Montana Sky

the details. Then, coming up in the rear, for men, who, if a woman’s lucky, see the big picture.”
    Amused at all of them, Tess wiggled her brows, lowered her voice an octave. “Ugh. Looks good. Smells good. Me wanna mate.”
    She was rewarded for this insight by a snorting chuckle from Willa. “You don’t think much of men, do you, Hollywood?”
    “ Au contraire, dimwit, I think a great deal about men and find them, on the whole, an interesting diversion from the day-to-day routine of life. Take Nate.”
    “You appear to have already done that.”
    “Yes.” Tess’s smile turned smug and feline. “Nathan Torrence, an enigma at first. The slow-talking Montana rancher with the law degree from Yale who likes Keats, Drum tobacco, and the Marx brothers. A combination like that, well, it presents both a challenge and an opportunity.”
    She lifted her completed foot and preened. “I like challenges, and I never miss an opportunity. But I’m getting my toenails painted because it makes me feel good. If he gets a charge out of it, that’s just a bonus.”
    “It makes me feel exotic,” Lily put in, “like—what was the name of that woman in the sarong? The one in the old black-and-white movies?”
    “Dorothy Lamour,” Tess told her. “Now take Adam, a different type of man altogether.”
    “He is?” Since they’d moved to her favorite topic, Lily perked up. “How?”
    “Don’t encourage her, Lily. She’s playing at expert here.”
    “I don’t have to play at it, when it comes to men, champ. Adam,” Tess continued, wagging a finger. “Serious, solid, and yet vaguely mysterious. Probably the most gorgeousman I’ve ever seen in my short, if illustrious, career of male tracking, with this—the only word I can think of is ‘goodness’—sort of beaming out of those yum-yum eyes.”
    “His eyes,” Lily said with a sigh that made Willa roll her own.
    “But—” Tess made her point with a shake of her finger. “It doesn’t make him boring, as goodness sometimes can, because there’s this simmering, controlled passion in there too. And as far as you’re concerned, Lily, you could shave your head and paint your face Calypso Coral, and he’d still adore you.”
    “He loves me,” Lily said with a foolish grin.
    “Yes, he does. He thinks you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and if you woke up some morning and some wicked witch had put a spell on you and turned you into a hag, he’d still think you were the most beautiful woman in the world. He sees past the physical, appreciates it but sees past it to everything you are inside. That’s why I think you’re the luckiest woman in the world.”
    “Maybe that wasn’t such a bad take,” Willa commented, “for a Hollywood writer.”
    “Oh, I’m not done. We have to complete our triad.” Delighted with herself, Tess leaned back. “Ben McKinnon.”
    “Don’t start,” Willa commanded.
    “Obviously you’re hot for him. We’ll just sit here a minute and dry,” she told the technicians, then reached for her glass of sparkling mineral water. “A woman would have to be dead two weeks not to have a pulse spike around Ben McKinnon.”
    “How much has your pulse been spiking?”
    Pleased with the reaction, Tess moved a lazy shoulder. “I’m otherwise involved. If I wasn’t . . . In any case, I haven’t been dead for two weeks.”
    “Could be arranged.”
    “No, don’t get up and stalk around yet, you’ll smear.” Tess put a restraining hand on Willa’s arm. “Back to Ben—his sexuality is right out there, striding along a foot in front of him. Raw, hot, unapologetic sex in a tough male package. You watch him ride a horse and you just know he’d ride awoman with the same power. He’s also intelligent, loyal, honest, and looks fabulous in Levi’s. As a student of such matters, I’d have to say Ben McKinnon has the best buns in denim east or west of the Pecos. Not a bad distraction,” she finished, taking a slow sip of water, “from the day-to-day routine.”
    “I don’t know why you’re looking at his butt when you’ve already got a guy,” Willa muttered.
    “Because it’s a fine butt, and I have excellent eyesight.” Tess skimmed her tongue over her teeth. “Of course, a woman would have to be brave enough, strong enough, and smart enough to match him in power and style.”
    There, Tess thought, as Willa sulked beside her, challenge issued, Ben. That’s the best help I can give you.
     
    I T WASN