by B. J Daniels
She’ll risk everything to bring her cowboy back home...
One week ago, Cyrus Cahill told Ashley Jo “AJ” Somerfield that he’d be back in her arms by the weekend. He just needed to buy a bull for his ranch, and then they’d pick up where they left off after that romantic ride through the foothills. But now he’s gone missing and everyone—even the sheriff—believes he’s dead.
Everyone...but AJ. She suspects foul play and she won’t rest until Cyrus is back home in Gilt Edge, right where he belongs. Because Cyrus isn’t the kind of cowboy who breaks a promise. And since she’s not the kind of woman who gives up on her man, AJ will risk anything to help bring him home...even her own life.
Don’t miss this suspenseful conclusion of The Montana Cahills series from New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels.
Praise for New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels
“With a surprising villain, a mystery full of twists and turns and engaging characters, Renegade’s Pride is an addictive page-turner.”
—BookPage
“As per usual, the writing of B.J. Daniels is infectious and compelling.... I can honestly say Cowboy’s Redemption is a real page-turner.”
—Fresh Fiction
“B.J. Daniels has made Cowboy’s Legacy quite a nail-biting, page-turner of a story. Guaranteed to keep you on your toes.”
—Fresh Fiction
“I kept reading until I finished it once I started. It was that good.”
—Night Owl Romance on Cowboy’s Legacy
“Hero’s Return by B.J. Daniels is a creative masterpiece.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Daniels is an expert at combining layered characters, quirky small towns, steamy chemistry and added suspense.”
—RT Book Reviews on Hero’s Return
“I would recommend this book for anyone who loves mysteries and romance. It is the perfect blend of these two.”
—Night Owl Romance on Hero’s Return
Also available from
B.J. Daniels
and HQN Books
The Montana Cahills
Renegade’s Pride
Outlaw’s Honor
Cowboy’s Legacy
Cowboy’s Reckoning (ebook novella)
Hero’s Return
Rancher’s Dream
Wrangler’s Rescue
The Montana Hamiltons
Wild Horses
Lone Rider
Lucky Shot
Hard Rain
Into Dust
Honor Bound
Beartooth, Montana
Fallen (ebook prequel)
Unforgiven
Redemption
Forsaken
Atonement
Mercy
B.J. DANIELS
WRANGLER’S RESCUE
This book is dedicated to anyone who has
experienced the power and magic of true love.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
EXCERPT FROM STROKE OF LUCK BY B.J. DANIELS
EXCERPT FROM LAWMAN WITH A CAUSE BY DELORES FOSSEN
CHAPTER ONE
ASHLEY JO “AJ” SOMERFIELD couldn’t help herself. She kept looking out the window of the Stagecoach Saloon hoping to see a familiar ranch pickup. Cyrus Cahill had promised to stop by as soon as he returned to Gilt Edge. He’d been gone less than a week after driving down to Denver to see about buying a bull for the ranch.
“I’ll be back on Saturday,” he’d said when he left. “Isn’t that the day Billie Dee makes chicken and dumplings?”
He knew darned well it was. “Texas chicken and dumplings,” AJ had corrected him since everything Billie Dee cooked had a little of her Southern spice in it. “I know you can’t resist her cookin’, so I guess I’ll see you then.”
He’d laughed. Oh, how she loved that laugh. “Maybe you will if you just happen to be tending bar on Saturday.”
“I will be.” That was something else he knew darned well.
He’d let out a whistle. “Then I guess I’ll see you then.”
She smiled to herself at the memory. It had taken Cyrus a while to come out of his shell. One of those “aw shucks, ma’am” kind of cowboys, he was so darned shy she thought she was going to have to throw herself on the floor at his boots for him to notice her. But once he had opened up a little, they’d started talking, joking around, getting to know each other.
Before he’d left, they’d gone for a horseback ride through the snowy foothills up into the towering pines of the forest. It had been Cyrus’s idea. They’d ridden up into one of the four mountain ranges that surrounded the town of Gilt Edge—and the Cahill Ranch.
It was when they’d stopped to admire the view from the mountaintop that overlooked the small western town that AJ had hoped Cyrus would kiss her. He sure looked as if he’d wanted to as they’d walked their horses to the edge of the overlook.
The sun warming them while the breeze whispered through the boughs of the nearby snow-laden pines, it was one of those priceless Montana January days between snowstorms. That’s why Cyrus had said they should take advantage of the beautiful day before he left for Denver.
Standing on a bared-off spot on the edge of the mountain, he’d reached over and taken her hand in his. “Beautiful,” he’d said. For a moment she thought he was talking about the view, but when she met his gaze she’d seen that he’d meant her.
Her heart had begun to pound. This was it. This was what she’d been hoping for. He drew her closer. Pushing back his Stetson, he bent toward her. His mouth was just a breath away from hers—when his mare nudged him with her nose.
She could laugh about it now. But if she hadn’t grabbed Cyrus he would have fallen down the mountainside.
“She’s just jealous,” Cyrus had said of his horse as he’d rubbed the beast’s neck after getting his footing under himself again.
But the moment had been lost. They’d saddled up and ridden back to Cahill Ranch.
AJ still wanted that kiss more than anything. Maybe today when Cyrus returned home. After all, it had been his idea to stop by the saloon his brother and sister owned when he got back. She thought it wasn’t just Billie Dee’s chicken and dumplings he was after, and bit her lower lip in anticipation.
* * *
SHERIFF FLINT CAHILL had been thinking about how quiet Gilt Edge had been lately, when a call was put through to his office. Before he could pick it up, the dispatcher appeared in his doorway looking worried.
Betty said nothing as he lifted the
receiver, but he was already praying the call wasn’t about the baby. He’d recently become the proud father of a baby girl who was the spitting image of her mother. But little Elizabeth, named after his sister, Lillie, had been small and he worried.
“Sheriff Cahill,” he said into the phone and held his breath.
But it wasn’t the voice of his wife, Maggie, on the other end of the line with the bad news.
“Sheriff Flint Cahill?” a man asked with a West Indies accent.
He glanced up to see that Betty was gone. He began to breathe a little easier. “Yes? How may I help you?”
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Your brother Cyrus Cahill?”
“Yes.” He sat up a little straighter, holding the phone tighter.
“He has disappeared and believed to have gone overboard.”
“Gone overboard?” Flint repeated, thinking he must have heard wrong.
“Yes, he has fallen off the cruise ship he was on.”
Flint shook his head. “I’m sorry, who did you say you were?”
“The police commissioner here on the island of St. Augusta in the Caribbean.”
He felt a surge of relief. Was this some kind of scam call? “I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. My brother is nowhere near the Caribbean. Why don’t you give me your number and I’ll call you right back.”
That usually took care of the scam calls.
“Of course.” The man gave him a number, taking Flint by surprise. If this was some trick to extort money... He ran a quick internet search before dialing the number, which appeared to be from the island of St. Augusta in the Caribbean.
Flint couldn’t imagine what was going on. Was it possible Cyrus’s identity had been stolen?
The police commissioner answered on the third ring. “I know this must come as shocking news.”
“Shocking yes, since my brother is on his way home from Denver, Colorado.” Cyrus had gone down to look at a bull he was considering buying for the family ranch. “The last place he would be is on a cruise in the Caribbean. But if someone is using his name...”
“Perhaps this will clear everything up,” the man said. “I can email you a photograph taken on the ship after the couple was married by the captain.”
He almost laughed. There was definitely a mistake. Cyrus married—let alone on a cruise ship in the Caribbean? Flint gave him his email address and waited.
Moments later an email popped up on his computer. He opened the link from St. Augusta’s Police Department assuring himself that this mistake would be rectified quickly once he... Flint felt all the breath rush from his lungs.
In the photograph Cyrus was wearing a tuxedo. He had his arm around an attractive blonde in an emerald green gown. Both were smiling at the camera. In the background was a turquoise blue sea. Closer was the name of the ship: The Majestic Goddess of the Caribbean.
CHAPTER TWO
“CYRUS ISN’T DEAD,” AJ cried. “He’s not.” She would have felt it if that was true. But at the same time, she questioned why she wouldn’t have also felt it when he’d married some woman he’d just met. She pushed that thought away. All she knew was that her heart assured her Cyrus was alive. “If he fell overboard, then he’s still in the water? He knows how to swim, right?”
Flint nodded. He’d called everyone together at the Stagecoach Saloon his brother Darby and sister, Lillie, owned before it was to open for the day. Now it wouldn’t be opening at all today.
Flint’s brothers Tucker, Hawk and Darby were there along with Billie Dee, the cook, who’d become as much a part of the family as AJ herself.
“His fall was caught on a ship surveillance camera,” the sheriff said.
“They’re sure it was him?” Tucker asked.
“The photo is grainy, but it’s him,” Flint said.
She shook her head, fighting tears. This couldn’t be happening. She’d been so excited about him coming back today. How could he have fallen off a cruise ship? He’d gone to Denver to buy a bull. What would have possessed him to take a Caribbean cruise—let alone get married? How was that possible? He hadn’t been gone that long. Something was very wrong with all of this.
“What was he doing on that ship?” Hawk demanded. He and Cyrus worked Cahill Ranch together. “He’s never talked about going on a cruise. Far from it. And to get married? I agree with AJ. Something’s wrong with all this. Could he have lost his mind or... You’re sure the wedding photo is real?”
Flint sighed. He’d made copies no doubt because he knew the family wouldn’t believe it any more than he did. He handed them out, the room going deathly quiet.
AJ’s hands shook as she took hers. There was no doubt it was Cyrus standing next to a tall, slinky blonde in an emerald dress. “Did your brother take his tuxedo when he went to Denver?” she asked.
“Tuxedo? He doesn’t even own a suit,” Hawk said. “This is Montana.”
“Well, he seems to have found one,” Darby ventured. “But look at his eyes. He’s drunk.” He tossed down the photocopy with disgust. “We all agree, something is definitely wrong. Cyrus never has more than a couple of beers at the most. This is all so out of character.”
“You’re forgetting the blonde with him,” Tucker said. “Apparently she charmed him right onto a cruise ship and right into marriage.”
The room fell silent again. AJ felt her face burning. They all knew how she felt about Cyrus. But she also believed that he’d cared about her. He’d promised to come back. Cyrus wasn’t the kind of man who broke a promise.
“He doesn’t love that woman,” Lillie said, shaking her head. “Clearly she got him drunk or drugged, and dragged him to the altar.”
“Whatever happened,” Flint said. “He used his credit card on the cruise. I don’t think there is any doubt that Cyrus was on that ship. Or that he fell from it.”
“What about this woman he married?” Tucker asked. “What do you know about her?”
“Nothing yet,” Flint said. “But no matter who she is or why he married her, it doesn’t change the fact that Cyrus went off that ship in the middle of the night and hasn’t been found. Because no one apparently saw him fall off, no alarm was sounded.”
“But you said he was caught on one of the surveillance cameras,” AJ cried.
The sheriff nodded. “It wasn’t seen until the next morning when Cyrus’s...wife reported him missing. They had to go back through the surveillance videos when they realized he wasn’t on board. But first they had to search the entire ship.”
AJ covered her face, trying so hard not to cry. “So he was out there in the water all that time? How could his wife not know he was missing all night?”
“Apparently she had taken some seasick medicine that knocked her out,” Flint said. “The seas were rough that night, according to the ship captain. He is sending me the report on the accident.”
“I don’t understand why he would have been outside at that hour on the ship alone to begin with unless he’d been drinking or regretting what he’d done and...” Hawk hesitated. “You don’t think—”
“He didn’t kill himself,” AJ cried. “He was excited about coming home. Billie Dee was making chicken and dumplings. You know how he loves her...” She broke down unable to hold back the sobs any longer.
Billie Dee stepped to her to take her into her arms. “Oh, sweetie,” she soothed. “We’re all heartbroken and in shock.”
No one was more in shock than AJ. She’d been so sure that she and Cyrus were getting close, that it was just a matter of time before they would be falling in love. Had she only dreamed the way he’d looked at her?
No, he’d cared. He’d almost kissed her.
But he’d married someone else—and in a heartbeat. The shy, aw-shucks cowboy who’d taken his time romancing her had met a woman, married her and taken off on a honeymoon cruise at the drop o
f his cowboy hat? How was that possible even if the woman had plied him with drinks and sexual allure?
Something was wrong. It’s what her instincts had told her the moment she’d heard the news. These actions weren’t those of the man she’d known for months. Cyrus Cahill was as solid as the stone of the old stagecoach stop where she’d been bartending since coming to Montana. After getting her law degree and advancing quickly at a prestigious firm, she had been pressured by her father to join the family business as one of his lawyers.
She’d put him off, knowing there was something she had to do first. She’d left Houston on a mission to help her friend Gigi reunite with her birth mother, Billie Dee, who’d been forced to give her up at birth. Mission accomplished, she’d realized she didn’t want to work for the family business. She’d loved bartending and Montana. But the reason she’d stayed in Gilt Edge was because of Cyrus. She’d fallen for him. At twenty-six years old, she’d realized she’d never really been in love until Cyrus. She’d seen a future here with him.
“They’re still searching for him,” Flint was saying. “But the police commissioner told me that the search will be called off if he isn’t found soon. After this many hours...”
AJ couldn’t bear to hear this. She rose, excused herself and headed toward the apartment upstairs over the Stagecoach Saloon where she’d been living. Gigi was upstairs packing to leave as she walked in.
Her friend dropped what she was doing and hugged her. “I’m so sorry. I know you cared about him.”
She’d had a crush on him for months. But in the weeks before he’d left, she’d fallen in love with him. From the beginning, she’d sensed something special between them. She hadn’t imagined that any more than she was imagining he was still alive. She felt it, heart deep.
“I know that look,” Gigi said, holding her at arm’s length to search her gaze. “What are you planning to do?”
“It’s just this feeling that I can’t shake.”
Her friend groaned. “Honey—”
“If they call off the search, I have to go look for him.”
