Cardwell Ranch Trespasser - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,8

The kid sounded shocked that anyone could reach Dee’s age and have never ridden a horse.

This time Dee let Hud lift her up and onto the horse. She gripped the saddle horn as the horse seemed to shiver and stomp its feet. “I don’t think it likes me,” she said.

“Star likes everyone,” the girl said.

Dee was glad when they rode away from the house. She’d always found children annoying. It was beyond her why anyone would want four of them.

Once she got used to the horse’s movement, she began to relax. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. A cool breeze blew through the pine trees, bringing with it a scent like none she’d ever smelled before.

“So this is what fresh air smells like,” she joked.

“A little different from New York City?”

She laughed at that. “It’s so...quiet.”

“You’ll get used to it. Did you have trouble getting to sleep last night? People often complain it’s too quiet to sleep.”

She hadn’t been able to sleep last night, but she doubted it was from the quiet. Dana had put her in a large bedroom upstairs at the front of the house. When she’d tested the bed, she found it to be like lying down on a cloud. It was covered with what appeared to be a handmade patchwork quilt, the mattress on a white iron frame that forced her to actually climb up to get into it.

The sheets had smelled like sunshine and were soft. There was no reason she shouldn’t have drifted right off to sleep. Except for one.

She found herself reviewing the day in small snapshots, weighing each thing that happened, evaluating how she’d done as Dee Anna Justice. She was much more critical of herself than anyone else could possibly be. But she’d learned the hard way that any little slipup could give her away.

“Dana tells me you grew up back East?” Hud asked, clearly just making conversation as their horses walked down a narrow dirt road side by side.

The real Dee Anna Justice had never been exactly forthcoming about her life growing up. But she’d always gotten the feeling that something had happened, some secret that made Dee Anna not want to talk about her life.

She’d found that amusing, since she would put her childhood secrets up against the real Dee Anna Justice’s any day—and win hands down, she was sure.

“It wasn’t like this,” Dee said now in answer to his question. Then she quickly asked, “Did you grow up here? I get the feeling that you and Dana have always known each other.”

“My father was the marshal,” Hud said. “I grew up just down the road from here. Dana and I go way back.” Something in his tone told her that there had been some problem before they’d gotten together. Another woman? Or another man?

Dee made a mental note to see what she could find out from the sister, Stacy. She’d only seen her for a few minutes, but Dee could tell at once that Stacy and Dana were nothing alike. And while the two seemed close, she got the feeling there was some sort of old friction there.

She’d spent her life reading people to survive. Some people were literally an open book. If they didn’t tell you their life story, you could pretty well guess it.

Glancing over at the cowboy beside her, she knew he was honorable, loyal and trustworthy. She considered what it would take to corrupt a man like that.

* * *

HILDE PUT THE Open sign in her shop window. As she did, she glanced at the deli across the street. She’d gotten used to seeing Deputy Marshal Colt Dawson sitting in that front window and was a little surprised to find someone else sitting there this morning.

It surprised her also that she was disappointed.

She shook it off, chastising herself.

“Colt has a crush on you,” Dana had said a few days before. “Hud says he hasn’t dated a single woman since he asked you out and you turned him down.”

“I’m sure he’ll snap out of it soon,” Hilde had said. Colt Dawson could have any woman he wanted—and had. The man was too handsome for his own good. He’d gotten his straight, thick black hair from his father, who was Native American, and his startling blue eyes from his Irish mother. On top of that, he was tall, broad-shouldered with slim hips and long legs, and he had this grin that...

Hilde shook herself again, shocked that she’d let her thoughts go down