Montana Sky

once again didn’t know what to do—run? hide?—Tess turned deliberately and walked into the foyer, to the front door to open it. Moments later, Nate appeared, coated with white.
    “Get back inside,” he ordered, nudging her out of the way as he closed the door behind him. “Are they back yet?”
    “No. Lily and I . . .” She gestured toward the living area. “What are you doing here?”
    “It’s a bad one,” he said. “I got Shelly and the baby home all right, but barely made it back.” He took off his hat, shook off snow. “It’s been two hours now. I’ll give them a few more minutes before I head out after them.”
    “You’re going out again. In that?” She’d never experienced a blizzard, but was certain she was living through one now. And blizzards killed. “Are you insane?”
    He merely gave her shoulder an absent pat—a man with his mind obviously elsewhere. “Got any coffee hot? I could use a cup. And a thermos to go.”
    “You’re not going out in that.” In a gesture she knew to be foolish even as she made it, she stepped between Nate and the door. “No one’s going out in that.”
    He smiled, traced a fingertip down her cheek. He didn’t see her gesture as foolish, but as sweet. “Worried about me?”
    Terrified was closer to it, but she’d think about that later. “Frostbite, hypothermia. Death.” She snapped off the words like frozen twigs. “I’d be worried about anyone who didn’t have the good sense to stay inside during a storm like this.”
    “Three of my friends are out in it.” His voice was quiet, the purpose behind them unshakable. “Coffee would help, Tess. Black and hot.” Before she could speak, he held up a hand, cocked his head. “There. That should be them.”
    “I didn’t hear anything.”
    “They’re back,” Nate said simply, and settling his hat again, went out to meet them.
    • • •
    H E WAS RIGHT . WHICH MADE TESS DECIDE NATE HAD THE ears of a cat. They came in out of the howling wind layered with snow. Gathered in the living room, drinking coffee Bess had delivered within minutes, they thawed out.
    “Too much snow to see anything.” Ben sank into a deep chair as Adam sat cross-legged in front of the fire. “We got out all right, but there was already a couple new inches down. No way to track.”
    “But you saw.” Tess perched on the arm of the sofa. “You saw what was there.”
    “Yeah.” With a quick glance at Adam, Willa moved her shoulders. She didn’t see any point in adding that the wolves had come back. “I’ll talk to the men about it in the morning. There’s enough to do now.”
    “To do now?” Tess echoed.
    “They’re already out rounding up the herd, getting them into shelter. I’ll find Ham.”
    “Wait.” Certain that she was the only sane person left, Tess held up a hand. “You’re going back out in this. For cows?”
    “They’d die in this,” Willa said briskly.
    As Tess watched in amazement, everyone but her and Lily shrugged back into outdoor gear and headed out. With a shake of her head, she reached for the brandy. “For cows,” she muttered. “For a bunch of stupid cows.”
    “They’ll be hungry when they get back.” Lily didn’t look out the window this time, nor did she listen for the engine of the four-wheeler. “I’ll go help Bess with supper.”
    She could be irritated, Tess thought, or resigned. She decided that being resigned was easier on the system. “I’m not going to sit here alone.” But she took the brandy with her as she caught up with Lily. “Do you get storms like this back east?”
    Distracted, Lily shook her head. “We get our share of snow in Virginia, but I haven’t seen anything quite like this. It comes in so quickly, with so much wind. I can’t imagine having to be out in it, to work in it. I expect Nate will stay the night, don’t you? I’ll have to ask Bess if there’s a room ready for him.”
    She pushed open the kitchen door and found Bess already at the stove nursing an enormous pot steaming fragrantly. “Stew,” Bess announced, sampling from a wooden spoon. “Enough for an army. Needs an hour or two yet to simmer.”
    “They’ve gone out again.” Automatically, Lily went to the pantry to take an apron from a peg. Tess raised an eyebrow at the ease of the gesture. Already routine, she realized.
    “Figured as much,” said Bess. “I’m going to put together an apple cobbler here.” She glanced at Tess, sniffed at the brandy in her