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

the falls?”
    She looked away. “Dana thinks I’m jealous.” She turned to meet his gaze. “Maybe I am.” She got to her feet. “I should go home.”
    Colt rose, too. “What are you going to do?”
    “Stay away from Dee,” she said with a laugh. “Like you said, she’ll wear out her welcome and leave.”
    “Hud called while you were changing clothes. He’s taking Dee up to Elkhorn Lake on a horseback ride tomorrow. Dana’s idea. I think we should go.”
    “ What? And give her another chance at me?”
    He grinned. “That’s what I thought. You don’t think you imagined any of this. Dee’s dangerous, isn’t she?”
    “Yes. But you’re the only person who believes me. Dee always comes away looking like a hero.”
    “Almost as if she planned it that way. If you really think Hud and Dana are in danger, then I think we need to keep an eye on Dee. Meanwhile, I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”
    Hilde couldn’t help but feel a small thrill at the last part. She liked the idea of Colt keeping an eye on her. She told herself not to make anything of it.
    “The last thing I want to do is go on a long horseback ride with Dee Anna Justice. What makes you so sure she won’t try to kill me again?”
    “I can’t promise that. But it will look more than a little odd if you meet with yet another accident. I have a plan. But you probably won’t like it.”
    She didn’t, but she was so thankful that Colt believed her, she would have gone along with anything he asked.
    “Right now, she’s won,” he said. “You need to throw her off balance and stay close to Dana. There’s only one way to do that.”
    * * *
    “ H E’S A BOYFRIEND , isn’t he?” Dana said excitedly when Dee returned to the house after walking Rick out. Hud had apparently gone up to bed. Everyone else had left as she was coming back into the house.
    “No, he’s...” She saw the sympathy in Dana’s expression. Her “cousin” was waiting for some heartbreaking love story. How could she disappoint her with so much at stake?
    “Your ex, isn’t he.” Her cousin drew her over to the couch and patted the cushion, indicating she should sit and spill all. Dee was thankful she had only Dana to deal with now. Dana saw what she wanted to and clearly loved finding a cousin she’d never known she had. Hilde wouldn’t have been fooled by her relationship with Rick.
    “I can tell he still cares about you,” Dana was saying. “He followed you all the way to Montana to make sure you were all right.”
    Maybe it would be better for everyone to think Rick was a boyfriend, then when she broke up with him and sent him packing, it would play well with the family. It could buy her more time here. She wouldn’t want to go back East right away after such a traumatic breakup.
    “That’s why you quit your job,” Dana said. “Did you work with him?”
    Why not give her what she wanted and then some? “He was my boss.”
    “Oh, those kinds of things are so...sticky.”
    “I knew better, but he was unrelenting.”
    “I can see that in him. To fly all the way out here.”
    “I should never have called him and told him where I was. But I knew he’d worry and I certainly shouldn’t have mentioned that I sprained my ankle.”
    “You couldn’t know that he’d follow you,” Dana said. “He seems nice, though. Is there no chance for the two of you?”
    No chance in hell. “He’s married,” she lied.
    Dana looked worried. “Children?”
    Dee shook her head. “He and his wife are separated. He’s always wanted children, but his wife didn’t. She says she doesn’t like kids.”
    Her cousin looked shocked. “Oh, how awful for him.”
    “Yes. I feel sorry for him, but he needs to try to work things out with his wife.”
    Dana agreed.
    Dee realized she was painting too sympathetic a picture of Rick. “He’s been so despondent since I broke it off and...” She lowered her voice. “He’s been taking...pills. I’m worried sick he might do