B.J. Daniels

I know what you're up to.""I doubt that." Hayes leaned toward her, his hand looping around the back of McKenzie's neck as he gently drew her to him. "Because if you could see what I was up to, then you'd know I was about to kiss you.

You don't have to treat me as if I'm made out of glass and might break," she said. "I'm a lot stronger than I look.""Is that right?" He looped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him right there in the street between their vehicles. Her full lips parted in surprise. Her sweet, warm breath commingled with his own. She let out a soft moan as he tasted her. Drawing her even closer, he deepened the kiss, demanding more.

I want you, too, Hayes Cardwell, and that isn't the beer talking."They were so close she could see the shine of his dark eyes in the starlight. Without another word, he swept her up in his arms and carried her into the cabin.

Jackson couldn't bear to see Allie like this. He pulled her to him and, dropping his mouth to hers, kissed her. She leaned into him, letting him draw her even closer as the kiss deepened. Fireworks lit the night, booming in a blaze of glittering light before going dark again. Desire ignited his blood. He wanted Allie like he'd never wanted anyone or anything before.

Hud? Back here? Oh, man, what a birthday present," Hilde said, giving her another hug. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I can imagine what seeing him again did to you." "I still want to kill him," Dana whispered. "Not on your birthday." Hilde frowned.

She shot him a look she thought he might still remember, the same one a rattler gives right before it strikes.

He__ been trying to save this woman in his dreams for years. Now here she was, all grown up, and he still felt helpless.

A tree._ She spotted one. It was hidden behind a much larger tree, its limbs misshapen in its attempt to fight for even a little sunlight in the shadow. __ana has this tradition of giving a sad-looking tree the honor of being a Christmas tree._ She walked over to the small, nearly hidden tree. __ like this one. __t___ He laughed. __gly?_ __o, it__ beautiful because it__ had a hard life. It__ struggled to survive against all odds and would keep doing that without much hope. But it has a chance to be something special.

He started for his office, but something was bothering him. Turning back to her, he said, __ have to know. DJ walks in and you instantly like her. You__e never liked any of the women I__e dated, and you__e never done more than share a few words with them on the phone. What is different about this one?_ he demanded, trying to keep his voice down. Marge smiled. __ou__l remember this one__ name.

He locked gazes with her. __ have to wonder why you aren__ being straight with me. I hate getting myself killed without knowing why.

DJ saw the change in his expression the moment before he dropped the ax, reached out with his gloved hand and, cupping her neck, drew her to him. __ believe you owe me a kiss.

I want to die._ May shook her head. __et me get a knife._ ____e made a horrible mess of things._ __aven__ we all? If you don__ want your supper burned, die quietly while I get back to the kitchen.

Every woman wants a cowboy.

They rode up a trail until the trees parted and they got their first good view of Lone Peak across the valley and river. This late morning it was breathtaking. The stark peak gleamed against the deep blue of the big sky. No wonder this area had been named Big Sky.

Honey, before I became the man who was to marry Olivia Hamilton, I was capable of taking care of myself. I can take care of you, too, for that matter. If you should ever decide to trust me." With that he turned the key. The old pickup's engine rumbled to life and he backed out kicking up fresh gravel.Livie bristled. She knew he thought her an overindulged debutante, but there was more to her than just being Buckmaster Hamilton's daughter and damned if she wasn't going to prove it to him. If he gave her the chance.

The moment Jace Calder saw his sister's face, he feared the worst. His heart sank. Emily, his troubled little sister, had been doing so well since she'd gotten the job at the Sarah Hamilton Foundation in Big Timber, Montana. "What's wrong?" he asked as he removed his Stetson, pulled up a chair at the Big Timber Java coffee shop and sat down across from her. Tossing his hat on the seat of an adjacent chair, he braced himself for bad news. Emily blinked her big blue eyes. Even though she was closing in on twenty-five, he often caught glimpses of the girl she'd been. Her pixie cut, once a dark brown like his own hair, was dyed black. From thirteen on, she'd been piercing anything she could. At sixteen she'd begun getting tattoos and drinking. It wasn't until she'd turned seventeen that she'd run away, taken up with a thirty-year-old biker drug-dealer thief and ended up in jail for the first time. But while Emily still had the tattoos and the piercings, she'd changed after the birth of her daughter, and after snagging this job with Bo Hamilton. "What's wrong is Bo," his sister said. Bo had insisted her employees at the foundation call her by her first name. "Pretty cool for a boss, huh?" his sister had said at the time. He'd been surprised. That didn't sound like the woman he knew. But who knew what was in Bo's head lately. Four months ago her mother, Sarah, who everyone believed dead the past twenty-two years, had suddenly shown up out of nowhere. According to what he'd read in the papers, Sarah had no memory of the past twenty-two years. He'd been worried it would hurt the foundation named for her. Not to mention what a shock it must have been for Bo. Emily leaned toward him and whispered, "Bo's_ She's gone.

Are we ever getting out of these mountains?" she asked without turning to look at him. He moved up behind her and put his arms around her. She leaned back against him. Her hair glistened with melting snow. She felt small in his arms. "We're going to get out of here," he whispered as he slowly turned her to face him. "Do you trust me?" She raised her head to meet his eyes and held his gaze for a long moment. "With my life.

Lillie woke to darkness an instant before a large warm hand clamped down over her mouth_