Read Online Cardwell Ranch Trespasser by B. J. Daniels - Free Book Online

felt scared. Scared that she was right about Dee. Even more scared that she wasn’t. Had she wrongly accused the woman?
    Colt seemed to relax as he joined her at the opposite end of the couch. “Why don’t you tell me about Dee?”
    She hesitated, upset with herself for the scene she’d made earlier. It was so unlike her. No wonder Dana had looked so shocked. She shouldn’t have confronted Dee in front of everyone, but she’d been so upset, so scared. She’d almost drowned. If Colt hadn’t pulled her out when he had...
    “You can tell me how you really feel,” he said quietly.
    She took a breath. “I don’t know anymore.”
    “Sure you do,” he said and smiled. “Follow your instincts. I have a feeling your instincts are pretty good.”
    Hilde laughed. “After seeing that hysterical woman on the river a while ago?”
    “Almost drowning does that to a person.”
    She studied him for a moment. He was way too handsome, but he was also very nice. He’d saved her life and now he was willing to listen to her side of it. “What if my instincts are wrong?”
    “You know they aren’t.”
    Did she? She took another sip of the hot chocolate. It did help. Bracing herself, she said, “There’s something...off about Dee.”
    He nodded, urging her to continue.
    “I admit I was worried when Dana told me that she’d asked a cousin she’d never met to come visit. She’s paying for all Dee’s expenses. That seemed odd to me. But according to Dana, Dee recently quit her job. Add to that, no one knows how long she plans to stay.”
    “So you thought right away she might be taking advantage of your friend.”
    Hilde nodded. “After we picked her up at the airport, Dana was telling her all about this area. I noticed that she didn’t seem interested. It wasn’t until we reached the ranch and she met Hud that Dee perked up.”
    He nodded but said nothing.
    “I know this all sounds so...small and petty.”
    “Tell me about the day at the falls.”
    She finished the hot chocolate and put her mug on the table next to her elbow, noticing the bestseller lying open, his place marked halfway through the book. It was one she’d been wanting to read, and she was momentarily distracted to know that Colt was a reader.
    “I didn’t want to go on the hike, but Dana insisted. I was probably rude. I asked how long Dee planned to stay. Shortly after that I was standing at the edge of the falls. Dana had gone over to the picnic spot to look for her camera, and all of a sudden I felt a hand on my back and a hard shove. Then Dee grabbed me and warned me to be careful, that it was dangerous around here.”
    “You believed it was a threat.”
    “I did.”
    “But you didn’t say anything to Dana.”
    “I was too shocked and—”
    “You talked yourself out of believing it.”
    She nodded. “Also, Dana was enjoying her cousin so much, I didn’t have the heart to tell her.”
    “You feared she wouldn’t believe you.”
    Hilde let out a laugh. “With good reason. She didn’t believe that Dee tried to drown me today.”
    “But you do.”
    She swallowed, then slowly nodded. “She wasn’t trying to save me. I know you find that hard to believe because I tried to fight you off moments later, when you were only trying to save me.”
    “Why do you think she pushed you at the falls and yet saved you, then today tried to drown you and maybe really did try to save you?”
    “I don’t know. It makes one of us seem crazy, doesn’t it?”
    He smiled. “What is it you think she wants? Dana and Hud don’t have a lot money. She can’t possibly think she can get her hands on the ranch. She’s going to wear out her welcome within a week or so.”
    “That’s just it, I don’t know. I just can’t get over the feeling that she wants something from Dana. But the more I think about it, the more I feel I must be wrong. What if I’m overreacting? Maybe she was trying to save me in the river today.”
    “Maybe she didn’t push you at