Lucy's Liberation [Elk Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (29 page)

Ethan—because he just couldn’t reconcile the man standing before him with the man Lucy had told her committed murder and attempted murder—just stared at him.

“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Why should I? It seems like you’ve already tried and convicted me. What’s left, Hezekiah? Execution? Are you going to slice me open with one of your sabers?”

“Don’t tempt me, Ethan. Or do you want me to call you Prentice?”

“I don’t have to stand here and listen to this.” Ethan tried to leave, but Ki whipped out his hand and caught his wrist. “I only came back to tell you and Lucy that I…I have to leave. I can’t stay here anymore. Now let me go so I can pack.”

“You’re not going anywhere until we straighten this out.”

“There’s nothing to straighten out. I’ve already made my decision.”

Ki bent his head and slammed his mouth down against Ethan’s so hard their teeth collided with a resounding
clack
. He teased the seam of Ethan’s lips, nipping and sucking until Ethan opened to him with a groan.

Ki thrust in his tongue, stroking Ethan’s as he backed the younger man up against the wall and planted his thigh between Ethan’s legs, rubbing his hardening cock with his knee.

Ethan rolled his hips, grinding his pelvis against Ki’s knee while he flung his arms around Ki’s shoulders and held him tight.

A few moments later, Ki pulled himself away for needed air and a second after he opened his eyes he saw Ethan’s fist flying toward his face.

The punch landed solidly against his jaw. Ki staggered back a step, massaging his chin as he admiringly stared back at Ethan. “I deserved that.”

“But I’m sure you think I deserve that and worse. I know you want to punish me,
hurt
me for what you think is my transgression.”

“I want nothing of the sort.”

“Be honest, Ki. You can’t tell me after you heard what Lucy had to say about me, about Prentice, you didn’t think I deserve to feel some kind of pain for what I’d done and that you would be the one to dole it out.”

“I just want the truth.”

“You want an excuse to hate me so you don’t have to worry about your feelings for me and Lucy. But I understand, believe me. It’s not the first time I’ve been abandoned. It won’t be the last time.”

“Abandoned?” Ki gaped then caught Ethan by the arm as the younger man tried to leave. “Oh no, you don’t.” The last thing on his mind was abandoning Ethan. He wished he could just say to hell with everything and walk away. He couldn’t though, not now. His heart was involved.

He realized with a flash of panic that he was in love with Ethan and Lucy.

Dear God, help me!

Ethan glared at him. “You say you just want the truth, but you can’t tell me you don’t want a little bit of retribution, too, vengeance for Lucy’s friends, the people she cares about, the people you care about now, too.”

“Lucy cares about
you
,” Ki murmured. “
I
care about you.”

Ethan had worked up such a head of steam, however, Ki didn’t think the stripling heard him since he continued his tirade as if Ki hadn’t spoken.

“It’s only natural for you to hate me after what you must have heard, Ki. I understand that, believe me. The thing is you can’t hate me any more than I’ve been hating and punishing myself day and night since I returned.”

“I don’t hate you…Prentice.” Ki didn’t know why he said the name except to try to get used to it the same way he had been familiarizing himself with the deeds attached to the name. The moniker, however, left a bad taste in his mouth and the next words the stripling spoke saved him from ever having to use it again.

“I’m not that man anymore. I haven’t been in a long time. Please, call me Ethan.”

“Gladly.” Ki pulled him back into his arms, relief flooding him as he realized how much he had been dreading as much as needing the truth from the horse’s mouth and not just from Lucy’s. He realized, too, that he had already forgiven Prentice for his past and was ready to move into the future with Ethan and Lucy. “I don’t want you to leave.” He pressed his lips against Ethan’s temple. “I know Lucy doesn’t want you to leave either.”

Ethan closed his eyes and sagged against him as if he had finally reached the end of a long, arduous trip, then he said the words that Ki thought he had been longing to hear all his life.

“Will you make love to me, Ki?”

“Try to stop me.”

* * * *

Lucy didn’t get much work done at Healing Magick after Ki left, and she used the excuse of his visit to take off and leave early.

Neither Maia nor Sabrina gave her a sideways glance. Both of them just seemed to take it for granted that whatever had transpired between her and Ki behind closed doors was a good thing and that Lucy was on her way home to finish whatever amorous activities she and her husband had started in the storeroom.

Lucy should have been so lucky.

Home was the last place she wanted to go, however, and instead she found her feet carrying her to the town church.

She needed someone to talk to, but she couldn’t speak to anyone at Healing Magick about her dilemma. They wouldn’t be very pleased by what she had to say. Ki hadn’t been.

Lucy didn’t really see herself speaking to Reverend Bayless any more than she saw herself speaking to her friends, but just the idea of being in the Lord’s house gave her a small measure of peace. She didn’t know why, since it seemed as if He had never seen fit to grace her with his presence before. Of course, she hadn’t been very dutiful herself these last several years.

Lucy used to go to church with her mother regularly as a child. Her father had never seen the need and never taken her after Lucy’s mother had died. He had been too busy grooming Lucy to take her mother’s place as his domestic slave. When he had finally turned her over to Rance, she had been all too equipped to take care of a man’s every need, except that of his needs in the bedroom. The road to her sexual instruction had been an unpleasant one, but like everything else before it, she had survived.

Lucy was tired of just surviving, though. She was tired of taking things as they came at her without making any demands of her own. She was tired of hiding away from things like a scared little girl.

She sat in the front pew of the chapel for a good half hour, just staring straight ahead at the pulpit from where the reverend would give his sermon and imagined what he would say to give her the strength to do what needed to be done. She realized, though, that no matter what anyone else said—be it her friends who she admired, or the reverend with a congregation of so many who looked to him for his wisdom and guidance—she had the final say in what happened in her life with Ki and Prentice.

Decided, Lucy gathered her handbag and stood to make her way out of the pew.

When she got to the end of the bench and turned to make her way up the aisle, she bounced off of a massive male chest and automatically gasped.

“Begging your pardon, ma’am. I didn’t mean to startle you none.”

“It’s okay. I rightly should have been looking where I was going.” She had been so focused on getting out of the chapel she hadn’t even bothered to glance up. Truth be told, she hadn’t known she wasn’t alone. When she had arrived, there hadn’t been anyone in the chapel. She must have been so wrapped up in her thoughts she hadn’t heard this gentleman arrive.

“Are you all right then?”

She glanced up at him for the first time and she had to tilt her head way back to see his eyes as he towered over her, even more than Ki did. “I’m, uh, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

“Right nice to hear. You’re such a little thing and you bumped into me pretty hard.”

“You jarred me a mite, but no harm done.”

He stuck out a hand. “I’m Boone Logan.”

“Lucy Pey…Benjamin.” She put her hand in his and shook it.

“I saw your gathering over at the courthouse when you got hitched a couple of weeks ago. It must take some getting used to your new name and all.”

She chuckled, barely remembered that day and what a sight she, Ki, and their wedding party must have made. She had been so distracted that day she hadn’t known whether she was coming or going, much less noticed all the people who had attended their nuptials and had given her and Ki their well-wishes. “You’re new in town.”

“Been in town a mite.” He smiled. “I’m working over at the Westyn ranch.”

Lucy nodded. A lot of the cowboys worked for Westyn. It was one of the largest ranches in the territory. “I’ve seen you in Winchester’s a time or three.”

“It’s a right nice little watering hole.”

“It is.” She was just glad she didn’t have to work there anymore.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you there with that Cody fella the last time you were there. Right nasty business.”

“It wasn’t pleasant,” Lucy agreed. She didn’t like bad-mouthing people, even if the person in question was Cody Paxton.

“Well, if it ain’t Mrs. Fancy Pants!”

And speaking of the devil
.

Lucy and Boone both turned their attention to the entrance of the chapel where Cody staggered down the aisle, bumping into pews as he made his way to them.

It was still early yet, but Lucy wasn’t a bit surprised to see Cody was three sheets to the wind already.

Cody gave Boone a dirty look as he drew close and sneered. “What’s the matter, Lucy? The city slicker ain’t good enough for you? You romancing cowboys in chapels now?” He sniffed and looked Boone up and down.

Boone calmly returned Cody’s look. “You ought not to say things you’re going to be regretting.”

“Oh yeah? And who’s going to make me regret saying anything?”

“Eartha ain’t here to save your worthless hide, Paxton. Stand down.”

Boone’s cool, deep voice sent shivers down Lucy’s spine and instinctively she knew he was a man one would be wise not to mess with.

Too bad Cody chose to ignore Boone’s warning.

He teetered just a little too close to Lucy, bumping against her and knocking her back into the pew before Boone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

“Get your stinking hands offa me, Logan!”

Boone turned to Lucy, who had landed on her butt on the bench. “Are you all right?”

“I’m okay.” She didn’t want to admit that she was a little shaken by Cody’s attack, however intentional or unintentional it had been.

“I’m going to take the trash out of here. You try to enjoy the rest of your day, Lucy.”

“You, too, and I will. Thanks, Boone.”

“Hey!” Cody objected as Boone dragged him toward the chapel entrance.

Lucy stood and came out of the pew just in time to catch sight of Ginger McCall when she darted into the chapel past Boone and Cody.

“I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment, Mrs. Benjamin.”

Well, aren’t I the popular lady today?

Lucy wished she could say she was happy about it, but she was just plumb tired of all the to-do. Now that she had made up her mind, all she wanted was to get home, but it seemed it wasn’t in the cards for her just yet.

Resignedly, she sat back down in the pew, sliding over just enough to give Ginger room to sit down beside her.

“Is Ethan in love with you?”

Despite her looking like a mite innocent, small town girl, Ginger certainly didn’t beat about the bush, but then most folks around these parts didn’t.

“I need to know whether I should move on or not.”

“Ginger, I don’t rightly think I’m the one you should be asking.”

“I don’t know who
else
to ask. Ethan won’t talk to me.” She twisted a hanky in her hands and when Lucy looked into the girl’s gray eyes, she saw how red the whites were, probably from her crying.

She wished she knew what to say to make Ginger feel better, because unfortunately she understood exactly how the girl was feeling right then and she was sure it wasn’t fine.

“He said he loved me, that we would be together forever. He said he was going to make me his wife as soon as he finished up with some business. Then they found him shot dead and he hasn’t been the same ever since. Sometimes he acts like he doesn’t recognize me, and I get the feeling that…that my Ethan didn’t really come back at all but some imposter did.”

The girl was perceptive if nothing else.

“I don’t know what to say, Ginger.”

The girl patted her eyes with her hanky and sniffled.

“Tanner seems like he really likes you,” Lucy said, searching for a way to make Ginger move things along and get her heart and mind off of Ethan. “And he’s a nice young man.”

Ginger shrugged. “He’s okay, I guess.”

“I hate to cut this short, Ginger, but I really need to be going…” Lucy stood and motioned toward the end of the pew.

“Oh! Oh sure.” Ginger slid toward the end of the bench and stood in the aisle waiting for Lucy to join her. “I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time. But you understand. I just…” She helplessly shrugged again. “I still love him and I don’t know what to do to forget him.”