LUCK OF THE DRAW – B. J. Daniels
Sterling's Montana, Book 2
HQN
ISBN-10: 1-335-04103-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-335-04103-6
May 2019
Western Contemporary Romance

Whitefish, Montana

Garret Sterling is riding his mountain guest ranch property currently under reconstruction. He sees movement across a deep ravine and uses his binoculars to determine what is there. He sees a man threatening a woman with a gun. He fires his own gun into the air hoping the man will know someone witnesses what he is doing. Before he can regain his binoculars he hears four more shots. Once he has his binoculars in hand again, he can't determine what has happened. He calls Sheriff Sid Anderson and explains what he saw. Garret and Sid meet on the other side of the ravine. They don't find a woman's body while searching the area but a man's body with four bullets through his chest. 

Later Sid learns of an accident where a woman was found in the crashed vehicle Garret reported seeing leave the murder site. She is in the hospital. From Garret's report he suspects the man's death a case of self-defense, but he wonders what happened. The woman wakes in the hospital. Her doctor says she can't remember anything, even her name. He suspects it is due to her head injury. Sid brings Garret in to see if he recognizes her from what he saw on the ridge. Garret recognizes her all right, but not from the ridge. She is Joslyn Charles, the woman he had an affair with two years ago when he was at university studying the law. He was going to ask her to marry him, but she left without even a goodbye before he could, breaking his heart. It caused him to give up his goal of becoming a lawyer, and he returned to his family's ranch. He also knows she recognized him in the hospital and doesn't believe her claim of a memory lapse.

So begins both an intriguing story and an equally intriguing romance. Garret is guarded but wants to help Joslyn, especially when her so-called family comes to get her. Sheriff Anderson learns some unsettling information about the woman, including that she was in witness protection, but he can't discover why. Many unsettling events follow. Garret needs to learn if everything between them was a shame. Is she in trouble? Hunted or just crazy? Can Garret overcome his distrust of anything Joslyn says--especially when Sid reports that isn't even her name? Will learning she is due to inherit one hundred million dollars in a few days change his mind?

Equally interesting secondary characters play important roles in LUCK OF THE DRAW, some to help Garrett, some to help themselves. A captivating story with dystopian elements.

Robin Lee