Christmas at Cardwell Ranch. B.J. Daniels

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СКАЧАТЬ stifled a groan.

      “I don’t want you getting involved in some drug deal, or worse.”

      She had turned to face him, unable to hide her growing impatience. Ethan had been like this ever since he’d gone to the law enforcement academy and was now working for the Montana Highway Patrol.

      “I’m sure Mia isn’t involved in any kind of drug deal.”

      “Your friend might not realize what she’s getting herself into with a man like that.”

      It made her angry to hear him talk this way. “Mia’s a big girl,” she’d snapped. “She can take care of herself.” When Ethan looked skeptical, she’d added, “Mia carries a gun.” Instantly, she’d wished she hadn’t added that part.

      “She what?” he’d demanded.

      “It’s just a small one. She wears it strapped on her ankle.”

      Ethan had sworn and begun to pace. “You’re hanging out with a woman who carries a concealed weapon? Does she even have a permit to carry it?”

      “Damn it, Ethan. Stop acting like a narc.”

      He had stopped dead in his tracks. “What?”

      “It’s just that you used to be fun. Now you’re such a...”

      He had waited for her to finish.

      “Cop.”

      Without another word, he’d grabbed his coat and left.

      Still, she couldn’t imagine him not picking her up. He was too concerned about her and the baby. Something must have come up with his job, she thought now as she walked through the deep snow toward the apartment they shared.

      Ethan had been her high school sweetheart. She smiled to herself now as she thought of how they’d been back then. He had been adventurous, up for anything. His friends said he was crazy fun.

      But a couple of years ago, he’d almost gotten into some serious trouble with some ex-friends of his. The incident had apparently scared him straight. He was no longer crazy fun. Far from it.

      Teresa wasn’t sure she wanted to be married to a cop. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be married to Ethan. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to be pregnant.

      Shoving those thoughts away, she found herself worrying about Mia as she ducked her head against the thick falling snow. Tonight she’d seen Mia get into some kind of argument with a man who’d come into the bar alone. The conversation had looked personal—and definitely heated. At one point the man had grabbed Mia’s arm. In the skirmish, the man ended up spilling his drink on her.

      Teresa had quickly stepped in.

      “Back off. I have it under control,” Mia had snapped, wiping at her alcohol-soaked jeans.

      Teresa might have argued differently, but the man had raised his head and looked right at her before getting up and leaving.

      Mia had apologized a while later when they’d both gone up to the bar to get their drink orders. “I just didn’t want you getting involved.” Mia’s gaze had met hers, worry in her eyes. “I might have already involved you too much. I’m sorry.”

      She’d been startled by her words. Even more startled when Mia had gone to the room where they kept their coats. Teresa saw Mia take something out of Teresa’s ski jacket pocket and stuff it into her jeans pocket.

      Teresa had confronted her, only to have Mia pull away. She’d stood helplessly as Mia grabbed her tray of drinks and headed off through the crowd toward one of the large tables at the back of the bar.

      Not long after that Mia had seemed unsteady on her feet.

      As Teresa had gone back over to the empty table where the man had been sitting, to clear his table, she spotted the hypodermic needle lying under his chair. Her heart had begun to pound. Was Ethan right? Was the argument over drugs?

      It still gave her chills to remember the look on the man’s face when he’d glanced up at her. Not long after that, she’d seen Mia stagger into some man before leaving through the back door. Mia had definitely appeared drugged. Had she left with the man?

      She felt a chill now as she slogged through the deep snow, glad she wasn’t that far from home. She’d left behind the cluster of buildings that made up the center of Meadow Village. Now there was nothing but snowy darkness. Pines, their branches heavy with snow, stood like sentinels at the edge of the mountain to her right. To her left, the golf course was an empty field of deep snow.

      The storm hadn’t let up for hours. She kept her head down against the falling snow, but it still clung to her face and eyelashes. With each step, she regretted not going back into the bar and calling Ethan. Sometimes she was her own worst enemy.

      At the sound of a car approaching, she moved to the edge of the road. Probably Ethan, she thought. Was it possible he’d simply fallen asleep and on awakening, realized he hadn’t picked her up?

      She felt headlights wash over her. Chilled to the bone, she could feel the deep wet snow soaking into her jeans up to her knees. She was angry with him, but right now she didn’t feel like fighting. Worse, she didn’t want her own foolish stubbornness to make her end up walking the rest of the way home just to spite Ethan or try to make him feel guilty.

      Once they got back to the apartment, she would take a nice hot shower. Maybe have a beer with him. Or a soda, she thought, remembering that she was pregnant. She might even be up for making love. Anything to take the edge off and forget for just a while that her life was a mess and had been as far back as she could remember.

      Teresa shielded her eyes from the blizzard and the bright headlights as the vehicle caught up to her. A thought struck her in that instant. The engine sound was wrong. She knew it wasn’t Ethan in his old pickup even before she saw the large black SUV slow to a stop next to her.

      It was one of those expensive big rigs like ones she saw all over Big Sky. The windows were dark as well as the paint. She was trying to see inside, to see if she knew the driver, when the back door was suddenly flung open.

      The man who jumped out was large and bundled up in a bulky coat. Her heart was already racing by the time he grabbed her. She tried to scream, but he clamped a gloved hand over her mouth and dragged her toward the large SUV. She fought, but he was too strong for her. Still, she got in a few good kicks and punches before he forced a smelly cloth over her mouth and nose, and everything went black.

      Chapter Three

      Hud got the call just after daylight the next morning. He’d been up all night with the break-in. He needed sleep and food badly, and was on his way home, hoping for both when the call came in.

      “My fiancée didn’t come home last night.”

      “Who am I speaking with?” he asked. The man sounded more than a little upset.

      “Ethan Cross.”

      Hud knew Ethan, knew his record. A wild, good-looking kid who’d gotten into trouble a lot before going to the academy and becoming a highway patrol officer.

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