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

present on her kitchen table.
    The box, the size of a thick paperback book, was wrapped in red foil. There was a red bow on top with a tag that read Happy Birthday!
    She knew exactly what was inside—which gave her every reason not to touch it. But still she picked up the box, disappointed in herself.
    She felt the weight of the chocolates inside, felt the weight of their lost love. She’d tried to get over Hud. Tried so hard. Why did he have to come back and remind her of everything—including how much she had loved him?
    Still loved him.
    All the old feelingsrained down on her like a summer downpour, drowning her in regret.
    Damn Hud.
    She set the box down, heard the chocolates rattle inside. Not just any chocolate. Only the richest, most wonderful, hard-to-find chocolates in the world. These chocolates were dark and creamy and melted the instant they touched your tongue. These chocolates made you close your eyes and moan and were right up there with sex. Well, not sex with Hud. Nothing could beat that.
    Making love with Hud was a whole other experience—and she hated him even more now for reminding her of it.
    Knowing her weakness, Hud had found these amazing chocolates and had given them to her on her twenty-fifth birthday—the night he’d asked her to marry him.
    She glared down at the box and, like niggling at a sore tooth with her tongue, she reminded herself of how Hud had betrayed her five years ago. That did the trick.
    Grabbing up the box of chocolates, she stormed over to the trash. The container was empty except for the balled up card from her sister that she’d retrieved from the floor and thrown away. She dropped the box of chocolates into the clean, white plastic trash bag, struck by how appropriate it was that the card from Stacy and the chocolates from Hud ended up together in the trash.
    The chocolatesrattled again when they hit the bottom of the bag and for just a moment she was tempted. What would it hurt to eat one? Or even two? Hud would never have to know.
    No, that’s exactly what he was counting on. That she wouldn’t be able to resist the chocolates—just as there was a time when she couldn’t resist him.
    Angrily she slammed the cupboard door. He’d broken her heart in the worst possible way and if he thought he could worm his way back in, he was sadly mistaken.
    She stormed over to the phone and called his office.
    “Hello?”
    “It didn’t work,” she said, her voice cracking. Tears burned her eyes. She made a swipe at them.
    “Dana?”
    “Your…present…The one you left me after sneaking into my house like a thief. It didn’t work. I threw the chocolates away.”
    “Dana.” His voice sounded strange. “I didn’t give you a present.”
    Her breath caught. Suddenly the kitchen went as cold as if she’d left the front door wide open. “Then who…?”
    “Dana, you haven’t eaten any of them, have you?”
    “No.” Who had left them if not Hud? She walked back over to the sink and was about to open the cabinet door to retrieve the box, when her eye was caught by something out the window.
    Through the snowshe saw a light flickering up on the hillside near the old homestead. Near the well.
    She stepped over and shut off the kitchen light, plunging the kitchen into darkness. Back at the window she saw the light again. There was someone up there with a flashlight.
    “Dana? Did you hear what I said? Don’t eat any of the chocolates.”
    “Do you still have men up on the mountain at the well?” she asked.
    “No, why?”
    “There’s someone up there with a flashlight.”
    She heard the rattle of keys on Hud’s end of the line. “Stay where you are. I’ll be right there.”

Chapter Six
    Dana hung up the phoneand sneaked into the living room to turn out that light, as well. She stood for a moment in total darkness, waiting for her eyes to adjust.
    Through the front window, the sky outside was light with falling snow. She listened for any sound and heard nothing but the