Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,3

at least move in together, but Kate wasn’t having that, claiming it was about her independence and space.

He worried it was more about not trusting him. But he’d told her he thought it was quaint that she wanted to wait until marriage. Ridiculous, but so Kate. The one thing he’d always been able to do was get a woman into his bed. Now he was even questioning his prowess at that, given how long it had taken with her.

Kate was different. It wasn’t like she’d played hard to get. She just hadn’t been ready, she’d said, and he believed her. Also, he suspected the difference in their ages bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Wait until she learned that he’d fibbed about his real age. He wasn’t quite thirty-four. But what did a couple years matter? It wasn’t like she was robbing the cradle.

He finished packing and thought about the surprise trip. If everything went the way he’d planned it, his future was so bright he was going to have to wear sunglasses day and night. He grinned. “You’ve got this,” he whispered to himself as he went downstairs to load his suitcase into the back of his sports car. Once they were on the plane, Kate was all his.

Still, as he drove to her house, he worried she might have gotten cold feet overnight. It was that dead husband of hers. Daniel “Danny” Jackson. He’d heard all about her childhood sweetheart to the point where he’d wanted to puke. The man had apparently been a saint, worked two jobs to support her and her two babies—up until the day he was blown up and ended up in a mass grave since identifying the bodies had been impossible. Collin was no head doctor, but he suspected it was one reason she’d held on to the fantasy of her dead husband for so long. She’d never gotten to bury him.

But Danny was the past now. He was dead, and Collin was alive. That had to rate for something, he thought as he wished he didn’t remember the way she’d cupped that worn-thin, gold wedding band in her hand. Hell, she’d hardly looked at the huge diamond he’d put on her finger. He couldn’t help a fresh stab of irritation. He’d dropped a bundle on that rock, hoping to impress her. Instead, some cheap ring was so precious she could barely take it off.

He snuffed out his annoyance as he caught his reflection in the rearview mirror. He’d hit the jackpot on looks. Blond, blue-eyed and devilishly handsome. At least that’s what his mother used to say. What woman wouldn’t want him? He laughed at his insecurities as the light turned green and he continued toward Kate’s house. He’d make her forget that long-dead husband.

One way or another, Kate was going to love him more than she’d ever loved that Danny. How could she not?

CHAPTER TWO

MONTANA? KATE LOOKED out the window to see nothing but snow. It covered everything in sight, including the narrow two-lane highway. It fell from the sky in huge flakes that hurled into the windshield. The wipers clacked frantically but were clearly inadequate.

“Collin—”

“Don’t worry. I was raised in Minnesota,” he said. “I was driving on snowy roads at the age of sixteen.”

She looked over at him. “I never know what to believe about you,” she admitted, realizing how true it was. “Some of the stories you’ve told me—”

“All true. I’m a man of adventure, remember?” He grinned over at her, making her heart beat a little faster. Did he really know what he was doing? He was always so cocky and self-assured. It was what had attracted her to him. He’d been so different from Danny, who’d just been a scared kid like her.

They’d flown from Houston to Denver, Colorado to Bismarck, North Dakota, where a rental SUV had been waiting for them at the airport. From there, they’d driven west, leaving the interstate to cross the state of Montana on a two-lane highway. She’d never been in such wide-open spaces or anywhere with so many miles between towns.

As they headed deeper into the snowstorm, the highway seemed to grow narrower. She couldn’t remember the last car she’d seen. There’d been fewer houses, almost no sign of life the farther they went. She had no idea where they were headed or what they were going to do since it was winter and freezing outside. This seemed like an odd place for Collin to bring her on