by B. J Daniels
“I feel the same way,” Juliette gushed. “I’ve been going mad worrying about you,” she said as she closed the door. “Imagine how I felt when I was told that you were alive but that I couldn’t talk to you, couldn’t even know where you were? After all, I am your wife.”
“Yes,” Cyrus said. “That’s something I want to talk to you about. Why don’t you sit down and tell me everything.”
Juliette stiffened. “Can I offer you something to drink first?”
“No,” he said, and saw that she liked to be in control. But how did she get control over him in Denver. That was the question. He wouldn’t have taken this woman’s bait. He was sure of it. So how did he end up marrying her?
Juliette sighed and sat in one of the chairs facing them. “I’m sure AJ has filled you in on my part.” She made a pointed glare at their hand-holding and AJ pulled free. “I want to know what happened to you.”
“I was hoping you would tell me,” he said.
She shrugged. “I would think AJ would have told you.”
“I’ve heard the version you gave the ship’s captain and the FBI,” he said.
“There’s no other version.”
“Really? How about starting with Denver.”
Juliette drew back in surprise. She let out a nervous laugh. “You don’t remember?” There was definitely relief in her voice. She glanced at AJ. “Surely you don’t want me to tell it in front of your...nursemaid.”
“AJ isn’t my nursemaid.”
“Fine, your girlfriend, because it’s clear that the two of you have become very close. You’re making dissolving our marriage much easier every minute.”
“Denver,” he repeated.
“It was love at first sight.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe that. You’re not my type.”
Juliette’s gaze went to AJ. “I don’t know what she’s been telling you—”
“Let’s pretend that it was love at first sight. Then why was it AJ who came looking for me believing I was alive,” Cyrus said and met the woman’s blue gaze, “and not my loving wife? Why didn’t you come looking for me?”
Juliette wet her lips and then looked at him with doe eyes. “Everyone said there was no way you could have survived...” She pretended to tear up, and then met his gaze. When she saw that he wasn’t buying any of it, she started to say something, but then quickly excused herself and rushed down a short hallway. A moment later he heard her throwing up.
He and AJ exchanged a look. As Juliette continued to heave and gag, AJ got to her feet.
“I didn’t fall for this woman,” he said. “She’s lying.”
“Then how did you end up married to her?” AJ asked. He shook his head. “She’s just going to keep lying,” she said as she walked nervously around the cabin’s main room as if unable to sit still any longer. “Maybe you should have come with Flint. Or—” She stopped at a trash can at the edge of the apartment-size kitchen.
He was about to apologize for putting her through this, when he saw her eyes widen in alarm as she reached into the trash and lifted out a small box with bright lettering on it. She peered inside and let out a curse.
The bathroom door opened and Juliette stepped out. She was apologizing as she touched a tissue to her lips, but then she saw AJ and what she was holding and froze.
AJ held up the box, her face white as the snow outside. “You’re pregnant?” she cried.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“THIS IS NOT the way I wanted to tell you,” Juliette said quickly and glared at AJ before rushing over to Cyrus and dropping on her hands and knees in front of him. She pursed her lips in what she must have thought was a cute little girl pout.
“It’s a miracle,” Juliette was saying. “Remember, I told you that I didn’t think I could have children.”
“No, I don’t remember,” he said.
“Well, it’s true. Imagine my surprise.”
AJ dropped the pregnancy test back into the trash with distaste and fought tears. She told herself it couldn’t be Cyrus’s baby. She felt as if the room was spinning and just wanted out.
Turning, she charged the door, fumbled with the knob and finally got it open before racing out into the winter evening gasping for air.
Behind her, she heard Cyrus arguing with Juliette, who wanted him to stay so they could talk about this amazing thing that had happened between them. She heard Cyrus coming after her.
“It’s not my baby,” he said, catching up to her.
“You don’t know that,” she said as he turned her to face him, surprised that she was crying.
“AJ, I couldn’t have purposely married that woman. Are you listening to me? She’s a con woman. This is just another con.”
“No, Cyrus. It’s not.” All she could think about was the pregnancy test results she’d seen in the trash. “She’s really pregnant. I saw the test. It was positive.”
He looked shaken. “Well, it can’t be mine.” But his voice lacked his earlier conviction.
“It is yours,” Juliette said from the open doorway of the cabin.
For a moment they’d both forgotten about her.
AJ pulled free of Cyrus and went to the rental car, opened the door and climbed behind the wheel. As she started the engine, she was shaking so hard her teeth chattered. She turned on the heater, knowing it would be a few minutes before it blew anything other than cold air, but didn’t care.
Cyrus had moved back to the open doorway and Juliette. She couldn’t hear what he was saying to the woman. She watched Juliette look hurt and start to cry and had to look away.
A moment later, Cyrus climbed into the passenger side of the car. “Let’s get out of here.”
* * *
IT HAD BEEN a long couple of days, Cyrus thought and then laughed to himself at how ridiculous that thought was. Since he’d woken up alone in the dark in the ocean gasping for breath and having no idea how he’d gotten there, his life had been a terrifying nightmare.
He looked over at AJ. She was staring straight ahead and driving as if not really knowing where she was headed, just driving. “I can’t see the rest of the family now,” he said.
She glanced over at him and blinked. Clearly she’d been reliving what had just happened in that cabin back there. “Where—”
“Can you drop me off somewhere? At a motel or how about that hotel where Juliette had been staying. I’m afraid I’m going to have to borrow some money though.”
She stared at him for a moment before turning back to her driving. They hadn’t talked about what would happen when they got back to Montana. Had she thought he would return to his room at the ranch as if nothing had happened? Or had she thought he would stay with her?
That’s what he wanted but she lived upstairs over the saloon that his sister and brother owned. He couldn’t very well go there without seeing the family and he wasn’t ready. He needed some time. He said as much to her.
AJ turned down the street to the hotel. “I understand.”
Did she? He hoped so. “I’ll call you first thing in the morning from my room.” She nodded. “I never slept with that woman.”
“You can’t be sure of that. You shared a berth on the ship even before you were married.” She didn’t look at him, as if she couldn’t bear it.
“I love you.” He saw her face crumble, her fingers gripping the steering wheel so tight her knuckles went white as she pulled up to the hotel and stopped.
“I love you,” she said and reached for her purse. As she started to give him money, he put his hand over hers.
“We’re going to figure this out.” She nodded as he took the money, thanked her and climbed out. “I’ll call you in the morning,” he said again and closed the door.
* * *
AJ BURST INTO tears as she shifted the car into gear and drove to her a
partment over the Stagecoach Saloon. She’d heard that the saloon had reopened after Ely’s funeral. She parked in the back, hoping that she could sneak in and not be seen in the condition she was in. But as she opened the back door, Billie Dee saw her and dropped what she was doing to rush to her.
In the arms of the large loving cook, she began to cry again.
“What is it?” Billie Dee said in alarm.
“It’s Juliette.”
“Oh her,” the cook said. “What matters is you’re home. Where is Cyrus?”
“At the hotel.”
“The hotel? What is he doing there?”
AJ shook her head as she looked at the older woman. She and Billie Dee had hit it off. AJ loved her like a second mother. Billie Dee was the reason she’d come to Montana to begin with. She’d tracked down the cook after finding out that she was Gigi’s birth mother. She’d had to do it on the QT since Gigi said she had no interest in meeting her birth mother.
AJ had wanted to meet the woman first before she told her friend what she was up to. She’d fallen in love with Billie Dee and had eventually told her best friend. It still warmed her heart that she’d been able to bring the two together.
“Juliette,” she repeated.
The cook narrowed her eyes. “What’s she done now?”
“She’s pregnant and she says it’s Cyrus’s!”
* * *
“SHE’S PREGNANT?” FLINT swore when his brother called to tell him.
“I’m telling you, it’s not mine,” Cyrus said, clearly upset.
Flint groaned. “But you can’t know that.”
“I do know that. I wouldn’t have fallen for that woman, let alone marry her. I was in love with AJ.”
The sheriff didn’t know what to say. “You’re sure she’s pregnant?”
“She has morning sickness and AJ saw the pregnancy test and said it was definitely positive,” Cyrus said. “Isn’t there some test to prove that the baby isn’t mine?”
Flint was counting the weeks since he’d gotten the call about Cyrus going overboard. “She isn’t far enough along, I don’t think, for another week or two. The earliest prenatal paternity tests are eight to nine weeks, I think. We can check at the hospital. You realize that if it is your baby it gives her even more leverage.”
His brother swore. “That’s why I thought for sure that it was a trick. I told her I want a divorce. She pretended that she cared, but said she’ll give me a divorce.”
Flint scoffed at that. “What she’s saying is that she’ll give you a divorce for a price. She’ll keep bleeding you dry with child support after that—if that baby is yours.”
“It’s not.”
He couldn’t help being skeptical since they still didn’t know how Cyrus had gotten involved with the woman to begin with and he was no help since he had no memory of it.
“If this woman is a con artist and is being investigated for killing at least two of her husbands—”
“No charges have been brought against her,” Flint said. “Just because she’s being investigated doesn’t mean anything. Innocent until proven guilty. Conning men into marrying her, unfortunately, isn’t a crime.”
“Killing them for their money is,” Cyrus argued.
“Unfortunately both investigations have stalled. The detectives in both cities were hoping you would remember how you ended up in the ocean. With your testimony...”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried to remember? I’ve tried for weeks. I thought maybe seeing Juliette would do the trick, but I felt nothing. More than nothing. I hated the sight of the woman.”
“But you felt something with AJ.”
“I did the moment I saw her even though I didn’t trust her. I love her. I’m kicking myself for not acting on how I must have obviously felt sooner.”
“You don’t remember that, either?”
“No. She told me that we went for a horseback ride. I almost kissed her. Maybe if I had...”
“It would have been Hawk who went to Denver to buy the bull. Hawk who is happily married and madly in love with his wife, Dierdre. So Juliette would have probably stayed clear of him.”
“It wasn’t love that brought Juliette into my life in Denver,” his brother said angrily. “Nor infatuation or seduction.”
“Then what?”
“That’s what I need to find out before this goes any further. We know she drugged me, but she couldn’t have kept me so drugged up that I didn’t know what was happening. There has to be another explanation.”
“Where are you now?” Flint asked.
“I’m staying at the hotel. I needed time alone to think. I know the rest of the family is anxious to see me, but can we please do this tomorrow. It’s been a very long day.”
“I know it has. Get some rest. I’ll let everyone know.”
“I have to find out the truth.”
“But not alone. The woman tried to kill you.”
“Three times,” Cyrus said. “But she can’t take that chance again.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Please stay clear of her. The next time you go to see her, I want to come with you.”
“I appreciate your concern, but she isn’t going to say anything in front of you. With me alone with no witnesses, she might be honest.”
“I wouldn’t count on that. If anything, she’s in the clear—as long as you don’t remember. But if you start... I’m not going to be able to hold off the family much longer. What do you say about breakfast at the saloon tomorrow? I’ll pick you up.” He could hear his brother hesitate.
“Okay. What time?”
“Not too early. Ten. I would imagine you’re still on island time.”
* * *
JULIETTE GROUND HER teeth at the memory of AJ standing in this cabin. She swore. The woman had seduced her husband! No wonder it had taken so long to get Cyrus back to Montana. The two had been frolicking on the beach. Jealousy and anger made her rigid for a moment until she remembered that she didn’t give a damn about this man. But now she had a way to get a divorce without coming off as the gold-digger wife. Her husband had cheated on her.
She stood in the center of the room and smiled to herself. She still hated AJ, but she had to admit, things couldn’t have gone better if she’d planned it. She laughed at the memory of AJ’s face when she’d looked into the pregnancy test box. It was priceless.
Juliette grabbed her phone and called her lawyer. “I want to settle. Now. Get the Cahill family to make me an offer I can’t refuse,” she said without preamble.
“Nice to hear from you too, Juliette. Has something changed?”
“My husband’s been cheating on me and I’m pregnant.”
Silence. “I see.”
“Doubtful. They are going to want a DNA test. I will lose the baby before then, but if Cyrus wants to be free of me, then he is going to have to pay for the privilege.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Tonight. Tell them, otherwise I will leave town and he will never be free to marry his girlfriend.”
“And the baby?”
“I will get rid of it and he will never know if it was his or not.”
“That’s pretty cold.”
She laughed. “Trust me, the man’s in love and he can’t remember a thing. He’ll do anything to be free.”
Her attorney sighed. “It is always a pleasure doing business with you, Julie,” he said facetiously. “I’ll get back to you.”
She disconnected and looked around the cabin. No more living like this, she told herself. She would go somewhere warm and cheap to live out the rest of her life. Placing a hand over her stomach, she had a moment of weakness when she could see herself with a child in some tropical place. It surprised her.
Just like it surprised her that she could see both Arthur and Otis maki
ng good fathers.
She blinked and removed her hand. As if she could stand a squalling baby and being married to either man. No, once she had the money, she would leave the country and neither of them would see her again.
But first, they had to help her take care of Cyrus Cahill.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE NEXT MORNING at the Stagecoach Saloon, Billie Dee was making Mexican quiches along with Texas-style biscuits and gravy and slabs of ham for the family breakfast. She was as anxious as the rest of the family to see Cyrus. She wanted everything to be perfect.
Her fiancé, Henry, stopped by to see how she was doing. “Who all is coming?”
“Just immediate family to begin with. Flint thought that would be easier for Cyrus. Then the spouses for the actual breakfast. Please be here for moral support for me.”
“Only if you tell me the wedding is still on,” her cowboy said as he nuzzled her neck. She still couldn’t believe she’d gotten so lucky. She’d come to Montana on the run only to see a sign in the Stagecoach Saloon window that a cook was needed. Staying here had been the smartest thing she’d ever done. Not only did she find a family in the Cahills, but also she’d met Henry Larson and fallen in love. He’d saved her life literally as well as figuratively.
“You drive a hard bargain, but you’re on,” she said now. “I talked to Gigi.” Billie Dee had only recently been reunited with the daughter she’d given away at birth. “Her restaurant is open and everything is going smoothly again. She said to just tell her when the wedding is and she’ll be here. She’s been worried about AJ though. She was overjoyed to hear that her best friend found Cyrus and the two of them are back in Montana.”
“And Juliette?” Henry asked.
“Ugh. I’d like to forget about her. Well, at least with Cyrus alive, she can’t demand his share of the ranch,” the cook said.
“I doubt it will be that easy,” he said. “So don’t be surprised if it takes money to get her out of his life.”
