Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,14

against his chest. She wasn’t ready to forgive him for calling Mia, and yet she let him pull her closer. She hadn’t wanted her girls to know about this. It had been years since she’d seen a man who reminded her of Danny. Her girls had been so happy about her moving on, putting the past behind her for good.

After all the tears she’d cried over Danny, she would have thought there were no more to shed. “For just that one second, it was him standing there,” she said in a hoarse voice that ended with a sob. “I know it’s foolish, but my heart has never accepted that he died that day. I would have known if he had. Instead, I’ve always had this fantasy that he’s out there somewhere and that he will make his way home.” She pulled back to look up at him and saw pity in those blue eyes.

“He’s gone, Kate. You have to quit looking for him.”

She nodded and leaned into him again, feeling the warmth of his arms and body wrapped around her. Collin was real. The life he was offering her was real. She knew it wasn’t fair to him or her girls for her to keep hanging on to what she’d lost. Right after the explosion, she’d searched every crowd, every passerby, every random crowd shot on the television news looking for Danny.

But she hadn’t done that for years. Occasionally a face would catch her eye, but those occasions were rare. She’d really believed that she could move on and put Danny to rest—if not for herself, then for her daughters and her fiancé.

She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. A month after the explosion, she’d seen a man on a news program. He was a farmer in Nebraska. She made her father call the television station. She’d been convinced it was Danny.

Another time, she’d seen him getting off a plane and had chased him down, terrifying the man and his family. There’d been other times, too. In Houston, she’d see a man walk in front of her car, and he’d looked so much like Danny that she’d jumped out, holding up traffic to go after him. It was only when he turned that she’d seen her mistake.

Now she’d done it again—just when she’d thought that she’d accepted the loss and was ready to move on.

“When can we get out of here?” she asked, her voice breaking.

“Soon, baby. I’m going to go get us something to eat.” He swept her up and carried her back to the bed, lying her down gently and planting a kiss on her forehead before leaving.

She crawled under the covers and turned on the television, but she was too distracted to watch anything. Collin had been gone long enough that she’d wondered if he’d stopped by the man’s woodshop to see for himself. Collin would know what Danny looked like since there were photos at her house. Their wedding picture, snapshots when the girls were born and ones of the two of them with their baby girls.

Kate stared at the engagement ring on her finger. She’d said goodbye to Danny when she’d accepted Collin’s proposal. She hadn’t realized that she’d still been holding out hope even after all these years—until she’d seen the man standing in the woodshop.

But it had been just like the other times. The man wasn’t Danny. He looked like what Danny might look like after twenty years had passed, but he definitely didn’t sound like him or move like him. So, why had she behaved the way she had? There’d been something about him. Something about his features, something about the way he was standing there...

She felt a wave of shame and humiliation. Her daughters and Collin were right. Danny was gone. He certainly wasn’t down the street in some woodshop. She closed her eyes, wanting desperately to get out of this town and put this whole episode behind her.

CHAPTER SIX

THE NEXT MORNING, Collin accompanied her to the café as if afraid of what kind of trouble she might get into if she went by herself. Last night they’d eaten the dinner he’d picked up from the café in the motel room and watched a bad movie. The whole time, she’d felt Collin stealing glances at her. She couldn’t bear the thought of his pity, let alone his concern. Was he having second thoughts about marrying her?

“Have you talked to the mechanic?” she asked as they walked down the main street toward