Promise Canyon (Virgin River #13)(69)

It had stopped working when her vulnerability and weakness took over. A man would naturally want to protect her and take care of her, until that job became so overwhelming it was suffocating.

Isabel was ten years older than Clay, but she looked ageless. She had been thirty-eight when they'd met, forty when they'd married, and although she'd never been married before, she had a long history of very bad relationships with men. Cheating men, abusive men, greedy men. And who could blame her for falling for them? That was the man her father was and women so often marry the male role model they worship, and she did worship Frederik. On another level, she hated him, but that had taken a long time for Clay to understand.

The first few times Clay had encountered Isabel, she'd just triumphed in horse shows and she was radiant. Then one time she'd lost, and he'd found her broken and despondent, not from the loss so much as her father's abusive disappointment. Frederik was a demanding, egotistical ass. His wife had left him when Isabel was small and he'd never treated his daughter with an ounce of gentleness. He'd tried to train her into a tough horsewoman. When she won, he lifted his chin and walked away as if she'd simply done as he expected; when she lost, he berated her as though she was a complete failure. She craved her father's attention and approval, but it was hard for her to get both simultaneously with one accomplishment. Any attention he showed her was negative; his approval was too rare.

Because of the way Clay was raised, because of the way Tahoma men regarded the women in their lives, this injustice purely broke Clay's heart.

Generally, when Clay worked for anyone, he tried to stay in the background unless his specific skills were called upon; he never pushed his way into the personal lives of his employers or their families. But after he congratulated her for her wins and consoled her for her losses, Isabel began to seek him out. He gave her the emotional support she so desperately craved. And after about a year of brief meetings, she seduced him.

"Your father will fire me for this. Or kill me," he had said before succumbing to the seduction.

"No, he won't. He only cares about the horses, not who I dally with."

It had taken Clay a very long time to learn and accept that truth, and to understand that even though they'd married, Frederik still considered him a mere dalliance. While Isabel was so like a hurt little girl, he gravitated toward her, prepared to offer comfort. Eventually, he could see that she needed so much more--a partner who could give her the kind of insight he had, a person who could tell her whether the training was working or if the horse would be a good candidate for a certain race or type of competition. He could help her win more often. But by the time he actually understood the complexity of her relationship with Frederik, he had married her, pledged his life to her. The marriage was at her insistence and with her hardheaded father's partial blessing.

Partial because Frederik had said, "There'd better be a prenup! I'm not going to have some blacksmith part me from my money!"

Clay had shrugged and answered, "Aside from my wage, I don't want anything from you."

But Isabel fought her father and said, "No! Clay said he doesn't want the family money and that's good enough for me!"

It was years before Clay understood--every decision Isabel ever made was in reaction to her sick and alienating relationship with Frederik. Isabel might indeed have loved Clay, but she had married him to rankle Frederik, to get his attention. And while Clay thought he should have been angry with her for putting him in the middle of that twisted relationship with her father, instead he felt profound pity. He knew how needy she was, how much she hurt, and he did all he could to reassure her.

But that relationship was unhealthy for both of them and had to stop sometime.

"Leave Diamond with me, Isabel. I'll give her a workup and have Nathaniel look at her. He might recommend an MRI...."

"I brought the films," she quickly supplied.

"Excellent. Leave them with me and come back tomorrow. We'll have a full report and recommendation."

"Leave?" she asked. "Can't I stay here?"

"You mean, park your trailer here?" he asked with a lifted brow.

"No, I mean...can't I stay with you?"

"We're divorced, Isabel."

"That didn't seem to matter to you before," she said, smiling very shyly for a forty-four-year-old woman wearing a hundred thousand dollars' worth of upkeep.

"It matters now, Isabel. I've met a woman I care about. I don't think she'd appreciate a little ex-wife maintenance."

She stiffened and glowered, insulted. Apparently, the truth angered her, even though that was clearly the reason she was here. Isabel wanted to get laid, preferably by someone she trusted. If this visit had really been about the horse, she would have sent a trainer or at least had a hand drive her. Isabel didn't usually take off on long trips alone, pulling a trailer. In fact, Clay realized, he might not find a problem with the horse at all.

"I won't cross that line," he said to Isabel. "I wouldn't have done it to you and I won't do it to her."

"I see," she said curtly. "Well, now. So, will it insult your new woman if I park my trailer on the property?"

He tilted his head and peered at her. He couldn't believe there was still more to learn about her after all this time, but sure enough--she was behaving exactly as her father would. Frederik would cajole what he wanted and if he didn't get it, he'd throw a little temper tantrum, and people would scramble to please him.