Lucy's Liberation [Elk Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (9 page)

Though the house said money, the care that had gone into its upkeep shouted Lucy.

Ki could see her handiwork in every curio cabinet and bureau, in every table and chair, in every sofa and rug that inhabited the space, and he was thankful that they wouldn’t have to live in total and unimaginative squalor for the six months that they would remain married.

The finite time period that had seemed so reasonable when he’d made his proposition to Lucy in Mr. Flint’s office a week ago, didn’t seem nearly as attractive or long enough now.

They hadn’t even gotten married yet and he already wanted more time. He suspected six months was not nearly enough time to peel back all the layers that made up Lucy. He knew it wasn’t enough time to get to know her the way he wanted to, especially not when she was still circling and walking a wide berth around him like a wary prizefighter facing him in the ring.

If he even suggested he wanted more time or gave a hint of what he was considering he knew he would lose what little ground he had gained with Lucy. She would think he was no better than Uncle Rance or Uncle Rance’s lackey, Cody Paxton. She would think he was trying to control her the way Uncle Rance’s will had tried to, and that wasn’t his intention.

He just wanted…more.

“Sir?”

The telegraph operator was looking up at him expectantly from his seat.

Ki wasn’t sure what to tell his mother except that he was perfectly sane, still in possession of all his faculties, and he had every intention of going through with the nuptials whether she or anyone else liked it or not.

He dictated his response to the telegraph operator, sans the “whether you like it or not,” because he absolutely knew that she wouldn’t.

“Will that be all, sir?”

“Yes, I think that will be all.”

“Will you be staying to await the response?”

“I have some tasks to tend to in town. I may or not return by the end of the day but I’ll definitely return tomorrow.”

“All right, sir.”

His father had taught him one of the first rules of courtroom engagements—keep your opponent off-balance, always do and expect the unexpected.

His mother wasn’t his opponent, but he had been keeping the woman off-balance since he had been a boy. There was no need for him to change his strategy, especially not now.

Ki left the telegraph office and stepped out onto the street, blinking into the late morning sunshine. He pulled out his spectacles and slipped them onto his face. Oklahoma was proving to have some of the hottest and driest spring weather he had ever experienced. He hoped the blue lenses would help to deflect some of the sun’s glare.

The weather was actually perfect for taking a walk with one’s intended, or having a picnic under a large shady tree, preferably on the outskirts of town away from prying eyes. The problem was luring Lucy away from that infernal shop where she insisted on working and convincing her to go with him.

“Maia and Sabrina helped me out when no one else in this town wanted to give me the
time of day. I’m not going to leave them high and dry.”

Ki admired Lucy’s loyalty to her friends, but understood, too, her need to keep busy and especially doing something that she loved. He envied her that love because he hadn’t always had the luxury of indulging in pursuits just for the pleasure he derived from them. He had to grab the opportunities whenever he could and he had been doing a lot of grabbing lately, hence why most of Mr. Flint’s telegrams hadn’t reached him until well after their original transmissions.

Ki found himself standing out front of Healing Magick before he realized what his feet and legs were about.

As many times as he had visited in the last week, he never got over the thoroughly avant-garde and elegant appearance of the notions and potions shop.

The red brick structure stood out among most of the wooden buildings in town like a cultured pearl among a pile of child’s marbles. Embellished with an iron and lacework porch, it was reminiscent of the balconies in the French Quarter in New Orleans and his own home in Gramercy Park. It was as if the designer had plucked from his head a vision of The Benjamin residence in New York and recreated its simple façade elaborately adorned with ironwork to make him feel homesick.

Now that he was in front of the store, Ki thought twice about barging in on Lucy.

She had made it no secret she didn’t appreciate his visits to her places of business and he had been trying to give her space. Never mind that the other ladies’ men visited often.

Lucy told him Maia and Sabrina were the owners of Healing Magick and she was just an employee who didn’t rank the same benefits. However, Ki saw the way the other women treated Lucy and it wasn’t like just a valued employee but a valued friend and family member, one they would go to great lengths to help and protect.

Again, he felt an unfamiliar stab of envy at Lucy’s fortune to have friends she could turn to in her time of need. He admittedly had never experienced many times of need that his family’s wealth couldn’t remedy. He, however, didn’t believe he had one friend he counted on and trusted the way Lucy counted on and trusted the Malloys and Sabrina.

Ki supposed there was something to be said for a small town—though by some western town standards, Elk Creek was relatively large and thriving—where everyone knew their neighbor and was willing to help when called upon.

The Jewish community in New York was quite tight-knit as well, and about the only point of reference Ki had when it came to small town life as it existed in Elk Creek.

He could see the appeal, but knew that he would die a slow and painful death if he had to stay here longer than six months. He wondered what Lucy would say if he suggested she come back to New York with him.

He could just see her now, telling him that he’d lost his cotton-picking mind if he thought she was going to go gallivanting—her favorite word for his activities—across the country just because he asked her to.

Ki smiled at her imagined response, still wondering how he could get around her defenses and that tough attitude of hers, especially when it came to her places of employment.

Well, he wasn’t going to get anything done just standing out here and being a part of the scenery. As much as he didn’t want to risk losing her trust, he was going to have to broach some unpleasant topics with her—again.

He’d backed off when he’d seen her reaction about his suggestion to leave Healing Magick. He didn’t even want to think how she would react if he brought up Winchester’s.

Why any woman who didn’t have to would want to work in
that
establishment was beyond him. Ki suspected that Lucy in fact didn’t like working at Winchester’s the way she liked working at Healing Magick. He knew, however, that she’d dig in her heels just to be contrary and insist on continuing her employment at the saloon if he demanded she leave, which is what he
wanted
to do.

“You plan on getting a wiggle on and going in or you just going to block the entrance there, pretty boy?”

Ki shook off his distraction to turn and look at the woman standing behind him.

He recognized her from his previous visits to the shop and Winchester’s and appreciated her unabashed fashion sense. Unlike the other ladies strolling down the streets clad in their chic day and walking suits, the saloon girl had no qualms about appearing in broad daylight in her work outfit of burgundy taffeta corset and black lace skirt.

Ki doffed his hat. “Miss Morgan, how are you this fine morning?”

She smiled and her violet eyes glittered.

He noticed the very fine lines at the corners of her eyes as she fluttered her lashes and he realized that she wasn’t exactly anyone’s girl. Ki would put her in her thirties if she was a day, very well-preserved thirties, of course.

She waved her black laced fan in front of her face and twirled her matching parasol. “Rebel, please, and it’s a mite sweltering in this sun, but I suspect I’ll survive. And you, Mr. Benjamin?”

“Ki, please, and I’m well.”

“I’m sure you’ll be a mite better once you go in and see your betrothed.” She grinned.

Ki suspected that he and his proposal to Lucy were the subjects of much scuttlebutt and was prepared for whatever Rebel and the rest of her female cohorts inside had to dish out. He didn’t care what he had to brave to see Lucy.

He pulled open the door and made a sweeping gesture with his hat. “After you, Rebel.”

“Why thank you, Ki.”

He watched her sashay her way by him into the store, appreciating the rear view. He did love a woman who was well put-together, actually valued the form of a well put-together man, too. He had come across a few of the latter to tempt him to indulge that side of his nature and felt no shame in it. Out of deference to his mother, however, and the society he lived in, he was very circumspect with that side of his life, much more so than he was with his women.

“Well, look what the cat done dragged in,” Sabrina teased as Ki stepped up to the counter with his hat under one arm.

He smiled, used to her banter by now and enjoying her rambunctious sense of humor and salty tongue. “And a fine day to you, Sabrina. Is my fiancée about?”

Rebel leaned against the counter beside him grinning that catlike grin and making no move to browse or shop, if that was even her intention to begin with.

Ki half-suspected she came in just to chitchat and gossip with the other women to pass the time of day more than anything else—small town life at its finest.

Sabrina got a little twinkle in her eyes right before she responded with a vague wave behind her. “She’s in the storeroom taking inventory.”

“Would it be a problem if I went back there?”

“Not for me.”

Ki smiled and headed in the direction Sabrina pointed, leaving a chorus of girlish giggles in his wake.

Ki made it back to the room in question, opened the door and entered. He closed the door behind him before moving forward, calling Lucy’s name as he progressed into the cavernous space lined with well-stocked shelves of merchandise.

“You, Mr. Benjamin are becoming a right pest.”

Ki grinned as he turned the corner to see her standing on the fifth step of a ladder, jotting down information in a journal.

He walked over to her, determined to knock down this wall of formality she insisted on erecting around him. He could barely get her to call him Hezekiah, much less Ki, and he knew that she insisted on addressing him as Mr. Benjamin to keep her emotional distance.

She was a clever girl, but he was cleverer.

“I beg to differ, Mrs. Peyton.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I won’t call you Mrs. Peyton if you stop calling me Mr. Benjamin.”

She sighed and shook her head as she began to descend the ladder.

Ki saw her blunder a second before her foot missed the next-to-the-last rung and flew out from under her. She pitched backward and he shot out his arms to catch her before the back of her head would have cracked against the hardwood floor.

“Good Lord!” She gasped.

“A simple thank you will suffice.”

She burst out laughing and he knew it was against her will when she instantly tried to squelch her amusement. “Thank you for saving my life or at least keeping my noggin from a good knocking.”

“You’re more than welcome, but I do have a favor to ask.”

“And since you just rescued me from a fate worse than me having a right bell-ringing I will be obligated to grant it, no doubt.”

“No doubt.” Ki grinned. “I’d appreciate it if you would stop calling me Mr. Benjamin.”

Her lashes fluttered as she ducked her head and her creamy-peach cheeks flushed red. “You can put me down now,” she whispered.

“I’d actually rather not.”

She jerked up her head to look at him and his breath caught in his chest at the sight of her luminous, greenish-gray eyes staring at him.

“Ki, I’m at work. Please put me down.”

“Well, since you used my name, I suppose I can do no less than comply.”

Grudgingly he loosened his hold on her, letting her slide down the front of his body until her feet finally made contact with the floor. He instantly missed the feel of her full, soft breasts pressed against his chest and knew that his cock was making an impression against the front of his trousers. He could feel the buttons digging into his hard, sensitive flesh.

This young woman was going to be the death of him!

Just as he thought this, Lucy bent to retrieve her journal and pencil. He looked at her inviting round ass and thought of all sorts of things he wanted to do to it. Spanking and mounting it were the most popular choices crowding his already-overactive imagination.

“So, what brings you to the shop today?”

Ki cleared his throat before responding. “Can’t I just want to spend time with you?”

“Ki, our relationship isn’t like—”

“Maia and Thayne’s?” He would have added Cade, but didn’t feel comfortable enough with her to admit that he knew what the rest of the town knew about that threesome. Secretly, he admired the two men and their woman for flouting convention to follow their hearts.