Montana Sky

going. Ask Adam to saddle Moon for me, and I’ll pack my gear.”
     
    I T WAS GOOD TO RIDE . WILLA THOUGHT . GOOD TO BE IN the saddle, out in the air that crisped with the climb. Moonloped easily through the snow, apparently pleased to be out herself. Her breath plumed ahead and her harness jingled.
    The sun shone bright, dazzling light off the untrod snow, adding glitter to the draped trees. Here in high country, spring would come late and last hardly more than a precious moment.
    A falcon called, a scream in the silence, and she saw signs of deer, of other game, of predators that hunted the hills. Perhaps she had enjoyed her weekend of pampering, but this was her world. The higher she climbed, the more thrilled she was to be back.
    “You look pleased with yourself.” Ben flanked her left and, keeping an easy hand on the reins, studied her face. “What did they do to you up there at that fancy spa?”
    “All sorts of things. Wonderful things.” She tilted her head, sent him a sly smile. “They waxed me. All over.”
    “No kidding?” He felt a pleasant little thrumming in his loins. “ All over?”
    “Yep. I’ve been scraped down, oiled up, waxed and polished. It was pretty good. You ever had coconut oil rubbed over your entire body, Ben?”
    The thrumming increased considerably. “You offering, Willa?”
    “I’m telling you. At the end of the day this guy would rub—”
    “Guy?” He shot straight arrow in the saddle. The sharp tone of his voice had Charlie scampering back from his scouting mission and whining. “What guy?”
    “The massage guy.”
    “You let a guy rub your—”
    “Sure.” Satisfied with his reaction, she turned to Adam. The gleam in his eye assured her that her brother knew just what game she was playing. “Lily had something called aromatherapy. It seemed to me to be a lot like our mother’s people have been doing for centuries. Using herbs and scents to relax the mind, and the body. Now they’ve slapped on a fancy name and charge you an arm and a leg for it.”
    “White men,” Adam said with a grin. “Always seeking profit from nature.”
    “That was my thought. In fact, I asked Lily’s massage therapist why she figured—”
    “She?” Ben interrupted. “Lily had a woman massage lady?”
    “That’s right. So I asked her why it was she figured her people had come up with all these treatments when the Indians had been using mud and herbs and oils before there were whites within a thousand miles of the Rockies.”
    “How come Lily had a woman and you didn’t?”
    Willa glanced over at Ben. “Lily’s shy. Anyway, some of the treatments seemed very basic. And the oils and creams not unlike what our grandmother would have brewed up in her own lodge.”
    “They put it in fancy bottles and make it theirs,” Adam added.
    Ben knew when his chain was being pulled, and now he shifted in the saddle. “They use bear grease on you, too?”
    Willa bit off a smile. “Actually I suggested they look into it. You should tell Shelly to take a weekend there when the baby’s weaned. Tell her to ask for Derrick. He was amazing.”
    Adam coughed into his hand, then clucked to his horse and took the lead, with Charlie trotting happily in his wake.
    “So you let this guy, this Derrick guy, see you naked?”
    “He’s a professional.” She flicked back her curling hair, no longer embarrassed a bit. “I’m thinking of getting regular massages. They’re very . . . relaxing.”
    “I bet.” Reaching over, Ben put a hand on her arm, slowing both their mounts. “I’ve just got one question.”
    “What is it?”
    “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
    “Maybe.”
    He nodded. “Because you figure it’s safe since we’re out here and Adam’s just up ahead.”
    The smile got away from her. “Maybe.”
    “Think again.” He moved fast, leaning into her, dragging her into him and fixing his mouth hard on hers. When he let her jerk back, control her frisking mount, he was smiling.“I’m going to buy me some coconut oil, and we’ll see how you look in it.”
    Her heart stuttered, settled. “Maybe,” she said again. She started to kick Moon into a trot.
    The shot crashed and echoed, a high-pitched, shocking sound. Too close, was all Willa had time to think before Adam’s horse reared, nearly unseating him.
    “Idiots,” she said between her teeth. “Goddamn citified idiots must be—”
    “Take cover.” Ben all but shoved her out of the saddle, swinging his