Her Montana Millionaire

And for a person who made their living using words, that was unforgivable.

The deer bolted from the window’s view, and Val peeked over her shoulder. Her aqua-blue eyes seemed sleepy, her posture wilted.

Jinni sat next to her, smoothing back a strand of hair from Val’s forehead. “You okay?”

“Just tired.”

Today’s round of chemotherapy must have gotten to her, but after they’d gone to the hospital this morning, Val hadn’t seemed overly exhausted.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Val. Is there anything I can get you? Anything you need?”

Her sister touched Jinni’s hand, then guided it away from her face, reminding Jinni of how Val never used to allow people to get close to her. Not until now.

“I’m fine,” said Val. “We needed groceries. You can’t always be at my beck and call.”

“I thought your chemo treatments were mild. Why do you look so tired?”

Val straightened up, as if trying to prove to Jinni that she wasn’t letting the cancer get to her. “I’m fine. Come on, brighten up. Where’s my fun-loving older sis? I see a gleam in your eyes, so don’t try to hide it.”

A spark of joy bounced around Jinni’s chest. Should she tell Val about the man from the parking lot? Let her sister know that Rumor had possibilities after all?

No. Maybe that would be something like gloating, emphasizing the fact that Jinni still had her health and everything that went with it. It didn’t feel right.

Again, the words escaped her. She could only hope her presence would be enough to help Val through these tough times.

“Shopping always puts a bounce in my step.” Jinni smiled, suspecting that her life-style seemed shallow in the face of Val’s challenges.

“Darn. I thought that maybe you’d gotten yourself engaged again. I wouldn’t mind hearing another romantic tale from your files.”

Val leaned against the cushions of the sofa, grinning slightly. Heat tightened Jinni’s throat from looking at her. Her sister: so beautiful, so young to be dealing with something so wrong.

“No, dear. I’m afraid I haven’t found a worthy candidate for my hand in this town.” The Mercedes-Benz man flashed through her mind: blue eyes, dark hair, lean-tall build…. “Though I wouldn’t mind adding to the list.”

“List? I thought you’d compiled a ledger by now.”

Well. If anyone else had dared to make light of Jinni’s ill-fated history with men, she would’ve given them some big-city attitude. But Val was the exception.

Val sighed. “There you go again, getting glum.”

“Who me?” Jinni tried to smile. How could she help it if this was the first time she’d encountered real despair in her life? She had no idea how to offer Val solace.

She tried anyway. “Listen up. I’ll make a deal with you. I promise to remain sunny and vivacious if you stop staring out windows. Shake on it?”

Val laughed softly, extending her hand. “Done.”

Jinni grabbed her sister’s fingers, squeezing them. “I love you, sis. You’re all the family I have left, and I’d fight any battle for you.”

“Me, too.” Val rubbed Jinni’s arm.

Every day they grew closer, opened up more to each other. It was a switch from how they’d grown up, with their wealthy socialite parents in New York. Val had always been the quiet one, headed for life in a small town like Rumor. But not Jinni. Since she hadn’t shown any talent at much, she’d decided early on to distinguish herself by stepping into her mother’s party slippers, loving the gossip-column mentions of her name at society functions, the explosion of the reporters’ flashbulbs as she presented her brightest smiles, the approval she’d earned from her mother with all the pretty pictures Jinni made.

Even when their parents had died years ago, Jinni and Val hadn’t experienced this sort of bond. It had taken breast cancer to bring them together, to help them share secrets while Jinni accompanied her sister to the Billings hospital where Val received treatments.

“You know what we need?” asked Jinni. “Makeovers. Wouldn’t that be a gas? Unless, of course, there’s nowhere that gives them around here.”

“Donna Mason owns The Getaway. It’s a spa off Main Street.” Val lifted her eyebrows. “You seem surprised.”

“Yes, after all, this isn’t the sort of place I expected a spa to pop up. But that’s good news. Let me know when you want to perk yourself up with a good herbal wrap or mud bath.”

“You spoil me.”

“You deserve it.”

If only The Getaway gave life makeovers. Wouldn’t that be the perfect thing? Jinni sorely suspected Val could use one to pull her away from all the windows she was staring out of.

Jinni stood, gave Val’s hair a little swish, which earned a smile. Then she went to the kitchen and started packing away the groceries.

A makeover. Maybe she needed one, too. Not in the physical sense, of course. But perhaps mentally.

Ever since she’d come to Rumor, Jinni had suspected she was out of her element. People here didn’t care about parties or premieres or fashion. She’d gone from the shallow end of the pool into something much deeper.

For instance, if she were in Val’s place—let’s even get more philosophical here, no matter how much it hurts—if she were to die next month, what would the world say about Jinni Fairchild? That she wrote celebrity biographies but didn’t really have a life worth mentioning? Would they say she sustained her soul with the best champagne and beluga caviar? That she’d been engaged more than several times and hadn’t settled down once?

How horrendous. She didn’t have much to crow about, when it came right down to it. Did she?

The phone rang, shaking Jinni out of the dumps. Val answered it, talking with the caller while Jinni finished with the groceries.

“That’s Estelle,” said Val, hanging up and coming to stand by Jinni.

She reached into her mental Filofax. Estelle Worth, the retired nurse whose husband worked with Val at the animal hospital.

“Good,” said Jinni. She wondered if the older woman knew of any tall, handsome, Mercedes-Benz-driving males who frequented Rumor.

“Jinni, you’re going out tonight.”

She started. Had her yearning been that obvious? “Excuse me? Did someone build a discotheque while I wasn’t looking? Where would I go in Rumor?”

Val was gently guiding her toward her room down the hall. “Scoot and get ready now. You’ve been pacing the carpet like a caged animal for the past week. Besides, Rumor’s got plenty of places a sophisticate like you would enjoy. There’s the strip joint—”

Jinni’s motor revved. “Strip joint? Do they have men there?”

“Just in the audience.”

“Oh.” Jinni shrugged. Maybe it would be fun anyway.

Better than watching TV.

“And we’ve got Joe’s Bar—”