by B. J Daniels
Closed as far as the mayor was concerned, Buford thought after he hung up. But there was that missing note and the mystery of who—and why—the person had taken it. If it had been Sanderson’s guest Jennifer “JJ” James, then they would never know what the note said.
Buford told himself it didn’t matter. Martin Sanderson’s death had been ruled a suicide. The infamous JJ had died in a car wreck. All the loose ends had been neatly tied up. What more did he want?
With a curse, he called the garage where Jennifer James’s car had been taken and asked the head mechanic to check to see if someone might have tampered with the brake line.
Chapter Seven
The next day Logan was still angry with himself and Blythe. Why wouldn’t she let him help her? Stubborn pride? He, of all people, understood that.
What bothered him was that the night he’d danced with her, he’d seen a strength in her that had drawn him. Now though she seemed scared. What had happened between their last dance and now? Something, and whatever it was had her on the run and hiding out here with him.
He couldn’t help but feel protective of her. Whatever she needed, he would do his best to give it to her if she would just let him. He was worried about her. But he told himself the woman he’d danced with was too strong and determined to let whatever had happened beat her. Maybe she just needed time.
As for what had happened last night… He’d wanted to kiss her, wanted her in his arms, in his bed. He was still mentally kicking himself for pushing her away. He could imagine what his brothers would have said if they’d heard that he turned down a beautiful, desirable woman.
But Blythe wasn’t just any woman.
And he’d meant what he’d said last night. He wanted more than just sex with her. Logan chuckled, thinking again about what his brothers would say to that.
Speaking of his brothers, he thought with a curse. One of the Chisholm Cattle Company pickups was coming down the lane in a cloud of dust. As the truck drew closer, he recognized his brother Zane behind the wheel.
He glanced toward the stairs. Blythe hadn’t come down yet this morning. He’d hated the way he’d left things last night. But by the time he’d come in after mentally kicking himself all over the ranch yard, her door upstairs had been closed, the light off.
Late last night, unable to sleep, he’d decided that whatever Blythe was running from had something to do with an article in yesterday’s newspaper. He’d ridden down this morning, but today’s paper hadn’t come yet. Maybe the best thing to do was go into town to the library so he could go through a few days papers on the internet. He couldn’t imagine what she was hiding, just that she was here hiding because of it.
Now, though, he had a bigger problem, he thought as he stepped out onto the porch and walked down the steps to cut his brother off at the pass.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Zane asked as he climbed out of the pickup. “Dad said you called and needed a few more days off.”
“Is there a problem?”
“We’re shorthanded, that’s the problem,” his brother said as he glanced toward the house. “Dad wants one of us staying around the main house to keep an eye on Emma until some agency in Billings can find someone to come up here and live in the guest wing.”
“He’s still worried about Emma?” Their lives had been turned upside down the past six months, but should have calmed down after Aggie Wells had drowned in the creek. Once winter runoff was over, they’d find her remains and then that would be the end of it.
Logan knew his stepmother had been put through hell and all because of his father’s past. But then again, she should have asked a few more questions before she’d run off with him for a quickie marriage in Vegas.
He thought about Blythe and realized he’d put himself in the same position Emma had. What did he know about the woman now sleeping in his bed? And had he let that stop him?
“You know Dad,” Zane said.
“Can’t today. Sorry.”
“Oh?” His brother looked past him. “Emma was worried you were sick. She wanted to send some chicken soup along with me. I got out of there before she baked you a cake, too.”
“I’m fine.”
Zane looked at him suspiciously. “How was the Flathead?”
“Pretty this time of year.”
His brother laughed. “I see you bought yourself some new clothes.”
Logan looked to where Zane was pointing and swore under his breath. Blythe had left her jean jacket with the embroidered flowers on it lying over the porch railing.
His brother was grinning from ear to ear. “I knew you wanting time off had something to do with a woman.”
Just then, as luck would have it, Blythe came out the front door onto the porch.
Zane let out a low whistle. “It’s all becoming clear now,” he said under his breath. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?” When Logan said nothing, his brother stepped around him and called up to the porch, “Hello. I’m Logan’s brother Zane, but I’m sure he’s told you all about me.”
Blythe smiled. “As a matter of fact, I think he said you were his favorite.”
Zane laughed. “I like her,” he said to Logan. “Why don’t you bring her to supper tonight. I’ll tell Emma to set another plate.”
Logan could have throttled him. Zane knew damned well that if he’d been ready to tell her about the family, he would have already brought her by the house.
“Oh, and I’ll cover for you today, but I’ll expect you back to work tomorrow. You get babysitting duty.” With that Zane climbed into his pickup, waved at Blythe and drove away.
SHERIFF BUFORD OLSON WAS about to leave his office for the day when he got another call from the coroner’s office. What now, he thought as he picked up.
“The woman’s body found in that car accident wasn’t Jennifer James,” the coroner said in his usual all-business tone. “This woman was in her early twenties. The crime lab took DNA from a hairbrush Jennifer James left at the Grizzly Club. This Jane Doe is definitely not the woman the media calls JJ.”
“We have no idea who she is?”
“She was wearing a silver bracelet with the name Susie on it. I would suggest sending her DNA to NDIS to see if they have a match. That’s the best I can do.” The National DNA Index System processed DNA records of persons convicted of crimes, analyzed samples recovered from crime scenes as well as from unidentified human remains and analyzed samples for missing person cases.
“Thanks,” Buford said, still processing this turn of events. If JJ hadn’t died in her rental car, then where was she? She’d have to be on the moon not to hear about the accident that had allegedly claimed her life at the edge of Flathead Lake. So why hadn’t she come forward?
He’d barely hung up when he got a call from a gas station attendant in Moses Lake, Washington.
“Is this the sheriff in that town where JJ was killed?” a young female voice asked.
“Yes?” he said, curious since the dispatcher had motioned to him that he might actually want to take this call.
“Well, I wasn’t sure if I should call or not, but I just had this guy in an old pickup buy gas? The thing is, he used one of JJ’s credit cards. It has her on the front, you know one of those photos of her with her guitar, the kind you can get on certain credit cards? I have all her CDs, so I recognized her right off. The man tried to use the card at the pump but it didn’t work so he brought it in and when it was denied again, he just took off.”
Buford felt his heart racing, but he kept his voice calm. “Did you happen to get the plate number on the pickup?”
“Yeah. He didn’t look like the kind of guy JJ would have dated, you know?”
“Yeah.” He wrote down the license plate number she gave him and thanked her for being an upstanding citizen. She gave him a detailed description of the pickup driver. He told her to hold on to the credit card and that he’d have someone collect it from her shortly.
Even before he ran the plates on the pi
ckup, he suspected it would be stolen—just like the credit card. It was.
Buford put an all points bulletin out on the pickup and driver, then sat back in his chair and scratched his head. JJ wasn’t dead. At least her body hadn’t been found, and right now Logan Chisholm might be the only person who could tell him where she went that day after leaving the Grizzly Club.
When he called directory assistance and no listing was found, he put in a call to the Chisholm Cattle Company.
LOGAN DIDN’T WANT HER meeting his family, Blythe thought with no small amount of surprise. She’d been so busy hiding her former life and who she’d been from him, she’d never considered that he might be hiding her from his family and friends.
“You can get out of it,” she said as Zane drove away.
“Out of what?” Logan asked, clearly playing dumb.
She smiled. “Out of taking me to supper with your family.”
“It isn’t what you think.” He dragged his hat off and raked his fingers through his thick blond hair. He wore his hair longer than most cowboys, she thought, but then again she didn’t know many cowboys, did she? His eyes were the same blue as the sky. She’d met her share of handsome men, but none as appealing as this one.
“You don’t have to explain. We just met. We don’t even know each other. There is no reason I should meet your folks.” Even as she said it, she was curious about his family. Curious about Logan. She felt as if she’d only skimmed the surface, but she liked him and wouldn’t have minded getting to know him better—if things were different.
The thought surprised her. She hadn’t had roots since she left home at fourteen and thought she didn’t want or need them. But being here with Logan had spurred something in her she hadn’t known was there.
“Is there any coffee?” she asked as she turned back toward the house.
“Blythe, it isn’t that I don’t want you to meet them.”
In the kitchen, she opened a cupboard and took down a cup. She wasn’t kidding about needing some coffee. She felt off balance, all her emotions out of kilter. She could feel him behind her, close.
She turned to him. “Look, you don’t really know me. Or I you. I don’t even know what I’m doing staying here. I should go.” She started to step past him, but he closed his hand over her arm and pulled her close.
His alluring male scent filled her, making her ache with a need to touch him and be touched. She turned to find him inches from her. He took the coffee cup from her hand and set it on the counter. Then he pulled her to him.
He felt warm, his shirt scented with sunshine and horse leather. His hands were strong as they cupped her waist and drew her close. As his mouth dropped to hers, she caught her breath. She’d known, somewhere deep inside her, that when he kissed her it would be like rockets going off. She hadn’t been wrong.
Logan deepened the kiss, his arms coming around her. He stole her breath, made her heart drum in her chest, sending shivers of desire ricocheting through her. She melted into his arms. He felt so solid she didn’t want him to let her go.
As the kiss ended, he pulled back to look into her eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that since the first time I saw you.”
Her pulse was still thundering just under her skin. She wanted him and she knew it wouldn’t take much for him to swing her up into his arms and carry her upstairs to that double bed of his. Just the truth.
She took a step back, letting her arms slip from around his neck. She almost didn’t trust what she might say. “I’m sorry about last night.”
He shook his head. “I just want us to be clear. I want you. I have from the moment I laid eyes on you at the country-western bar.”
“I want you, too. And I want to tell you everything. I just need some time to sort things out for myself.”
He grinned and shoved back his Stetson. “And I want to take you home to meet my family, but I need to warn you about them.”
“No, don’t spoil it. Let me be surprised,” she joked.
“I called my stepmother. We’re on for tonight. But you might change your mind about everything once you meet them all.”
She knew it was crazy, but she was relieved he wanted her to meet his family. It was dangerous. What if one of them recognized her? Blythe knew she had worse worries than that.
And yet, right now, all she wanted to think about was meeting Logan’s family. “I need to go into town and get myself something to wear.” She hadn’t been this excited about a date in a long time.
Logan seemed to hesitate, as if he was thinking about kissing her again. Desire shone in his eyes. Her own heart was still hammering from the kiss. She did want him. More than he could know. But he wanted more from her than a roll in the hay. When was the last time she’d met a man like that?
“I better go start the truck,” he said.
She was glad now that she’d stuffed a few hundred dollar bills into the pocket of her jeans before she’d left Martin Sanderson’s house that awful morning. It seemed like weeks ago instead of days.
Blythe took a sip of the coffee, needing the caffeine to steady her after the kiss. She hadn’t slept well last night, and the sound of the vehicle coming down the road this morning had made her heart race until she reminded herself that not a soul in the world knew she was here—other than Logan.
Now his brother Zane knew, and soon so would his family. But they knew her as Blythe. She heard the pickup door slam, the engine turning over, and downed the rest of the coffee. She felt nervous about meeting Logan’s family and unconsciously touched a finger to her lips.
She couldn’t help smiling as she thought of his kiss.
You’re falling for this cowboy.
No, she told herself, as messed up as her life was, she couldn’t let that happen. Once he knew the truth about her, that would be the end of it. Maybe she should go to the door and call him back in and tell him everything. Nip this in the bud before it went any further and they both got hurt. Tell him before she met his family.
Logan would be hurt enough once he knew everything. How long did she really think she could keep that old life a secret, anyway? What if someone in town recognized her?
Blythe put down her cup and pushed out through the screen door to the porch to pick up her jean jacket from where she’d left it. As she did, she looked out at this wide-open land. It was like her life now. Wide open. Now that she had this new life—at least for a while—she was surprised by what she wanted to do with it.
She had put away most of the money she’d made in an account where she could get to it. She could do anything she pleased, go anywhere in the world. To her surprise, though, she realized she didn’t want to leave here, didn’t want to leave Logan. She wanted to meet his family.
Couldn’t she just enjoy this life for a little while?
As she headed out to the pickup, she saw him sitting behind the wheel. He smiled at her and her heart took off in a gallop as she climbed into the cab next to him. She knew this couldn’t last, but was it so wrong for just another day?
LOGAN HAD SOME TIME TO KILL while he waited for Blythe to shop for clothes. He’d offered to buy her anything she needed, but she’d told him she had money.
“Nothing fancy,” he’d warned her. “You’re in the real Montana now.”
After he’d left her, he’d headed to the library. He felt a little guilty, but he had to know what had been in the newspaper Blythe had burned. She was in trouble. He felt it at heart level. The only way he could help her was to know what had her running scared. Something in that newspaper had upset her. He was sure of it.