Praise for the novels of B.J. Daniels

  “Daniels is a perennial favorite, and I might go as far as to label her the cowboy whisperer.”

  —BookPage

  “Another ingenious plot from a grand author who deftly takes us along for the ride.”

  —Fresh Fiction on Under a Killer Moon

  “I highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy contemporary romantic suspense with great characters.”

  —One More Book on Out of the Storm

  “Super read by an excellent writer. Recommended!”

  —Linda Lael Miller, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Renegade’s Pride

  “B.J. Daniels has [the] unique ability to astound with her mystery and suspense.”

  —Under the Covers Book Blog

  “The action will set you on edge... Daniels has created a story that has suspense to spare.”

  —Fresh Fiction on Redemption

  “Romantic suspense that will keep readers guessing. If you like Longmire, this is the book for you.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Forsaken

  “Daniels is truly an expert at Western romantic suspense.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Atonement

  “Will keep readers on the edge of their chairs from beginning to end.”

  —Booklist on Forsaken

  “Truly amazing crime story for every amateur sleuth.”

  —Fresh Fiction on Mercy

  Also by New York Times bestselling author

  B.J. Daniels

  Powder River

  Dark Side of the River

  River Strong

  Buckhorn, Montana

  Out of the Storm

  From the Shadows

  At the Crossroads

  Before Buckhorn

  Under a Killer Moon

  When Justice Rides

  Out of the Blue

  Before Memories Fade

  Harlequin Intrigue

  A Colt Brothers Investigation

  Murder Gone Cold

  Sticking to Her Guns

  For additional books by B.J. Daniels,

  visit her website, bjdaniels.com.

  B.J. DANIELS

  RIVER STRONG

  This book is dedicated to Dallas Skinner, a good friend and faithful reader. I love talking with him about books and writing when he comes up to visit. Also, he makes a wonderful red velvet cake and once cooked me the best fried sage hen I’ve ever had.

  Contents

  PROLOGUE

  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

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  PROLOGUE

  THE MAN HAD always been dead weight. But now seriously dead, he seemed too heavy for someone who’d been so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. As the two alternated dragging and carrying his body from the back of the pickup through the darkness toward the yawning hole in the ground, the moon rose, painting the Powder River Basin golden.

  A breeze stirred the leaves of the tall cottonwoods, making the trees sigh. The two stopped to listen, both on alert. Past the cottonwoods, the Powder River snaked soundlessly through a stretch of badlands; the slick surface of the water appeared cast in bronze in the moonlight. Nothing moved.

  Silently, the two continued their macabre work, straining with the effort. As they neared the old abandoned well, they stopped again to listen, then looked at each other over the body as if one of them should say something.

  “Burn in hell,” the one said and, lifting the man’s legs, the two dropped him headfirst into the cistern.

  The night fell deathly silent as they stood over the large gaping black hole—one of the few wells in the basin that he would fit. They listened, waiting until they heard his head connect with the rocky bottom.

  They looked at each other, a silent agreement forged between two unlikely coconspirators. Without a word, they slid the cover back over the forgotten dry well and headed for the truck, the job done—once they disposed of the man’s pickup.

  CHAPTER ONE

  OAKLEY STAFFORD JOLTED upright in bed, the nightmare chasing her from the deep darkness of sleep into the growing light of the Montana winter day. The sun rimmed the mountains to the east, but her view from her bedroom window on the Stafford Ranch was still cast in shadow. Through the bare-limbed cottonwoods, the Powder River wound its way north, dark and silent beneath a thick layer of ice.

  Even now awake, Oakley felt as if she was still spurring her horse through the darkness of the cottonwoods months earlier. The leaves created a dark canopy overhead with only slivers of sunlight filtering through, casting long shadows in her path. She raced for the county road, chased by a killer as she ran for her life. Don’t look back. Don’t look back.

  She shuddered, the recurring nightmare feeling so real because it had been. She’d awoken in the hospital, shocked to hear that she’d been shot just as she and her horse had burst from the cottonwoods and onto the county road. Shot in the back, she’d fallen from her horse, striking her head so hard that it wiped out all memory of two full days of her life.

  Her hand went automatically to her scar near her heart where the bullet had been removed. Even after all this time, the shadowy images still plagued her, daring her to remember. What had really happened that day?

  While her memory felt like a black hole tempting her to come closer and look at what was waiting for her inside, her mind kept crying out, Don’t look back! It made her fear that the truth might be more terrifying than her lack of memory.

  Oakley started as her bedroom door opened, her older sister filling the frame. “I heard you cry out. The nightmare again?” She nodded as Tilly entered the room and sat down on the edge of her bed. “I thought after CJ confessed to accidentally shooting you, it would get better.”

  “So did I.” But she didn’t trust her older brother’s version of the story. There was a part of her brain that told her there was something important she desperately needed to recall before it was too late.

  “You stayed here last night?” she asked. Tilly often stayed with her fiancé at the McKenna Ranch that adjoined theirs. The river dividing their land, the two families had been at odds for years. The bitterness between the McKenna patriarch, Holden McKenna, and their mother, the matriarch of the Stafford Ranch, Charlotte Stafford, had gotten worse recently.

  “Have you heard from Mother?” Tilly asked as she rose from the bed and walked to the window. Oakley saw her glance at the engagement ring on her finger, the diamond catching the early-morning light. In the distance, the mountains rose in rocky cliffs and pine-dotted hillsides capped with the last of winter’s snow. Closer, the thick stand of cottonwoods stood stark along the river as it wound its way through the Powder River Basin under a clear, cold, cloudless blue late-December sky.

  “Maybe you should tell her about your engagement before she returns home,” Oakley suggested, leaning against the headboard as the remnants of her nightmare burned away like morning mountain mist, leaving her unsettled.

  “Mother has enough on her plate right now.”

  Oakley had been shocked when she’d learned who’d shot her. Her own brother. CJ swore it was an accident. She knew in her heart that there was more to it and that was what had her scared. She had to remember, because all her instincts told her that her would-be killer was waiting in fear for her to do just that.

  While Oakley had been fighting for her life in the hospital, CJ had tried to flee the law. He’d rolled his pickup, almost killing Tilly and himself. Paralyzed, he’d been whisked away by their mother to a hospital in Minnesota that specialized in the care he needed. Their mother had gone with him. Oakley hadn’t seen either of them since; nor had she gotten a chance to confront her brother.

  “I haven’t heard anything from her,” Oakley said. As far as she knew, CJ was still paralyzed, needing a wheelchair, something their mother refused to accept. If stubborn determination could heal her oldest son, Charlotte Stafford would have had him walking by now and the two would have returned to the ranch.

  “I can’t believe that you’ve forgiven him,” Tilly said. “He almost killed you.” CJ had fired the bullet that had come so close to Oakley’s heart that it had been amazing that she survived. It was his reason for shooting her that still haunted her. He’d apparently followed her onto McKenna Ranch property because he thought she was meeting someone from the rival ranch. Allegedly, he’d fired a warning shot to stop her that had gone awry.

  “I don’t know that I can ever fo
rgive him entirely,” Oakley said. “It was bad enough what he did to me. But he almost killed you.” She shook her head. “He’s never had to suffer the consequences of his actions, thanks to Mother. But this time he went too far. Not that I’d ever wish him to be badly injured. But he needs to spend some time behind bars. Not that Mother will ever allow that.”

  Tilly looked as if she hadn’t completely forgiven their brother, either. She’d been on her way into town the day CJ found out the sheriff knew that he’d fired the near-fatal shot. Their brother abducted Tilly, taking her hostage as he raced along backroads, determined to escape punishment.

  “You realize CJ will go berserk when he finds out about your engagement to Cooper McKenna,” Oakley said.

  “I’m not worried about CJ,” Tilly said. “I’m more concerned about Mother. You know how she feels about the McKennas.”

  Charlotte Stafford could be scary when crossed, but for Oakley it was CJ who appeared in her nightmares, along with a nagging conviction that he was lying about the shooting. “I just worry about what she’ll do, Tilly. Didn’t she threaten you if you kept seeing Cooper?”

  “There’s nothing she can do,” her sister said, sounding more confident than Oakley suspected she was. “I’m marrying Coop and she can’t stop me. As far as the ranch...”

  Oakley heard the catch in her sister’s voice. Tilly loved the homestead, loved working it, always thought she would be the one who kept the Stafford Ranch going for future generations. It was why she and CJ and their mother often argued about the future of the ranch and ranching. They’d especially been at odds over coalbed methane drilling on the property. CJ had talked their mother into letting the gas company drill on the ranch for the money. He’d never considered the long-term or what it would mean to future generations.

  “Mother’s going to need me working the ranch even more now until CJ is up and around again,” Tilly said.

  “If he ever is.” Oakley didn’t remind her sister how Charlotte Stafford handled those she felt had been disloyal. She cut them out of her life as brutally as if taking a knife to them.

  “I should get moving,” Tilly said. “Cooper and I are driving out to Oregon to pick up a bull. He wants to start a whole new breeding program at the ranch. Holden has offered us a section of land for a house as a wedding present. We’re planning to build this summer, although I know Holden would be happy if we stayed in the main house. But with Cooper’s older brother so opposed to us being together...”

  “Treyton,” Oakley said like a curse. “He is so much like CJ except for the fact that he hasn’t shot anyone lately.”

  “As far as we know,” Tilly said. “Holden thinks his son will come around. I have my doubts. But it doesn’t matter. Cooper and I are going to be together, no matter what.”

  Oakley smiled. Her sister seemed to glow whenever she said her fiancé’s name. “I couldn’t be happier for you.” Tilly had found love and like she said, there was nothing anyone could do to stop them from marrying. At least she hoped that was the case.

  The sun broke over the mountains and filled her bedroom with warm golden light, chasing away the nightmare—at least until tonight. She couldn’t wait for the days to get longer, the sun stronger. This winter had been harder than most and it had only begun.

  “You have plans today?” Tilly asked, still standing next to her bed.

  She heard the suspicion and worry in her sister’s voice. “Nothing exciting. Just going into Miles City, meeting up with some friends.”

  “Anyone I know?”

  Oakley knew exactly what Tilly was asking.

  “I hope you’re not still involved with that subversive group, Dirty Business,” her sister said. “Stu told me that there’d been more vandalizing of the coalbed methane drilling rigs. He said the gas company is going to be cracking down.”

  She heard the warning loud and clear. “You still see the sheriff?”

  “Don’t try to change the subject. Stu and I and Cooper are friends. I was never serious about the sheriff. Oakley, you can’t stop the drilling in the Powder River Basin. Sabotaging the drilling equipment will only end you up in jail or worse.”

  “It hurts me that you think I would do something like that.”

  Tilly rolled her eyes. “Maybe that works on Mother—”

  It didn’t. “Thank you for the early-morning lecture, big sis, but I’m well aware of all of that.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and felt that twinge around the gunshot scar. She was kidding herself if she thought she could ever forgive her brother for shooting her, especially when she couldn’t shake the feeling that there had been more to it than he’d admitted. If only she could remember those lost forty-eight hours.

  Unlike Tilly, she was anxious for CJ and her mother to return to the ranch. She wanted answers. She would finally get to confront her brother. She planned to get the truth out of him, one way or another. But that wasn’t all she had planned as she waited for her sister to leave her room so she could call her two coconspirators about tonight.

  * * *

  “YOU HAVE ANOTHER DATE?”

  Duffy McKenna turned to see the latest addition to the McKenna Ranch standing in the doorway, one hip cocked, a smile on her cute pre-teenaged face. He touched his finger to his lips and pretended it was a secret. It actually was, but he didn’t want Holly Jo to know that any more than he did the rest of the family.

  “You must like this one,” the twelve-year-old said as she plopped down in a chair to watch him finish getting ready. “You’re always looking in the mirror, messing with your hair, but you seem nervous this time.”

  He turned to look at her, unable not to grin. Holly Jo was sharper than some of the people in this house gave her credit for. He needed to watch this one. “You think so, huh?”

  “So what’s she like?” she asked, twirling a lank of her long dark hair on a finger as she studied him with those big blue eyes.

  “Smart, strong, determined,” he said at once. He laughed at how quickly the words had come to him and yet they didn’t do Oakley Stafford justice. He realized he could have added another half dozen adjectives easily.

  Holly Jo rolled her eyes. “Is she pretty?”

  “No prettier than you.”

  She mugged a face at him, but he could tell she liked the compliment. “Are you serious about her?”

  He’d never been that serious about any girl he’d gone out with. But Oakley? He realized he was dead serious. So why hadn’t he done something about it? He’d been telling himself that there was plenty of time, except that he’d been thinking that for a long time now. She wasn’t as close to anyone as she was him, he told himself. So of course they would be together one day. What was the hurry?

  “What do you think?” he said in answer to Holly Jo’s question. “You know what a serious cowboy I am.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “Cooper says you like to play the field. That you’re too immature to have a real relationship. Treyton said he doesn’t understand what women see in you.”

  Duffy laughed. “Me neither.” Great to know how the family really feels, he thought. Even his brother Treyton had weighed in.

  “You going to break this one’s heart?”

  “Chances are that she’ll end up breaking mine.” That was a sobering thought.

  “Elaine says it will take getting your heart broken before you find your true love.” Elaine was their cook, head housekeeper, a fixture at the ranch from before Duffy was born.

  “That’s what Elaine says, huh? You two spend a lot of time talking about me, do you?”

  “As much as anyone else except Treyton,” Holly Jo said innocently enough. “Elaine doesn’t see much hope for him and neither do I. But she says everyone has the potential to change and be a better person no matter their past indiscretions.”

  “I never knew Elaine dispensed so much good advice.” He grinned at her. “What does she suggest for you?”

  Holly Jo made a face. “She says I have a lot of growing up to do, but that I just need to be patient.”

  “I agree with her. Now, get going. I can’t be late for my date. Don’t you have homework to do?” He watched her shove herself up with a groan.