Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,23

Danny anymore. Being around him seemed to be as hard on him as it was on her. Knowing that he was Danny and not being able to reach him was excruciating.

That wasn’t even what hurt the most. She’d seen something in his eyes. He needed her to leave. Wanted her to. He’d almost been pleading with her to go and not look back. Whatever had happened to him over the years, it had made him into the recluse he’d become. She was the last thing he wanted or needed.

But how could she leave him? “I can’t go yet,” she said.

“Not this again?” Collin demanded.

She rose from the bed. Yesterday after seeing Jon, she’d been so filled with emotion, she’d felt raw, as if her flesh had been flayed with a knife. She hadn’t had the strength to tell Collin what she now knew, especially knowing what his reaction would be. This morning he’d been busy on the phone with his associates, discussing the weather and how long it would be before he could get out of Buckhorn. She’d been dreading the moment when he got off the phone.

She’d known after he’d disconnected that she couldn’t put it off any longer. Not that she had any idea how she was going to explain it to him or what would happen next. “I can’t leave,” she repeated.

He shook his head. She could see he was getting angry with her, something he’d never done. “If this is still about that carpenter...” He met her gaze, his blue eyes hard as ice chips. “That’s where you went yesterday. That’s why you were acting so odd last night. You said you just wanted to read your book, but I knew it wasn’t about the book. You barely turned a page all evening. It’s about that man you are determined is your dead husband. I thought you said you were mistaken. So, you went back, and what? What happened?”

She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat. “I had to see him again because I hadn’t gotten a good look at him.”

Collin swore and raked a hand through his blond hair. His handsome face twisted in anger. “I knew you were determined to go back there, but why would you put yourself through that? Are you just a glutton for punishment?”

“I finally saw his eyes. He’s Danny.”

Her fiancé exploded, stomping back and forth in the small room. “Did he tell you he was your husband?”

She shook her head, looking away. “He doesn’t remember me.”

Collin let out a bark of a laugh as he paced. “So, he doesn’t know you at all, right?” She nodded. “Then, that should be the last of it.”

“How can it be? It’s him. It’s Danny. I’m sure of it. How can I desert him now after I’ve found him?” She was pleading with him to understand. “When I looked into his eyes—”

“Have you lost your mind?” Collin stopped pacing so quickly, his look so furious, that she couldn’t go on. For a moment she thought he might grab her and shake her. He certainly looked as if he wanted to. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I just can’t deal with this right now.” He snatched up his coat and stormed out into the cold.

Kate looked down at the ring on her finger, a reminder of that new life she’d actually thought she’d been looking forward to. She couldn’t blame Collin. He’d put up with so much from her since they’d met. And now this?

Tears burned her eyes. Was she throwing away a chance for happiness based on...what? Jon Harper didn’t know her. From the way he’d acted, he wanted nothing to do with her. Even if he was Danny...

That was it, though. He was Danny. She saw it in his eyes. She felt it at heart level. She’d found the first man she’d ever loved, the same man who’d stolen her heart all those years ago, the father of her children.

She reminded herself that she and Danny didn’t know each other anymore. They were different people than they’d been. They’d spent all these years apart. It wasn’t as if they could pick up where they’d left off. As if the fact had slipped her mind, he didn’t remember her or their daughters or the life they’d shared and seemed to want to just be left alone.

She knew it made no sense. Like Collin had said, what were the chances she’d find him here? But she also believed that there