B.J. Daniels the Cardwell Ranch Collection Read Free

sale.”
    She hadn’t thought of that. She hadn’t thought of anything but the bones—and her added bad luck in finding out that Hud was acting marshal.
    “Word is going to get out, if it hasn’t already,” he continued. “Once we get the bones up, we’ll know more, but this investigation could take some time.”
    “You do whatever you have to do, Hud.” She hadn’t said his name out loud in years. It sounded odd and felt even stranger on her tongue. Amazing that such a small word could hurt so much.
    She turned and walked back to Warren’s pickup, surprised her legs held her up. Her mind was reeling. There was a body in a well on her ranch? And Hud Savage was back after all this time of believing him long gone? She wasn’t sure which shocked or terrified her more.
    She didn’t hear him behind her until he spoke.
    “I was sorry to hear about your mother,” he said so close she felt his warm breath on her neck and caught a whiff of his aftershave. The same kind he’d used when he was hers.
    Without turning, she gave a nod of her head, the wind burning her eyes, and jerked open the pickup door, sending a glance to Warren across the hood that she was more than ready to leave.
    As she climbed into the truck and started to pull the door shut behind her, Hud dropped one large palm over the top of the door to keep it from closing. “Dana…”
    She shot hima look she thought he might still remember, the same one a rattler gives right before it strikes.
    “I just wanted to say…happy birthday.”
    She tried not to show her surprise—or her pleasure—that he’d remembered. That he had, though, made it all the worse. She swallowed and looked up at him, knifed with that old familiar pain, the kind that just never went away no matter how hard you fought it.
    “Dana, listen—”
    “I’m engaged.” The lie was out before she could call it back.
    Hud’s eyebrows up. “To anyone I know?”
    She took guilty pleasure from the pain she heard in his voice, saw in his face. “Lanny Rankin.”
    “Lanny? The lawyer? ” Hud didn’t sound surprised, just contemptuous. He must have heard that she’d been dating Lanny. “He still saving up for the ring?”
    “What?”
    “An engagement ring. You’re not wearing one.” He motioned to her ring finger.
    Silently she swore at her own stupidity. She’d wanted to hurt him and at the same time keep him at a safe distance. Unfortunately she hadn’t given a thought to the consequences.
    “I just forgot to put it on this morning,” she said.
    “Oh, you take it off at night?”
    Another mistake. When Hud had put the engagement ring on her finger so many years ago now, she’d sworn she’d never take it off.
    “If you mustknow,” she said, “the diamond got caught in my glove, so I took it off to free it and must have laid it down.”
    His brows shot up again.
    Why didn’t she just shut up? “I was in a hurry this morning. Not that it’s any of your business.”
    “You’re right,” he agreed. “Must be a big diamond to get stuck in a glove.” Not like the small chip he’d been able to afford for her, his tone said.
    “Look, as far as I’m concerned, you and I have nothing to say to each other.”
    “Sorry, didn’t mean to pry into your personal life.” A muscle bunched in his jaw and he took on that all-business marshal look again. “I’d appreciate it if you and Warren wouldn’t mention what you found in the well to anyone. I know it’s going to get out, but I’d like to try to keep a lid on it as long as we can.”
    He had to be joking. The marshal’s office dispatcher was the worst gossip in the canyon.
    “Anything else?” she asked pointedly as his hand remained on the door.
    His gaze softened again and she felt her heart do that pitter-patter thing it hadn’t done since Hud.
    “It’s good seeing you again, Dana,” he said.
    “I wish I could say the same, Hud.”
    His lips turned up in a rueful smile as she jerked hard on the door,