Forsaken. B.J. Daniels

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      The fire flickered, casting golden light on Maddie’s face, and he glimpsed the beautiful woman she’d been when she was younger. It was nothing like the quiet beauty she had now, though. There was a tranquil magnificence in her that sneaked up on him. That she was capable and self-assured only added to that beauty.

      She brushed back an errant strand of hair as if she felt him watching her. He saw irritation in the movement. She was a woman used to spending most of her days alone, he realized. She wasn’t used to a man looking at her—maybe especially the way he was. He found her intriguing equally in her strength—and her vulnerability.

      “I really would like to know more about you,” he said as the silence stretched taut between them.

      She glanced up at him, pretending to be surprised to find him sitting across from her. “Are you asking as a deputy?”

      “No, I just thought since we’re going to be spending time together—”

      She rose abruptly, dusting her hands off on her jeans. “Then I can’t imagine why you’d have any interest in me. We leave at daybreak. I’d suggest you get some sleep.”

      He watched her walk over and pick up the saddlebags with the food she’d brought. As she moved to tie them to a rope hanging from a nearby tree, he got up to help her.

      “You’re putting our food in a tree?” he asked as he reached to help hoist the bundle higher.

      She refused to relinquish the rope, forcing him to step back as she finished tying it. “Bears,” she said as if he should have known that.

      He glanced at their sleeping bags stretched out beside the small campfire.

      “Grizzlies,” she said, and he saw the first hint of mischief in those blue eyes.

      “Seems a little silly tying up a small amount of food when the bears will have us to eat.”

      “I’m not worried,” she said, stepping past him toward the fire. “They’ll be full by the time they finish with you.”

      He smiled as she walked over and climbed fully clothed into the sleeping bag on the other side of the fire. She lay down, her back to him.

      “The woman has a sense of humor after all,” he said loud enough he was sure she could hear. He considered sitting on the overturned stump by the fire until the blaze burned out. He felt antsy, certainly not ready to go to sleep this early.

      Looking up, he caught a glimpse of stars through the swaying pine boughs. The sky seemed alive with them. He stepped out of the trees so he could see the amazing sight. It was magnificent. He gaped at the ceiling of darkness and light in awe. He’d never seen so many stars. Nor had he ever seen such an expansive sky. It arced between the horizons, a midnight-blue canopy bespeckled with millions of twinkling stars.

      Away from the fire, though, he was instantly cold. Even standing by it, only the parts of his body near the flames were warm. He walked back, but the fire had died to only a few glowing embers that gave off little heat.

      Maddie hadn’t made a peep. He wondered if she was asleep. He thought about looking for more wood for the fire, but changed his mind.

      He’d never slept in his clothing in his entire life. Even as cold as it was up here, he slipped out of the canvas coat she’d lent him, then the flannel shirt down to his T-shirt. Goose bumps rippled across his skin. He considered taking off the jeans she’d provided for him, but one glance around and he decided he might have to get up in a hurry, and would be better off at least partially dressed.

      The lining of the sleeping bag was ice-cold against his bare arms, and it took him a moment to warm up. He rolled up his coat and shirt for a pillow then curled on his side to watch what was left of the fire die away. He thought about what they might find tomorrow and how he would handle it.

      It kept his mind off everything but Maddie Conner.

      * * *

      SHERIFF FRANK CURRY couldn’t help being mad at himself on so many levels. Right now, though, it was the way he’d handled things with Lynette.

      After their run-in, he’d gotten something to eat at the café, half hoping Lynette would come over and join him. She hadn’t. Too upset to go to his empty house, he’d driven over to Bozeman and gone to a movie. Now, on the way home, he couldn’t even remember what it was about.

      Driving through the darkness toward his ranch east of Beartooth, he mentally kicked himself for not calling Lynette. He could have patched things up by asking her to the movie. What would it have hurt? He could have called her, apologized... But what did he have to apologize for? She was the one who’d rented her apartment over the store to J. D. West and thought nothing of it.

      His chest ached at the thought of J.D. pulling the wool over her eyes. Why was Lynette so blind when it came to men?

      “So what are you going to do about it?” he demanded of himself as he drove down the narrow dirt road toward home. What could he do?

      Nothing right now. He felt like a single parent. He knew that was silly. But he now had all the responsibilities that came with being a single parent. Tiffany needed him since Pam had deserted her daughter. He was all the girl had now. So when he wasn’t working, he went up to the state hospital to see her.

      But that wasn’t the only reason he’d stayed away from Lynette. He was afraid for her because of Pam and Tiffany. He thought that if he put distance between them, then maybe it would keep her safe.

      So the situation frustrated the hell out of him when he was around her. He wanted Lynette, needed her, but right now the best thing he could do was give her a wide berth. Who knew what would happen with Tiffany’s case? What if she did get out of this?

      He couldn’t forget that Tiffany was a danger to Lynette. And Pam...well, who knew how dangerous she was to them all?

      When he’d found out about Tiffany, he’d tried to find Pam. Apparently she hadn’t wanted to be found, which shouldn’t have come as a surprise after what she’d done.

      He’d hired a private investigator to get her number for him. He’d talked to her once—for all the good it had done. She had pretended not to know what he was talking about when he’d accused her of poisoning Tiffany against him, programming the child to kill him.

      Months later he’d called again and found the line had been disconnected. Which was just as well, he told himself. He was afraid of what he would do if he knew where she was.

      He figured she’d probably taken off. Done her damage to him and Tiffany and then gone off, her mission over. But to add fuel to the fire, she’d managed to tell Tiffany that the reason she was running away was because she was afraid of him. Tiffany, unfortunately, believed her mother’s lies.

      Sometimes in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep he thought about how to find her. The fantasy—he had to think of it as that—always ended the same. It ended with him murdering Pam with his bare hands.

      It was those dark thoughts that plagued him, that and worry over Tiffany. Worry also about Lynette.

      “With good reason,” he muttered under his breath as he turned into his ranch. Lynette СКАЧАТЬ