Justice at Cardwell Ranch. B.J. Daniels

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СКАЧАТЬ a part of the ranch as the old, two-story house where Dana lived with Hud and the kids. Her mother had trusted her to keep Cardwell Ranch going. Against all odds she was doing her darnedest to keep that promise.

      So why did she feel so scared, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop?

       Chapter Two

      Jordan watched Deputy Liza Turner ride her horse out of the pines. The past six years had been good to her. She’d been pretty back then. Now there was a confidence as if she’d grown into the woman she was supposed to become. He recalled how self-assured and efficient she’d been at her job. She was also clearly at home on the back of a horse.

      The trees cast long shadows over the stark landscape. Wind whirled the dried leaves that now floated in the air like snowflakes.

      “Jordan Cardwell,” she said as she reined in her horse at the edge of the cemetery.

      He came out through the gate, stopping to look up at her. “Deputy.” She had one of those faces that was almost startling in its uniqueness. The green eyes wide, captivating and always filled with curiosity. He thought she was more interesting than he remembered. That, he realized, was probably because she was out of uniform.

      She wore jeans and a red-checked Western shirt that made her dark hair appear as rich as mahogany. She narrowed those green eyes at him. Curiosity and suspicion, he thought.

      “I’m surprised to see you here,” she said, a soft lilt to her voice. She had a small gap between her two front teeth, an imperfection, that he found charming.

      “I don’t know why you’d be surprised. My sister might have inherited the ranch but I’m still family.”

      She smiled at that and he figured she knew all about what had happened after his mother had died—and her new will had gone missing.

      “I didn’t think you’d ever come back to the ranch,” she said.

      He chuckled. “Neither did I. But people change.”

      “Do they?” She was studying him in a way that said she doubted he had. He didn’t need to read her expression to know she was also wondering what kind of trouble he’d brought back to the canyon with him. The horse moved under her, no doubt anxious to get going.

      “Your horse seems impatient,” he said. “Don’t let me keep you from your ride.” With a tip of his hat, he headed down the mountain to the ranch house where he’d been raised.

      It seemed a lifetime ago. He could barely remember the man he’d been then. But he would be glad to get off the property before his sister and her husband returned. He planned to put off seeing them if at all possible. So much for family, he thought.

      WHEN DANA OPENED HER EYES, she saw that they’d left the wide valley and were now driving through the Gallatin Canyon. The “canyon” as it was known, ran from the mouth just south of Gallatin Gateway almost to West Yellowstone, fifty miles of winding road that trailed the river in a deep cut through the mountains.

      The drive along the Gallatin River had always been breathtaking, a winding strip of highway that followed the blue-ribbon trout stream up over the continental divide. This time of year the Gallatin ran crystal clear over green-tinted boulders. Pine trees grew dark and thick along its edge and against the steep mountains. Aspens, their leaves rust-reds and glittering golds, grew among the pines.

      Sheer rock cliffs overlooked the highway and river, with small areas of open land, the canyon not opening up until it reached Big Sky. The canyon had been mostly cattle and dude ranches, a few summer cabins and homes—that was until Big Sky resort and the small town that followed at the foot of Lone Mountain.

      Luxury houses had sprouted up all around the resort. Fortunately, some of the original cabins still remained and the majority of the canyon was national forest so it would always remain undeveloped. The “canyon” was also still its own little community, for which Dana was grateful. This was the only home she’d known and, like her stubborn ancestors, she had no intention of ever leaving it.

      Both she and Hud had grown up here. They’d been in love since junior high, but hit a rocky spot some years ago thanks to her sister. Dana didn’t like to think about the five years she and Hud had spent apart as they passed the lower mountain resort area and, a few miles farther, turned down the road to Cardwell Ranch.

      Across the river and a half mile back up a wide valley, the Cardwell Ranch house sat against a backdrop of granite cliffs, towering dark pines and glittering aspens. The house was a big, two-story rambling affair with a wide front porch and a brick-red metal roof. Behind it stood a huge weathered barn and some outbuildings and corrals.

      Dana never felt truly at home until they reached the ranch she’d fought tooth and nail to save. When Mary Justice Cardwell had been bucked off a horse and died six years ago, Dana had thought all was lost. Her mother’s original will when her children were young left the ranch to all of them.

      Mary hadn’t realized until her children were grown that only Dana would keep the ranch. The others would sell it, take the profits and never look back until the day they regretted what they’d done. By then it would be too late. So her mother had made a new will, leaving the ranch to her. But her mother had hidden it where she hoped her daughter would find it. Fortunately, Dana had found it in time to save the ranch.

      The will had put an end to her siblings’ struggle to force her to sell the land and split the profits with them. Now her three siblings were paid part of the ranch’s profit each quarter. Not surprisingly, she hadn’t heard from any of them since the will had settled things six years before.

      As Hud pulled into the ranch yard, Dana spotted a car parked in front of the old house and frowned. The car was an older model with California plates.

      “You didn’t already hire someone—”

      “No,” Hud said before she could finish. “I wouldn’t do that without talking to you first. Do you think the doctor called one of the women she told you about?”

      Before Dana could answer, she saw that someone was waiting out on the broad front porch. As Hud pulled in beside the car, the woman stepped from out of the shadows.

      “Stacy?” She felt her heart drop. After six years of silence and all the bad feelings from the past, what was her older sister doing here?

      “SURPRISE,”STACY SAID WITH a shrug and a worried smile. Like Dana, Stacy had gotten the Justice-Cardwell dark good looks, but she’d always been the cute one who capitalized on her appearance, cashing in as she traded her way up through three marriages that Dana knew of and possibly more since.

      Just the sight of her sister made Dana instantly wary. She couldn’t help but be mistrustful given their past.

      Her sister’s gaze went to Dana’s stomach. “Oh, my. You’re pregnant.”

      “We need to get Dana in the house,” Hud said, giving his sister-in-law a nod of greeting. Stacy opened the door and let them enter before she followed them in.

      Dana found herself looking around the living room, uncomfortable that her sister had been inside the house even though it had once been Stacy’s home, as well.

      The house was as it had been when her mother was alive. Original Western furnishings, СКАЧАТЬ