“I want you to contact each of them—use your letterhead,” Pepper told the attorney. “I’ve written down what I want you to say on my behalf. Enid will deliver it tomorrow. Do you think you can handle that?”
“I would think this means you are writing a new will.”
“Don’t think, Curtis. Just do what I ask and make sure no one finds out the terms of my will until I’m gone.”
“Of course everything in your will is confidential. You and I are the only two people who know the terms.”
“Make sure it stays that way. You will let me know when you have the addresses and the letter ready to mail.” She hung up before he could offer any further pleasantries and reread the letter her lawyer would be mailing out.
She nodded to herself, pleased. It would bring her grandchildren back to the ranch. Of course it could also bring the others. She would deal with that when she had to.
What would all of them be like now? Either greedy or curious, she hoped, since the letter would lead them all to believe she was dying and about to divide up her fortune—but only to those who returned to the ranch as she requested.
That, she assured herself, would lure them all back to the Winchester Ranch where she would be waiting for them.
As she looked toward the rocky ridge in the distance, Pepper Winchester knew it was no coincidence that her son had been murdered in sight of the Winchester ranch.
Just as it was no coincidence that a pair of binoculars had been hidden in the third floor room.
As she watched the sun set over the Montana prairie, she swore on her son’s grave that once all her family was back on the ranch, she would find out who under this roof twenty-seven years ago had betrayed him. Then there would be hell to pay.
Charlie Farmington has blamed herself for her stepsister’s unsolved murder for years. So when Charlie sees her—alive—she turns to the one person she can trust to help her: William “Shep” Shepherd, her first love.
Keep reading on for a sneak preview of Heart of Gold, the third book in the Montana Justice series
by New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels.
Don’t miss the third book in the highly anticipated Montana Justice series from
New York Times bestselling author
B.J. DANIELS
A cold case leads to present danger...
“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
Preorder your copy today!
www.HQNBooks.com
Heart of Gold
by B.J. Daniels
CHAPTER ONE
“JINGLE BELLS” PLAYED loudly from a nearby store and a man jangled a bell looking for donations to his bucket as Charlie let her apartment door close behind her. Snow crystals drifted on the slight breeze making downtown Bozeman, Montana, sparkle. Pine scented the air as shoppers rushed past, loaded down with bags and packages after snagging early morning deals.
Charlie had just stepped onto the sidewalk when she saw a woman standing across the street under one of the city’s Christmas decorations. Shock froze her to the pavement, and she stared in disbelief. The woman, looking right at her, smiled that all too familiar smile—the one that had haunted Charlie’s nightmares for years. Even as she told herself it wasn’t possible, she felt the bright winter day begin to dim and go black.
Charlie woke lying on the icy sidewalk surrounded by people. She’d never fainted before in her life. But then she’d never seen a dead woman standing across the street from her apartment either.
As she lay there dazed, she realized that she probably wouldn’t have even noticed the woman if it hadn’t been for her horoscope that morning. It had warned that something bad was going to happen. Not in those exact words. But when she read it, she’d had a premonition she couldn’t shake.
Not that she would admit checking her horoscope each morning. It wasn’t that she believed it exactly. She just hated the thought of walking into a new day not knowing what to expect.
Earlier this morning she’d actually considered calling her boss and begging off work. She knew it was silly. But she hadn’t been able to throw off the strange sense of dread she’d had after reading the prediction.
Unfortunately, she had a design project that was coming due before Christmas. She couldn’t afford to miss work. So she’d dressed and left her apartment—against her instincts. If she hadn’t been anxiously looking around, worried, she might not have seen the long-dead Lindy Parker standing across the street looking at her. And she wouldn’t have dropped in a dead faint.
Becoming aware of the cold, icy sidewalk beneath her, she struggled up with some help from the onlookers. For a while, all sound had been muted. Now she heard the clanging bell again, and the Christmas music from a nearby store. She could also feel a pain in her knees; she must have scraped them when she fell.
“Let me help you,” an older man said, taking her arm so she could stand on her wobbly legs.
Her gaze shot to the spot where she’d seen Lindy. There was no one there. If there ever had been.
Charlie felt her face flush with embarrassment. Her foolish feeling was accompanied by nausea. She knew rationally that she couldn’t have seen Lindy. Yet she couldn’t stop quaking. She’d seen someone. Someone who looked enough like the dead woman to give her more than a start.
It didn’t help that her rational mind argued against the chance that Lindy’s doppelgänger just happened to be standing across the street from her apartment smiling that evil smile of hers.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” the elderly man asked. “You’re awfully pale.”
She couldn’t speak around the giant lump that had formed in her throat. Hadn’t she been expecting something bad to happen even before she read this morning’s horoscope? Her life had been going so
