Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,56

he wanted to take the man on. One more word out of Collin, the slightest movement in his direction...

But Collin stepped back, rounding the front of the SUV to go to the back to load her suitcase. She spoke quickly and quietly, hoping Collin wouldn’t hear.

“You stay safe, Justin.”

Jon heard the name, his eyes widening.

The hatch opened, and Collin threw in the suitcase before slamming it and stepping around to open the driver’s-side door. As he slid behind the wheel, he looked at her still standing outside with her door open. “Let’s go,” he barked.

Kate gave Jon one last look before she climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up. She’d seen the surprise and the worry on his face. He was afraid for her? She was the one trying to save him by warning him.

As Collin shifted into Reverse and yanked the steering wheel around, she couldn’t bear to look at Jon’s retreating back as he limped toward his workshop. She closed her eyes tight, her heart thudding brokenly in her chest. She yearned to throw open her door and run after him through the snow.

But like she’d told Collin, she wasn’t stupid. Her daughter’s life was at stake. So was the life of this man now walking away. One wrong move on her part... Worse, whatever business Collin had across the border, it was dirty and dangerous. She hated him for dragging the people she loved into it, but she was in it now up to her neck with no way out.

As he drove them out of Buckhorn, Kate feared she would never see her daughters again—let alone Buckhorn or Jon Harper. Worse, she was now with a dangerous man. She could smell it on Collin. His desperation warned her just how dangerous he could get.

Even if she did what he wanted, she thought her chances of surviving this engagement trip weren’t good.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

TOO UPSET TO go back to his workshop, Jon had headed for Earl Ray’s house. He couldn’t believe that he’d let Kate go with that man. But what could he have done? Kate was a grown woman. Had he been going to warn her about Collin Matthews? Not that it mattered since she was the one warning him.

She’d called him Justin, which meant the report on his fingerprints from the coffee mug had come back. Collin knew who he was. By now he could have let everyone else know. He probably already had ratted him out and was pretending otherwise to force Kate to go with him.

Jon swore. Why hadn’t he grabbed her and... And what? Just because he didn’t like Matthews, none of this was his business. Maybe the man wasn’t headed for the border to do anything illegal. Right.

He hadn’t grabbed Kate and kept her from going because she’d asked him not to. He’d seen the pleading in her green eyes. Which meant Collin had something on her. It was the only thing that made sense. Jon’s true identify—and what would happen if word got out? He hoped to hell that wasn’t what Collin was using to force Kate to go with him. The irony wasn’t wasted on him. He’d planned to warn her and she’d ended up warning him.

Because she believed he was her husband, Danny. He swore under his breath as he neared Earl Ray’s house. He no longer even knew who he was.

He banged on Earl Ray’s door until the older man opened it. “She just left with Matthews,” he said as he stepped in. He wasn’t sure why he’d come here. Maybe so Earl Ray could tell him that there was nothing he could do.

As he took off his coat and boots, Earl Ray handed him a large manila envelope. “What’s this?” Jon asked frowning. “I hope it isn’t more bad news about Collin Matthews.”

“It’s a dossier on you.”

He jerked his head up, his nostrils flaring as he looked at the older man who stood in the middle of the room. The expression on Earl Ray’s face was one of pity and concern, two things that Jon didn’t want to see there. “Where the hell did you get—”

“I put it together myself.”

Jon took a step back. “Why would you—”

“Because I had to know.”

He didn’t need to open the envelope. He knew what was inside. He tried to choose his words wisely. Earl Ray was as close to a best friend as he’d had in years. He told himself he could trust the man. “I’ve lived here five years. When