Cardwell Ranch Trespasser - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,58

family noisily enjoying the meal, Dee counted down the hours. She could feel time slipping through her fingers, but she was relatively calm. Once she’d decided what she was going to have to do, she’d just accepted it.

She’d learned as a child to just accept things the way they were—until she could change them. There was nothing worse than feeling trapped in a situation where you felt there was nothing you could do.

That had been her childhood—feeling defenseless. She’d sworn that the day would come when she would never feel like that again. It took a steely, blind determination that some might have thought cold.

But the moment she’d lit that match so many years ago, she’d sworn she was never going to be a victim again.

Chapter Fourteen

Hud had been in such a good mood after dinner that he’d suggested one last horseback ride.

Dee couldn’t contain her excitement once she’d heard that it would be just the two of them. Dana had considered calling Liza to see if she would babysit, but one of the twins was teething and cranky, so she’d told Hud and Dee to go and have a good time.

“Oh, here,” Hud had said. “I picked up the mail on my way in. You had something, Dee.” Mail was delivered to a large box with Cardwell Ranch stenciled on the side. The box sat at the edge of Highway 191, a good quarter mile from the ranch house.

She took the envelope with the name Dee Anna Justice typed on it. The trust fund check. She hoped she would never have to use it. But it was always good to have money tucked away—just in case she had reason to leave town in a hurry.

Hud watched her open it, peek inside, then stuff the folded envelope into the hip pocket of her jeans. Having mail come to her in Dee Anna Justice’s name seemed to seal the deal as far as who she was. At least for Hud.

While he went out to saddle two horses, Dee insisted on staying in the house and helping Dana with the dishes. She could tell Hud had liked that.

Hud smiled at her now as she walked out to the corral where he was waiting. She smiled back, warmed to her toes. He seemed comfortable and at ease with her. She wouldn’t let herself think that his good mood had to do with her plans to fly out the next day.

It was the perfect evening, the weather cool but not cold. The sky was still bright over the canyon, the sun not yet set.

Dee let him help her into the saddle, loving being this close to him. She felt comfortable in the saddle. Hud could never love a woman who didn’t ride.

“I think I could get into horseback riding,” she said, as the two of them left the ranch behind and headed up into the mountains.

“You should check into riding lessons when you get home,” he suggested. “I’m sure they’re offered in New York.”

“Yes,” she agreed, reminded again that there was nothing waiting for her back in the city. She’d given up the apartment. Given up that life.

She considered what the real Dee Anna Justice would do once she realized Dee had borrowed her name. The best thing to do was send the check back. Put “Wrong Address” on the envelope. Dee Anna would never have to know.

That decided, Dee began to relax and enjoy the ride and the man riding along next to her. At that moment she was so content, so sure that everything was going to work out the way she’d planned it, that she couldn’t have foreseen the mistake she would make just minutes later on top of the mountain.

* * *

COLT MADE GOOD time, and by seven that night he wasn’t far outside Denver. He stopped for gas and coffee, figuring he had at least another fourteen hours minimum to go.

Hilde answered on the second ring as if she’d been waiting by the phone. “Where are you?”

He told her. “The roads haven’t been bad. I expect they will be worse the closer I get. I should be there by nine or ten in the morning. Get some sleep.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“I’m okay. When I first got into law enforcement I had to work some double shifts. I learned how to stay awake. Anyway, I’ll be thinking of you the whole time.”

He could hear the smile in her voice when she said, “Same here.”

He stretched his legs and got