He had an unsettling effect on herâlike no one sheâd ever met
He was so damn self-contained, yet below the surface she could sense his mind working. An aura of danger surrounded him that she couldnât quite resist.
Too bad he was the sexiest man sheâd met in a long time. That was another major problem. He made her feel hot and needy, just by the way he looked at her.
And she knew that he found her attractive. That was part of the lure of the man for herâthe exhilaration of knowing that he was responding to herâ¦even in her condition.
Her lips firmed. She should be focused on the baby, not on this cowboy who had mysteriously stepped into her life.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Riley WatsonâHe was known as the chameleon, but could he pull off the charade of his life?
Courtney RogersâWas she an innocent bystander, or was she working with the terrorists?
Jake BradleyâHe hated Riley for reasons no one knew.
Kelly ManningâWas he loyal to Courtney, or did he have another agenda?
Cameron MurphyâWould the leader of Big Sky get his bounty?
Boone FowlerâWhy was he hiding out on a ranch in Montana?
Greg NicholsâWhat exactly happened after Courtney fired him?
Sheriff Bobby PenningtonâHe stood for law and order in Spur Cityâ¦or did he?
Prince Nikolai of LukinburgâHe claimed to have good reasons for coming to Montana. But a hidden agenda lurked just beyond the fringes of his policy.
Even the weather was fighting her, Courtney Rogers thought as she pulled the pickup truck out of a skid on the two-lane highway.
If sheâd known this freak storm was blowing up like a nasty surprise from the gods of the north, she never would have gone into Spur City.
âNo, be honest. You would have left at five in the morning to beat the storm,â she muttered.
Since Ernie Hastings, her damn unreliable ranch manager, had quit six weeks ago, sheâd been too short of help to send anyone else for food and other supplies. And too short of money to leave the buying to someone who might choose sugar cereal instead of oatmeal.
Only, the trip into town hadnât quite turned out the way sheâd expected. Midge Buckley had walked rapidly in the other direction when sheâd seen Courtney coming, and Jeb Bittner at the general store had given her a hard timeâjust for the heck of it.
âWell, I guess you never really know your neighbors,â she muttered, then switched on the radio.
An antique Hank Williams song filled the cab. Unfortunately, it was the wrong choice, since old Hank was singing about lost love, and she couldnât stop herself from reacting to the sadness of the lyrics.
When her vision blurred, she blinked her eyes.
âGet a grip,â she ordered herself. âYouâve come through bad times before. Youâll do it again.â
The swirling flakes and another recent snowfall hid the craggy Montana landscape, but she knew this stretch of road as well as she knew the vegetable garden in back of the ranch house.
Sheâd been born and raised in this country, and sheâd been traveling back and forth to Spur City since her mom had strapped her into an infant car seat for the trip.
The Golden Saddle horse farm where she lived was a legacy from her parents. Mom had died five years ago. Dad had lived three years longer. And sheâd been back home for the past two yearsâwhile her marriage was coming apart at the seams.
Her own lost love. Buried under a clash of lifestyles and values. And finallyâ¦buried for good.
She didnât want to think about that. Sheâd loved Edward Rogers, even when sheâd told him it was all over between them.
But sheâd still prayed they could work things out. And after their divorce, her former husband had come to see her one last time before shipping out to an overseas assignment in Lukinburg.
Could they have made the out-of-kilter relationship work? She didnât know. Because Lieutenant Edward Rogers hadnât come home alive. Heâd left her with a load of guilt andâ¦
She tightened her hands on the wheel.
âLike Daddy always said, thereâs no use crying over spilled milk. Youâve got to clean up the mess and go on from there.â
All she could do was go forward and try to dig herself out of the mess that had become her life.