Ms. Calculation. Danica Winters
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Welcome to Mystery, Montana, a small town with dark secrets…
The body found in the Dunrovin Ranch stables isn’t just a crisis for Wyatt Fitzgerald’s family or his top priority as sheriff—Gwen Johansen is both the victim’s sister…and Wyatt’s ex. And in a small town like Mystery, events of the past don’t seem to fade. Maybe she’d misjudged his potential when they were younger, but now he could be her greatest ally—and not just in the investigation. That is, if he can work his way around a broken heart. With the killer circling, the clock is counting down on more than Christmas, a time when family means everything and forgiveness is the best gift of all.
Something was wrong.
The store was a mess. The glass teapot, the one he had noticed the day before, was on the floor, shattered into several pieces. Beside it on the floor was a bloody handprint.
It felt like the world was collapsing around him. He glanced back at Gwen. She didn’t need to see this, but he couldn’t keep her from the truth…or what they could possibly find if they went into the shop.
“Gwen,” he said, turning around slowly to face her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, all the playfulness that she had been exuding disappearing.
He shrugged. “I can’t be sure until I look.”
“What do you want me to do?”
He could make her wait in the car, but whoever was gunning for her had to be someone they both knew, someone close to them, and it was likely it was someone who could lure her out of the car…and do whatever they deemed necessary.
He couldn’t risk it.
Ms. Calculation
Danica Winters
DANICA WINTERS is a multiple-award-winning, bestselling author who writes books that grip readers with their ability to drive emotion through suspense and occasionally a touch of magic. When she’s not working, she can be found in the wilds of Montana, testing her patience while she tries to hone her skills at various crafts—quilting, pottery and painting are not her areas of expertise. She believes the cup is neither half-full nor half-empty, but it better be filled with wine. Visit her website at www.danicawinters.net.
To Mom
You show me what it means to be empowered.
I couldn’t have done any of this without you.
Contents
There was nothing that could make a woman go crazy more quickly or more profoundly than a man. The same went for mares and studs, and the proof was the lame horse that had brought Bianca to Dunrovin Ranch in the little town of Mystery, Montana.
The paint had her rear end backed into the corner of her stall, an instinct to protect herself from predators who, if she’d been in the wild, would have already taken advantage of her injury and moved in for the kill.
Bianca snorted slightly at how the instincts between animals and people were the same. When everything was stripped away—the names, the relationships, the social frameworks and the money—humans were nothing more than animals.
According to Mrs. Fitz, the paint mare had been in heat and had gotten into a fight with another mare when they’d turned the paint out. Normally the two mares had gotten along, their hierarchy and roles within their social group well established, but due to the proximity of a buckskin stallion, things had taken a turn for the worse and the mare had injured her foot in the fight. Bianca wasn’t sure if the animal’s leg was sprained or broken; she’d have to get her hands on the horse