Montana Sky

we’re mounted. Otherwise, I do her here, and you watch her die. Those are your choices.”
    Ben skimmed his gaze from Jim’s face to Willa’s. Lightning shot overhead like lances, illuminated the three of them standing on silvered rock.
    He held the look until he saw her nod slowly in acknowledgment. And he hoped, in understanding.
    “Are they?” He pulled the trigger. The bullet hit just where he’d aimed it, dead between the eyes. God bless her, he thought, as his hand finally shook. She didn’t flinch. Even when the knife clattered to the ground, she didn’t flinch.
    She felt herself sway and rock now that no one was holding her up. She saw the sky reel just as rain started to fall. And she saw Ben rushing toward her.
    “Good shot,” she managed, and to her mortification and relief, she fainted.
    She came to in his arms, with her face wet and his mouth rushing over it. “Just lost my balance.”
    “Yeah.” He was kneeling in the dirt, rocking her like a baby as rain flooded down on them. “I know.”
    Her ears were ringing like church bells. Though she knew it was cowardly, she turned her face into his shoulder rather than turn it toward the body that must be sprawled beside them. “He said he was my brother. He did it because of Mercy, because of my father, because of—”
    “I heard him clear enough.” He pressed his lips to her hair, then took off his hat and put it on her in a fruitless attempt to keep her dry. “Damn idiot woman, you werebegging him to kill you. I lost three lives listening to you goading him while I was climbing up.”
    “I didn’t know what else to do.” Fear she’d battled back opened wide and devoured her. “Ham?”
    “I don’t know.” She was shaking now, and he gathered her closer. “I don’t know, darling. He was alive when I rode out.”
    “Okay.” Then there was hope. “My hands. Oh, Jesus, Ben, my hands.”
    He began to curse then, hard and fast, as he pulled out his knife and cut the rope away from the raw flesh. “Oh, baby.” It broke his heart and left him shattered. “Willa.”
    He was still rocking her, kneeling in the pouring rain, when Adam found them.

THIRTY-ONE
    “Y OU ’ RE GOING TO EAT WHEN I TELL YOU TO EAT , AND eat what I tell you to eat.” Bess stood over the bed and scowled.
    “Can’t you leave me be for five damn minutes?” Huddled in the bed, as miserable as a scalded cat, Ham shoved at the tray she set over his lap.
    “I do, and you’re climbing out of bed. Next time you do, I’m stripping you naked so you can’t get past the door.”
    “I spent six weeks flat on my back in the hospital. And I’ve been out of that cursed hospital for over a week. I’m alive, for Christ’s sake.”
    “Don’t you use the Lord’s name to me, Hamilton. The doctor said two full weeks of bed rest, with one hour, twice a day, of walking.” Her chin jutted, her head angled, and she looked down her pug nose at him. “Need I remind you you had a knife stuck in your thick hide and you bled all over my clean kitchen floor?”
    “You remind me every time you walk in here.”
    “Well, then.” She looked over in approval as Willa stepped in. “Good. You can try dealing with him. I’ve got work to do.”
    “Giving her grief again, Ham?”
    He glowered as Bess flounced out of the room. “The woman doesn’t stop fussing over me, I’m tying these sheets together and climbing out the window.”
    “She needs to fuss just a little while longer. We all do.” She sat on the edge of the bed, gave him a thorough study. He had good color again, and some of the weight he’d lost in the hospital was coming back on. “You look pretty good, though.”
    “I feel fine. No reason I couldn’t be up in the saddle.” His hands fumbled when she laid her head on his chest and cuddled. Awkward, he patted her hair. “Come on now, Will, I ain’t no teddy bear.”
    “Grizzly bear’s more like it.” She grinned and kissed his whiskered cheek despite his embarrassed wriggles.
    “Women, always after a man when he’s down.”
    “It’s the only time you’re going to let me pet you.” She sat back, took his hand. “Has Tess been in?”
    “She was in a while back. Came to say good-bye.” She’d been blubbering over him too, he remembered. Hugging and kissing. He’d nearly blubbered himself. “We’re going to miss seeing her strut around here in those fancy boots.”
    “I’m going to miss her too. Nate’s already here to take her to the