Montana Sky

last spring. They spoil those cats like babies.”
    “Adam piss anybody off lately?”
    She didn’t look down at him. “They didn’t do it to Adam. They did it to me.”
    “Okay.” Because he saw it the same way, he nodded. And he worried. “You piss anybody off lately?”
    “Besides you?”
    He smiled a little, climbed up a step until they were eye to eye. “You’ve been pissing me off all your life. Hardly counts. I mean it, Willa.” He closed a hand over hers, linked fingers. “Is there anybody you can think of who’d want to hurt you?”
    Baffled by the link, she stared down at their joined hands. “No. Pickles and Wood, they might have their noses a little out of joint now that I’m in charge. Pickles especially. It’s the female thing. But they haven’t got anything against me personally.”
    “Pickles was up in high country,” Ben pointed out. “Would he do something like this to get at you? Scare the female?”
    She sneered out her pride. “Do I look scared?”
    “I’d feel better if you did.” But he shrugged. “Would he do it?”
    “A couple of hours ago I’d have said no. Now I can’t be sure.” That was the worst of it, she realized. Not being sure who to trust, or how much to trust them. “I wouldn’t think so. He’s got a temper and he likes to bitch and stew, but I can’t see him killing things for no reason.”
    “I’d say there’s a reason here. That’s what we have to figure out.”
    She angled her chin. “Do we?”
    “Your land marches with mine, Will. And for the next year you’re part of my responsibilities.” He only tightened his grip when she tugged at her hand. “That’s a fact, and Iimagine we’ll both get used to it. I aim to keep my eye on you, and yours.”
    “You keep it too close, Ben, it’s liable to get blackened.”
    “I’ll take that chance.” But just in case, he took her other hand, held them both at her sides. “I have a feeling I’m going to find the next year interesting. All around interesting. I haven’t wrestled with you in . . . must be twenty years. You filled out nice.”
    Knowing she was outweighed and outmuscled, she stood still. “You’ve got a real way with words, Ben. Like poetry. You should feel my heart thudding.”
    “Honey, I’d love to, but you’d just try to deck me.”
    She smiled and felt better for it. “No, Ben. I would deck you. Now go away. I’m tired and I want my supper.”
    “I’m going.” But not quite yet, he thought. He slid his hands up to her wrists and was intrigued to find her pulse hammering there. You wouldn’t have known it from her eyes, so cool and dark. You wouldn’t know a lot, he decided from just a quick look at Willa Mercy. “Aren’t you going to kiss me good night?”
    “I’d just spoil you for all those other women you like to play with.”
    “I’d take my chances on that, too.” But he backed off. It wasn’t the time, or the place. Still, he had a feeling he’d be looking for both very soon. “I’ll be back.”
    “Yeah.” She dipped her hands into her pockets as he climbed into his rig. Her pulse was still drumming. “I know.”
    She waited until his taillights disappeared down the long dirt road. Then she glanced over her shoulder at the house, at the lights. She wanted that hot bath, that hot meal, and a long night’s sleep. But all of that would have to wait. Mercy Ranch was hers, and she had to talk to her men.
    As operator, she tried to stay away from the bunkhouse. She believed the men were entitled to their privacy, and this wood-framed building with its rocking chairs on the porch was their home. Here they slept and ate, read their books if reading was what pleased them. They played cards andargued over them, watched television and complained about the boss.
    Nell would cook the meals in the bungalow she shared with Wood and their sons, then cart the food over. She didn’t serve the men, and one of them was assigned cleanup duty every week. That way they could eat as they pleased. They might eat dusty from work, or in their underwear. They could lie about women or the size of their cocks.
    It was, after all, their home.
    So she knocked and waited to be hailed inside. They were all there but Wood, who was eating his supper at home with his family. The men ranged around the table, Ham at the head, his chair tipped back since he’d just finished his meal. Billy and Jim continued to shovel in chicken and dumplings like a pair of wolves vying for