by Nora Roberts
“Bossy old thing,” Willa complained when Bess shut the door behind her. But she already had her hat off. “I guess I’ve got time for a cup, if it’s already hot.”
“It is. Please, sit down. I just want to put these in water.”
Willa sat at the round maple table, drummed her fingers on the wood. The dozens of chores still on her list raced through her head. “Smells good in here.”
“It’s the herbs, and this potpourri I made.”
“Made it?” Willa drummed a little faster. “You’re a regular little homemaker, aren’t you?”
Lily kept her eyes on the stems she carefully slid into an old glass bottle. “It’s all I’m good at.”
“No, it’s not. And I didn’t mean it to sound that way.” Annoyed with herself, Willa squirmed in her chair. “You’ve made Adam so happy he looks like he could float. And it’s so neat and pretty in here.” She scratched the back of her neck and felt like an awkward rube. “I mean, like that big white bowl there with the shiny red and green apples. I’d never think of something like that. Or putting stuff in those bottles you’ve got on the counter. What is that stuff?”
“Flavored vinegars.” Lily glanced toward the long-necked bottles where sprigs of basil and rosemary and marjoram floated. “You use them for cooking, for salad. I like the way they look.”
“Shelly does stuff like that too. I could never figure it.”
“That’s because you have to look at the big picture, the foundation and not the fancywork. I admire you so much.”
Willa stopped frowning at the bottles and gaped. “Huh?”
“You’re so smart and strong and capable.” Lily set a pretty blue cup and saucer on the table. “You scared me to death when I first came here.”
“I did?”
“Well, everything did. But especially you.” Lily took her own cup, added a hefty measure of cream to make it palatable to her taste. Then she sat, deciding it was time to confess all. “I watched you the day of the funeral. You’d lost your father, and you were hurting, but you were also coping. And later, when Nate read the will, and everything that was yours, that should have been yours, was taken out of your control, you dealt with it.”
Willa remembered, too. Remembered she hadn’t been kind. “I didn’t have much choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Lily said quietly. “Mine was usually running away. I’d have run that day if there’d been any place left to go. And I don’t think I would have had the courage to stay when the horrible things started to happen if not for you.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with it. You stayed for Adam.”
“Adam.” Everything about Lily softened—voice, eyes, mouth. “Yes. But I wouldn’t have had the courage to go to him, to let myself feel for him. I looked at you, at everything you were doing, had done, and thought, She’s my sister and she’s never run from anything. There must be something inside me that matches what’s in her. So I dug for it. It’s the first time in my life I’ve stuck when things got rough.”
Willa pushed her coffee aside and leaned forward. “Look, I grew up the way I wanted to, did what I wanted to. I never found myself trapped in a relationship where someone used me for a punching bag.”
“Didn’t you?” Lily gathered her courage again when Willa said nothing. “Bess told me how hard our father was on you.”
Bess talked too damn much, was all Willa could think.
“An occasional backhand from a parent isn’t the same as a fist in the face from a husband. Running from that wasn’t cowardly, Lily. It was right and it was smart.”
“Yes. But I never fought back. Not once.”
“Neither did I,” Willa murmured. “I may not have run from my father, but I never fought back either.”
“You fought back every time you got on a horse, pulled a calf, rode a fence.” Lily kept her eyes steady when Willa’s flicked over her face. “You made Mercy yours. That’s how you fought back. You dug your roots. I didn’t know him, and he never chose to know me. But, Willa, I don’t think he knew you either.”
“No.” Her voice was soft and slow with the realization. “I don’t suppose he did.”
Lily drew a deep breath. “I’d fight back now, and that’s in very large part because of you, because of Tess, because of the chance I’ve had here. Jack Mercy didn’t give me that chance, Will. You did. You should have hated us. You had every right to hate us. But you don’t.”
She’d wanted to, Willa remembered. It just hadn’t been possible. “Maybe hate just takes too much energy.”
“It does, but not everyone understands that.” Lily paused, toyed with her cup. “When Tess and I were shopping the other day, I thought—for a minute I thought I saw Jesse. Just a flash, just a glimpse.”
“You saw him in Ennis?” Willa bolted straight up in her chair, fists curled.
“No.” Dazzled by her, Lily smiled a little. “See, that’s your first reaction, fight back. Mine was to run. I used to think I saw him everywhere, I could imagine him everywhere. It hasn’t happened in a while. But the other day, some face in the crowd, the tilt of a head . . . But I didn’t run. I didn’t panic. And I think if I ever had to, really had to, I’d fight back. I owe that to you.”
“I don’t know, Lily. Sometimes running’s a fine choice.”
I T WENT SO WELL LILY COULD HARDLY BELIEVE IT WAS HER life. Her new life. People she had grown to love were sitting in the cozy dining room, taking second helpings of food she’d prepared, laughing with each other like friends. Arguing with each other like family.
It was Tess who had started that, quite deliberately, Lily realized, by telling Willa the dress they’d picked out for her was a fuchsia organdy with a six-flounce skirt and puffed sleeves. With a bustle.
“You’re out of your mind if you think you’ll get me into something like that. What the hell is fuchsia anyway? Isn’t that pink? No way I’m wearing pink flounces.”
“You’ll look so sweet in it,” Tess purred. “Especially with the hat.”
“What hat?”
“Oh, it’s adorable, matching color, enormous floppy brim decked in a garden of spring flowers. English primroses. And the crown’s cut out so we can dress your hair up high. Then there’s the gloves. Elbow length, very chic.”
Because Willa had gone dead pale, Lily took pity on her. “She’s just teasing you. The dress is lovely. Pale blue silk with pearl buttons at the back and just a touch of lace on the bodice. It’s very simple, very classic. And there’s no hat or gloves.”
“Spoilsport,” Tess muttered, then grinned at Willa. “Gotcha.”
“At this rate, Will’s going to have a dress on more times this year than I’ve seen in her whole life.” Ben toasted her. “I used to figure she slept in Levi’s.”
“Like to see you drive cattle in a dress,” Willa tossed back.
“So would I.” With a chuckle, Nate nudged his plate aside. “Lily, that was a fine meal. Adam’s going to have to start buying bigger belts with you cooking for him.”
“You have to have room for pie.” Beaming with pleasure, Lily rose. “Why don’t we have it in the living room?”
“That girl can cook,” Ben commented as he settled into a wing chair in the living room. “Adam’s a lucky son of a bitch.”
“Is that how you gauge a man’s fortune in a wife, McKinnon?” Willa chose the floor in front of the fire and folded her legs. “By how she cooks?”
“Couldn’t hurt.”
“A clever woman hires a cook.” Tess groaned a little as she sat with Nate on the sofa. “And only eats this way once a year. I’m going to have to do fifty extra laps in the pool tomorrow.”
Willa thought of several snide comments, but let them pass. She shot a quick look toward the kitchen, where Adam and Lily were busy readying dessert. “Before they come in, did Lily say anything to you about seeing her ex while you were shopping the other day?”
“No.” Tess sat up quickly. “Not a word.”
&nbs
p; “In Ennis?” Nate’s eyes narrowed, and he stopped playing with Tess’s fingers.
“She said she was mistaken. Said it was an old habit to imagine him wherever she went, but it worried me.”
“She got quiet for a while.” Pursing her lips, Tess thought back. “We were window-shopping at a lingerie store, and I thought she was dreaming of her wedding night. She seemed nervous for a couple minutes, but she never said a thing.”
“You ever get that picture of him?” Ben asked Nate.
“Just a couple of days ago. There was some sort of holdup back East.” He, too, sent a cautious look toward the kitchen. “Looks like a frigging altar boy. Pretty face and a jarhead haircut. I haven’t seen him around. I should have brought it over with me, got it to Adam.”
“I want to see it,” Willa said. “We’ll talk about it later,” she added, when she heard Adam’s voice. “I don’t want to spoil this for her.”
To cover the gap, Ben rose and strolled over as Lily carried in a tray. “Now, that’s pie.” He leaned over, sniffed, like a man who had nothing more on his mind than his next bite. “So what have you got for everybody else?”
They kept the evening light, and when Nate gave Tess a subtle signal by a quick squeeze of her hand, he rose. “I’d better head on before you have to roll me out the door. Lily.” He bent to kiss her. “You set one fine table.”
“I’m so glad you came.”
“I’ll walk out with you.” Tess feigned a yawn. “All that food, I’m going to sleep like a log.”
By tacit agreement Ben and Willa gave them five minutes after hugs and good-byes before they made their own exit.
When they were alone, Adam turned Lily into his arms.
“Who do they think they’re fooling?”
“What do you mean?”
Finding her incredibly sweet, he pressed a kiss to her brow. “Did you hear a rig start up?”
She blinked, understood, and laughed. “No, I don’t suppose I did.”
“I think they’ve got the right idea.” He swept Lily up, headed for the steps.
“Adam, all the dishes.”
“They’ll still be here in the morning.” He kissed her again. “And so will we.”
I N HER BED. IN THE DARK, WILLA LET OUT A LONG throaty moan. The sound of that always aroused him, spurred him to quicken the pace. He loved to watch her when she rode him, the way her hair rained down off her shoulders, so lush and dark. He could see those flashes, those flickers of pleasure on her face as she lost herself. And when he took her breasts in his hands, when he reared up to replace his hands with his hungry mouth, she wrapped herself around him like a silky vine, all clinging arms and legs so he could feast on her.
No matter how much she gave, he wanted more.
“Go over.” He panted out the demand, pressed his hand where they joined, and found her, drove her.
Her moan came again, a rusty sound of delight that pumped through his blood like good whiskey. He felt her give, and flood, then sob again before her teeth closed over his shoulder.
So he let her set the pace now, let her shudder back into control. Now she leaned over him, her hair curtaining his face, her hands braced on either side of it.
“I want to make you crazy.” She lowered her head until her lips were a breath from his. “I want to make you beg.”
Her pace was slow, torturous, and her mouth took his in quick, nipping kisses that gradually deepened and heated. When his hands were fisted in her hair, his breath heaving, she released his mouth, eased back. Quickened the rhythm, skimmed her hands over him, watched his eyes.
She saw what she wanted. They were wild and blind and desperate, mirroring the emotions raging inside her. His hands had moved, gripped her hips now, gripped them hard. She’d have bruises. Branding, she thought in triumph.
Her body bowed back, shuddered while Ben’s fingers dug into her pumping hips. She knew what to expect now, that explosion of pleasure ramming into pleasure, the assault on the system that could come like lightning or linger like dew. Yet still it was always a shock, this violent intimacy and the need that always, always bloomed.
She felt him erupt, the final hard drive of him into her, and the glorious burst of heat. The orgasm struck like an arrow winging through her system, and pinned to him, filled with him, she welcomed it.
“Willa.” Ben drew her down so they could tremble, slick flesh to slick flesh. When he could speak more than her name, he turned his lips to her throat. “I’ve wanted to hold you like this all night.”
A little foolishness like that always warmed her, and tied her tongue. “You were too busy eating to think about this.”
“I’m never to busy to think about this. Or you. I do think about you.” He lost his hands in her hair as he turned her mouth to his. “More all the time. And I worry about you.”
“Worry?” Beautifully relaxed, she braced herself on her elbows and looked down at him. She loved to find his face in the dark, pick out feature by feature. “About what?”
“I don’t like not being right on hand with all this going on.”
“I can take care of myself.” She brushed the hair back from his face. Funny, she thought, how the tips of it always looked as if they’d been dipped in wet gold dust. Funnier still how her fingers always itched to touch it these days. “And I can take care of the ranch.”
“Yeah.” Almost too well, he thought. “But I worry anyway. I could stay tonight.”
“We’ve been through that. Bess likes to pretend she doesn’t know what’s going on up here. I like to let her. And . . .” She kissed him before she rolled lazily to her back. “You’ve got your own ranch to run.” She stretched. “Saddle up, McKinnon. I’m done with you.”
“Think so?” He rolled atop her to prove her wrong.
W HEN A MAN TIPTOES OUT OF A DARKENED HOUSE, HE mostly feels like a fool. Or very lucky. Nate was debating which course to take when he opened the front door and came face-to-face with Ben.
They stared at each other, cleared throats. “Nice night,” Nate said.
“One of my best.” Ben gave up, flashed a grin. “So, where’d you park your rig?”
“Back of the pole barn. You?”
“Same. Don’t know why we bother. There’s not a man on this spread who doesn’t know what we’re up to with those women.” They stepped off the porch, headed toward the barn. “I keep wondering if I’m going to get shot at.”
“Adam and Ham have this shift,” Nate pointed out. “I try to time it that way. They’re not so trigger-happy.” He glanced back toward the main house, Tess’s window. “And it might be worth dodging a couple bullets.”
“I worry about a man who says that.”
“I’m thinking I’ll marry her.”
Ben stopped dead. “Something’s buzzing in my ear. I don’t think I heard you right.”
“You heard me right enough. She’s banking on going back to California in the fall.” Nate shrugged. “I’m banking she won’t.”
“You tell her that?”
“Tell Tess.” Amused at the thought, Nate let out a muffled hoot of laughter. “Hell, no. You have to be cagey with a woman like that. Used to running the show. So you make her think everything’s her idea. She doesn’t know she’s in love with me, but it’ll come to her.”
Talk of love and marriage was making Ben’s gut churn. “What if it doesn’t? Come to her. What if she packs up and goes? You just going to let her?”
“Can’t lock her up, can I?” Nate took out his keys, jiggled them in his palm. “But I’m betting she stays. And I’ve got some time yet to work on it.”
Ben thought of Willa, and how he’d react if she suddenly got it in her head to pull up stakes. He’d have her hog-tied in record time. “Don’t think I could be as reasonable.”
“Well, push hasn’t come to shove yet. I’ve got court the next day or two,” he added when he climbed into his rig. “Soon as I’m able, I’ll swing by with that picture.”
“Yo
u do that.” Ben paused by his own rig, looked back toward the main house. No, he didn’t think he could be reasonable if he was in love. On the drive home he told himself, several times, that it was a good thing he wasn’t.
TWENTY-THREE
J ESSE HAD IT ALL WORKED OUT. OH. HE’D BEEN WILLING to wait, be patient. Be reasonable. After all, if he held out till fall, he could sweep up a lot of money along with his wife.
But now the little bitch thought she could go off and marry that Indian bastard. He’d studied on it and knew that if he let that happen, legally he’d get zilch. So he couldn’t let it happen.
If his aim had been a little more true, he’d have taken care of Adam Wolfchild already. The opportunity had been there, but the son of a bitch had gotten lucky. And since Wolfchild hadn’t been alone, Jesse hadn’t risked waiting around for another chance at him.
He was sure there’d be another opportunity. Just a little window of luck was all he’d need. But spring work, and that damn slave driver Ben McKinnon, kept him tied at Three Rocks while his adulterous wife was out buying wedding finery.
So if he couldn’t get to Wolfchild, he would damn well get to Lily. He’d have to make her sorry she’d messed with him and ruined his plans for cashing in on her inheritance, but that would be a pleasure.
He’d hoped to cash in on a lot of things, he thought as he drew another queen to go with his other two ladies. But it was time to move on. And he was taking Lily with him.
“I’ll see your five,” Jesse said, smiling easily at Jim across the poker table. “And bump it five.”
“Too rich for me.” Ned Tucker tossed in his cards, belched, and got up to get a fresh beer. He was comfortable at Mercy; he found Willa a fair boss and enjoyed the company of the men. He gave the bear the men had wrestled into the corner a rub on the head for luck. Not, Ned thought, that it had done him a damn bit of good at the table that night.
He shook his head as Jesse pulled in another pot. “Sumbitch can’t seem to lose,” he said to Ham.
