Divine Phoenix [Divine Creek Ranch 10] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  He sipped a mug of coffee as he gazed out the front picture window in his living room. Judging by the clock, he had at least another two hours before the sun rose, but he felt on full alert. With sleep no longer an option, he went into the studio at the rear of his house and flipped on the light.

  He pulled the muslin covering off the clay piece he’d been working with the night before. In their spare time, most bachelors watched television, worked out at the gym, or hung out with their buddies. He did plenty of that, but he preferred to work with his hands in wet clay. As always he was surprised when the timer he’d set earlier went off after two hours had passed.

  He met Beck O’Malley at the shop at seven o’clock and handed over the keys to Lily’s car, hoping she wouldn’t be upset with him for being presumptuous about having the work done. She would need transportation, and he didn’t mind helping to make that happen. He also had another plan in the works to help her but braced himself, knowing that Tabitha wasn’t going to be a happy camper once she found out.

  A short time later, Clay made the short trip to Emma Guthrie’s office for a scheduled appointment. His allergies had been ferocious lately, and he’d recently taken her up on her offer to test him so she could treat him more effectively. Now he was there to find out the results.

  Emma knocked and stepped into the exam room. Judging by the new hairstyle, the high heels, and decidedly un-dowdy blouse and skirt she wore, Emma had gotten a new lease on life. Clay hoped it had to do with the two men he’d seen her with the weekend before. Grace Warner had tried to set him up with Emma, but it hadn’t panned out because she never dated patients.

  “Well, Clay, I have bad news.” She looked genuinely sorry when she said it.

  “It was just allergy testing, Doc. How bad can it be?”

  “It’s time to find your cat a new home,” she said as she flipped through her chart to the test results.

  “Emma, I don’t own a cat.” Oh, crap.

  “Really?” Emma frowned and looked more closely at the test results and then showed him. “You tested positive for cat hair and cat dander. Your reaction was pretty severe. Any idea how—Oh! You’re allergic to your cat-loving employee.”

  Clay nodded. “Yeah. Tabitha Lester.”

  Emma giggle-snorted and said, “Clay, you know I don’t mean to laugh at your dilemma, but…” She covered another snicker. “Good luck with that.”

  Armed with a prescription for a different allergy medication, Clay left her office a few minutes later, grumbling about friends finding humor in the trials of others.

  The action took a decidedly unfunny turn when he stepped out of the elevator onto the surgical floor at the hospital. He’d hoped that he’d be there to protect Lily if her ex-husband happened to show up at the hospital, and it looked as though he’d gotten his wish.

  The surgical floor was a rectangular outer ring of patient rooms with the elevator at one end, and small offices and housekeeping in the center, with the nurse’s station positioned opposite of the elevator door. Hank Stinson and another deputy were trying to talk sense to a large, red-faced, very irate-looking man, while two nurses stood between them and the hallway that led to Lily’s room. Flowers in hand, Clay walked past the men and nodded to the two nurses as they let him by. The man looked ready to charge down the hall, barging into rooms until he found who he was looking for.

  “How come that asshole gets to just walk right through?”

  “He has permission to visit the patient he’s here to see.”

  Clay wanted to respond but kept walking as though he hadn’t heard a word. The man quieted down, and Clay turned to look back at the asshole to find him watching him closely with dark, piercing eyes. Evidently ignoring the asshole only drew his attention. “That’s her room, isn’t it? He’s goin’ in my wife’s room, ain’t he?” Hank and the deputy blocked his path as he took two steps toward Clay.

  Holy shit. No wonder she’s terrified of him.

  Clay eased the door open and closed it behind him. Unfortunately, the son of a bitch could still be heard yelling though the door. He turned and smiled at Lily who was sitting up, her face as white as a sheet, looking like she was in pain, which brought out all sorts of protective instincts in him.

  “That’s your husband?”

  Lily nodded imperceptibly, looking terrified. “Soon-to-be ex-husband. Is he coming back here?”

  As if I’d let him anywhere near you.

  Clay shook his head and lifted her cold hand into his as he laid the roses in her lap. Her other hand trembled as she raised them to her nose and sniffed. “He used to bring me roses when he apologized for…you know.”

  Clay wanted to remove the pale peach roses from her grasp if they gave her bad memories.

  “She better tell me to my face that she’s divorcing me! No way in hell she’ll go through with it. She bears my mark. We agreed ’til death do us part, damn it! Nobody else is ever gonna want her with my mark on ’er!”

  Lily fell back against her pillow. His words seemed to have as profound an impact as if he’d punched her.

  “Lily! Lily! Get out here now, so we can settle this! I didn’t come this far to go home empty-handed!”

  The hateful voice had drawn closer, and Clay rose from the chair, prepared to defend her. The guy was big, really big, but Clay had height in his favor and would damn sure give him a run for his money. He wanted to strangle the person in the sheriff’s office responsible for the administrative error that had led to her husband being contacted without her approval. Lily still held the roses in her hands.

  To distract her, he said, “If you don’t like roses anymore, I can get rid of them.”

  Despite the commotion outside and the continued trembling in her hands, Lily said, “He always brought me red roses. I love these. They’re a pretty color and it’s not their fault he’s an asshole. I like them just fine.” A loud thud reverberated through the wall outside her doorway, causing her to startle and her smile to abruptly disappear. Clay rose from the chair again, but she grasped his hand. “Don’t get involved. Please stay here with me.”

  Incredulously, he turned to her. “He’s assaulted you. He sets one foot in that doorway and I’ll be plenty involved.”

  “Lily! Send that bastard out here! I wanna talk to him!”

  Lily tightened her grip on his hand, but Clay gently loosened her fingers. “He’s terrorized you for years. Now he can pick on someone his own size.”

  He stalked to the door and pulled it open. Hank and the deputy were both bodily blocking King from coming any closer. The nurses stood side by side, barring the doorway. “Ladies, why don’t you keep her company? She looks like she’s in pain.” They looked at him and at Hank who nodded, looking concerned for their safety. Clay let them slip past him before pulling the door shut, approving when he heard the click of the lock on the heavy door.

  “Are you the son of a bitch she ran off with yesterday? You fuckin’ my wife?”

  Hank quietly ground out, “Now, Mr. King, you’re gonna lower your voice. Settle down and say what you need to say. It’s our mistake that you were called, but you’re disturbing the peace and I’m about ready to throw your ass in jail.”

  Ignoring Hank, King glared at Clay. “I asked you a question, asshole.”

  Clenching his jaw, Clay replied, “Your wife ran from you all on her own and about high time she did, judging by the shape she was in.”

  “That fat, lazy bitch was just fine when she hightailed it out of Durst yesterday. You fucked her yet? No? You don’t want to, either. You know why?” When Clay didn’t reply, King said, “Because you’d be riding another man’s property. Check her. She wears my mark. She’s mine!”

  “Not anymore, she’s not.” Fury roiled inside Clay at the thought of this foul, violent bastard marking defenseless little Lily in any way. “She wants nothing to do with you. You’ll be hearing from a lawyer soon.”

  King leaned his face forward between Hank and the deputy as they str
ained to hold him back, and pure evil glimmered in his eyes. “Who are you anyway, pretty boy? Why do you care about some fat fucking broad? Someone else’s wife?”

  Hank cast a look at Clay and broke in. “Don’t say anything. You don’t need to tell him anything.”

  “I’m a friend. That’s all you need to know. We take a dim view of women being abused by their husbands in this town.”

  “I never gave her anything she didn’t ask me for. Haven’t you ever heard of dominance and submission? I dominate. She submits. Period.”

  For some reason, Hank Stinson reacted with more than the expected amount of surprise and anger at King’s words. King yanked his torso free from Hank and the deputy, charged for the door, and swung his fist at Clay’s face.

  Clay deflected him and, using moves learned years before from jujitsu training, had King plastered face-first against the wall with his arms gripped behind his back so that he struggled fruitlessly.

  Hank slapped handcuffs onto King’s wrists and said, “You’re done here, King. Anything you need to say to your ex-wife can be said through an attorney. And you don’t know jack-shit about dominance and submission if you think what you did to her was safe, sane, or consensual. Now you get to sit your ass in the Divine City jail.”

  Clay wondered why Hank had reacted with such ferocity to King’s pronouncement that he was dominant and Lily was submissive. He watched them escort King from the surgical floor, as he struggled every step of the way.

  Spittle flew from King’s lips as he growled, “This ain’t near over, you bastards. I’m calling a lawyer and you ain’t seen the last of me.”

  Hank glanced back at Clay and said, “Tell Mrs. King I apologize for the error and any upset this might’ve caused her.” Clay nodded as they moved toward the elevator. “Jerrald King, you’re under arrest. Anything you say…”

  Clay tapped on the door and was immediately admitted by the nurses.

  “I’ll get her pain meds,” the first one out the door stated when he told them it was all clear. “She looks like she needs it. I could use a stiff drink, myself.”

  The other nurse rose from the chair beside Lily’s bed and offered to take the roses and place them in a vase for her. Lily smiled faintly and nodded, seeming surprised by the nurse’s kindness. The nurse kept her eyes averted, but Clay could clearly see the indignation she felt on Lily’s behalf. She patted Lily’s hand, and nodded to him as she passed him.

  “Looks like you’ve made some more friends here, Lily.”

  Lily made soulful eye contact with him. “I’m so sorry, Clay. I never intended for him to follow me here or ever even know where I was. I heard a scuffle. Did he hit you?”

  “He tried and failed. Hank’s hauling him down to the jail for disturbing the peace and…generally being an asshole.”

  “I heard what he said to you. I’m so sorry he thinks we’re involved.”

  “Well, I am, in a sense, involved with you. I’m your friend. And I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  Lily gazed at him, words apparently failing her. Was it so surprising to her that someone would champion her? If she had twelve years of marriage to that son of a bitch behind her, he supposed she had a right to be surprised.

  Carefully sitting on the edge of the bed, he took her hands in his as the nurses returned, one with pain medication and the other with her peach-colored roses in a vase. They both smiled at him as though he’d slayed a dragon or something and then told Lily to call them if she needed anything else.

  “What did your ex-husband mean when he said he’d marked you?”

  Lily averted her eyes, and her breath left her in a quiet rush. “He was crazy and abusive. I have lots of marks from him. Take your pick.”

  She avoided looking him in the eye, but her pained expression kept him from questioning her any further about it. There was more to it than what she shared. Hopefully they would get back to the point where they could tell each other anything.

  Clay looked at her hand clasped in his, and reality struck him. That time in their lives had been twenty-six years in the past. Why did he expect that they would ever get back to that place? A lot of time and a lot of memories filled the distance between them and he might never have “his Lily” back.

  Scanning her beautiful, tired face, he decided it didn’t matter. She was back in his life, even if all she would ever let him do was help her through this bad patch in the road. Given time, she might heal emotionally as well as physically. In the meantime, they could start over again.

  He grinned at her and began, “About your car…”

  Chapter Four

  Lily gazed at Clay, relieved by the playful tilt of his lips. She felt guilty for withholding the truth about JT’s mark but grateful that he didn’t press the subject so she didn’t have to outright lie to him. She fully intended that no one else ever see that mark. That meant no relationships unless she was somehow able to have the tattoo removed.

  While at the public library in Durst, she’d learned how to use the Internet and had done some research on tattoo removal, but her sessions on the library computers were rare and all too brief. Now that she was free she could do a little more in-depth research. She might start that quest with a visit to the family practitioner Doctor Burns had mentioned the day before.

  “What about my car?”

  Her hands looked small as Clay cradled them in his big, capable hands, which he’d used to defend her just moments before. The way he stroked her palms was very distracting. “A friend is working on the body damage for me. He’ll also make sure that everything runs the way that it should.”

  “No, Clay. I—I may not be able to afford all those repairs up front. All I need is for it to get me from point A to point B around town. My funds are very limited and I need to find a job, but first I have to recover from all of this, and my money—” Clay put up a hand to stop her in midsentence as she got more wound up.

  “Shh, Lily. Stop. All you need to focus on is regaining your strength. Deciding your next move can wait a bit. I bartered with a man so you won’t be using any of your money. It sounds like it was a miracle you have any.”

  “My dad helped me.”

  “Well, whatever he gave you is safe where you put it. The repairs to your car are going to be basic, for now. Nothing fancy, just getting the car up to snuff so you have safe transportation.”

  “But you had to barter with something.”

  “You let me worry about that.” When she would’ve argued, he gently pressed a work-roughened fingertip against her lips. “You don’t need to worry about a job, either. I can use your help in the shop.”

  Floored, Lily asked, “You mean in your jewelry shop? I don’t have any experience.”

  “You said you took care of customers at the auto repair shop, right? I assume you chatted with people and made them feel welcome?”

  “Well, sure. But—”

  “It’s really the same thing. Just talking to people who come in, finding out what they need, and handling payments. All things you have experience with. Any skills that you lack, either Tabitha or I can teach you.”

  Feeling decidedly grungy and not sure that she was what he needed for his nice jewelry shop, Lily replied, “I don’t know, Clay. I may be more work to train than you anticipate.”

  “Then it’ll be on a trial basis. Until I tell you that you’re untrainable and unteachable, you work for me,” he said with a look of triumph on his face. “Where’s the feisty, spirited Lily who could never back down from a challenge?”

  Well, crap! He had her there. She couldn’t very well turn him down now. The smile that crossed her face felt as unfamiliar to her as the short burst of laughter that followed it. “All right. Do you know when my car will be ready? Will I be able to go home after I get out of here?”

  “Not right away. We can go see your house after you’re released, but you’re not supposed to stay alone while you’re healing. Your situation was pretty dire and you’re
going to need some time to recuperate. For that reason, you’ll be staying in my spare bedroom—”

  Lily gaped at him in surprise. “Clay, really! Come on! You’ve already done so much—”

  Clay looked at her with wide, innocent green-gold eyes. “What? You don’t trust me? I’ll be a total gentleman.”

  Is he flirting with me? “That’s not the issue and you know it. Clay, trust me when I tell you that I’ve functioned in far greater pain than this.”

  Clay grew serious and replied, “Is that supposed to make me feel better? You need someone to look after you. It’s no trouble at all. You’ll be sharing the room with my elliptical trainer which doubles as a catchall for my ironing and other odds and ends. This is an easy solution to a difficult problem, Lily. If your house needs repairs, even minor ones, they’ll take time and energy you don’t have right now. Stop worrying about being an inconvenience and just give in. Remember how persistent I am?”

  “Clay…”

  “Come on…”

  “Clay.”

  “Stubborn as ever. Come on. I already put all your boxes and luggage in the room. Fresh sheets are on the bed. I even cleaned the tub and cleared out half of the medicine cabinet for you. Come home with me. We’ll have time to get all caught up. I missed you, Lily.”

  Then Clay unfairly pulled the maneuver that had gotten him whatever he wanted when he was little. She couldn’t help but laugh a little as he pooched out his lower lip and gave her the soulful puppy dog eyes. She could tell by the look in his moss-green-and-gold-tinged eyes that he was sincere in wanting to help. Insisting on doing for herself against medical advice seemed almost rude as he gazed at her.

  “You slay me with those eyes, Clay. All right. But I insist on working to pay for the window that got broken, and the other damage, and the cost of my car repairs.”

  “The window has already been replaced and insurance is covering all of that.”

  “Oh, great. One more thing for JT to gripe about.”