B.J. Daniels the Cardwell Ranch Collection by B. J. Daniels

for him.
    D ANA’S HEART was in her throat as she looked down into the well and saw Hud hanging there.
    He was alive, not broken at the bottom, but partway down a rope. That’s all that registered at first. Then she saw him wince as he tried to use his left arm to holster his gun and pull himself up.
    “You’re hurt,” she said, as if the pain were her own. “Here, let me help you.”
    She managed to gethim up to the edge and drag him out into the snow. They lay sprawled in the snow for a few moments, both breathing hard from the exertion.
    “Thanks,” Hud said, turning his head to look over at her.
    She nodded, more shaken now than she’d been when she’d looked over the edge of the well and seen him hanging down there. Aftershock, she supposed. The time when you think about what could have happened. Realized how close it had been. She breathed in the night air as the sound of a vehicle engine died off until there was nothing but the sound of their labored breaths.
    They were alone. Entirely alone, as if the rest of the world didn’t exist.
    Hud sat up and looked at her. He was favoring his left arm and she saw now that his jacket was ripped and dark with blood.
    “Your arm…It’s bleeding!”
    He shook his head. “I’m fine. What about you?”
    “Fine.” She pushed herself up, her arms trembling with the effort.
    His gaze met hers and he shook his head. Couldn’t fool him.
    She started to get to her feet, but he caught her sleeve, pulling her back to the ground beside him.
    “Dana.”
    Her face crumpledas he encircled her with his good arm and pulled her tightly against him. His hug was fierce.
    She buried her face into his chest, the snow falling around them.
    When she pulled back, the kiss was as natural as sunrise. Soft, salty, sweet and tentative. And for a moment nothing mattered. Not the past, the pain, the betrayal. In that moment, she only recalled the love.
    The snow stopped. Just like that. And the moment passed.
    Dana pulled back, drowning in all the reasons she shouldn’t love this man—wouldn’t love this man. Not again.
    H UD SAW THE CHANGE in her eyes. A quick cooling, as if her gaze had filmed over with ice. Just as her heart had five years ago.
    She pulled away to pick up the shotgun from where she’d dropped it earlier. He watched her rise, keeping her back to him.
    He got to his feet, searching the snow for his flashlight. His left arm ached from where he’d smacked it against one of the rocks embedded in the side of the well and split it open. The pain was nothing compared to what he’d seen in Dana’s eyes.
    Maybe he couldn’t make up for what he’d done to her five years ago, but he sure as hell would find whoever had put the doll down the well. Whoever had tried to kill him tonight.
    He heard a soundfrom Dana, part cry, part gasp, and realized that she’d found his flashlight and was now shining it down into the well.
    Stepping to her side, he took the light from her, seeing the shock on her face as well as the recognition. “It’s your doll?”
    She nodded. “My father gave it to me for my sixth birthday. He thought it looked like me. How…” She met his gaze. “It was on a shelf in my old playroom along with the rest of toys Mom saved for her—” Dana’s voice broke “—grandchildren.”
    Mary Cardwell hadn’t lived long enough to see any grandchildren be born. He could see what a huge hole losing her mother had left in Dana. Desperately he wanted to take her in his arms again. The need to protect her was so strong he felt sick with it.
    He wanted to believe the doll had been put in the well as just a cruel prank meant to frighten her, but he feared it had been a trap. If Dana had come up here alone to investigate after seeing the light on the hillside, she would have been the one knocked into the well and there wouldn’t have been anyone here with a shotgun to scare the would-be killer away. The thought was like a knife to his heart but as he stepped past