by B. J Daniels
“You and Cassie,” she said, shaking her head.
“It was only one night. I had no idea she had conceived, since we used protection. But nothing is failsafe, huh?”
“She didn’t realize she was pregnant with your baby until after you met Katie and fell in love with her,” Sam said.
“She still should have told me,” he said, then shook his head, obviously thinking how that would have changed all of their lives.
“What about Katie?”
Charley smiled. “I told her. She says she’s fine with whatever I decide to do.”
Sam held her breath. “What are you going to do?”
“Tell Zack the truth. Someday. When he’s older. Right now he’s confused enough. He’s just lost the only father he’s ever known. For now, Lucas was Zack’s father. Let’s leave it at that.”
“What are you saying?” she asked, her heart in her throat.
“That it’s time for you to tell Will what happened five years ago,” Charley said. “He loves you and I know you love him. Clean the slate. Tell him everything. Then decide what it is you want and go for it.”
“I already know what I want.” She held his gaze. “I want Will. And Zack.”
Charley nodded. “It’s obvious that Zack loves you and Will, and that the two of you feel the same way about him.” He stopped as if overcome with emotion. “I couldn’t bear not to see Zack grow up now that I know about him. But I will be able to, as your son, Sam. And my nephew.”
She threw her arms around her cousin’s neck.
He held her for a long moment. “So what are you waiting for?”
“Courage,” she whispered.
“Cousin,” he said, holding her at arm’s length. “You have more courage than any woman I’ve ever known. And more love to give. You’re going to make Zack a great mother.”
She hugged Charley once more, then headed for Will’s room.
* * *
WHEN SAMANTHA PUSHED OPEN the door to Will’s room, her heart fell at the sight of the stripped bed. She’d missed him! He’d already gone home.
Then she heard him. He was on the phone. She stepped in and saw him sitting in the alcove by the window.
“It has to be a bright-red boy’s bike,” he was saying. “You have one in stock that size? Great! I’m going to have to get back to you about where to deliver it. No problem.” He hung up, smiling.
Seeing the happiness in his face, she started to back out of the room. She didn’t want to add any more pain. After all, she’d almost gotten him killed, not to mention everything else she’d put him through the past few days. He must be anxious to get back to his old life. That’s where he belonged.
But before she could escape, he seemed to sense her, and turned. “Samantha,” he said softly.
“They’re letting you leave,” she said lamely. “That’s good. I guess you’re all right?”
He nodded, his gaze intent on her face. “My head’s too hard for something like a gun butt to do much damage,” he said, motioning to the clean white bandage on his temple. “Just a slight concussion.”
She couldn’t go through with this. No matter what Charley said. “I need to tell you something.”
“I need to tell you something, too,” Will said.
Oh boy, here we go.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she said quickly. “I already know.”
“You do?” He sounded surprised.
She nodded, unable to speak for a moment. “I want to tell you about Lucas and me.”
He frowned. “Yes?”
“Five years ago, after I found out about Cassie and Lucas, I did something really stupid. I was upset, and I got into my car and I started driving.” She stopped for breath. “It was snowing out and the roads were slick and I was crying.”
“I know you had a car wreck,” he said quietly.
She nodded and took another breath. “But what you don’t know, that no one but Charley knows, is that—” The tears came in a wave. She choked back a sob.
Will rushed to her and took her in his arms. “It’s all right, Sam. Whatever it is, it’s all right.”
“I was pregnant with Lucas’s baby.” The words were out. Finally. “I was pregnant and I killed my baby in the wreck.”
All the guilt, all the grief, all the pain she’d held inside her for five years came out in a flood.
“Oh, Sam,” Will whispered as he hugged her. “Oh, Sam.” She cried then for all she’d lost. For the little baby who had ended her dream of motherhood and marriage with Lucas.
Will held her until her tears waned, then got her a cold washcloth and waited while she pressed it to her face.
“I’m glad you told me,” he said after a few moments. “I knew something else had happened to you. I thought it was just Lucas.”
She shook her head.
“He never knew?”
She shook her head again. “He was already planning to marry Cassie.” She straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eye. “There’s one more thing.”
He braced himself.
“It’s Zack. Cassie told me who his father is.”
“Charley.”
She stared at him. “You already knew?”
“Suspected as much. The resemblance is amazing, added to the fact that you all went to college at the same time.” He grinned at her. “Is it my turn?”
“Not just yet,” she said, and seemed to fortify herself. “I intend to adopt Zack. Before Cassie died she asked that I be made legal guardian.”
He nodded, not surprised.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“What about your private investigator work?”
“I have quite a bit of money saved. I can keep the agency open and hire investigators and stay at home and raise Zack.”
He studied her. “Is that what you really want?”
She seemed to soften. “It’s what I always wanted. I almost had it once, and when I lost it—Well, I told myself I wanted a career, something hard-hitting, even dangerous.”
“And now?” he asked, afraid he was either dreaming or delirious.
“I want to make a family for Zack,” she said confidently.
He raised a brow. “All by yourself?”
“A lot of single women raise children alone nowadays,” she said, lifting her chin.
He had to smile. “Yeah, but Zack needs a father. An in-house father. And I need a bride.”
“Will—”
He silenced her with a kiss. “I thought I knew exactly what I was looking for in a bride. When I saw you, I knew you were the one. Then I got to know you.” He laughed.
“If this is your idea of sweeping me off my feet, it isn’t working,” she pointed out.
He cupped her face in his hands. “I kept telling myself that I couldn’t live with a P.I. for a wife. But I realized something when I was telling my sister about you. You might not be what I planned in a bride, but you are exactly what I want. I’m wildly, passionately, crazy in love with you.”
“Much better,” she said, smiling up into his eyes.
“I love you, Samantha Murphy. I want to marry you and adopt Zack and have a dozen more kids. We can live in Butte or Billings or wherever you want. I’ll build us a house, large enough for your whole family. If you want to be a private eye or a mortician or a jet pilot, I don’t care. Whatever you want, Sam, just say you’ll be my bride.”
She smiled, feeling like Cinderella all over again. With tears in her eyes, she leaned up to kiss her prince. “I love you, too, Will, but are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”
“With you I never know,” he said, and laughed as he drew her to him. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Let’s go get Zack and tell him the news! Oh yeah, and we have to pick up a bright-red bicycle on the way.”
* * * * *
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6165-9
MYSTERY BRIDE
Copyright © 2001 by Barbara Heinlein.
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The kidnapping of the McGraw twins devastated this ranching family. Twenty-five years later, when a true crime writer investigates, will the family be able to endure the truth?
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DARK HORSE,
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WHITEHORSE, MONTANA: THE MCGRAW KIDNAPPING
“I want to ask you about your babies,” Nikki said. “Oakley and Jesse Rose?” Was it her imagination or did the woman clutch the dolls even harder to her thin chest?
“What happened the night they disappeared?” Did Nikki really expect an answer? She could hope, couldn’t she? Mostly, she needed to hear the sound of her voice in this claustrophobic room. The rocking had a hypnotic effect, like being pulled down a rabbit hole.
“Everyone outside this room believes you had something to do with it. You and Nate Corwin.” No response, no reaction to the name. “Was he your lover?”
She moved closer, catching the decaying scent that rose from the rocking chair as if the woman was already dead. “I don’t believe it’s true. But I think you might know who kidnapped your babies,” she whispered.
The speculation at the time was that the kidnapping had been an inside job. Marianne had been suffering from postpartum depression. The nanny had said that Mrs. McGraw was having trouble bonding with the babies and that she’d been afraid to leave Marianne alone with them.
And, of course, there’d been Marianne’s secret lover—the man who everyone believed had helped her kidnap her own children. He’d been implicated because of a shovel found in the stables with his bloody fingerprints on it—along with fresh soil—even though no fresh graves had been found.
“Was Nate Corwin involved, Marianne?” The court had decided that Marianne McGraw couldn’t have acted alone. To get both babies out the second-story window, she would have needed an accomplice.
“Did my father help you?”
There was no sign that the woman even heard her, let alone recognized her alleged lover’s name. And if the woman had answered, Nikki knew she would have jumped out of her skin.
She checked to make sure Tess wasn’t watching as she snapped a photo of the woman in the rocker. The flash lit the room for an instant and made a snap sound. As she started to take another, she thought she heard a low growling sound coming from the rocker.
She hurriedly took another photo, though hesitantly, as the growling sound seemed to grow louder. Her eye on the viewfinder, she was still focused on the woman in the rocker when Marianne McGraw seemed to rock forward as if lurching from her chair.
A shriek escaped her before she could pull down the camera. She had closed her eyes and thrown herself back, slamming into the wall. Pain raced up one shoulder. She stifled a scream as she waited for the feel of the woman’s clawlike fingers on her throat.
But Marianne McGraw hadn’t moved. It had only been a trick of the light. And yet, Nikki noticed something different about the woman.
Marianne was smiling.
Don’t miss
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Copyright © 2017 by Barbara Heinlein
New York Times bestselling author
B.J. DANIELS
takes readers back to her
fan-favorite Whitehorse, Montana mini-series
with a suspense packed trilogy!
Three stories of suspense and cowboys who face down danger with their own brand of Western justice.
DARK HORSE
DEAD RINGER
ROUGH RIDER
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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
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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?
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ISBN-13: 9781488080395
Mysterious Montana © 2017 by Harlequin Books S.A
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
Woman with a Mystery
Copyright © 2010 by Barbara Heinlein
Mystery Bride
Copyright © 2010 by Barbara Heinlein
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xpress written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
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