Out of the Storm

by B. J Daniels

  Praise for New York Times

  bestselling author B.J. Daniels

  “You won’t be able to put it down.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas on Heartbreaker

  “Daniels is a perennial favorite on the romantic suspense front, and I might go as far as to label her the cowboy whisperer.”

  —BookPage on Luck of the Draw

  “Daniels keeps readers baffled with a taut plot and ample red herrings, expertly weaving in the threads of the next story in the series as she introduces a strong group of primary and secondary characters.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Stroke of Luck

  “Daniels again turns in a taut, well-plotted, and suspenseful tale with plenty of red herrings. Readers will be in from the start and engaged until the end.”

  —Library Journal on Stroke of Luck

  “Readers who like their romance spiced with mystery can’t go wrong with Stroke of Luck by

  B.J. Daniels.”

  —BookPage

  “Daniels is an expert at combining layered characters, quirky small towns, steamy chemistry and added suspense.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Hero’s Return

  “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

  Also by New York Times bestselling author

  B.J. Daniels

  A Buckhorn, Montana Novel

  Out of the Storm

  Montana Justice

  Restless Hearts

  Heartbreaker

  Heart of Gold

  Sterling’s Montana

  Stroke of Luck

  Luck of the Draw

  Just His Luck

  The Montana Cahills

  Renegade’s Pride

  Outlaw’s Honor

  Cowboy’s Legacy

  Cowboy’s Reckoning

  Hero’s Return

  Rancher’s Dream

  Wrangler’s Rescue

  The Montana Hamiltons

  Wild Horses

  Lone Rider

  Lucky Shot

  Hard Rain

  Into Dust

  Honor Bound

  Look for B.J. Daniels’s next novel

  Forever Again

  available soon from HQN.

  For additional books by B.J. Daniels,

  visit her website, www.BJDaniels.com.

  B.J. Daniels

  New York Times Bestselling Author

  Out of the Storm

  This book was inspired by the stories I heard about my uncle Ted Johnson, who was killed in the Texas City disaster. I’ve heard a lot of different versions of what happened. (Johnsons tend to make a story better whenever possible without any regard for the truth.) My mother was pregnant with me at the time of my uncle’s death. Maybe that’s why I’ve always wanted to write this story—but with a happier ending.

  I dedicate this book to Uncle Ted (wish I’d gotten to meet you) and all of the Johnsons who’d given me story fodder for years. I suspect my Johnson genes are the reason I write fiction.

  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 FROM THE SHADOWS BY B.J. DANIELS

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE GOLD WEDDING band came off more easily than she thought it would. It had worn thin over the years and so had she. But still it left an indentation in her flesh, a reminder of so many things, including the promise she’d made all those years ago. She quickly slipped it back on.

  “Kate?”

  She looked up, blinking at the handsome young man on one knee in front of her. She was thirty-nine, a whole year away from forty. She had the rest of her life in front of her.

  “What’s going on, Kate?”

  She swallowed and met his blue gaze. He was so different from Danny. Collin was younger, incredibly handsome, and he was alive and offering her a very different future. For almost twenty years, she’d been a widow, a single mother of two daughters and alone. She looked down at the ring he was holding out in the small velvet box. The diamond was big and beautiful.

  She’d never had anything like it. When she and Danny had gotten married, they’d been teenagers and hadn’t even been able to afford rings. He’d had to borrow the money from her father to buy them.

  “I thought you were ready for this,” Collin said as he brushed a lock of sunshine-golden hair back from his face. The disappointment in that face brought her out of her thoughts of the past. Danny was gone. Their daughters were now raised and on their own. It was time to think about the future.

  She looked down at the wedding band on her ring finger, unable not to think of the day Danny had put it there. They’d been so young, so naive, so much in love. The ring had symbolized that amazing love all these years. She’d vowed never to take it off. For years, she’d held on to his memory like a life raft, needing what it meant to her to keep her head above water during the hard times and feeling safe during the lonely nights. But she knew it was time to let go. Danny wasn’t coming back.

  Over the years, she’d dated, but no one felt right. Until Collin. She met his blue gaze and felt herself smile. Slowly, she slipped the ring off again, closing her fist around it.

  Holding out her left hand, she let Collin slip the beautiful diamond engagement ring onto her finger. It felt heavy and a little loose.

  “It’s official,” he said, grinning. “We’re engaged. And none too soon.” He laughed to take away some of the sting from his words as if he hadn’t meant to complain. She’d been putting him off for months. While she’d loved being with him, the thought of marriage had brought back thoughts of Danny. She and Collin had both wondered if she would ever agree to marry him.

  Rising from his one knee, he pulled her up off the couch and into his arms. “We need to celebrate, and I have just the thing.” He drew back to meet her gaze. “No, I’m not going to tell you what it is. It’s a surprise. But you need to go pack because we are leaving first thing in the morning.”

  “Leaving?” Kate looked at him in alarm. All of this was suddenly happening too fast. She felt as if she was on the washer’s spin cycle. “Wait—”

  He put a finger to her lips. “No more waiting, Kate. It’s time you trusted me. I’m going to be your husband.”

  She met his eyes again. She could feel the weight of the ring on her finger. This man was going to be her husband. She couldn’t speak around the lump that had formed in her throat, so she merely nodded. Collin hugged her even more tightly before releasing her.

 
“Go pack. Bring warm clothes. Leave everything to me. I’ll pick you up at six in the morning. It’s going to be fun, Kate. You’ll see. The adventure is about to begin.”

  It wasn’t the first time he’d asked her to marry him. A few months ago, he’d tried only to see that she couldn’t take off her wedding band. Any other man would have headed for the door right then. But not Collin.

  He’d given her a sad smile and said, “I think they’re playing our song.” Except there hadn’t been any music playing in the living room of her house, and yet he’d pulled her up from the couch and into his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” she’d said as he drew her closer and began to move slowly to the nonexistent music.

  “It’s all right,” he’d whispered next to her ear. “You will take it off when you’re ready to wear the engagement ring I’m going to put on that lovely finger.” He had leaned back to look into her eyes, and she’d felt her heart swell with love for this man who had come into her life so unexpectedly.

  She’d almost given up, believing that she couldn’t love again after Danny. For years after his death, her life had been full with raising their two girls alone and working to support the three of them. But now Danielle was almost through with college and Mia had a successful career as a graphic artist. Both had their own apartments. It seemed as if suddenly Kate had found herself with too much time on her hands, living alone in a home too large for just her.

  After some disastrous dates, Kate had told herself that she didn’t need a man, which was true—at least financially. She’d found she had a talent for writing. As a ghost writer, she’d made a name for herself writing other people’s stories. She’d never had to touch the money she’d gotten from the death benefit the oil company had paid on Daniel. Invested all these years, it had multiplied again and again. One day she’d awoken to find herself a wealthy woman who wasn’t even middle-aged—if the statistics were true.

  And then she’d met Collin. She’d told herself that she was still young enough to start over. She’d gotten married at seventeen to the love of her life, had her first baby and her second in a two-and-a-half-year span. Daniel had been all of eighteen. By the time she’d given birth to Danielle, he’d been working two jobs to make ends meet. Then the refinery where he worked in Houston had exploded one day, and he and hundreds of others had been...gone.

  There had been such confusion after the explosion. Stories of people wandering around, not knowing who they were. Because so many were incinerated in the explosion, it had been impossible to identify the remains. That morning, Danny had gone to work and hadn’t come back.

  In her heart, she wanted to believe that he had walked away that day with an injury that had left him not knowing who he was. That’s why he hadn’t come back to her. For a while she’d expected him to show up one day on her doorstep. But he’d never come back.

  Her oldest daughter, Mia, had never minced words. “Daddy is gone. You have to accept that. You have to move on.” Her daughters had been happy and maybe a little relieved for her when Kate had told them that she’d met someone.

  “Collin’s younger, but just by three years,” Kate had said, feeling giddy and youthful, something she hadn’t felt in years.

  “Three years? That’s nothing,” Mia had scoffed.

  “So, tell us about him,” Danielle had said, curling up on the couch and looking at her expectantly. Danielle was the romantic in the family.

  Kate hadn’t known where to begin. “His name is Collin. He has his own company. He owns numerous small businesses. He’s...enterprising.”

  Mia had rolled her eyes. “Really, Mother?”

  Danielle had laughed. “It doesn’t matter exactly what he does. Does he make you happy?”

  “He makes me laugh,” she’d said and had found herself smiling.

  “Good for you, Mom. You deserve this.” Her youngest had taken her hand. “I just want you to be happy. You deserve to enjoy the rest of your life.”

  Mia had chimed in. “Just be...careful.”

  When the girls had met Collin, she could tell that they’d both been surprised. “He’s so handsome,” Danielle had said with a kind of awe. “Not that we didn’t expect he would be,” she’d added quickly. Even Mia seemed to grudgingly like him. And he had fallen for them as well.

  So, now here she was, moving on, she thought as she went upstairs and, taking the well-worn wedding band from the hollow of her palm, placed it gently in her jewelry box. It looked so insignificant and yet just the sight of it made her heart ache for what had been lost.

  “Goodbye, my love,” she whispered and closed the jewelry box. Danny would have wanted her to move on years ago. It had taken Collin coming into her life. She felt a bubble of excitement. She could hear him downstairs on the phone. It sounded as if he was making arrangements for their trip before he left for his apartment in the city.

  She felt herself smiling again. Collin loved her. And she loved him. Not like she had loved Daniel. But she’d only been a girl when she’d met Danny and fallen in love. She was now a mature woman, and yet she still felt giddy at the thought of what their future held. It was definitely time.

  Whatever the surprise, it required warm clothing? She could only imagine, she thought with a smile as she went to the closet to pull out her suitcase and begin to pack.

  “Good, you’re packing,” Collin said from her bedroom doorway. “I’ve got everything arranged. I’ll see you in the morning.” He moved to her. “This trip is going to seal the deal.” He chuckled at her expression. “You’re going to be crazy about me when it’s over.”

  “Who says I’m not already crazy about you? Or maybe just crazy.”

  He drew her into his arms for a kiss. She felt desire warm her inside and almost wished that she’d let him move in months ago. But she’d been so used to having her own space. Still, she wouldn’t have minded if he stayed tonight. She was about to suggest it.

  “I have a lot to do before I pick you up in the morning,” he said before she could. He kissed her again, his mouth lingering over hers. She thought for a moment that he might change his mind. Then he gave her a light swat on her behind, saying he’d better leave while he could.

  As she listened to him go, she felt jubilant. Glancing down at the ring on her finger, she reminded herself that she was engaged. She couldn’t quit smiling. Now the two of them were taking their first trip together. She hadn’t been anywhere in so long. A trip was exactly what she needed. The timing was perfect. She didn’t have another book due for a year.

  She was only a little uneasy about where they were going. Collin had always been full of surprises from the moment she’d met him six months ago. He was probably right about her needing him and the adventures he promised. Had it been fate, their meeting? It certainly felt like it.

  * * *

  COLLIN COULDN’T BELIEVE his luck when he woke the next morning. Kate had accepted his proposal. He felt like pinching himself. He showered and packed quickly, feeling as if things were finally going to work out for him. He still had to get her to the altar, but at least they were engaged. It was the first step. He couldn’t stop grinning. He didn’t want to rush her, but once they got back from this trip, he would talk her into a small, private wedding—if he couldn’t talk her into one on the trip itself.

  The trip had come together as if destined. He’d recalled her saying that she’d never seen snow. Not real snow, the kind that puts down more than a few inches and doesn’t melt in a few hours. She said she’d always wanted to make a snow angel. It was one of the few times that she’d let her guard down and actually opened up to him.

  He could understand her reluctance to get involved with another man after losing her first husband the way she had. But hell’s bells, it had been almost twenty years. He couldn’t imagine mourning anyone for two decades.

  Just as a few years ago, he had no plans to be married.
Marriage? He’d always thought it would never be him. Until Kate.

  He laughed to himself, thinking of that old adage about never finding the right woman. Kate was more than the right woman. A pretty brunette with the greenest eyes. She had it all, from the looks to the elegance to the financial independence. With her, he would have everything he ever wanted and with style.

  It did bother him, though, how long it had taken her to agree to marry him. He’d never had a problem when it came to charming women. He had charisma to burn, his mother used to say, his father quickly adding, “That’s about all he has going for him.”

  He pushed even the thought of his father away. His old man was the last person he wanted in his thoughts this morning. He was about to take off with his beautiful fiancée for the trip of a lifetime. He laughed. Well, at least it would be the trip of a lifetime for him.

  Still, Kate’s hesitancy from the first day they met nagged at him. Even when he’d seen that she wasn’t ready for marriage, he’d hoped they would 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.