Montana Sky

back. “Bess has coffee on.” Her voice rose and fell like an arpeggio. “She said there was plenty if Wood wanted a cup.”
    “Well, now, I appreciate that.” He continued to stack logs competently in the crook of one arm. “But I’ll get one back to home. The wife’s waiting on me. You all go back in, use that light now. I can find my way well enough.”
    “Yes, let’s go in. Let’s go inside, Tess.” Shivering, Lily tugged on Tess’s arm. “Thank you, Wood.”
    “Don’t mention it,” he murmured, shaking his head as they backed down the path. “Women,” he said to himself.
    “I was so scared,” Lily managed. The moment they were inside the mudroom she threw her arms around Tess. “You were so brave.”
    “I wasn’t brave. I was terrified.” As fresh realization set in, she clutched Lily and shook violently. “How could we have forgotten? How could we be playing out there like a couple of idiots after everything that’s happened? God! God, it could be anyone. Why did it take so long for that to sink in?” She drew back, met Lily’s eyes. “It could be anyone.”
    “Not Adam.” After tearing her gloves off, Lily rubbed her chilled hands together. “He couldn’t hurt anyone, or anything. And he was with us when we—when we found it today.”
    Tess opened her mouth, closed it again. What point was there in speculating that Adam could have gone out before dawn, done what had been done, then led them to it, taken them to see what he’d wanted them to see?
    “I don’t know, Lily. I just don’t know. But if we’re going to stay here, get through this winter, we’d better start thinking, and we’d better start watching our backs.” She pulled off her hat, her coat. “I can’t imagine Adam doing that. Or Ben, or Nate. Hell, I can’t imagine anyone doing it, and that’s the problem. We have to start imagining it.”
    “We’re safe here.” Lily turned her back, carefully hung her coat. “We’re safe. I haven’t felt safe in a long time, and I’m not going to let anything spoil it.”
    “Lily.” Tess laid a hand on her shoulder. “Staying safe means staying careful. And staying smart. We both want something here,” she continued as Lily turned back. “And we want it badly enough to risk being here. The way I see it, we have to look out for each other. And we have to trust each other. If I see anything odd, I’m going to tell you, and you’re going to do the same. Anything that doesn’t feel right, anyone who doesn’t act right. Agreed?”
    “Yes, I’ll tell you. And Willa.” She shook her head before Tess could protest. “She deserves that, Tess. She has every bit as much at stake. She has more at stake.”
    Exactly, Tess thought, then shrugged. “Okay, we’ll play it that way. For now, anyway. Now I want that coffee.”
    • • •
    T HEY HAD COFFEE . AND WAITED . THEY ATE STEW . AND waited.
    The wind screamed at the windows, the fire snapped in the grate, and the grandfather clock in the study bonged the hours away.
    It was past midnight when Willa came in, and she came in alone.
    Tess stopped pacing the living room and studied her. Willa’s face was sheet-white with exhaustion, those dark, exotic eyes bruised with it. She walked directly to the fire, trailing snow and wet behind her over the exquisite rugs and gleaming floors.
    “Where are the others?” Tess asked her.
    “They had to get back. They’ve got their own worries.”
    With a nod, Tess went to the whiskey decanter and poured a generous glass. She’d have preferred having Nate and Ben in the house, but she was learning that Montana was filled with little disappointments. She handed the glass to Willa.
    “Cows all tucked in for the night?”
    Without bothering to answer, Will tossed back half the whiskey, shuddered hard.
    “I’ll run you a bath.”
    With her mind too weary to focus, Willa blinked at Lily. “What?”
    “I’m going to run you a hot bath. You’re frozen and exhausted. You must be starving. There’s stew on the stove. Tess, you fix Willa a bowl.”
    Willa had just enough energy left to be amused. Her baffled smile followed Lily out of the room. “She’s going to run me a bath. Can you beat that?”
    “Our resident domestic expert. Anyway, you could use one. You smell.”
    Willa sniffed, winced. “Guess I do.” Because the first blast of whiskey had her head reeling, she set the glass aside. “I’m too tired to eat.”
    “You need something. You can eat in the