B.J. Daniels

by Forsaken

  “I know you have a pot of coffee on. I suppose it is too much to hope you baked a cake.”

  She gave him an unamused look, but she stepped back to let him enter the house. Just as he’d thought, she was packing.

  “When do you have to be out?”

  “The last of the month,” she said as she led the way into the kitchen.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  She had been in the process of getting two mugs from the kitchen cabinet but slowed at his words. “Jamison—”

  “My first name is Bentley.”

  She turned with a mug in each hand. “I know.” As she turned her back again to fill the mugs, she said, “What happened up in the mountains—”

  “Don’t try to reduce it to something it wasn’t.”

  He saw her shoulders sag as she came around to face him. He took one of the mugs from her hand. “I’m not going to let you just write us off without even giving us a chance.”

  “I’m selling the ranch. I’m thinking I might want to travel.”

  “Really?” He couldn’t help but notice the sun coming in the kitchen window. It lit up her face. She’d never been more beautiful, he thought, but wisely didn’t voice it.

  “Maybe I want to cut loose of my roots and see the world.”

  “Sounds like fun. I’ll pack my bag. When do we leave?”

  She shook her head. “You aren’t going to quit your job and travel the world.”

  “Try me.”

  “What about your job back in New York City? You said you loved being a detective.”

  “I did love it, but I realized something up on that mountain with you. I was hanging on to that job, keeping one foot in the past, afraid to make a real commitment to the future.”

  She took a sip of her coffee and leaned back against the counter. “And now?”

  “I want to stay here. But I don’t want you feeling as if you’re the only reason I’ve decided to stay. I love it out here. I want to make it my home.” He met her gaze. “But I won’t kid you. I want you, too.”

  Maddie shook her head. He made it all sound so simple.

  “No more living in the past for me, Maddie. I called my old boss and told him to fill the position. I’m not sure where I might end up, but I’m not going back no matter what happens with you and me.” He raised his coffee mug. “To new beginnings.”

  A comfortable silence seemed to fill the kitchen. The sun warmed it, making everything glow. The aroma of coffee hung in the air while just outside the open window, a meadowlark sang from a fence post.

  “Can we talk about what is really going on?” he asked after a moment.

  “You already know. I’m packing.” Her voice warbled a little. “Like you, I’m leaving the past behind.”

  “I was by Branch’s grave earlier. I saw the tombstone you bought him. It had a lamb and sagebrush on it. He would have liked it.”

  She shook her head even as tears filled her eyes.

  Jamison stepped to her, took the coffee mug from her hand and pulled her into his arms as she began to cry.

  “He was murdered because of me,” she sobbed.

  “He died because some drug runner killed him.”

  “If he hadn’t been up in those mountains—”

  He drew back to meet her gaze. “We all have a choice. Branch chose to herd your sheep to the high country each summer. You chose to hang on to this ranch come hell or high water. Either of you could have chosen differently.”

  “Could we have?” She reached for a paper towel and wiped her tears. “I feel as if my destiny was already written and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it.”

  He shoved back his Stetson. “Destiny? Like my meeting you?”

  She started to say that was different.

  “You can’t have it both ways, Maddie. The future is in your hands. You’re going to have to choose. Just like Branch chose not only to take your sheep up into the Beartooths, but also to leave markers so we could find the plane filled with cocaine. You can choose to be happy, Maddie.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “What are you so afraid of?”

  “I’m not afraid,” she said, bristling. “But just because we were thrown together up there on the mountain... We needed each other up there. But life is...different down here.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry to hear you say that. I thought nothing could scare you. Clearly I was wrong.” He let out a sigh and stepped back. “You decide to take a chance on happiness, you give me a call.”

  He started for the door, fearing she would let him walk through it.

  “Bentley.”

  He stopped, closing his eyes and saying a little prayer of thanks, before he turned back to her.

  “I can’t do this anymore,” she said with a sweep of her arm that took in more than the room. It took in the whole sheep ranch.

  “You don’t have to,” he said quietly.

  She looked around the room, tears in her eyes. “Fuzz Carpenter has wanted to buy the place since Hank died. I just dug my heels in because...” She looked up at him.

  “Because it’s your nature?”

  She smiled at that.

  “If this is really what you want to do, then why not?”

  She looked around for a moment then settled her gaze on him. “I feel like I’ve failed.”

  “You know better than that.”

  “I needed this place after I lost Hank and Matthew. It distracted me from the grief. It was my lifeline.”

  “And now?”

  “You asked me up on the mountain what I would do if I didn’t sheep ranch.”

  “I remember.”

  “I hadn’t even thought about it. But I have now. I want to help boys like Dewey.”

  “What, not travel the world?”

  She turned to smile at him. “You knew that wasn’t me, didn’t you.”

  He nodded. “But I would have quit my job and gone with you. I want to be with you.”

  “I find that hard to believe as contrary as I am.”

  He smiled. “You are one contrary woman, no doubt about that. But I’ll take you as you are. If traveling the world comes with it, then count me in. Same if it’s starting some kind of way station for troubled kids.”

  “Do you know what you’re saying?”

  He laughed. “Maddie, I want to date you. Court you. Whatever you want to call it. And when the time comes, I’m going to marry you.”

  “Jamison, we hardly know each other.”

  “Oh, we know each other,” he said. He stepped to her and slipped his hand around her slim throat to cup the back of her neck. He pulled her to him and kissed her on the mouth. “Oh, we know each other just fine.” And he kissed her again.

  When he drew back, he said, “I’m falling for you, Maddie Conner. Given time, I think you might fall for me.”

  “You’re pretty sure of yourself, Deputy.”

  He grinned. “I’m sure of us,” he said, his gaze locking with hers. He slowly lowered his lips until they brushed across hers. He felt her tremble and gathered her closer. “Let’s start with dinner tonight.” He let go of her. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”

  * * *

  MADDIE STOOD IN front of the mirror, entranced by the woman she saw there. She ran her hands over her hips, lost in the silky feel of the dress. It was new. For new beginnings, she’d told herself when she’d bought it, feeling extravagant and giddy with excitement.

  She touched her finger to her lips. They still tingled from Jamison’s kiss earlier. Her gaze took in the flush of her cheeks, the brightness of her blue eyes. She smiled at the woman in the mirror.

  A date?

  She shook her head. She hadn’t dated since high school—and only then with Hank.

  She thought of Bentley and told herself there was no reason to be nervous. She knew this man. She pictured him with his shirt off, standing at the edge of the creek that first morning on the way to sheep camp, and felt that shiver
of desire. He’d ignited something in her, a passion she hadn’t known she possessed.

  Was it any wonder she’d pushed him away, afraid on so many levels. But he was right. They did deserve a chance.

  She looked again at the woman in the mirror, surprised to see her body. It wasn’t bad for a woman forty-five. She’d kept in shape working the ranch. It hadn’t been something she’d thought about. Just as she hadn’t looked at her body in years.

  Now she could admit that she’d hidden it, thinking she could put her sensuality on a shelf—just like she had her life. Or that she could hide it by wearing jeans and Hank’s old flannel shirts for so long.

  She had legs, she thought with a laugh as she admired them and the heels she’d bought to go with the dress.

  The dress fit perfectly, cupping her full breasts and skimming over her hips. She stared for a moment longer at herself. It had been so long since she’d looked at herself that it felt as if she was looking at a stranger.

  Maddie felt a flutter of excitement as she began to pull her hair up. No braid tonight. This was going to be a whole new her.

  She thought about the money she would get for the ranch. It would be plenty enough to buy a small place, preferably with a large old farmhouse, and some land so she could start her home for boys like Dewey.

  She thought of her own son, Matthew, and felt a lump in her throat. She would need a place big enough to have horses and maybe even a few cows. She smiled, knowing Matthew would have approved. She would start looking for a place tomorrow.

  At the sound of a vehicle driving up in the yard, she left her bedroom and walked toward the front door.

  Her heels clicked on the old hardwood floors. It made a nice sound. She heard music coming from the car that had pulled up in front of her house. She recognized the song, a catchy, summery tune. It lifted her heart as if attached to a helium balloon—as did the sight of the man who climbed out from behind the wheel.

  Bentley Jamison couldn’t have looked more handsome in his dark suit. If she hadn’t already fallen in love with him, she thought she would have all over again as he made his way up the steps.

  He let out a long whistle. “You look...” For a moment he seemed at a loss for words. “...beautiful.”

  She felt beautiful as she saw herself reflected in his eyes.

  He held a bouquet of white daisies in his one fist and a box of candy in the other.

  She laughed as he handed her both. “You shouldn’t have.”

  “I wasn’t sure how courtin’ out West worked, but I wanted to cover all my bases.” He looked down at the suit he was wearing. “Is it too much for Big Timber?”

  She smiled. “It’s perfect. But I don’t need flowers or candy. All I need is you,” she said, meeting his silver gaze.

  Jamison pulled her close to cup her cheek in one of his large hands. He brushed his thumb pad over her lower lip. His thumb pad felt rough, and she had to smile as she remembered the greenhorn who’d stood on this porch not all that long ago.

  Welcome to Montana, Deputy, she thought as he kissed her, sending a shiver of expectation through her. Whatever the future held, Maddie knew Bentley Jamison was going to be part of it.

  * * * * *

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  ISBN: 9781460319574

  FORSAKEN

  Copyright © 2013 by Barbara Heinlein

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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