Lone Rider. B.J. Daniels

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СКАЧАТЬ he said and with a tip of his hat, headed for the door.

      Behind him, he heard Cooper say, “Sending him could be a mistake.”

      “The cowboy’s mistake,” Buckmaster said. “I know my daughter. She’s on her way back, and she isn’t going to like that young man tracking her down. Jace Calder is the one she almost married.”

      * * *

      SARAH HAMILTON LEANED into the porch railing of the old cabin and looked out at the Sweet Grass Valley. It stretched to the horizon, a gleaming array of summer colors. Closer a breeze stirred the pines, the sun making the boughs glisten.

      Despite the beauty, this place made her anxious. She didn’t like the quiet or the isolation or the fact that she’d been forced to hide out here for her own safety.

      At the sound of a vehicle, she moved closer to the railing so she could see the narrow dirt road that wound up through the trees. She held her breath, afraid someone had found her—and not a reporter.

      The past twenty-two years were a dark hole that haunted her. While she couldn’t remember anything from those years, she had vague, disturbing flashes of the past that came without warning at all hours of the day and night. While they made no sense, their dark ominous feel scared her. She was afraid to find out who she’d been the past twenty-two years. Or why she’d tried to kill herself all those years ago.

      As Russell Murdock’s pickup came into view, she leaned against the railing, weak with relief. He had been her sanctuary from the storm since her return. Russell, a soft-spoken sixtysomething rancher with a heart as big as Montana, had saved her when he’d found her in an isolated spot outside Beartooth. She been confused, not sure how she’d gotten there or where she’d been.

      Her last memory was of giving birth to twin daughters. Was it really possible that they had both now graduated from college? She’d hoped they would come home for the summer so she could spend some time with them, but both had taken off to Europe to allegedly continue their studies abroad.

      Their prolonged absence was Buck’s doing. She hadn’t even gotten to see them since she’d been back. While she’d met with her other four daughters, Cassidy and Harper hadn’t been allowed to return home.

      “If they come back here, they will be bombarded by the media asking if they’ve seen their mother, where she’s been, why she’s back, what she said, what she looks like, and on and on,” Buckmaster had said irritably.

      She couldn’t argue with his logic. But she ached to see her twins all grown up. She remembered the sweet identical babies she’d given birth to and felt sick inside to think that they wouldn’t even remember her. It was bad enough that her other four children barely remembered her.

      Russell, understanding how upset she’d been about not seeing Harper and Cassidy, had offered to take her to visit them in Europe. But she’d declined. All she needed was to get the media circus going again by leading the press right to her twins. It had died down somewhat, even though she knew reporters were still looking for her. If Russell hadn’t hidden her away in this cabin...

      “The cabin is part of some land that my former employer W. T. Grant owned,” he’d told her when it became clear that she would have to hide out for a while from the press. “It’s my daughter’s now, but no one uses the place. No one will think to look for you there.”

      “The media frenzy isn’t going to die down,” she’d told him. “Not as long as Buck is still running for president. Maybe it would be better if I just disappeared again.”

      “Where would you go? No, you need to stay here,” Russell had said with a decisive shake of his head. “The cabin will be safe, and I’ll come see you every chance I get. Don’t worry about me being followed.” He’d smiled, making him even more handsome. “I know how to lose them on these back roads.”

      She watched him drive up and park out front. As he got out of his truck, he stopped to meet her eyes. His expression instantly softened as if he knew what she’d been going through. He sensed things about her, things that would have turned another man away and yet if anything made him even more protective.

      Her heart went out to him, but she didn’t move. Didn’t dare. She couldn’t let him think she was falling in love with him. She’d given her heart away at twenty-four to Buckmaster Hamilton, and it was still his. Maybe would always be his.

      Unless there’d been another man in her life during the past twenty-two years that she couldn’t remember. That thought made her hug herself against the chill that raced up her spine. Had there been a man? She shuddered to think what kind of man he would have been, given her flashes of memory.

      “I brought you strawberries,” Russell called, making her smile as he reached into the back of the truck and brought out a cooler. “I wanted to bring ice cream, but I knew it would melt before I got here.”

      He started toward her. She waited, anxious to know if he’d heard from Buck, but not wanting it to be the first thing out of her mouth.

      Russell didn’t ask how she’d been doing, because he already knew, as she led him into the small but modern cabin.

      She felt guilty for involving him in her messy life. He’d been so kind. “I’m so sorry I—”

      “Stop,” he said, putting down the cooler and stepping to her. His big hands cupping her shoulders felt warm, reassuring. “I couldn’t be happier helping you. Wasn’t it obvious that I was at loose ends when you came into my life? I desperately needed a diversion.”

      Was that what she was? She feared he wanted more than that from her and needed to warn him what a mistake that would be. It wasn’t just that she was still in love with Buck. No, her reasons, along with her fears, ran much deeper.

      “Ready for your doctor’s appointment?” he asked.

      He hoped the neurologist would be able to determine what had caused her memory loss. She feared he might be right. “What if he tells me...”

      “We’ll face whatever he tells you together,” Russell said quickly and reached for her hand.

      “Still, I’m afraid that I will bring something dangerous into your—”

      “I can handle whatever you bring.” His gaze locked with hers. “I will protect you no matter what. Believe that.”

      She could see that he meant every word. Russell would protect her to his dying breath, and that scared her even more. She hated that she’d put him in that position. Like her, he sensed that something scary from her past would ultimately find its way to Beartooth. His fear for her safety made her all the more frightened that it was only a matter of time before her past found her.

      * * *

      JACE HAD HOPED Buckmaster Hamilton was right and Bo was headed back to the ranch. But by the time he’d saddled up that afternoon, leaving his pickup and horse trailer at the Hamilton Ranch, there was still no sign of Bo. Even as he rode through the foothills and into the tall pines, winding his way up into the formidable Crazy Mountains, he still hoped to run across her.

      It didn’t take him long to pick up her tracks. The trail into the mountains was on Hamilton Ranch property, so no one else had ridden this way recently.

      He knew there could be СКАЧАТЬ