by Nora Roberts
“You look like you need to sit down.” Tess came up one step, then two. “Let’s go in.”
“They found out who she was.” Willa still didn’t move, but her gaze shifted until it rested on the space at the bottom of the steps. “Her name was Traci Mannerly. She was sixteen. She lived in Dodge City with her parents and her two younger brothers. She’d run away from home, this was the second time, about six weeks ago.”
Tess shut her eyes. She hadn’t wanted a name, she hadn’t wanted details. It was easier to get through the day without them. “Let’s go in.”
“They told me she’d been dead at least twelve hours before we found her here. She’d been tied up, at the wrists and the ankles. There were rope burns and abrasions where she’d tried to get free.”
“That’s enough.”
“And she’d been raped. They said repeatedly, and sodomized. And she was . . . she was two months pregnant. She was pregnant and she was sixteen and she was from Kansas.”
“That’s enough,” Tess said again. There were tears spilling out of her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Willa.
They swayed there, on the step, weeping and holding tight and hardly aware of it. A hawk screamed overhead. The clouds bundled up to block the sun and threaten snow. They stood together, clutched by the fear and grief only women fully understand.
“What are we going to do?” Tess shuddered out a breath. “Oh, God, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore.” Willa didn’t pull away. Even as she realized they were holding tight to each other in the rising wind, she stayed where she was. “I can run this place. Even with all this I can do it. But I don’t know if I can stand thinking about that girl.”
“It doesn’t do any good to think about it. We can think about why, why he brought her here. We can think about that. But not about her. And we can think about us.” She eased back, scrubbed the tears from her face. “We’d better start thinking about us. I think Lily and I need lessons in how to handle a gun.”
Willa stared at her a moment, began to see more than the glossy Hollywood façade. “I’ll teach you.” She took a steadying breath, slipped her hat back into place. “We’ll get started now,”
“I T’S A WORRISOME THING.” HAM COMMENTED OVER HIS midday bowl of chili.
Jim helped himself to a second bowl and winked at Billy. “What’s that, Ham?”
The answer waited, and the sound of gunfire echoed. “A woman with a gun,” Ham said in his slow, dry voice. “More worrisome is three women with three guns.”
“Tell you the truth”—Jim dumped a biscuit into his bowl and took a hefty bite—“that Tess looks mighty sexy with a rifle on her shoulder.”
Ham eyed him pityingly. “Boy, you ain’t got enough work to occupy you.”
“No amount of work ought to keep a man from looking at a pretty woman. Right, Billy?”
“Right.”
Though, for himself, Billy hadn’t given women much thought since the night of the New Year’s party. Bouncing on Mary Anne in the rig had been just fine and dandy. But the awful experience of finding the body with her had put a pall over the entire event.
“Scary, though,” he said with his mouth full. “They’ve been at it better than a week, and I ain’t seen Tess hit a target yet. Makes a man leery of going out of doors while the shooting’s going on.”
“Tell you what I think.” Jim thumped a burp out of his chest and rose. “I think what they need is a man to show them how it’s done. I got a few minutes.”
“Nobody needs to show Will what to do with a gun.” Quick pride peppered Ham’s voice. After all, he’d been the one to teach her how to shoot. “She can outshoot you or anybody else in Montana with one eye closed. Why don’t you leave those women alone?”
“I ain’t going to touch.” Jim shrugged into his coat. “Unless I get the chance.”
He stepped outside, and spotted Jesse climbing out of a rig. “Hey, J C.” Grinning, he threw up a hand. “Haven’t seen you for a couple weeks.”
“Been busy.” He knew he was taking a chance, a big one, coming over to Mercy in the daylight hours. He visited there as often as he could at night, in the shadows. Often enough to know that his whore-bitch of a wife was spreading her legs for Wolfchild.
But that could wait.
“I was down at Ennis picking up some parts. You had an order come in.” He tossed a package at Jim, then skimmed a finger over his moustache. He was beginning to like the feel of it. “Brought it by for you.”
“Appreciate it.” Jim set the package on the rail. “ ’Bout time for poker, I’d say.”
“I’m up for it. Why don’t you and your boys come around to Three Rocks tonight?” He grinned charmingly. “I’ll send you back lighter in the pocket.”
“Might just do that.” He glanced over at the sound of gunshots, chuckled. “We got us three females at target practice. I was about to give them some pointers.”
“Women ought to stay away from guns.” Jesse took out a pack of cigarettes, shook one out, offered it.
“They’re spooked. You’d have heard about the trouble here.”
“Sure.” Jesse blew out smoke, wondered if he could risk a glimpse of Lily in the daytime. “Bad business. Kid, wasn’t it? From Nebraska?”
“Kansas, I hear. Runaway. Got the shit killed out of her.”
“Young girls ought to stay home where they belong.” Eyes narrowing, Jesse studied the flame of his cigarette. “Learn how to be wives. Women want to be men these days, you ask me.” This time his grin was just a little mean. “ ’Course, maybe that don’t bother you, seeing as you got a woman for a boss.”
Jim’s back went up, but he nodded easily enough. “Can’t say I care for it much, generally. But Will knows what’s what.”
“Maybe. The way I hear it, by next fall you’ll have three women bosses.”
“We’ll see.” His pleasant anticipation of showing off in front of the women faded. He picked up the package. “Appreciate you dropping this off.”
“No problem.” Jesse turned back to the rig. “You come on by tonight, and bring money. I’m feeling lucky.”
“Yeah.” Soured, Jim adjusted his hat, watched the rig drive off. “Asshole,” he muttered, and went back in the bunkhouse.
O N THE MAKESHIFT TARGET RANGE, WELL BEHIND THE pole barn, Lily shuddered.
“Getting cold?” Tess asked.
“No. Just a chill.” But she caught herself looking over her shoulder, peering against the sun at the glint of it on the chrome of a departing rig. “Someone walked over my grave,” she murmured.
“Well, that’s cheery.” Resuming her stance, Tess drew a bead on the tin can with the little Smith & Wesson Ladysmith—what Willa called a pocket pistol—and fired. Missed by a mile. “Shit.”
“You can always beat him over the head with it.” Will stepped behind her again, steadied Tess’s arm. “Concentrate.”
“I was concentrating. It’s just a little bullet. If I had a bigger gun, like yours—”
“You’d fall on your ass every time you fired it. You’ll use a girl gun until you know what you’re doing. Come on, even Lily hits the mark five times out of ten.”
“I just haven’t found my groove.” She fired again, scowled. “That was closer. I know that was closer.”
“Yeah, at this rate, you’ll be able to hit the side of a barn in a year.” Willa drew the single-action Army Colt out of the holster riding low on her hip. The .45 was a lot of gun—weighty and mean—but she preferred it. Showing off only a little, she picked off six cans with six shots.
“Annie Fucking Oakley.” Tess sniffed and hated the surge of admiration and envy she felt. “How the hell do you do that?”
“Concentration, a steady hand, and a clear eye.” Smiling, she slid the gun back into its sheath. “Maybe you need something more. Hate anybody?”
“Besides you?”
Willa merely raised an eyebrow. “Who was the first guy
to dump you and break your heart?”
“No one dumps me, champ.” Then her lips pouted. “There was Joey Columbo in sixth grade. Little son of a bitch led me on, then two-timed me with my best friend.”
“Put his face over that can standing on the fence rail there and plug one between his eyes.”
Teeth set, Tess shifted, aimed. Her finger trembled on the trigger. Then she lowered the gun with a laugh. “Christ, I can’t shoot a ten-year-old.”
“He’s all grown up now, living in Bel Air, and still laughing about the chubby dork he dumped in junior high.”
“Bastard.” Now her teeth bared as she took her shot. “I nipped it.” She shouted it, dancing a bit, and Willa cautiously removed the gun from her hand before Tess could shoot herself in the foot. “It moved.”
“Probably the wind.”
“Hell it was. I killed Joey Columbo.”
“Just a flesh wound.”
“He’s lying on the ground, watching his life pass in front of his eyes.”
“You’re starting to enjoy this too much,” Lily decided.
“I just pretend I’m in one of those arcades at the carnival and I’m trying to win the big stuffed teddy bear.” Her cheeks flushed when her sisters both turned and stared at her. “Well, it works for me.”
“What color?” Willa asked after a moment. “What color teddy bear?” she elaborated.
“Pink.” Lily slanted her eyes left at Tess’s chortle of laughter. “I like pink teddy bears. And I’ve won a good dozen of them while you’ve been shooting thin air.”
“Oh, now she’s getting nasty. I think we should have a contest. Not you, killer,” Tess said, nudging Willa aside. “Just me and the teddy bear lover.” She leaned closer to Lily. “Let’s see if you can handle the pressure, sister.”
“Then I suggest you reload.” Willa bent down for the ammo. “You’re both going to be shooting empty.”
“What’s the winner get?” Carefully reloading, Tess hunkered down. “Besides satisfaction. We need a prize. I do best with clear, set goals.”
“Loser does the laundry for a week,” Willa decided. “Bess could use a break.”
“Oh.” Lily rose. “I’d be happy to—”
“Shut up, Lily.” With a shake of her head, Willa looked at Tess. “Agreed?”
“Everyone’s laundry. Including delicates?”
“Including your fancy French panties.”
“By hand. No silks in the washing machine.” Satisfied with the deal, Tess stepped back. “You go first,” she told Lily.
“Twelve shots each, in two rounds of six. When you’re ready, Lily.”
“Okay.” She took a breath, replayed everything Willa had taught her about stance, breathing. It had taken her days to stop slamming her eyes shut as she squeezed the trigger, and she was proud of her progress. She fired slowly, steadily, and watched four cans fly.
“Four out of six. Not too shabby. Guns down, ladies,” Willa ordered as she walked over to reset the targets.
“I can do that.” Tess straightened her shoulders. “I can hit all of them. They’re all that freckle-faced bastard Joey Columbo. I bet he’s on his second divorce by now. Two-timing Kool-Aid swiller.”
She shocked everyone, including herself, by knocking three cans from their perch. “I hit that other one. I heard it ping.”
“It did,” Lily agreed, generously. “We’re tied.”
“Reload.” Enjoying herself, Willa strolled over to reset. When she turned and spotted Nate heading their way, she lifted an arm in salute.
“Hold your fire.” He stopped short and threw his hands up when Lily and Tess turned. “I’m unarmed.”
“Want to put an apple on your head?” Fluttering her lashes, Tess stepped closer and met him with a kiss.
“Not even for you, Dead Eye.”
“We’re in the middle of a shoot-off,” Willa informed him. “Lily, you’re up. I see a giant pink teddy bear in your future.” She laughed and set her hands on her hips. “You had to be here,” she told Nate, then whooped when Lily hit five out of six. “Sign her up for the Wild West Show. Beat that, Hollywood.”
“I can do it.”
But her palms were sweaty. She caught a whiff of horses and cologne that was Nate and rolled her tensed shoulders. She took aim, squeezed the trigger, and missed all six shots.
“I was distracted,” she claimed as Willa cheered and pulled Lily’s hand up over her head. “You distracted me,” she told Nate.
“Honey, you’re a wonder. Not everybody can hit thin air six times out of six.” Nate cautiously took the gun, unloaded or not, out of her hand and gave her a hard kiss in consolation.
Willa smirked. “Don’t forget to separate the whites, laundry girl. And pick up your spent shells.”
Lily moved close as she and Tess gathered up shells. “I’ll help you,” she whispered.
“The hell you will. A bet’s a bet.” Tess cocked her head. “But next time, we arm-wrestle.”
“I’m heading into Ennis for some supplies.” Nate rocked back on his heels and tried, too obviously, not to stare at the denim straining over Tess’s butt as she picked up spent shells from the ground. “Thought I’d stop by and see if you needed anything.”
Like hell, Willa thought, noting just where his eyes kept wandering. “Thanks, but Bess went in a couple days ago and stocked up.”
Tess straightened. “Want some company on the ride?”
“That’d be good.”
Her eyes stayed on his as she dumped her handful of shells into Willa’s open palm. “I’ll just get my purse.” She tucked her arm through Nate’s and shot a sly look over her shoulder. “Tell Bess I won’t be back for dinner.”
“Just be back for wash day,” Willa shouted after her. “She’s got a clamp on his balls all right.”
“I think they’re nice together,” Lily said. “Handsome and easy. His smile just breaks out whenever he sees her.”
“That’s because he knows his pants are going to end up around his ankles.” She laughed at Lily’s disapproving look. “Good for them. I just don’t get the sex thing, that’s all.”
“Are you afraid of it?”
The question was so unexpected, considering the source, Willa could only gape. “Huh?”
“I was. Before Jesse, with him. After.” Automatically Lily walked over to stack the target cans. “I think it’s natural, before, you know. When you just can’t know how things will be, whether you’ll do something wrong or make a fool of yourself.”
“It’s pretty basic stuff. What could you do wrong?”
“A lot of things. I did a lot of things wrong. Or thought I did. But I wasn’t afraid with Adam. Not when I realized he cared for me. I wasn’t afraid at all with Adam.”
“Who could be?”
A smile played around Lily’s mouth, then she sobered. “You haven’t said anything about . . . I know that you know that I’m—with him.” She let out a breath, watched it fog in the chilly air, then disappear. “That I’m sleeping with him.”
“Really?” Willa tucked her tongue in her cheek. “I thought he waited for you at the side door every night, then walked you back at dawn because you were holding a secret canasta tournament. You mean you’re having sex? I’m shocked.”
The smile came back. “Adam said we wouldn’t fool anyone.”
“Why would you want to?”
“He . . . he asked me to move into his house, but I didn’t know how you’d feel about it. He’s your brother.”
“You make him happy.”
“I want to.” She hesitated, then slipped a chain from under her shirt, keeping her fingers closed around something that dangled from it. “He wants . . . He gave me this.”
Stepping closer, Willa looked at what rested in Lily’s open palm. It was a simple ring, Black Hills gold etched with a diamond pattern. “It was my mother’s,” Willa whispered as her throat closed. “Adam’s father gave it to her when they were married.” She lifted her eyes
to Lily.
“Adam asked you to marry him.”
“Yes.” He’d done so beautifully, Lily remembered, with simple words and quiet promises. “I couldn’t give him an answer yet. It didn’t feel right. I made such a mess of things before—” She broke off, cursed herself. “I was in such a mess before,” she corrected. “And I’ve only been here a few months. I felt I had to speak with you first.”
“It has nothing to do with me. It doesn’t,” Willa insisted when Lily began to protest. “This is between you and Adam, completely. I only have the benefit of being tremendously happy. Take it off the chain, Lily, put it on, and go find him. No, don’t cry.” She leaned forward and kissed Lily’s cheek. “He’ll think something’s wrong.”
“I love him.” Lily slipped the chain over her head, slid the ring off. “With everything I have, I love him. It fits,” she managed as she put the ring on her finger. “He said it would.”
“It fits,” Willa agreed, “beautifully. Go on and tell him. I’ll finish up here.”
• • •
A S THEY BUMPED ALONG THE ACCESS ROAD. TESS stretched luxuriously.
“You’re looking awfully smug for someone who just lost a shoot-out.”
“I’m feeling smug. I don’t know why.” Lowering her arms, she scanned the scenery, the snow-covered mountains, the long lay of the land. “Life’s a mess. There’s a mad killer still at large and I haven’t had a manicure in two months. I’m actually thrilled with the prospect of going into some little bumfuck town and window-shopping. God help me.”
“You like your sisters.” Nate shrugged at her arch look.
“You’ve gone ahead and bonded despite yourselves. I watched the three of you out there, and I’m telling you, Tess, I saw a unit.”
“A common goal, that’s all. We’re protecting ourselves, and our inheritance.”
“Bull.”
She scowled, folded her arms. “You’re going to wreck my fine mood, Nate.”
“I saw the Mercy women. Teamwork, affection.”
“The Mercy women.” She laughed carelessly, then pursed her lips. It has a ring, doesn’t it? she mused. “Maybe I don’t think Will’s quite as big a pain in the butt as I did. But that’s because she’s adjusting.”