Montana Sky

tempting peek at the private hot tub built cleverly into the rocks.
    There was a fire already set and burning in a stone hearth, flowers, fresh and dewy, exploding out of pottery vases, a deep, curving seating area in buff, accented by jewel-toned pillows in front of an entertainment center complete with big-screen TV, VCR, and stereo.
    A charming dining room set in dark wood was arranged conveniently near a sleek little kitchenette.
    “Oh, my,” she said, but under her breath this time, as the bellman led the way into a bedroom with its own glass doors leading to a stone terrace. Two double beds were made up neatly with thick pillows and quilts, and the bath beyond—she only managed a quick look—had a mile ofivory counter, an oversized jet tub, and a separate glassed-in shower. And surely that was a bidet.
    A bidet. Imagine it.
    She could barely think as Tess instructed the bellman. “These bags in here, thank you. You can take hers . . .” Tess sent Willa a steely look. “In the other bedroom. You don’t mind sharing the room with me, do you, Lily?”
    “What? No, no, of course not, I—”
    “Good. Go ahead and get settled. Our first treatment’s in an hour.”
    “Treatment? But what—”
    “Don’t worry,” Tess said, as she sailed out after the bellman. “I took care of it. You’ll love it.”
    All Lily could do was sink down on the side of the bed and wonder if she’d wandered into someone else’s dream.
     
    “W HAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE . HONEY ?”
    The technician, therapist, consultant, whatever the hell she was called, made a long, sympathetic study of Willa’s shiner. Willa didn’t shrug. It was tough shrugging when you were buck naked on a padded table in a small, dim room.
    “Wasn’t watching where I was going.”
    “Ummm. Well, we’ll see what one of our skin consultants can do about it. Just relax,” she ordered, and began to wrap Willa in something warm and damp. “Is this your first visit to Mountain King Spa?”
    “Yeah.” And her last, she promised herself.
    The claustrophobia came quickly, unexpectedly, as the wrappings snugged her arms close to her body. She felt her heart pound, her breathing shorten, and she began to struggle.
    “No, no, just relax, take slow, quiet breaths.” A warm, heavy blanket went over the wrappings. “A lot of clients have that initial reaction to an herbal wrap. It’ll pass if you just clear your mind, let yourself go. Now, these cotton balls are soaked in our Eye-Lax solution. It’ll probably help a bit with that swelling as well as the puffiness. You haven’t been sleeping enough.”
    Swell. Now she was blind as well as trapped. Willawondered if she would be the first client to tear herself free of herb-soaked restraints and run naked and screaming out of the Ladies’ Treatment Center.
    Since she didn’t want the distinction, she fought to relax, let herself go. It was no more than she deserved, she supposed, for keeping her mouth so stubbornly shut on the drive down.
    Music was playing, she realized. Or it wasn’t music really, but the sounds of water falling into water and birds chirping. She took one of those slow, quiet breaths and reminded herself she only had just over forty-eight more hours to suffer.
    In less than five minutes, she was sound asleep.
    She awoke groggily twenty minutes later with the consultant murmuring to her.
    “Huh? What? Where?”
    “We’re getting all those toxins out of your system.” Efficiently the consultant removed the layers of herbal wrap. “I want you to be sure to drink plenty of water. Nothing but water for the next few hours. You have a gommage in ten minutes. So relax. I’ll help you with your robe and slippers.”
    Still half asleep, Willa let herself be bundled into her robe and slid her feet into the plastic slippers the spa provided. “What’s a gommage?”
    “You’ll love it,” the consultant promised.
    So she was naked again, on yet another table with yet another woman in a pale pink lab coat fiddling with her. At the first rough swipe with a damp loofah over bare skin slicked with a fine sandy cream, Willa yelped.
    “Was I too rough? I’m terribly sorry.”
    “No, it just caught me by surprise.”
    “Your skin’s going to be like silk.”
    Willa shut her eyes, mortified, as the woman rubbed her bare butt. “What the hell is that stuff you’re putting on me?”
    “Oh, it’s our special exfoliator. Skin-Nu. All our products are herbal-based and available in our