thinking about anything except his need to make sure Tess would be able to make ends meet until she got another job. That should have been his first warning. Not that he would have paid attention to it. Stony was the kind of man who would stand bare-assed in a nest of rattlers just for the fun of it.
He stopped dead once he was outside and looked both ways. The snow was still coming down in large, windblown flakes that made it difficult to see very far. She was nearly to the end of Main Street, which was only one block long in the tiny town of Pinedale, walking with her head bent against the wind and her winter parka pulled tight around her.
âHey!â he called. âWait for me!â
She took one look at him and started to run.
* * *
T ESS WAS TRYING HARD not to cry. For the past year she had been deflecting Budâs attentions with flip humor. Only, last night her three-year-old daughter, Rose, had been sick, and Tess hadnât slept much. When Bud had approached her, nothing witty had come to her tired mind. Then that awful man had interfered and made everything worse!
She had been fired.
The desperate nature of her situation was just now sinking in. She had no savings. She had no job. In a town this small in the middle of the off-season there wasnât much likelihood of finding another. Especially if Bud kept his promise to make sure none of his friends in the restaurant business hired her. She didnât even have the money for a bus ticket to somewhere else.
Damn you, Charlie Lowell! How could you lie to me? How could you be a thief when you knew what would happen to us if you got caught? How could you go and get yourself killed like that? And for rustling cattle! I hate you, Charlie! I hate you for dying and leaving me alone.
She should have taken one of the marriage offers she had gotten over the past year from the cowboys who came into the Buttermilk Café. Or the Pinedale police chief, Harry DuBois, who had proposed to her for the second time only last week. At least then she and Rose would have been sure of having a roof over their heads.
She liked Harry, and he was good-looking in a rugged Harrison Ford sort of way, but she hadnât been able to feel anythingâlet alone loveâfor any man since Charlie had died. Besides, she wasnât sure shewanted to be married again, not after what had happened with Charlie. She had been deliriously in love when she had married at sixteen. She was barely twenty, but she felt much older and wiser. She no longer gave her trust so freely or completely.
But if she wasnât going to let a husband support her, she had to do a better job of it herself. She had barely been able to cope with her disillusionment and grief over Charlieâs death during the past year. She hadnât done much planning for the future.
It seemed the moment was upon her. She was going to have to make some plans, and fast, or she and Rose were going to find themselves out on the street in the middle of a Wyoming winter.
âHey! Wait for me!â
Tess glanced over her shoulder and saw it was that man from the café. He was coming after her! She wasnât sure what his intentions were, but she didnât plan to stick around and find out. She took off at a run, headed for Harryâs office. He would protect her from the madman following behind.
Maybe she would have made it if the sidewalk hadnât been covered with a fresh dusting of snow that concealed the treacherous ice below. Or if she had been wearing a decent pair of snow boots instead of the cheap, leather-soled shoes she wore for work. Tess hadnât taken three steps when her feet skidded out from under her. She flailed her arms in a vain attempt to catch her balance and reached out with a hand to break her fall on the cement walk. It turned out to be a fatal error.
Tess heard the bone in her wrist crack as soon asher weight came down on her arm. She cried out in agony as her body
He stopped dead once he was outside and looked both ways. The snow was still coming down in large, windblown flakes that made it difficult to see very far. She was nearly to the end of Main Street, which was only one block long in the tiny town of Pinedale, walking with her head bent against the wind and her winter parka pulled tight around her.
âHey!â he called. âWait for me!â
She took one look at him and started to run.
* * *
T ESS WAS TRYING HARD not to cry. For the past year she had been deflecting Budâs attentions with flip humor. Only, last night her three-year-old daughter, Rose, had been sick, and Tess hadnât slept much. When Bud had approached her, nothing witty had come to her tired mind. Then that awful man had interfered and made everything worse!
She had been fired.
The desperate nature of her situation was just now sinking in. She had no savings. She had no job. In a town this small in the middle of the off-season there wasnât much likelihood of finding another. Especially if Bud kept his promise to make sure none of his friends in the restaurant business hired her. She didnât even have the money for a bus ticket to somewhere else.
Damn you, Charlie Lowell! How could you lie to me? How could you be a thief when you knew what would happen to us if you got caught? How could you go and get yourself killed like that? And for rustling cattle! I hate you, Charlie! I hate you for dying and leaving me alone.
She should have taken one of the marriage offers she had gotten over the past year from the cowboys who came into the Buttermilk Café. Or the Pinedale police chief, Harry DuBois, who had proposed to her for the second time only last week. At least then she and Rose would have been sure of having a roof over their heads.
She liked Harry, and he was good-looking in a rugged Harrison Ford sort of way, but she hadnât been able to feel anythingâlet alone loveâfor any man since Charlie had died. Besides, she wasnât sure shewanted to be married again, not after what had happened with Charlie. She had been deliriously in love when she had married at sixteen. She was barely twenty, but she felt much older and wiser. She no longer gave her trust so freely or completely.
But if she wasnât going to let a husband support her, she had to do a better job of it herself. She had barely been able to cope with her disillusionment and grief over Charlieâs death during the past year. She hadnât done much planning for the future.
It seemed the moment was upon her. She was going to have to make some plans, and fast, or she and Rose were going to find themselves out on the street in the middle of a Wyoming winter.
âHey! Wait for me!â
Tess glanced over her shoulder and saw it was that man from the café. He was coming after her! She wasnât sure what his intentions were, but she didnât plan to stick around and find out. She took off at a run, headed for Harryâs office. He would protect her from the madman following behind.
Maybe she would have made it if the sidewalk hadnât been covered with a fresh dusting of snow that concealed the treacherous ice below. Or if she had been wearing a decent pair of snow boots instead of the cheap, leather-soled shoes she wore for work. Tess hadnât taken three steps when her feet skidded out from under her. She flailed her arms in a vain attempt to catch her balance and reached out with a hand to break her fall on the cement walk. It turned out to be a fatal error.
Tess heard the bone in her wrist crack as soon asher weight came down on her arm. She cried out in agony as her body
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