Page 27 of Dead Man's Hand

“No problem,” she said without hesitation. Anywhere was better after sitting here thinking the worst might have happened.

“We’ll be warm and dry. I saw older tracks in the snow. I might have already missed her. Otherwise...”

Otherwise, she could be coming once the storm passed, he didn’t say, but she knew what he meant. He pulled the SUV key and met her gaze. “Don’t worry. I’ve got everything covered.”

She’d heard these words before, so they didn’t give her much assurance. The thing about DJ Diamond, though, was when things went south, he always came up with a backup plan. Whether he’d thought of it before things went bad or not was debatable. But he’d always managed to save them. She just hoped he hadn’t met his match this time as she climbed out into the Montana blizzard.

BUCKHEARDTHErelief in Ainsley’s voice the moment she answered the phone. “Are you all right? I’ve been so worried about you.”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry I haven’t called sooner.” There was no way he was getting into everything that had happened since he’d last seen her. Eventually, Ansley would know most of it.

“Did you find him?” Her voice cracked. He could hear the hope and felt his heart break for her. He’d wanted so badly to have good news for her.

“I think I’ve found him, but we won’t know for sure until we get the DNA results.”

“That’s wonderful news,” she cried. She sounded so relieved. She really did have her heart set on him giving her away at the wedding. He wished he could have talked her into putting off the ceremony until spring, but she’d wanted a Christmas wedding and he would give her anything.

He told her what he’d learned and about going out to the Diamond Deluxe Ranch and what he’d found out there.

“His name is DJ Diamond?” she said. “It has to be him if he had the gold bracelet our mother had made for him. And he grew up on a ranch, that’s great.”

He didn’t know how to tell her. It was one reason he hadn’t called until now. He’d put it off, telling himself he wanted to be sure that DJ Diamond was indeed her twin. But the truth was he didn’t know how to tell her about the life her twin might have lived.

“It wasn’t that kind of ranch,” he told her now. They were about to start their lives together. He didn’t want there to be any lies between them. She needed to know the truth, as hard as it was going to be to tell her—let alone for her to hear. He told her about everything that he’d learned. For a moment there was only silence on the line. “Ainsley, are you there?”

“You’re saying he’s a criminal?”

“No. Maybe. I’m not sure. He was raised by an uncle who was a conman who apparently taught him everything he knows. From what I can tell he makes his living gambling.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Buck?”

He sighed. “Right now DJ’s on the run after a poker game went badly. He has a friend who’s in trouble and he’s determined to save her. James, Tommy and I are going after him, but we aren’t the only ones anxious to catch up to him and this friend of his he grew up with. There are some powerful men also after him. I don’t want to upset you, but I think we should postpone the wedding.”

Chapter Thirteen

On the climb up the mountainside to the cabin, DJ mentally kicked himself. Sadie should be winging her way to the sunny shores of Florida right now—not trudging through thigh-high snow with him. He should have been more insistent. As if that would have changed her mind. He imagined himself physically putting her on a plane home. That was just as ridiculous as thinking he could make her do anything she didn’t want to do.

But bringing her up here... A gust of wind whirled fresh snow around him. He caught a glimpse of the cabin above them almost hidden in the tall pines.

“A little longer and we’ll be there,” he said to her as he stopped to let them both catch their breath. They were used to Florida and sea level. He looked at her, trying to gauge how she was doing—and not just from the climb. He’d gotten her into this, something he deeply regretted. It was bad enough that he’d been possibly tricked into coming back here—let alone that he’d dragged Sadie into it. He couldn’t bear the thought that Keira had purposely drawn him back to Montana on a lie so that Grandville could get retribution for some old grudge.

Pushing the nagging thought away, he said, “You doing okay?”

“I’m good,” she said, and flashed him a smile. It wasn’t one of her brilliant, knock-a-man-for-a-loop smiles. This one was part worry, part sympathy. He wanted to tell her that he’d be fine no matter what he found out, but he couldn’t lie to her because she would see right through it. If Keira had turned on him... He hated to think of the pain it would cause. That’s if she didn’t get him killed.

“It’s not far now,” he said.

“Lead the way, partner.”

A few minutes later, they waded through the drifted snow up onto the porch. As he opened the front door of the cabin, he gave a slight bow and waved her inside. He had no idea how long they would be here. At least until the storm passed. Where was Keira? Had she gotten caught in the storm? And what about the Grandvilles? Were they on their way as well?

Keira had chosen the perfect isolated place in the mountains for her husband to hide out. It was also a perfect place to get rid of someone. Bodies often didn’t turn up for years in these woods. He tried not to think about what might happen if Keira showed up. If she was telling the truth, she and Luca might already be headed for Alaska. He realized he might never see her again if that was the case.

Or she and Luca might be planning a visit to the cabin—just waiting for him to arrive. Keira knew him. She would know that he would come to the cabin. Wasn’t that why she’d left the note?

His head hurt thinking about it. He could no more see the future than flap his arms and fly. Yet his gut told him he couldn’t trust her. Maybe he never could.

He looked over at Sadie, fighting the feeling that they were sitting ducks and hunting season was about to open.

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