by Nora Roberts
There was only one way to even the odds.
Tess tackled her and sent them both rolling. Laughing like hyenas, white as snowmen, they plopped on their backs to catch their breath. Flakes drifted down on them, huge and heavy, with the iced edges smoothed out.
“We used to make snow angels when I was a kid,” Lily said, and lazily demonstrated by skimming her arms and legs over the snow. “And once it snowed enough for us to be out of school for two days. We built a snow fort and an army of snow people. My mother came out and took pictures of it.”
Tess blinked up, trying to see the black sky through the curtain of white. “The one and only time I went skiing, I decided snow and I weren’t compatible.” She mimicked Lily’s moves. “I guess it’s not so bad, really.”
“It’s beautiful.” Then she laughed. “I’m freezing.”
“I’ll buy you a huge mug of coffee laced with brandy.”
“I’ll take it.” Still smiling, Lily sat up. Then her heart leaped into her throat, blocking the scream. Her hand clamped over Tess’s as the shadow moved, became a man. Came closer.
“Did you all take a tumble?”
Tess’s head jerked around, her pulse roaring in her ears. They were alone, she thought in panic, too far from the house for a shout to carry over the wind. The image of the butchered deer reared up in her mind, turning her to helpless mush.
The flashlight, she thought, as her eyes darted right and left. He had one, the beam strong enough to blind her while keeping him in silhouette. She wanted to run, ordered herself to run, to drag Lily with her, but she couldn’t seem to move.
“You shouldn’t be out here in the dark,” he said, and stepped closer.
Now she moved, survival instincts springing free like a cat out of a cage. She bounded up, snatched a log from the woodpile, and prepared to swing. “Stay back,” she ordered, and despite her shaking hands the order was strong and firm. “Lily, get up. Get up, goddamn it.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean to spook you.” He angled the light so that it played along the snow. “It’s Wood, Miss Tess. Billy and me just got in, and the wife thought you might need some help up here.”
His voice was easy, nonthreatening—even, Tess thought, slightly amused. But they were alone, basically helpless, and he was a strong man with his face still in shadow. Trust no one, she decided, and took a firmer grip on the log.
“We’re fine. Lily, go inside and tell Bess that Wood’s here. Tell her,” she hissed, and Lily finally snapped into action and moved.
“No need to put Bess to any trouble.” Wood angled the flashlight toward the woodpile, skimmed the beam over the trampled path to the house. “The wife’s got supper on for me, but I can haul some logs in for you. Power’s bound to go before long.”
Completely alone with Wood now, Tess prayed that Lily was inside and alerting Bess. Fear licked along her spine with a sharp-edged tongue. She took one step back, then two. “We’ve already taken some in.”
“Can’t have too much in this kinda storm.” He held the flashlight out to her, and she jerked back, visualizing a knife. “You want to take this,” he said gently, “I’ll load up.”
Still poised to run, Tess reached out, took the light. Wood bent to the pile as Lily came flying back. “Bess has coffee on.” Her voice rose and fell like an arpeggio. “She said there was plenty if Wood wanted a cup.”
“Well, now, I appreciate that.” He continued to stack logs competently in the crook of one arm. “But I’ll get one back to home. The wife’s waiting on me. You all go back in, use that light now. I can find my way well enough.”
“Yes, let’s go in. Let’s go inside, Tess.” Shivering, Lily tugged on Tess’s arm. “Thank you, Wood.”
“Don’t mention it,” he murmured, shaking his head as they backed down the path. “Women,” he said to himself.
“I was so scared,” Lily managed. The moment they were inside the mudroom she threw her arms around Tess. “You were so brave.”
“I wasn’t brave. I was terrified.” As fresh realization set in, she clutched Lily and shook violently. “How could we have forgotten? How could we be playing out there like a couple of idiots after everything that’s happened? God! God, it could be anyone. Why did it take so long for that to sink in?” She drew back, met Lily’s eyes. “It could be anyone.”
“Not Adam.” After tearing her gloves off, Lily rubbed her chilled hands together. “He couldn’t hurt anyone, or anything. And he was with us when we—when we found it today.”
Tess opened her mouth, closed it again. What point was there in speculating that Adam could have gone out before dawn, done what had been done, then led them to it, taken them to see what he’d wanted them to see?
“I don’t know, Lily. I just don’t know. But if we’re going to stay here, get through this winter, we’d better start thinking, and we’d better start watching our backs.” She pulled off her hat, her coat. “I can’t imagine Adam doing that. Or Ben, or Nate. Hell, I can’t imagine anyone doing it, and that’s the problem. We have to start imagining it.”
“We’re safe here.” Lily turned her back, carefully hung her coat. “We’re safe. I haven’t felt safe in a long time, and I’m not going to let anything spoil it.”
“Lily.” Tess laid a hand on her shoulder. “Staying safe means staying careful. And staying smart. We both want something here,” she continued as Lily turned back. “And we want it badly enough to risk being here. The way I see it, we have to look out for each other. And we have to trust each other. If I see anything odd, I’m going to tell you, and you’re going to do the same. Anything that doesn’t feel right, anyone who doesn’t act right. Agreed?”
“Yes, I’ll tell you. And Willa.” She shook her head before Tess could protest. “She deserves that, Tess. She has every bit as much at stake. She has more at stake.”
Exactly, Tess thought, then shrugged. “Okay, we’ll play it that way. For now, anyway. Now I want that coffee.”
• • •
T HEY HAD COFFEE. AND WAITED. THEY ATE STEW. AND waited.
The wind screamed at the windows, the fire snapped in the grate, and the grandfather clock in the study bonged the hours away.
It was past midnight when Willa came in, and she came in alone.
Tess stopped pacing the living room and studied her. Willa’s face was sheet-white with exhaustion, those dark, exotic eyes bruised with it. She walked directly to the fire, trailing snow and wet behind her over the exquisite rugs and gleaming floors.
“Where are the others?” Tess asked her.
“They had to get back. They’ve got their own worries.”
With a nod, Tess went to the whiskey decanter and poured a generous glass. She’d have preferred having Nate and Ben in the house, but she was learning that Montana was filled with little disappointments. She handed the glass to Willa.
“Cows all tucked in for the night?”
Without bothering to answer, Will tossed back half the whiskey, shuddered hard.
“I’ll run you a bath.”
With her mind too weary to focus, Willa blinked at Lily. “What?”
“I’m going to run you a hot bath. You’re frozen and exhausted. You must be starving. There’s stew on the stove. Tess, you fix Willa a bowl.”
Willa had just enough energy left to be amused. Her baffled smile followed Lily out of the room. “She’s going to run me a bath. Can you beat that?”
“Our resident domestic expert. Anyway, you could use one. You smell.”
Willa sniffed, winced. “Guess I do.” Because the first blast of whiskey had her head reeling, she set the glass aside. “I’m too tired to eat.”
“You need something. You can eat in the tub.”
“In the tub. Eat in the tub?”
“Why the hell not?”
Willa spared Tess one smirking glance. “Why the hell not?” she agreed, and stumbled her way upstairs to strip.
Lily had the water steaming and frothy with bubbles. Nak
ed, Willa stared down at it for a full ten seconds. A bubble bath, she thought. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a bubble bath. The big scarlet tub had been one of her father’s indulgences, and she’d rarely used it. And then only when he’d been away.
He was away now, she reminded herself. Dead away.
She swung a leg over the side, hissed as hot water met chilled skin. Then with an enormous sigh, she lowered herself to the chin.
She emptied her mind of snow, of wind, of the raging dark, the brutal fight to round up cattle. They would have missed some, and they would lose some. That was inevitable. The blizzard had come in too fast and too mean to prevent that. But they had done their best.
Her muscles wept as she laid her head back, closed her eyes. Can’t think, she realized as her mind clicked on and off. Had to think. What to do. Every movement, every chore, every decision made come morning would be instinctive. She knew what to do there. It wasn’t her first blizzard, nor would it be her last.
But murder—murder and butchery.
What to do.
“Fall asleep in there and you’ll drown,” Tess said from the doorway.
Willa sat up, scowling. She wasn’t particularly modest. The scowl was for the intrusion, even if it did include the heavenly scent of stew. “You ever try knocking?”
“You left the door open, champ.” Rather amused at her role of server, Tess settled the tray across the tub. “I want to talk to you.”
Willa only sighed. She scooted up enough to manage the meal, dipped a spoon into the stew while bubbles melted off her breasts. “So talk.”
Tess sat on the wide ledge of the tub. Quite a bathroom, she mused. It was as plush as any movie star’s fantasy with its ruby, sapphire, and white tiles, its forest of ferns in brass and copper pots. The separate shower was walled in clear glass, boasted half a dozen showerheads at different angles and heights. And the tub where Willa was lounging was easily big enough for a small, tasteful orgy.
Idly she dipped a finger into the bubbles, sniffed at them. “Violets,” she commented. “Must be Lily’s.”
“You want to talk about bubble baths?” Willa scooted up higher as she gained more enthusiasm for the meal. She could have eaten a truckload of stew.
“We’ll leave the girl stuff for later.” She glanced over as Lily came to the doorway, her gaze politely fixed inches above Willa’s head. “I’ve got your robe, for when you’re finished. I’ll just hang it on the back of the door.”
“Come on in, have a seat,” Willa invited with a wave of her hand. “Tess wants to talk.” When Lily hesitated, Willa rolled her eyes. “We’ve all got tits here, Lily.”
“And hers are barely noticeable, anyway,” Tess added with a smug smile. “Have a seat,” she ordered. “You’re the one who wanted to bring her in on all of this.”
“All of what?” Willa demanded with her mouth full.
“Let’s just say Lily and I are a little nervous. Wouldn’t you agree with that, Lily?”
Flushing, Lily lowered the lid on the toilet and sat. “Yes.”
Despite the heat of the water, Willa’s skin chilled. “You two planning to bolt?”
“We’re not cowards.” Tess inclined her head. “Or fools. The three of us have equal interest in getting through this year. I assume we all have equal interest in getting through it in one piece. Somebody, very possibly somebody on this ranch, is—let’s say knife happy. How do we deal with it?”
Willa’s mouth went stubborn. “I know my men.”
“We don’t,” Tess pointed out. “Maybe we should start by you filling us in. Telling us what you know about each one of them. As appealing as it sounds, the three of us can’t travel in a pack twenty-four hours a day for the next nine or ten months.”
“You’re right.”
The careless agreement caused Tess’s mouth to drop open. “Well, well, I must mark this day on my calendar. Willa Mercy agrees with me.”
“I still can’t stand you.” Scraping her bowl, Willa continued. “But I do agree. The three of us need to cooperate if we’re going to get through this. Until the police, or we, find out who killed Pickles, I don’t think either of you should wander around alone.”
“I can defend myself. I’ve taken classes.”
Tess’s announcement made Willa snort.
“I could take you down,” Tess tossed out. “In ten seconds I’d have you on your back seeing stars. But that’s beside the point.” She had a low-grade urge for a cigarette, and promised herself she’d indulge it soon. “Lily and I can’t very well attach ourselves to each other at the hip.”
“I’m with Adam most of the day. With the horses.”
Willa nodded at Lily and slid back into the water. “You can depend on Adam. And Bess. And Ham.”
“Why Ham?” Tess wanted to know.
“He raised me,” Willa said shortly. “The weather’s going to keep the two of you close to the house for the next little while anyway.”
“What about you?” Lily asked.
“I’ll worry about me.” Willa submerged, holding her breath under the water, then came up feeling nearly human again. “I haven’t had the benefit of Hollywood’s self-defense courses, but I know the men, I know the land. If either one of you is nervous, you can saddle up and go to work with me. Now, unless one of you wants to scrub my back, I’d like some privacy.”
Tess rose, and as an afterthought reached down for the tray. “Being cocky isn’t much protection against a knife.”
“A Winchester is.” And satisfied with that, Willa reached for the soap.
S HE SLEPT POORLY. EXHAUSTION. AS POWERFUL AS IT WAS. couldn’t beat back the nightmares. Willa tossed and turned, fighting for sleep as images of blood and gore raced through her head.
When that thin winter light crept through the wall of steadily falling snow, she shivered and wished there was something, someone, to hold on to. For just a little while.
S OMEONE ELSE WOKE IN THAT SAME STINGY LIGHT WITH those same images running like a river through his head.
But they made him smile.
TWELVE
F ROM TESS’S JOURNAL:
I’m beginning to like snow. Or I’m going slowly insane. Each morning when I look out my bedroom window, there it is, white and shiny. Miles of it. I can’t say I care for the cold. Or the fucking wind. But the snow, particularly when I’m inside looking out, has a certain appeal. Or maybe I’m beginning to feel safe again.
It’s a week before Christmas, and nothing has happened to interrupt the routine. No murdered men, no slaughtered wildlife. Just the eerie quiet of snow-smothered days. Maybe the cops were right after all, and whoever killed that poor bald guy was a psychotic hiker. We can only hope.
Lily is big into the holiday spirit. Funny, sweet woman. She’s like a child about it, hustling bags into her bedroom, wrapping presents, baking cookies with Bess. Great cookies, which means I’ve been adding an extra fifteen minutes to my morning workouts.
We took a trip into Billings, for what it’s worth, to do some Christmas shopping. Lily was easy enough. I found a pretty brooch of a rearing horse, very delicate and feminine. Figured I had to come up with something for sour-face Bess, and settled on a cookbook. Lily approved it, so I suppose I’m safe. The cowgirl’s another matter. I still haven’t pinned her down.
Is this woman fearless or stupid?
She goes out every day, more often than not alone. She works her ass off, swaggers down to the old bunkhouse every evening to talk to her men. When she’s in the house, she’s often buried up to her eyeballs with ledgers and cow reports.
I’m afraid I’m starting to admire her, and I’m not sure I like it. I got her a cashmere sweater, I don’t know why. She never wears anything but flannel. But it’s screaming siren red, very soft and female. She’ll probably end up tossing it on over her long underwear and castrating cows in it. Hell with it.
For Adam, because he appeals to me on a surprisingly fraternal level, I found a love
ly little watercolor of the mountains. It reminded me of him.
After much debate with myself, I decided to spring for a token gift for both Ben and Nate, since they spend so much time around here. I picked up a video of Red River for Ben, kind of a gag that I hope will be taken in the proper spirit.
And after some subtle probing, I learned that Nate has a weakness for poetry. He’s getting a volume of Keats. We’ll see.
Between the shopping, the smells from the kitchen, and the decorating, I’m getting in the holiday mood myself. Just shipped off a ton of presents for Mom. With her, it’s not the quality but the quantity, and I know she’ll be happily ripping off shiny paper for hours.
The damnedest thing, I miss her.
Despite all the Santa Clausing, I’m antsy. Too many hours indoors, I think. I’m using this extra time—winter is chock-full of time around here since it’s dark before five in the evening—to play with an idea for a book. Just for fun, just to pass the time during these incredibly long nights.
And speaking of long nights . . . Since all seems quiet again, I’m taking one of the jeeps—I mean rigs—and driving over to Nate’s to deliver my gift. Ham gave me directions to Nate’s—what would I call it—spread, I suppose. I’ve been waiting weeks for an invitation to his house, and for him to make a move. I guess it’s up to me to start the ball rolling.
I can’t decide how subtle I should be about getting him into bed, and so will play it by ear. At the rate he’s going, it could be spring before I get laid.
The hell with that, too.
“G OING SOMEWHERE?” WILLA DEMANDED AS TESS GLIDED downstairs.
“As a matter of fact.” She tilted her head, took in Willa’s usual uniform of flannel and denim. “You?”
“I just got in. Some of us don’t have time to primp in front of a mirror for an hour.” Willa’s brow furrowed. “You’re wearing a dress.”
“Am I?” Feigning surprise, Tess looked down at the simple, form-fitting blue wool that skimmed above her knees. “Well, how did that happen?” With a snicker, she came down the rest of the way and walked to the closet for her coat. “I have a Christmas present to deliver. You remember Christmas, don’t you? Even with your busy schedule you must have heard of it.”