joke, slapped the rock, and howled. “A hair on her head. Get it? That’s a good one.” He sobered, the change abrupt and frightening. “I love her, Will. I love her and you and Tess just like a brother should. And I’ll look out for you. And you have to look out for me. Blood’s thicker than water.”
“How do you want me to look out for you, Jim?”
“We got to have a plan, get our stories together here. I figure I’ll take you back and we’ll tell everybody that somebody dragged you off. You didn’t see, but I went off after you. Didn’t have time to send out the alarm. We’ll say I chased him off, scared him off. I’ll fire a couple of shots.” He patted the rifle. “He ran off into high country, and I got you away safe. That’ll work, won’t it?”
“It could. I’ll tell them I never saw his face. He hit me. I’ve probably got a bruise anyway.”
“I’m sorry about that, but it works out real good. We’ll go back to the way things were, all right. Couple months more and the ranch is free and clear. I can be foreman now.” He saw her eyes flicker, her instinctive cringe. “You don’t mean it. You’re lying.”
“No, I’m just thinking it over.” Her heart began to thud at the rapid change of his moods. “We have to make sure it sounds right or else—”
“You’re lying!” He screamed it so that the rocks echoed. “You think I can’t see it? You think I’m too stupid to see what’s going on in your head? I take you back, you’ll tell them everything. You’ll turn me over, your own brother. Because of Ham.”
Wild with fury, he sprang to his feet, the knife in one hand, the rifle in the other. “It was an accident. There wasn’t anything I could do. But you’ll turn me over. You care more about that old man than your own family.”
He’d never let her go. And he’d kill her before she got two yards. So she pushed herself to her feet, teetered once until she could brace them apart, and faced him. “He was my family.”
He tossed the rifle down, grabbed her by the shirtfront with his free hand, and shook her. “I’m your blood. I’m the one who matters. I’m a Mercy, same as you.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the knife wave. And the clouds smothered the moon and killed the glint. “You’ll have to kill me, Jim. And once you do, you won’t be able to run fast enough or hide deep enough. They’ll hunt you. If Ben or Adam finds you first, God help you.”
“Why won’t you listen?” His shout boomed over rock and hill and hung in the heavy air. “It’s Mercy that counts. I just want my share of Mercy.”
She closed her aching hands into fists, stared into his desperate eyes. “I haven’t got any mercy to give you.” Rearing back, she thrust her stiffened hands into his stomach and whirled to run.
He caught her by the hair, yanking back until stars erupted in front of her eyes. Sobbing in pain, she rammed back with her elbow, caught him hard. But his grip stayed firm. Her feet slid out from under her and she would have gone down but for the hold on her hair.
“I’ll make it quick,” he promised. “I know how.”
Ben stepped out of the shadows. “Drop the knife.” His pistol was cocked, aimed, ready. “You so much as break the skin on her, I’ll blow you to hell.”
“I’ll do more than break skin.” Jim angled the knife under her chin. His voice was dead calm again. He felt the control seep back into him, the command. He was in charge. The woman pressed against him was no longer his sister but just a shield. “All I do is jerk my wrist, and she’s dead before she hits the ground.”
“So are you.”
Jim’s eyes flickered over. His rifle was just out of reach. Cautious, he moved back a step, keeping the knife edge at Willa’s throat. “You give me five minutes’ start, and when I’m clear, I’ll let her go.”
“No, he won’t.” She hissed as the knife bit in and the first trickle of blood oozed down her throat. “He’ll kill me,” she said calmly, kept her eyes on Ben’s. “It’s just a matter of when.”
“Shut up, Will.” Jim flicked the knife under her chin. “Let the men handle this. You want her, McKinnon, you can have her. But you put down the gun, and you step back until 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 were begging 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 a
in’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 airport. I’ve got to go see her off.”
“You okay . . . with everything?”
“I’m living with everything. Thanks to you and Ben, I’m living.” She gave his hand a last squeeze before going to the door. “Ham.” She didn’t turn back, but spoke, staring out into the hallway. “Was he Jack Mercy’s son? Was he my brother?”
He could have said no, and just let it die. It would’ve been easier for her. Or it might have been. But she’d always been a tough one. “I don’t know, Will. The God’s truth is, I just don’t know.”
She nodded and told herself she would live with that, too. The never knowing.
When she got outside, she saw Lily, already in tears and holding on to Tess for dear life.
“Hey, you’d think I was going to Africa to become a missionary.” Tess squeezed back her own tears. “It’s only California. I’ll be back for a visit in a few months.” She patted Lily’s growing belly. “I want to be here when Junior comes.”
“I’ll miss you so much.”
“I’ll write, I’ll call, hell, I’ll send faxes. You’ll hardly know I’ve left.” She closed her eyes and hugged Lily fiercely. “Oh, take care of yourself. Adam.” She reached out for his hands, then went into his arms. “I’ll see you soon. I’ll be calling you for advice in case I end up buying that horse.” He murmured something. “What did that mean?”
He kissed her cheeks. “My sister, in my heart.”
“I’ll call,” she managed to choke out, then turned and nearly bumped into Bess.
“Here.” Bess pushed a wicker basket into her hands. “It’s a ride to the airport, and with that appetite of yours, you’ll never make it.”
“Thanks. Maybe I’ll lose this five pounds you put on me.”
“It doesn’t hurt you any. You give my best to your ma.”
“I will.”
With a sigh, Bess touched her cheek. “You come back soon, girl.”
“I will.” She turned blindly and stared at Willa. “Well,” she managed, “it’s been an adventure.”
“Sure has.” Thumbs tucked in her front pockets, Willa came the rest of the way down the stairs. “You can write about it.”
“Some of it.” She swallowed hard to steady her voice. “Try to stay out of trouble.”
Willa lifted a brow. “I could say the same to you, in the big, bad city.”
“It’s my city. I’ll, ah, drop you a postcard so you can see what the real world looks like.”
“You do that.”
“Well.” She turned. “Hell.” Shoved the basket at Nate and spun to walk into Willa’s open arms. “Damn it, I’ll really miss you.”
“Me too.” Willa tightened her grip, clung. “Call.”
“I will, I will. God, wear some lipstick once in a while, will you? And use that lotion I left you on your hands before they turn into leather.”
“I love you.”
“Oh, God, I’ve got to go.” Weeping, Tess stumbled toward the rig. “Go castrate a cow or something.”
“I was on my way.” With a little hitching breath, Willa took out her bandanna and blew her nose as the rig rumbled away. “ ‘Bye, Hollywood.”
T ESS WAS SURE SHE’D GOTTEN HOLD OF HERSELF BY THE time she’d checked her bags in the terminal. An hour-long cry was good enough for anyone, she thought, and Nate had been considerate enough to let her indulge in it.
“You don’t have to come to the gate.” But she kept his hand clutched in hers.
“I don’t mind.”
“You’ll keep in touch.”
“You know I will.”
“Maybe you’ll fly in for a weekend, let me show you around.”
“I could do that.”
Well, he was certainly making it easy, she thought. It was all so easy. The year was up, she had what she wanted. Now it was back to her life. The way she wanted.
“You’ll keep me up with the gossip. Fill me in on Lily and Willa. I’m going to miss them like crazy.”
She looked around, busy people coming and going, and wished desperately for her usual excitement at the prospect of getting into the air and flying.
“I don’t want you to wait.” She made herself look up at him. Into those patient eyes. “We’ve already said good-bye. This only makes it harder.”
“It can’t be any harder.” He put his hands on her shoulders, ran them down her arms, up again. “I love you, Tess. You’re the first and last for me. Stay. Marry me.”
“Nate, I . . .” Love you too, she thought. Oh, God. “I have to go. You know I do. My work, my career. This was only temporary. We both knew that.”
“Things change.” Because he could read her feelings on her face, he shook her gently. “You can’t look me in the eye and tell me you’re not in love with me, Tess. Every time you start to say you’re not, you look away and don’t say anything.”
“I have to go. I’ll miss my plane.” She broke away, turned, and fled.
She knew what she was doing. Exactly what she was doing. She rushed past gate after gate telling herself that. How was she supposed to live on a horse ranch in Montana? She had her career to think of. Her laptop bumped against her hip. She had a new screenplay to start, a novel to work on. She belonged in LA.
Swearing, she spun around and ran back, pushing through other people who rushed in the opposite direction. “Nate!” She saw his hat, on the downward glide of the escalator, and doubled her pace. “Nate, wait a minute.”
He was already at the bottom when she clambered her way down. Out of breath, she stood in front of him, a hand pressed to her speeding heart. She looked into his eyes. “I’m not in love with you,” she said without a blink, watched his eyes narrow. “See that, smart guy? I can look right at you and lie.”
And with a laugh, she jumped into his arms. “Oh, what the hell. I can work anywhere.”
He kissed her, set her on her feet again. “Okay. Let’s go home.”
“My bags.”
“They’ll come back.”
She looked over her shoulder and said a spiritual good-bye to LA. “You don’t seem very surprised.”
“I’m not.” He scooped her out the door, then up into his arms and into a wild circle. “I’m patient.”
B EN FOUND WILLA RUNNING WIRE ALONG THE FENCE line that separated Three Rocks from Mercy. It made him realize he should have been doing the same. Still, he dismounted, strolled over to her. “Need a hand?”
“No, I’ve got it.”
“I was wondering how Ham was getting on.”
“He’s cranky as a constipated bear. I’d say he’s coming along fine.”
“Good. Let me do that for you.”
“I know how to run fence.”
“Just let me do it for you.” He yanked the wire from her.
Stepping back, she set her hands on her hips. “You’ve been coming around here a lot, wanting to do things for me. It’s got to stop.”
“Why?”
“You’ve got your own land to worry about. I can run Mercy.”