Dear Reader,
USA TODAY bestselling author B.J. Daniels is a master of the romantic suspense genre, with more than fifty books published and numerous awards to her credit. Daniels has lived in Montana since she was five, and her love for the state shines through in many of her most beloved books—including the two favorites showcased here, Ambushed! and High-Caliber Cowboy.
In Ambushed!, Sheriff Cash McCall has spent the past seven years looking for his fiancée, Jasmine Wolfe. When her car is found—with blood inside—not far from his office, the evidence seems to be mounting against him. Then Molly Kilpatrick appears, claiming to be Jasmine, and if Cash can prove that she’s who she says she is, he’ll be of the hook. But Cash has a growing suspicion that Molly isn’t Jasmine, and that whoever she is, she’s running scared from something. Now Cash is fighting on all sides to exonerate himself and protect Molly, both from the past she’s trying to leave behind and the dangerous situation she’s walked into.
The suspense doesn’t let up in High-Caliber Cowboy, featuring Cash’s brother, Brandon. Brandon invites trouble when he decides to work for his family’s archenemy, Mason VanHorn, whose ranch has been hit by a rash of vandalism. Brandon is out to nab the culprit…until he finds out who it is. Suddenly, Brandon is caught between family loyalties, old desires and even older secrets that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden….
Daniels hooks her readers from the very first page with edge-of-your-seat suspense that moves at a breakneck speed. Enjoy the ride!
The Editors,
Harlequin Books
B.J. DANIELS
wrote her first book after a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist and author of thirty-seven published short stories. That first book, Odd Man Out, received a four-and-a-half-star review from RT Book Reviews and went on to be nominated for Best Intrigue for that year. Since then, she has won numerous awards, including a career achievement award for romantic suspense and many nominations and awards for best book.
Daniels lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and two springer spaniels, Spot and Jem. When she isn’t writing, she snowboards, camps, boats and plays tennis. Daniels is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Kiss of Death and Romance Writers of America.
To contact her, write to B.J. Daniels,
P.O. Box 1173, Malta, MT 59538 or email her at [email protected]. Check out her website at www.bjdaniels.com.
Double Play
Ambushed!
High-Caliber Cowboy
B.J. Daniels
This book is dedicated to Teagan and Hayden.
Thank you, baby girls, for all the hugs and kisses. I can’t tell you what the tea parties with you two mean to me. I love you both dearly.
CONTENTS
AMBUSHED!
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
EPILOGUE
HIGH-CALIBER COWBOY
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ambushed!
B.J. Daniels
CHAPTER ONE
Tuesday
Outside Antelope Flats, Montana
THE ABANDONED BARN loomed out of the rain soaked landscape, the roof partially gone, a gaping black hole where the doors had once been.
Sheriff Cash McCall pulled his patrol car up next to Humphrey’s pickup. Through the blurred thumping of the wipers, Cash could see Humphrey Perkins behind the steering wheel, waiting.
Cash cut the engine and listened to the steady drum of the rain on the patrol car roof, not anxious to go inside that barn. Hadn’t he known? Hadn’t he always known?
Steeling himself, he pulled up the hood on his raincoat and stepped out of the patrol car. Humphrey didn’t move, just watched as Cash walked past his pickup toward the barn.
Five minutes ago, Humphrey had called him. “I found something, Cash.” The old farmer had sounded scared, as if wishing someone else was making this call, that someone else had found what had been hidden in the barn. “You know the old Trayton homestead on the north side of the lake?”
Everyone knew the place. The land had been tied up in a family estate for years, the dilapidated house boarded up, the barn falling down. There were No Trespassing signs posted all around the property, but Humphrey owned the land to the north and had always cut through the Trayton place to fish. Seemed that hadn’t changed.
“I noticed one of the barn doors had fallen off,” Humphrey had said on the phone, voice cracking. “I think you’d better come out here and take a look. It looks like
