Promise Canyon (Virgin River #13)(74)

"She's my ex-wife, Lilly, and her horse was hurt. She didn't realize that so much had changed since I left L.A."

"That's basically what she said when I met her," Lilly said, crossing her arms over her chest. "That the divorce was a technicality, that she came up here to spend a few days with you...if I knew what she meant."

"You met her?" he asked, clearly stunned. "When--"

"When I delivered feed. I was going to take Blue out, and there she was, waiting for you. Oh, let me be clear--she said she was waiting for her husband! She told me she arrived yesterday, that the two of you spent some time together!"

"A half hour, tops," he said, stepping toward her. "She might have had the idea she was going to be with me, but I told her to park her trailer on the back pasture road and I left the clinic to be with you. Isabel is used to getting what she wants. Now she'll have to get used to something else. I don't have a relationship with her anymore, Lilly."

"No?" Lilly asked. "If it's nothing then why didn't you say anything about her arrival last night?" She shook her head as tears sprang to her eyes. "You told her you'll love her forever, Clay. What do you take me for?"

She turned toward her Jeep, but he grabbed her arm and turned her back. "We have had a complicated relationship and what you heard isn't what you think."

She shook his hand off her arm and put both hands on her hips. "I think I heard you tell her you'd always love her. And that doesn't sound complicated. That sounds very direct and to the point. It also sounds like exactly what you told me a few days ago."

Manny had been standing on the loading dock and two more men who worked in the feed store joined him there, all three watching Lilly and Clay.

"Not as a husband or lover, but as a friend who will care about her and be there for her when I can. Lilly, let me follow you home. Let me tell you about my relationship with Isabel and why I'd say something like that. Let me explain how that doesn't threaten what we have...."

She put up her hand. She gave her head a shake. "She didn't look like the kind of woman who needed a friend. She's beautiful and rich. I'm sure she has plenty of friends. There might be a real shortage of hot Native men with thick black hair down to their butts, however." And a working man's callused hands that are still soft and sweet on a woman's skin. "She seemed very sure that she'd find what she wanted here. Why don't you hurry on back to the clinic so you can continue the conversation?"

"I sent her home, Lilly. What you heard--it was a complete misunderstanding. We have to talk!"

"I don't have to do anything," she said in a fierce whisper. She glanced at the loading dock and saw that now Yaz had joined the men watching them. "And nothing is exactly what I intend to do. And I'm doing it alone. If you're half as smart as you seem, you'll give me space."

"You don't want an explanation," he accused. "You want to be angry."

"Oh, you're wrong! I don't want to be angry or hurt or disillusioned, so I'll do this for you--while you leave me alone, I'll think very, very hard about whether I want to take a chance on a man whose ex-wife thinks their divorce is merely technical! I'll let you know what I decide."

"She deliberately misled you, Lilly. She's a spoiled, self-centered woman."

Lilly turned and took a step toward him. "Look into my eyes, Clay," she said softly. "Did she deliberately mislead me into believing that there was still a relationship after your divorce? Or is that true?"

"Isabel assumed too much. Part of the reason I moved here was to be sure that was ended for good. And when I met you--"

It was like a sucker punch to the gut, and Lilly winced. It was true. It hadn't been a couple of years; he'd barely left his wife. Yet he hadn't told her that. She turned away from him again.

"Don't do this, Lilly. Don't walk away like this."

She opened the door to her Jeep. "Move your truck or I swear to God, I'll ram it!"

There was a part of her that wished he'd hold fast and refuse to move his truck, even though ramming it would have been beyond ridiculous. First of all, his truck was far bigger than her little vehicle and the bumper was huge; only Lilly would sustain damage and probably injury. And second, it would prevent her escape, and she needed to get away from him. She drove away from the feed store as though hornets were after her.

She could see him following her in the rearview mirror. If he dared follow her home, he'd live to regret it! She watched him closely as they came to the intersection where she would normally go right and he would go left. She held her breath as she made her turn. And as she watched him go the other way, she sucked in her breath in a jagged gasp. Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God!

This can't have happened to me again, was all she could think. I've been in love exactly twice in my entire life and both times I'm betrayed? Left in pain? This can't have happened to me twice!

There was no possible way she could eat; her head began to pound and she knew it was from the effort she put into not shedding a tear over him. But she bolted both the front and back door so he couldn't enter, put on her opera CDs, shut her eyes and tried to drive the image of him making love to her from her mind. She barely slept.

The next day she called her grandfather and excused herself from work on account of the flu.