hutch. She tried to fight him, but it was useless. He was taller, younger, stronger. He quickly locked both hands around her neck. She clawed at him, but his grip on her only tightened.

  Where was Henry? She’d thought she’d heard another window shatter. Henry had been worried that Barnes wouldn’t come alone. She feared he hadn’t. Stars flashed before her eyes. Barnes was going to finish the job he’d started. She looked into his eyes and saw all that crazy and thought this was it. She was going to die.

  Anger bubbled up in her. She couldn’t let this psychopath take everything from her. Not when there was a chance she could help Henry. A chance that they could both survive this. Not when there was a chance to breathe.

  Reaching behind her, she found the handle of the cast-iron skillet with the chicken still frying in it. The handle was hotter than hell, but she ignored the searing pain as she grabbed and swung.

  * * *

  THE BRICK CAUGHT Henry in the temple. He stumbled and almost went down from the sudden pain. Darkness moved in at the corner of his vision. He didn’t see the man reach in, unlock the door and come flying in until it was almost too late. He’d managed to raise his gun even as he felt he might pass out. Blood was running into his left eye.

  The man was moving too fast. Before he could get off a shot, the bulk of the man hit him and took him down. They grappled for the gun, rolling on the floor. Henry felt the darkness around his vision recede. He was fighting for his life, but right now he was more worried about Billie Dee.

  His man wasn’t Barnes. Which meant that the man Billie Dee had to fear the most was in the kitchen with her right now.

  Henry used all his training to roll the man over on his back. Now on top, he freed an arm to strike the man in the throat. All the fight went out of the man. He hit him again. The last thing he needed was for the man to come after him again. He was half-blind from the blood still pouring into his left eye. The man had managed to hit him a few times, which had taken his breath away, but finally Henry had managed to get the man down and finished it.

  He struggled to his feet, wiping the blood away from his eye as he found his gun on the floor and rushed toward the kitchen, praying he wasn’t too late. Billie Dee had put all her faith in him. He couldn’t let her down.

  * * *

  THE SKILLET FULL of frying chicken and grease caught Barnes on the side of the head. The cast iron struck him hard. But it was the hot grease that splattered across his face that forced him to break his hold on her throat.

  He let out a howl of pain as the grease splashed across his face and into one eye. He released his hold on her to grab at his burning face, still screaming in agony. The skillet had gone flying, Billie Dee unable to hold on to the burning handle any longer.

  The skillet handle had seared her hand badly. The pain was excruciating, but nothing like the pain in her throat. A few more seconds and she would have passed out. She felt around for a knife, sure she’d left one on the counter behind her.

  Barnes lurched for her just as she knew he would. Her fingers closed around the knife handle, but she could barely feel it in her hand because of the burned flesh. She spun with the knife, but he grabbed her wrist, making her cry out as he twisted it.

  Behind him, she saw Henry come racing into the room. She hadn’t heard his approach and neither had Barnes because he was screaming in pain and fury as he again went for her throat.

  Henry put the gun to the crazed man’s head and fired. Billie Dee turned away but not before she’d seen what was left of Gary Barnes drop to the floor.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE REST OF the night was a blur. Being in Henry’s strong arms, hearing him make a call, changing her clothes because of the blood, and then the ride to the hospital for her burned hand and the cut on his temple.

  One of the men who came to help them had brought a change of clothes for Henry, she recalled. At the hospital, she remembered hearing him tell the doctor that she’d been making fried chicken in the kitchen when he heard her scream. She’d grabbed the handle of the cast-iron skillet. He’d come running in and slipped in the grease and hit his head on the kitchen island. The doctor shook his head, saying the story was a first for him.

  “You were lucky,” he told Billie Dee. “Your hand has second-degree burns. It could have been much worse if you’d gotten the grease on you.”

  Henry had six stitches. She’d thought he couldn’t look more handsome, but as she’d watched the doctor stitch him up, she’d felt such a surge of love for the man. He’d saved her—and almost gotten himself killed in the process.

  One of the men Henry had called had left Henry’s car for them at the hospital. As he drove her back toward her house, she said, “Are they still there at the house?”

  He shook his head. “You won’t even know they were ever there except for the windows. They won’t be able to replace those until tomorrow. Are you all right?”

  She nodded. “I haven’t felt this good since the night I left work late four years ago and witnessed Gary Barnes kill another man, then turn the gun on me.”

  Henry smiled over at her. “I’m glad. You’re free of him.”

  “I don’t know how this works. Won’t there be press coverage? I can’t stand the thought of having reporters chasing me again.”

  “Not this time. I took care of it
.” He shot her a look. “You’re wondering how.” He took a breath and let it out. “Gary Barnes’s body will be found in Texas. There will be no link to you. No publicity. No one else coming after you. It will be assumed that he was killed by the other man with him—apparently a man hired by one of the people he betrayed.”

  “You can do that?”

  He shrugged. “There are people who can. The trail will end back where it all started. Your name won’t come up. You’ll be forgotten. Except by me,” he said.

  She looked out at the winter wonderland that was Gilt Edge. The sun would be up soon on a new day. Another day that she and Henry had lived to tell about. She felt such a surge of joy at the thought. She’d been through hell, but thanks to Henry, she hadn’t just survived, she’d been given a second chance, and damned if this Texas girl wasn’t going to take it.

  Glancing over at Henry, she asked around the lump in her throat, “How will I ever be able to thank you enough?”

  “I don’t want or need thanks. I just want you.”

  She laughed. “You already have me.”

  He met her gaze as he pulled up in front of her house. “Not yet. But one of these days...”

  CHAPTER TEN

  IT FELT GOOD to be back in the kitchen at the Stagecoach Saloon. Her hand had healed. The Cahills had babied her to death over it, insisting that she sit at the table and tell them how to cook her dishes.

  “I’m not an invalid,” she’d argued, but they’d been insistent.

  “Anyway, it’s high time Lillie learned to cook,” her twin had joked.

  “Like Darby knows how to cook anything more than burgers,” Lillie had shot back.

  This morning Billie Dee was officially back at her stove. She found herself singing with happiness as she began to make her Texas chili.

  “Billie Dee?”

  Her heart did a backflip at the sound of Henry’s voice. The man had been good to his word. When they’d returned to the house as the sun came up that morning, there’d been no sign that anything had happened there—except for the broken windows that had been covered with plywood. But by the next morning, those, too, had been repaired.

  She’d thought she would have nightmares, but she’d lived too long with waking nightmares, knowing that if Gary Barnes were ever free he’d come after her and kill her. Now he was gone and she felt free and excited about the rest of her life.

  “Good morning,” she said as Henry came into the kitchen. He looked down the hall toward the still dark saloon then at the closed door to the upstairs apartment. “Just you and me?”

  She nodded and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She leaned into him, smelling his fresh-from-the-shower scent and feeling downright joyous. “Coffee?” she asked as the kiss ended.

  “Of course.”

  After pouring them each a cup, she joined him at the table. “I have a favor to ask,” she said.

  Henry reached over to brush a lock of her hair back from her cheek. “Anything.”

  “Could we keep this a secret for now?”

  “You and me? Is that what you want?” he asked, frowning.

  “I just want to cherish this for a while.” She put her hand over her heart. “It could be our wonderful, special secret. I don’t want to share it just yet. Once everyone knows...”

  He smiled and nodded. “I get it. But people are going to know about the two of us if I keep coming for coffee every morning and you keep looking at me like that.”

  Billie Dee laughed. “People have been making up stories about us since the first time someone saw you leave my kitchen.”

  “They thought we were—”

  “Having a love affair. It would explain why that neighbor of yours, Anna Carson, has been giving me dirty looks at the grocery store.”

  “What about the Cahills? They must suspect something.”

  “Lillie is suspicious, but her brothers? They will be surprised when the time comes to tell them. We’ve convinced them we are just friends.”

  He met her gaze. “I still want to marry you if you’ll have me. You’re single, right?”

  She smiled. “I am.”

  “But you have an aversion to marriage.”

  “Not on principle. Not for other people. For me, though, I like being my own boss.”

  Henry leaned toward her, his expression serious. “I would never take away your freedom to be your own boss or use marriage to force you into anything you didn’t want to do. Will you at least think about marrying me?”

  She smiled and nodded. From upstairs came the sound of movement. Soon the saloon would come alive with people. Billie Dee breathed in the smell of her favorite chili recipe and looked across the table at Henry. “Being with you...” She couldn’t put into words the raw emotion that made her heart beat so fast. But she saw from the shine in his eyes that she didn’t have to.

  “If marriage and this big diamond ring I’m carrying around in my pocket is too conventional for you...” He grinned. “I’ll take you any way I can get you. I’ve fallen madly in love with you, Billie Dee Rhodes. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  Smiling into those wonderful blue eyes of his, she said, “Me, too, cowboy. Me, too.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt of COWBOY’S LEGACY by B.J. Daniels.

  New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels takes you to the small town of Gilt Edge, Montana, in her captivating and compulsively readable Cahill Ranch series!

  It’s been nine years since Trask Beaumont left Gilt Edge, Montana... Tired of running, this rugged cowboy is back in town and determined to uncover the truth of the past so he can hope for a future with the woman he’s never forgotten.

  Renegade’s Pride

  Start reading today!

  Darby Cahill is the kind of guy who saves people and when he meets Mariah Ayres, he’s determined to protect her—and he’ll risk his life to do it...

  Outlaw’s Honor

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  When Sheriff Flint Cahill’s lover, Maggie, disappears, he knows his ex-wife is behind it. But with a winter storm coming, can he find her before it’s too late?

  Cowboy’s Legacy

  Order your copy today!

  “Super read by an excellent writer. Recommended!”

  —#1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller on Renegade’s Pride

  Can’t get enough? If you love strong cowboys, hot romance and thrilling suspense, then be sure to catch the thrilling Montana Hamiltons series!

  Honor Bound

  Into Dust

  Hard Rain

  Lucky Shot

  Lone Rider

  Wild Horses

  Complete your collection!

  “[The Montana Hamiltons] should definitely be on the must read list...a great introduction for new readers to this amazing author.”

  —Fresh Fiction

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  Cowboy's Legacy

  by B.J. Daniels

  CHAPTER ONE

  SHE WAS IN so fast that she didn’t have a chance to scream. The icy cold water stole her breath away. Her eyes flew open as she hit. Because of the way she fell, she had no sense of up or down f
or a few moments.

  Panicked, she flailed in the water until a light flickered above her. She tried to swim toward it, but something was holding her down. The harder she fought, the more it seemed to push her deeper and deeper, the light fading.

  Her lungs burned. She had to breathe. The dim light wavered above her through the rippling water. She clawed at it as her breath gave out. She could see the surface just inches above her. Air! She needed oxygen. Now!

  The rippling water distorted the face that suddenly appeared above her. The mouth twisted in a grotesque smile. She screamed, only to have her throat fill with the putrid dark water. She choked, sucking in even more water. She was drowning, and the person who’d done this to her was watching her die and smiling.

  Maggie Thompson shot upright in bed, gasping for air and swinging her arms frantically toward the faint light coming through the window. Panic had her perspiration-soaked nightgown sticking to her skin. Trembling, she clutched the bed covers as she gasped for breath.

  The nightmare had been so real this time that she thought she was going to drown before she could come out of it. Her chest ached, her throat feeling raw as tears burned her eyes. It had been too real. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d almost died this time. Next time...

  She snapped on the bedside lamp to chase away the dark shadows hunkered in the corners of the room. If only Flint had been here instead of on an all-night stakeout. She needed Sheriff Flint Cahill’s strong arms around her. Not that he stayed most nights. They hadn’t been intimate that long.

  Often, he had to work or was called out in the middle of the night. He’d asked her to move in with him months ago, but she’d declined. He’d asked her after one of his ex-wife’s nasty tricks. Maggie hadn’t wanted to make a decision like that based on Flint’s ex.

  While his ex hadn’t done anything in months to keep them apart, Maggie couldn’t rest easy. Flint was hoping Celeste had grown tired of her tricks. Maggie wasn’t that naive. Celeste Duma was one of those women who played on every man’s weakness to get what she wanted—and she wanted not just the rich, powerful man she’d left Flint for. She wanted to keep her ex on the string, as well.