Promise Canyon (Virgin River #13)(33)

She took a pull of a cold raspberry drink. "Got a date?"

"Hah. My Friday-night girl is sitting right here, and unless I missed something, we don't have plans. What has you so screwed up?"

She smirked before she said, "The vet tech."

"Ah-hah!" he said, victorious. "I knew it! Didn't I know it? I told you and you said it was the horses!"

"It's the vet tech and the horses," she corrected. "If I hadn't let myself get all hooked on the horses, I could have probably stayed away from the vet tech! Now going to see the horses means running into him and I have to figure out how to deal because I want to keep Blue and I'm trying to find a way." She leaned toward him. "The director at the community center would love to have me teach some yoga and if I did it three nights a week, I could pay her board."

"And never have time to ride her," Dane said. "Tell me about the guy."

She sat back. "He reminds me of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named."

"The teenage werewolf?" Dane asked, speaking of the heartbreaker of her childhood. "How does he remind you? In looks? In personality? His voice? His mannerisms?"

"In general," she said. "He's very tall, like the teenage werewolf, and very Native--high cheekbones, long black hair, almost black eyes. He's incredibly sexy--to me, anyway--and that's the scariest part."

"Is he nice?" Dane asked.

She sucked in her breath. "Everyone is nice at first," she said. "Yes, he's nice. And maybe the most powerful man I've ever known--that's what's so scary. That's what makes me feel like running for my life. He has a huge presence. His confidence and mastery is just... Whew!"

Dane held one of her hands. "Honey, you were a thirteen-year-old baby in a woman's body when an irresponsible but hot guy came after you. All your hormones were firing off rockets. You were too young to be smart, and you got hurt so bad that you spent the next fourteen years putting up your defenses so you'd never be tempted by a good-looking guy again." He grinned at her. "There are handsome, powerful men in this world who are also good. You should be sure about what you're dealing with before you run."

Dane was one of very few living people who knew the whole traumatic story. Want of that eighteen-year-old boy from a neighboring reservation turned Lilly into a maniac who was willing to risk anything to be with him. She sneaked out at night, didn't come home by curfew or even all night, took money from and lied to her grandpa... She was horrid; she dared anything that boy asked. She gave him her virginity. And then suddenly--and shamefully--she was pregnant. The drama of it was shattering. Grandpa went after the boy, his family, he even once loaded a rifle. In the end the boy ran, leaving the Navajo Nation for parts unknown to escape being tied to Lilly. She lost the baby before the third month. Grandpa packed up the house and moved them to California. She remembered him saying, "It's not too late for you to turn your life around, Lilly. Not too late for you to be different than your poor, wasted mother."

And by God, she had!

"You are not that little girl anymore, Lilly," Dane said to her now. "You're an educated adult and if he isn't a good man, you'll kick him to the curb."

"What if I give him a chance and it gets me really hurt, like the last time?"

"Annie McKenzie will shoot him."

That made Lilly smile. Annie probably would. "He asked me out."

"And you said?"

"That I had a boyfriend..."

"Aw, God," Dane said, rolling his eyes. "I feel dirty, I feel used...."

"And he actually kissed me. Grabbed me and kissed me. And I liked it. And then I told him if he ever did that again, we couldn't even be friends. So the jerk forced me to agree to friendship, that's how sneaky he is. And how dense I am!"

"I have suggested counseling for this reason," Dane reminded her. "It's time to move on, Lilly. Time to leave the teenage misery in the past and get on with life. I know you think you want to be an old spinster with a feed store, but that'll never work for you. It's the coward's way out and when you're fifty you'll hate yourself for not giving a relationship and family a chance."

She gave him a weak smile. "I could make a life with you," she told him. "I love everything about you. Why can't you just marry me?"

"We would have fun, wouldn't we?" he asked, grinning at her. "But in the long run we probably wouldn't have sex."

She put her elbow on the counter and leaned her head into her hand. "Why do you have to be g*y?"

He shrugged. "I was looking for a challenge."

Seven

Clay was standing in the aisle of the stable between the stalls, broom in one hand and cup of coffee in the other, when Annie and Nathaniel walked into the barn arm in arm.

"Good morning," he said to them. "You two going to be around today?"

"I am," Annie said.

"I probably will," Nate said. "Unless I get called out. Why?"

"I don't want us to act as if we've discussed or planned this, but if you're around here today there's something I think you should see. Something pretty remarkable. Yesterday Lilly rode Streak. Just a few laps around the round pen, but I was surprised he let her on him at all. She was brilliant."