Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [38]
"Stay away from Dana," Lanny said. "I don't want her hurt again."
"Lanny, I don't want to get into this with you but my relationship with Dana is none of your business."
"Like hell," Lanny said, advancing on him. "I know you're the marshal now and you think you can hide behind that badge…"
"Go ahead. Take your best shot," Hud said, removing the marshal star from his coat and pocketing it.
Lanny's eyes narrowed as if he thought it was a trick. "You think you can get her back after everything you did to her?" He took a wide roundhouse swing.
The punch caught Hud on the left side of his jaw, a staggering blow that about took his feet out from under him.
He rubbed his jaw, nodding at Lanny who was breathing hard. "That's the end of it, Lanny." He reached into his pocket, took out the silver star and reattached it to his coat. "Dana's a grown woman with a mind of her own. She'll do whatever it is she wants to do no matter what either of us has to say about it."
Lanny rubbed his bruised knuckles.
Hud waited. He wanted this over with right here, right now.
"What the hell are you doing back here anyway?" Lanny asked, cradling his hand, which looked broken the way it was swelling up. "I would have thought you wouldn't have the nerve to show your face around here after what you did to her."
Hud ignored him. "Might want to have Doc Grady take a look at that hand, Lanny," he said, gingerly touching his jaw. Fortunately it wasn't broken but it hurt like hell. Lanny packed quite a wallop for a lawyer.
"She wasn't worth it," Lanny snarled, evening his gaze at him.
Hud knew Lanny was talking about Stacy now. And he couldn't have agreed more.
"She used you. She wanted a divorce in the worst way, but Emery didn't want to lose her. The old fool loved her for some crazy reason. But then she found a way to force his hand. After what happened between the two of you while he was out of town, he couldn't wait to get rid of her. Better than being the laughingstock of the canyon."
This was news to Hud. For years he'd tried to remember that night. He'd been told he got stinking drunk. He remembered wanting to. But after that, there was nothing in his memory banks until he woke up the next morning—in Dana's sister's bed.
After getting the anonymous note, Hud had come back to Montana convinced Stacy had somehow manipulated the incident just to get back at Dana. It was no secret that Stacy was jealous of her younger sister. He'd just never considered there might be more to it.
The thought gave him hope that he really had been set up. Maybe nothing had happened that night, just as he'd always wanted to believe. More to the point, maybe there was a way to prove it.
"You played right into Stacy's hands," Lanny said.
Hud nodded, saying nothing because he had no defense.
Lanny seemed to consider hitting him again, but must have changed his mind. "You hurt Dana again and that badge isn't going to stop me." With that, he turned and stormed off.
Hud watched Lanny go, hoping this really would be the end of it. But he couldn't get what Lanny had said about Stacy out of his head.
He needed to know what had happened that night. Nothing could have gotten him into Stacy's bed. At least nothing he remembered.
With a curse, he turned and saw Dana standing in the doorway of the sewing shop. From the expression on her face, she'd not only witnessed the ugly display between him and Lanny, she'd overheard it, as well.
* * *
DANA QUICKLY TURNED and went back inside the shop, not wanting Hud to see her shock.
It was bad enough that everyone in the canyon knew about Hud and Stacy, but to hear Lanny talking about it…And could it be true that Stacy had done it—not to spite her—but to force Emery to give her a divorce?
She had to remind herself that whatever her sister's reasoning, Hud had gone along with it. So why was it getting harder and harder to call on that old anger?
She heard Hud come into the shop