Out of the Blue Read online

  Praise for New York Times bestselling author

  B.J. Daniels

  “You won’t be able to put it down.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas on Heartbreaker

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

  —BookPage on Luck of the Draw

  “Daniels keeps readers baffled with a taut plot and ample red herrings, expertly weaving in the threads of the next story in the series as she introduces a strong group of primary and secondary characters.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Stroke of Luck

  “Daniels again turns in a taut, well-plotted, and suspenseful tale with plenty of red herrings. Readers will be in from the start and engaged until the end.”

  —Library Journal on Stroke of Luck

  “Readers who like their romance spiced with mystery can’t go wrong with Stroke of Luck by B.J. Daniels.”

  —BookPage

  “Daniels is an expert at combining layered characters, quirky small towns, steamy chemistry and added suspense.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Hero’s Return

  “B.J. Daniels has made Cowboy’s Legacy quite a nail-biting page-turner of a story. Guaranteed to keep you on your toes.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  Out of the Blue

  B.J. Daniels

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER ONE

  IF NOT FOR bad luck, Tanya Owens wouldn’t have had any luck at all, she thought as smoke began rolling out from under the hood of her car. She had enough trouble without this. Now in the middle of Montana, she was on her way to Vegas to make her fortune at the first roulette wheel she saw. Until her car engine began making odd noises a few miles back, she’d thought maybe her luck was changing for the better.

  Ahead, she could see nothing but more of the same. Trees, rocks, mountains and a narrow black strip of two-lane highway. It wasn’t like there was anywhere she could stop and have the engine looked at out here in the middle of nowhere.

  The noise under the hood began to grow louder, the smoke thicker and darker. Were those buildings ahead on the horizon? The car began to jerk as something under the hood began to clank. As she limped toward what might or might not have been a town, she saw an old-timey gas station and garage ahead and pulled in. As she did, the car died. She tried to restart it, but the motor refused.

  Disgusted, she climbed out, scuffing her best pumps as she did. She was bent over trying to rub out the spot on her shoe when she heard someone approach.

  “You can’t park there.” The voice was rough and gravelly. “I said you can’t park there.” A shadow fell over her.

  Straightening, Tanya saw that the voice belonged to a large older woman, somewhere between fifty and eighty. Under her trucker’s cap, her hair stuck out in a cloud of wiry gray. She wore baggy green overalls and stood over her, wiping her dirty hands on a rag. The name stitched on the overalls read Gertrude.

  Tanya looked into small dark eyes set in the lined broad face. From the depth of the frown, she assumed it must be perpetual. She didn’t have time for nonsense nor did she have the patience to put up with this woman.

  “There’s something wrong with my car.” She looked past Gertrude to see if there was anyone back in the garage who might be able to fix it. “Is there a mechanic on duty?” she inquired.

  “What do I look like? Chopped liver?” Gertrude asked.

  “I’ve never understood that expression,” Tanya said with a shake of her head. “Can you fix my car?”

  Gertrude eyed the vehicle for a moment. “Hard to say without looking under the hood.”

  “Perhaps you could do that then.” This woman was trying her patience.

  “Perhaps I could,” Gertrude said in a way that made it obvious she was mocking Tanya’s finishing-school pattern of speech.

  “Wonderful.” She held out her keys. When the woman finally extended a palm, she dropped them into it. “Where am I anyway?” she asked, looking around.

  “Buckhorn, Montana.”

  This was a town? From what Tanya could see, it wasn’t much more than a wide spot in the road. The gas station and garage were on the edge of the place. Past it she could make out a few more buildings. From where she stood, she could see signs for what might be a store and a café. Was that a motel at the other end? Beyond that, there was the same nothingness that she’d been driving through for hours. Had her car not died, she could have blinked and missed Buckhorn completely.

  She glanced across the two-lane highway that cut through this burg. “Is that a tavern by any chance?” she asked.

  “Isn’t that what the sign says?” Gertrude asked rhetorically.

  The sign looked as if it used to be larger, as if the bar once had a name that had been removed. Now all that was left was one small word: Bar. If it wasn’t for the neon beer sign in the window, Tanya wouldn’t have even noticed the place. The log structure looked rustic enough that she wasn’t sure the establishment was even open.

  “Well,” Tanya said, “if it’s open, that’s where I’ll be. I don’t have a cell phone. I...lost it.”

  “Oh, darn,” the woman said, making it clear she had no interest in any hard luck stories as she walked over to the sedan and popped the hood.

  A semi passed, kicking up a cloud of dust. Tanya let it blow by before she crossed the two-lane highway. She just hoped the bar was open. There weren’t any vehicles parked out front. But there was a pickup sitting along the side, next to a stairway that went to an upper floor over the bar. Maybe whoever owned the place lived up there and would open up if she asked sweetly, because right now she really could use a drink.

  The front door was thick planks of wood covered with flyers and hand-printed notes from people looking for jobs or used cars and appliances. Tanya was having her doubts about going in—even if it was open. If she hadn’t needed a drink so badly...

  * * *

  THE DOOR SWUNG open and all her apprehension dissolved as she breathed in the familiar scent of stale beer and floor cleaner. It was a saloon, by the looks of it, and saloons were a second home to her.

  A small television droned at the far end of the bar where a couple of older, no-doubt regulars were propped up on stools. She relaxed a little as she took in the mirrored back wall and the illuminated liquor bottles that ran the length of it. After climbing up a stool a good distance from the two old men, she checked her hair and makeup in the mirror. The dim light was forgivingly kind to her. She told herself that she could pass for thirty instead of almost forty-five. Fluffing up her long, dark curly do, she put her purse on the stool next to her and looked impatiently for the barkeep to take her order.

  When she’d come in, he’d been visiting with the two old guys. Now he finished setting fresh glasses of tap beer in front of them and headed her way, smiling. She reminded herself just how little cash she had left. She’d already decided she would flirt with the bartender for a free drink or two, and then she recognized him.

  Tanya blinked. It couldn’t be. He was partway down the bar, headed for her when he seemed to realize that he knew her as well.

  “Davey?” she said, unable to hide her surprise and delight on several levels. Could she really have gotten this lucky? Not only did she know him, she knew him intimately. She and Davey had history. She was betting he remembered the two
of them that time under the bleachers, the first time she let him get to third base.

  Added to her initial surprise was the fact that Davey looked good. Really good. She’d heard that he’d let himself go after his football injury his senior year in high school and the loss of his scholarship to play ball in college. She would never have thought he could look this buff at forty-five.

  “Davey, is it really you?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “TANYA?” DAVE TANNER couldn’t believe it. He’d never thought he would see her again, and now here she was.

  She let out a laugh, jumped off the bar stool and cried, “Come around here and give me a hug!”

  Like he had to be asked twice. He stepped around the counter, and she literally jumped into his arms. She was still petite and slim. In shock, he spun her around, laughing. He’d never thought that he’d ever see her again after high school, let alone have her in his arms. It was like no time had gone by.

  He set her down and drew back to look at her, still refusing to believe his eyes. Tanya Owens. She’d aged—just as he had. He could see tiny lines around her eyes, but she was still the beautiful head cheerleader that he’d fallen so hard for all those years ago. His hair had thinned, and recently, he’d shaved his head, which was now tanned. He hardly recognized himself in the mirror after all these months working construction when he wasn’t working here at his saloon.

  “What are you doing in Buckhorn?” he asked, his mind crazily wondering if she could have come here looking for him.

  “I was on my way to Vegas and my car...it just quit.” She waved a hand through the air and laughed again. “What’s that line from that old movie? With all the gin joints in the world, I just happen to walk into yours.”

  She’d murdered the line, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “You look just the same.”

  She pretended to blush, sweeping her hair back with a shy smile and shake of her head that was so familiar. It was what he’d called her come-hither look, and it still had the same effect on him that it had all those years ago.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said. “You going to buy a girl a drink?” she asked coyly as she took her seat again.

  He laughed and hurried behind the counter. “What can I get you?”

  She seemed to think it over, biting at her lower lip for a moment, making him remember kissing her that first time behind the bleachers. “How about a gin and tonic. The top-shelf gin,” she added with a grin. “This is cause for celebration, don’t you think?”

  Dave did. His heart was lodged in his throat as he moved down to the speed well to make her drink. He’d forgotten all about Ralph and Wilbur. He’d left them at the end of the bar, arguing over the ball game on the television.

  But they’d apparently lost interest in the contest. All eyes and ears were on Tanya. They had the look of men who hadn’t seen anything like her.

  “You know her?” Wilbur asked, sounding skeptical as he watched Dave make her drink.

  “We dated my senior year of high school,” Dave said, embarrassed and yet pleased that he’d surprised the two men. Like a lot of people in town, they probably thought that he had always been a loser when it came to women.

  “You dated her?” Ralph said.

  Dave wasn’t sure dated was the right word for it. “Three months and nine days.” He stopped making her drink for a moment to look back down the bar. He’d been so surprised to see her that he hadn’t really noticed what she was wearing. A leopard-patterned top hugged her ample breasts and slim waist. A short black skirt did homage to her shapely legs, which ended in a pair of tan pumps.

  She had a bar napkin and was rubbing at the top of one of her shoes, giving the three men an enticing view of her sensational thighs, not to mention a fair amount of cleavage.

  “Tend to your ball game,” he said to Ralph and Wilbur as he finished Tanya’s drink and carried it to her. Behind him, he heard the two men discussing Tanya loudly as they talked above the noise coming from the television.

  “That woman is trouble,” Ralph said.

  “Uh-huh,” Wilbur agreed. “I bet she’s the one that got away.”

  “What the hell is that?” Ralph demanded.

  “The one he never got over,” his friend said. “Uh-huh. Trouble.”

  * * *

  MELISSA HERBERT PUSHED her way into the back door of the saloon, humming to herself. She’d been listening to a song on the radio down at the café before she left, and now she couldn’t get it out of her head.

  “There’s a breath of fresh air,” Wilbur said when he saw her come in the door. It was what he always said.

  And like always, Melissa laughed and patted his shoulder as she passed. “Hi, Ralph,” she said, giving him a pat as well before drawing up a stool next to him.

  “What do you have today?” Ralph asked as she put the two small brown paper sacks she’d been carrying on the bar. “Smells good.”

  She’d gotten into the habit of sharing her lunch with Dave. It had started last spring when she’d hired him to remodel one of the buildings she’d bought in town from Mabel Aldrich.

  Mabel had finally parted with the old carriage house that had last been used as a carpenter’s workshop. Melissa thought it would be a great space for a shop and planned to lease it come summer. Dave had worked so hard on it, and she loved watching the space being transformed. So she’d started bringing her lunch to watch the progress, adding extra so the two of them could visit while they ate. Dave had understood her vision for the place, while some people in town hadn’t been as friendly or as supportive.

  It took her a moment, with that darned song still playing in her head, to realize that Wilbur and Ralph were acting stranger than usual. She looked around for Dave. Usually this early in the season, the two older men were the only ones here at lunchtime, so she was surprised to see that Dave had another customer.

  The song in her head died as she watched him lean toward the woman at the bar as if hanging on her every word. The two looked...intimate.

  “Her name’s Tanya. They used to date in high school,” Wilbur blurted. “She was the one who got away.”

  Melissa blinked. A woman Dave had dated in high school? She cleared her voice. “Well, that’s nice that she stopped in to see him on her way through town.”

  Ralph coughed. “Her car broke down so she might be staying for a while.”

  “Even better,” she said, the words like sawdust in her mouth. “I’m sure Dave was glad to see her.”

  “You could say that,” Wilbur muttered, and Ralph kicked him. “Ouch!”

  “Well,” she said, sliding off her stool. “I can’t stay today. You’re both welcome to share the lunches I brought.” Dave had yet to notice her. He probably hadn’t even realized it was midday. “I have a lot of work to do, so I’m going to get moving.”

  “Want us to tell Dave anything?” Ralph asked.

  “Nope,” she said, pretending that seeing him with the woman hadn’t upset her. There was no reason it should. She and Dave were just friends. They worked together, and while they’d gotten close, she had no right to feel hurt, let alone jealous. She’d hoped for more with Dave, but...

  “Just give him his meal,” she said over her shoulder. “Or if he isn’t hungry, you two can split that one too.” She smiled, even though it was forced and hurt her face as she hurried out. She thought she heard Dave call after her, but she couldn’t be sure. Either way, she couldn’t go back in there right now, not with her eyes stinging with tears.

  Dave was the first person she’d met when she’d come to Buckhorn months ago. She’d been looking for a small town in Montana to invest in after her grandmother left her what she called her “stake.” She’d had a blowout just outside town, and Dave had happened to come by in his pickup. He’d stopped and changed her tire for her. They’d got to tal
king. He’d been so helpful in telling her what buildings might be available in town to buy and remodel.

  When she’d found out that he had some skills in the carpentry department, she’d talked him into doing the remodel work for her. They’d become good friends, often working late at night, either on one of her projects or at the bar where she filled in when he needed her help.

  In all the hours they’d spent together, they’d both opened up, talking about their pasts and their plans for the future. But she couldn’t remember Dave ever mentioning an old girlfriend by the name of Tanya.

  What had Wilbur called her? The one that got away.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “MEL!” DAVE CALLED after her as he saw her leaving the bar, but too late. She hadn’t heard him. He felt a stab of guilt when he realized the time. He’d forgotten all about lunch and the fact that she would be stopping by. He would have introduced her to Tanya if she’d stuck around.

  Down the bar, Ralph picked up the sack of food that Melissa had left for him and wagged it as if trying to make him feel worse. It appeared Ralph and Wilbur had split whatever was in the other bag—Melissa’s meal?

  “So,” Tanya said, dragging his attention back. “I have no idea how long I’m going to be in town. What is there to do here?”

  “Probably nothing that would interest you,” he said with an embarrassed laugh.

  “Davey, you used to know what I liked,” she said, lowering her voice as she put her hand over his. He felt his pulse jump. “Something tells me you haven’t forgotten.” The look she gave him brought it all back. The nights parked in the woods, steamed-over windows and uncomfortable sex on the bench seat of his old Ford pickup. And he’d never forget their first time behind the bleachers. It was every high school boy’s dream—especially for a teenager as shy as he’d been around girls.

  The front door of the bar banged open, bringing a gust of spring air. A shaft of bright light shone in, silhouetting Gertrude Durham in the doorway for a moment before the door slammed shut behind her. Gertrude made a beeline for Tanya. She slapped a set of keys down on the bar and started to leave.