Big Sky Dynasty

by B. J Daniels

  Nicci laughed but was smart enough to drop the subject. “I need to run some errands. Can I get you anything while I’m out?”

  “No, but thank you.”

  Nicci seemed to hesitate as if there was more she wanted to say. “Well, see you later then,” she said and headed upstairs to her apartment to change.

  Georgia couldn’t help the relief she felt when Nicci was gone. She found herself uneasy around her renter now. She kept thinking about Dalton Corbett’s warnings concerning Nicci.

  She’d tried to brush them aside, telling herself that spouses often said terrible things about each other in the heat of a divorce. It was Dalton’s concern about Georgia’s safety that had kept her awake until all hours last night.

  DALTON GLANCED up from his chair on the porch to see Lantry heading his way. His brother didn’t look happy. Not much new there. Dalton was surprised his brother hadn’t hightailed it back to Texas and his lucrative clients.

  “Mornin’,” Lantry said as he joined him on the cabin porch. “Let me guess, she hasn’t called.”

  Dalton nodded with a rueful smile. “Maybe something came up.” They both laughed.

  “The divorce papers are drawn up. You really think she’ll sign them?”

  Dalton shrugged. “Depends on what she’s doing here. Hopefully I’ll find out once she calls. I’m worried about the woman she’s renting from.”

  “Georgia Michaels,” Lantry said. “I saw her yesterday when she paid you a visit.”

  Dalton glanced over at him. “You ran a check on her?” He shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was.

  “Just wanted to be sure that there was no connection in the past between her and Nicci.”

  “Georgia and Nicci in cahoots?” Dalton laughed.

  “Wouldn’t have surprised me. The Nicci you’ve described could use a sweet, innocent-looking young woman to front for her.”

  Dalton shook his head. “Georgia Michaels is a victim in all this. I’m worried as hell about her.”

  “I think you should be more worried about what Nicci has planned for you,” Lantry said, always the lawyer. “What did this Michaels woman bring you?”

  “Nicci told her it was divorce papers, but it was a large manila envelope filled with blank paper.”

  “Why would she—”

  “And some photographs.”

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” Lantry said. “So tell me, little brother, exactly what kind of blackmail are we dealing with?”

  “See for yourself,” Dalton said, retrieving the photographs from where he’d hidden them.

  Lantry glanced through them and swore, his gaze jerking up to meet Dalton’s. “What the hell?”

  The sudden vibration of his phone actually made Dalton flinch. He snatched it from his pocket and checked caller ID. “It’s Nicci.”

  “Be careful what you say. She might be recording it,” Lantry warned.

  “Sleep in?” Dalton said, skipping hello.

  Nicci chuckled. “Don’t you wish you’d been in bed with me?”

  “Same way I wish I’d get eaten alive by a grizzly.”

  “You’re in a mood this morning,” she said. “Don’t you ever think of the two of us?”

  “Only in my nightmares.” He regretted the words at once.

  “You have nightmares about us?” She liked that. He could hear it in her tone.

  “Just about you.”

  She laughed. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea for us to meet. You sound a little hostile.”

  “Not at all. I’m looking forward to seeing you again. After all, you’re my wife.”

  “You remembered.” Her silver bracelets tinkled, making him think of Georgia Michaels and the silver hoop earrings.

  “So let’s get this over with. Where and when?”

  “I’m as excited to see you as you are me.”

  “You lie so beautifully.”

  Nicci sighed. “You always were a charmer. I found the perfect place for us to meet. The locals call it Lover’s Leap. It’s not far from Trails West Ranch. Think you can find it?”

  He knew the spot. So like Nicci to choose a cliff to meet on. “I’ll be there waiting for you.”

  GEORGIA GLANCED at her watch. Agnes, who never missed a class, hadn’t shown up this morning. Georgia had grown very fond of the petite elderly woman and was now worried. Agnes lived alone in a huge old farmhouse miles from another living soul. What if something had happened to her?

  Getting everyone started knitting and glancing at her watch, Georgia decided that she would give Agnes another five minutes and then she was going to have to drive out to her farm and make sure she was all right.

  Everyone turned as Agnes stepped into the yarn shop. “Sorry I’m late,” Agnes said, looking harried.

  “Agnes!” Georgia rushed over to give her a hug.

  Just then Nicci came down the stairs into the shop. She stopped, seeming surprised by what was going on.

  “Agnes, is everything all right?” Georgia was asking.

  “Well, now that you mention it,” Agnes said, taking her usual chair and looking in Nicci’s direction. “I had some unpleasant business to take care of this morning. More than a dozen of those trash birds got into something left on my porch.”

  “They make a mess?” Georgia asked, ready to be sympathetic.

  “Worse. Whatever they ate killed them.”

  A gasp rose from the group.

  “How strange,” Nicci said, standing at the edge of the group.

  “You don’t know what killed them?” Georgia asked.

  “Not yet. I took several of the birds to my veterinarian. You know he’s also the Whitehorse assistant coroner. I’m sure he’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  “How awful,” Georgia said. “You say it was something left on your porch?”

  “A cupcake in a box like the kind you can buy at the local bakery,” Agnes said.

  “A cupcake?” everyone said in surprise.

  “There must have been something in it that was poisonous to birds,” Nicci said.

  “That’s what my vet said. He said it was a good thing I didn’t eat it. As if I would! I’m an old woman, but I’m not a fool!” Agnes looked down. “But I did forget my knitting bag in the car,” she added with an embarrassed laugh as she got up to go get it.

  “Let me help you,” Nicci said and opened the door for Agnes. The two stepped outside, Georgia watching from the window as Nicci took the elderly woman’s arm.

  Sometimes Nicci could be so thoughtful, she thought, feeling guilty for her less-than-flattering earlier thoughts as Nicci leaned toward Agnes and whispered something.

  Chapter Seven

  Dalton stood on the edge of the cliff looking down at the Missouri River snaking its way through central Montana. He heard the car pull in and park, the door open and close, the crunch of footsteps advance.

  He didn’t turn. Had Nicci wanted to kill him quickly, now was her chance. One little push. There wasn’t a soul around for miles. Lantry was the only one who knew Dalton was meeting Nicci here. It would be Lantry’s word against Nicci’s. There wasn’t a chance in hell Nicci would fry for his death.

  “Nice view,” Nicci said, joining him on the precipice.

  He didn’t turn to look at her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that she wore the large dark sunglasses he’d seen on her that first day. The breeze coming up the steep rock face from the river ruffled her blond hair. He wondered idly if it was a wig and if that mane of dark hair was beneath it.

  He could smell her perfume and knew it was no coincidence she wore the brand she had that night on the boat—the last time they were together.

  “Thinking about jumping?” she asked in that mocking tone of hers.

  “Actually, I was wondering how long it would take you to hit the bottom,” Dalton said.

  She laughed and turned toward him. “So what’s stopping you?”

  He stared at the woman who’d done her damnedest to rui
n his life and wasn’t through yet. Nicci looked smaller than he remembered. He could see how he’d been fooled by her. No one would believe what she was capable of by looking at this slim, startlingly attractive woman.

  He even had trouble believing it standing here now. That night on the water seemed only a bad dream. The fact that she was here now proved nothing horrible had happened, didn’t it?

  “What’s wrong, Dalton?” she asked, smiling as she removed her sunglasses. “Lost your courage?”

  One look into those green eyes and he instantly quit deluding himself. He’d tried to kill this woman. The fact that it had been self-defense made it all the more horrific.

  “No, I just lost my taste for sick, pathetic women. What do you want, Nicci?”

  “Is that any way to be, husband dear?”

  “Let’s not play games. We both remember the last time we were together.”

  Her smile broadened. “And we have the photos to prove it, don’t we?”

  “Blackmail, is that what this is about? Fine. Like I said, what do you want?”

  She stepped closer to the edge of the cliff and looked down, then back at him, daring him. One step toward her, one little push and she would fall a hundred and fifty feet to the rocks below.

  He took a step back, shaking his head.

  “Am I bringing back too many memories for you?”

  “My lawyer is drawing up divorce papers,” he said.

  “Your brother Lantry?”

  Apparently she’d done her homework on his family. Could Lantry be right? Was Nicci after the Corbett money?

  “Why now after nine years, Nicci? By the way, where’s your buddy Ambrose?”

  Her smile faded, those green eyes turning to ice. “Maybe I’m here because I thought there might be a chance for us.”

  “Not a chance in hell.”

  She cocked her head at him. “I’ve always wondered—why didn’t you go to the police?”

  “You know why. You set me up so completely no one would have believed me.”

  She smiled, clearly pleased. “But you could have had me declared legally dead two years ago and you didn’t. I thought by now you would have wanted to settle down with some tiring, dull woman who’d bear your children and make big ranch-style meals for you while you raised your sheep or cows or whatever.”

  He said nothing.

  “You want to know what I think?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “I think you never got over me. I ruined you for other women.”

  “Not in the way you think,” he said.

  She laughed and reached out as if to touch him.

  He stepped back. “I’m through playing games with you, Nicci. Just sign the divorce papers when you get them. Let’s end this like human beings.”

  “I wish it was that easy, Dalton.” She brushed past him.

  He stood facing the river, not turning as he heard her leave. A wave of relief washed over him as the sound of her car engine died off in the distance.

  For nine years in his nightmares, he’d killed Nicci again and again, each slaying more horrible than the last. She’d proved her theory that night on the boat. She’d turned him into a killer.

  Today proved nothing to the contrary.

  As he walked back to his pickup, he told himself that all he’d done today was put off the inevitable.

  GEORGIA HADN’T REALIZED that Nicci had returned until she saw her standing at the front of the shop looking out the window.

  “Nicci?”

  The woman didn’t seem to hear her.

  Georgia started toward her, suddenly afraid that something had happened. It was her expression that made Georgia halt just feet from her. A chill skittered up her spine. “Nicci?”

  She turned, her expression changing so quickly that Georgia told herself that she’d only imagined the cold hatred she’d seen. What had Nicci been thinking about? Her marriage to Dalton? Georgia couldn’t imagine how love could turn to such hatred. But who else could Nicci have been thinking about?

  “Can you sit down for a moment?” Nicci asked and moved to the comfortable chairs Georgia used for her classes.

  Georgia took a seat. Nicci was smiling but she could see that the woman’s eyes were shiny with tears.

  “Is everything all right?”

  Nicci nodded, turning up the wattage on her smile. “I was just thinking about my family.”

  Georgia hoped her shock didn’t show in her expression. Nicci had been thinking about her family?

  “You told me all about your family, your Nana Michaels, but I haven’t told you about mine,” Nicci was saying. “My father was brilliant. He started with nothing and worked hard and became very wealthy. That’s all most people know about him. But I knew the loving, generous man. I was his only child. He adored me and spoiled me. We were so close.”

  “Has he passed?” Georgia asked, thinking she surely had imagined the look of cold hatred earlier, given the way Nicci talked of her father.

  “It was the worst day of my life when I lost him. It was as if my life ended.” She looked away.

  “Were you close to your mother as well?”

  “Oh, yes,” Nicci said, brightening. “She was one of those mothers who cooked and sewed even though she could have had someone else do all those things. In fact,” she said with a laugh, “my father was always telling her to hire someone to take care of the house and me, but she wouldn’t hear of it. I used to sit on the kitchen counter and she would let me help even when I made a mess. She didn’t care. She just loved being with me.”

  “Your childhood sounds idyllic,” Georgia said. “You were so lucky.”

  “Lucky? Yes, wasn’t I? I’d hoped to have a marriage like my parents’.” She glanced down, tears filled her eyes and spilled over her cheeks.

  Georgia took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I just don’t know why things went so badly. We were both just barely eighteen and so in love.”

  “That’s awfully young to know what you want for the rest of your life.”

  “I suppose so,” Nicci said but Georgia could tell that she didn’t appreciate her saying it.

  “You’re older now, maybe…”

  Nicci looked over at her hopefully, then shook her head. “Dalton doesn’t love me anymore. I know it sounds corny, but I really thought he was my soul mate. Have you ever had a male soul mate?”

  Georgia shook her head and laughed nervously. “Not even close.”

  “That’s why female friendships are so important,” Nicci said, squeezing her hand. “I can’t believe how fortunate I was to meet you. Men come and go, but women friends never betray you. Promise me we’ll always be the best of friends.”

  “Of course,” Georgia said, even though it was a ridiculous promise since Nicci would be leaving town soon.

  “Let’s go do something fun.” Nicci got to her feet. “I’ve been wanting to go to that hot springs north of town. I love to swim.”

  Georgia glanced at her watch. “I wish I could, but I have Lamaze class with Rory in an hour. I’m her backup coach.”

  “Oh, that’s right, you told me about that. That’s all right, we’ll probably get to do it before I leave.”

  Georgia rose, feeling guilty. “Another time.”

  “Sure. Oh, I almost forgot.” Nicci hurried over to the counter and picked up a long white box Georgia hadn’t seen sitting there. “I went shopping. There’s the cutest little store just a few doors down.” She thrust the package at her.

  Georgia put her hands up. “No more presents, really.”

  “I saw this and it was just so perfect for you, I took a chance even though it was on sale and they won’t let me exchange it.” She waited, holding out the box.

  Georgia had no choice but to take it under the circumstances, but felt irritated with Nicci for putting her in this position. She lifted the lid as an excited Nicci watched, waiting for a reaction.

  The sweater was pale yellow
.

  “It’s cotton so you can wear it even in the summer,” Nicci said. “Do you like it?”

  Georgia actually did. “I love it.” That was only a slight exaggeration. “It’s beautiful.”

  Nicci plopped back down in a chair, clearly relieved. “I promise, no more surprise packages.”

  “Thank you.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, I really need to get moving.” Miss Thorp would be coming in to watch the shop at any moment.

  Taking the box and sweater, she hurried upstairs to shower and change into casual clothes for the Lamaze class.

  She was just coming down the stairs to leave when Rory called.

  “Hi, I just wanted to let you know that you don’t have to come to Lamaze today.”

  “I was just heading out the door. What’s up?”

  “You have enough going on with the shop, you can skip one. Go do something fun. You deserve it. I insist. Gotta go. See you in knitting class tomorrow.”

  “Oh, okay.” Georgia hung up, feeling hurt and confused. Rory had sounded funny. Or was it just Georgia’s imagination? She’d been so insistent that Georgia not come.

  “Something wrong?” Nicci asked as Georgia finished coming down the stairs.

  “I guess I don’t have Lamaze after all.”

  “Really? Great. Let’s go swimming at Sleeping Buffalo. I heard they have some fun slides. I really could use a distraction.”

  Miss Thorp came in just then, so Georgia had no excuse not to go, especially after Nicci had bought her the sweater. “Let me grab my swimsuit and a towel.”

  “This is going to be so much fun,” Nicci said.

  LANTRY WAS WAITING for Dalton when he returned from meeting with Nicci. Dalton hadn’t realized how worried his brother had been until he saw his relief.

  “Well?”

  “I met with her.” Dalton shook his head.

  “You didn’t accomplish anything?”

  “I wouldn’t say that.” He grinned. “I didn’t kill her. Believe me that was a huge step. I didn’t even try. It really made her angry.”

  Lantry stared at him. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Nicci is one sick puppy. I just wish I knew what she was up to. I have to find out why she waited nine years and what she’s been hiding from all these years.” Dalton told Lantry what he’d discovered online.