Lucy's Revenge [Divine Creek Ranch 15] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  “Who?” Lucy had one guess.

  “The secretary of our church. We joined there only in the last year or so. The pastor is a delight, but the secretary…not so much. Anyway, she felt it was her duty to inform George about the terrible mistake Patrick was making. The picture she painted was shocking.”

  “May I interrupt?”

  “Certainly.”

  “The stories she’s spreading all over town are all lies.”

  “So, you’ve never been to jail for lewd conduct?”

  “What? No!” Lucy tried to keep her voice down.

  “Mr. O’Malley doesn’t have several out-of-wedlock children?”

  “No.”

  “You’re not all having sex together?”

  “Can I clarify that one?”

  Mrs. Owen’s eyes got a little bulgy but she nodded.

  “Mrs. Owen—”

  “Please, call me Amelia.”

  “Amelia, I am in love with your son and I adore your grandson. But I also love Beck,” she added without hesitation.

  “And Beck loves Patrick? George nearly had a conniption fit when Tabitha told him that Patrick is gay.”

  Lucy smiled. “Patrick is not gay.”

  “You know what the funny thing is? I wouldn’t have cared if he was. I raised my son to be a loving, caring person, and to see past color, creed, or orientation. How I managed that is a minor miracle considering his father’s views on the subject. He’s from a different generation and very set in his ways. Did I mention that?” she asked with a sparkle of humor in her eyes. “So that’s how it is?”

  “I love both of them. And they both love me. We all love PJ and see him as Patrick’s son no matter whose blood runs in his veins.”

  “Well, then all of my questions have been answered.”

  “They have?”

  “Yes. Now, there is the matter of this silly lawsuit that George has threatened to bring against Patrick. I’ll deal with that, Lucy. I just needed to know what type of woman you are. I would gladly have cared for Patrick Junior but I think he’s better off with you. You have more energy than an old woman like me,” she added with a chuckle. “One time, when he was about two, I actually had to extricate him from a hanging light fixture, using a stepladder. I still have no idea how he got up there. His father was the same way.”

  “So Patrick’s father never planned to sue his son for custody?”

  Amelia nodded with big eyes. “Oh, yes. He did. I have no idea what he thought he was going to do if he won. He would never be able keep up with that boy on his own.”

  “On his own?”

  “Oh yes. I intend to tell him that if he proceeds with that ridiculous lawsuit that I plan to leave him and move to Atlantic City.”

  “Atlantic City?” Lucy asked, unable to hold back a giggle.

  “Yes. I plan to gamble. And find me a younger man. A gigolo. I have my own money and I could do it.”

  Lucy blinked, her eyes attempting to picture this slight, demure woman at the craps table with a younger man to cater to her whims. She giggled some more.

  Amelia giggled with her. “What? I could do it. Now you know who Patrick gets his kinky side from.” They shared a good, cathartic laugh. “Anyway, I just wanted to get to know you, so I could decide what course of action to take. I’m meeting George for lunch and I plan to tell him how the cow ate the cabbage, and high time, too.” She squeezed Lucy’s hands.

  “Amelia, regardless of what happens with Atlantic City, I want you to know that you’re always welcome to come visit.”

  “Are you all three living together now?”

  “It’s complicated. No, not really, but we’re at Patrick’s house a lot because of PJ. He’s our first priority. Beck and I both have our own places and responsibilities. Beck is a beekeeper and has his bee colonies to tend. I think it would be problematic for him to leave where he lives. I suppose we’ll deal with that issue…when the moment seems right.”

  “Oh, I can imagine. Well, I know it’ll all work out somehow. I’m so glad you didn’t turn out to be a pervert, Lucy. I think I already knew you weren’t, as I do not care for that Lester woman and all her gossip. She loves to talk and spreads rumors about other nice people, too, not just you. I think some people aren’t happy unless they’re making everyone around them miserable. I believe you’d make a fine daughter-in-law. As far is Beck is concerned, to each his own, and I imagine I could come to love him as a son, too.”

  “That sounds wonderful, Amelia. As far as I know, there are no wedding bells ringing right now.”

  Amelia grinned and pointed at her. “Then I’m predicting them, my dear.”

  “Did you really call and ask for the appointment just to talk to me today?”

  Amelia scoffed and shook her head. “Oh no! I want the massage. Whatever you have time for. I have a lot of tension in my shoulders, as you can well imagine. And a pain in my neck.” She grinned. “His name is George. Stubborn old goat.”

  They shared another laugh over that. Lucy ran through her first-time-appointment checklist with Amelia, to find out about any health issues or problem areas, and then they proceeded with the appointment.

  While Lucy was out in the hallway, waiting for Amelia to disrobe, Tamara came to her.

  “I heard you laughing so I guess everything is okay?”

  Lucy smiled and nodded as she leaned against the doorjamb of her tiny office. “Yes, Tamara, it’s perfect. You’re leaving at eleven for the dentist, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “I should be done by then,” Lucy said as she softly tapped on the massage door and slipped back into the room, winking at Tamara before she closed the door.

  The massage turned out to be just what Amelia needed and she was walking on a cloud when she left Lucy’s spa later that morning, carrying a shopping bag filled with Beck’s beeswax body products.

  Tamara checked out at eleven and Lucy was tidying her desk when she saw the little light blinking on her phone, indicating a phone message had been left for her. She dialed into her voice mail account to listen to it.

  “Hey, Juicy Lucy. It’s Beck. I have the honey you wanted me to bring by the Retreat. If it’s okay with you, I’ll swing by there right after Patrick and I are done with a meeting at the Dancing Pony. I meant to tell you about it this morning but you had your hands full with PJ. Once we have more details I can tell you all about what’s going on. Anyway, I love you, and I’ll see you later.”

  She was just finishing up checking e-mails when her phone vibrated in her hand and began ringing with an incoming call.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s Summer. Listen, is there any way I can send someone over there, like right now?”

  “Who is it?”

  “Remember Emily Anne Bancroft from Lusty?”

  “Yeah, but it depends on the time. My schedule is kind of booked after lunch. Is she coming from your place now?”

  “Yeah. Is that okay?”

  “Sure. Is an upper body massage okay?”

  “She’s not coming for a massage. She said she really wants to talk to you.”

  “Me? What about?”

  “Chloe Rhodes. Emily Anne’s men are there in Divine at a meeting and she’s supposed to meet them for lunch so she wouldn’t stay too long.”

  Shit! “Why does she want to talk to me about Chloe Rhodes?” She hated the hard tone she used with Summer. What could Emily Anne possibly have to tell her about Beck’s ex that would make any difference to her at all?

  “It sounds like they’re close friends. She doesn’t seem the type to interfere unnecessarily. I think you should hear Emily Anne out, honey.”

  “Beck is happy, Summer. If Chloe is planning on coming back to Divine—”

  “Whoa. I don’t think you have to worry about Chloe coming back. I don’t think Emily Anne wants to cause any trouble. Just hear her out?”

  Lucy agreed to the meeting and Summer promised to send Emily Anne right along.

&nbs
p; * * * *

  Beck was eager to know how he and Patrick could help to apprehend Baxter. Based on surveillance of Baxter, Ethan and the investigators expected Baxter to stop in to the Dancing Pony for his usual early happy hour beers after running a predictable set of errands around town.

  It seemed simple. All they needed were his fingerprints, which Ethan planned to provide to them off of Baxter’s beer glass. They were momentarily distracted by a delivery at the back door but Ethan mentioned that Corinna was handling it so that they wouldn’t be interrupted.

  Out of curiosity, Beck said, “I’m confused. How’s getting his fingerprints going to help us? You said he couldn’t be charged because of the statute of limitations.”

  Mel answered the question for him. “It eliminates supposition. So that we know for certain the man we are dealing with is Ralph Baxter.”

  Connor nodded and said, “That’s only going to be our first step.”

  Patrick said, “You want him to implicate himself in the murder of that lawyer. That’s what you’re going after him for. Not for theft or misdirection of funds.”

  Mel said, “That’s right. And if we can’t do it by the book, we’ll be sneaky and underhanded.”

  “Sometimes you do what you gotta do,” Kemp said. Then he smirked. “Remind me to tell you a story sometime about duct tape.”

  Beck leaned forward, fighting an outward show of eagerness. “Is that why we’re here? To do something sneaky and underhanded?” Sign me the fuck up.

  Mel nodded. “In a way. First we positively identify Smith as Ralph Baxter. Then, the next time he’s in town, we need to keep him here beyond the time he usually spends running his errands. We have to come up with a stalling tactic so Connor can work his magic.”

  “It will take me at least as long as he’s usually here in town to search his house,” Connor said. “When I planted those bugs, I was just in and out. But I also want to cover the outbuildings. Hell, it would probably take me at least a half hour to pick all the locks of the sheds he has out there.”

  Looking between Connor and Ethan, Beck said, “Sheds? What kind of sheds?” Is the guy a hoarder, too?

  Ethan explained that Baxter had numerous sheds built on the property over the years. Jack Warner, his business partner in their horse ranch, had been the contractor on the work, and he shared what Jack had been able to recall about the structures. He also mentioned that Adam Davis, their other partner, had also been out to do A/C repairs on a few occasions. It seemed Smith had followed him around like a watchdog guarding a bone stash.

  Beck said, “Smith, or Baxter, sounds like a man with a reason to worry about people snooping around. Maybe you’ll find the reason why when you go out there. It’d be good if Chloe and her sister could get some justice.”

  “What are you going to do if you don’t find anything?” Patrick asked.

  Connor shared a significant look with Mel and then Ace and Kemp. All three men smiled and Ace nodded. The investigator was probably looking for approval that they could be trusted with the “inadmissible in court” methods they planned to employ if push came to shove. Connor rubbed his hands together and gave Beck a look that said he really enjoyed his job. “Let me tell you what Mel and I have come up with, just in case all else fails.”

  * * * *

  Lucy spent the next few minutes while she waited for Emily Anne clearing e-mails and listening to her other voice mail messages. Her day was full and she wasn’t really sure why but she dreaded this meeting. Emily Anne was very nice. Lucy just feared whatever it was that she was planned to tell her about Chloe.

  Memories of Beck from back on Valentine’s night came to mind. She clenched her jaw until it hurt remembering the desolation in his eyes and the pain he’d been in. He was healed now from all of it and Lucy wanted it to stay that way.

  “He’s mine and she’s not getting him back, I don’t care how sweet she is,” she murmured to herself. “She can be all kitten hugs, puppy kisses, and glittery unicorns, but I’m not giving him up for her or anyone else.”

  The voice mail Beck had left earlier came to mind. He’d told her in that sexy-as hell-baritone of his that he loved her.

  Where has all my self-confidence gone? Of course I’m keeping him. Same as he’s keeping me.

  Between her visit with Amelia Owen and hearing Patrick’s story from his mother’s perspective, and now revelations to come about Chloe Rhodes, Lucy wanted off the drama train for a while.

  She shook her head as she pulled out the appointment book and noticed that the morning appointment was still erased and blank. As she filled in Amelia’s name she saw movement outside in her peripheral vision. Emily Anne approached the door, looking adorable in her summer outfit. The petite woman exuded caring and Lucy couldn’t help but be happy to see her. She pushed open the front door and looked around her as the front door bell rang.

  Noting the uncertainty in her pretty eyes, Lucy smiled to let her know that she didn’t have claws bared and at the ready. Emily Anne smiled back as she wrung her hands together.

  “Hi, Lucy. Thanks for seeing me.”

  “Summer thought it would be a good idea if we talked. I agreed for a couple of reasons. I realize that I may have seemed rude to you when we met. I’m sorry for that. I had the feeling at the time that I made you nervous. I’m very sorry if I did. It wasn’t intentional.”

  “Oh, no, you didn’t. Well, not directly. It was all me. You looked so confident and…I guess queenly. I told Summer that my first impression of you was of a beautiful Amazon.”

  “Wow.” Lucy’s cheeks bloomed with heat at that notion, especially considering how she’d viewed herself until recently. “You just made my day.”

  “I hope you don’t think I’m pandering. I have a habit of saying what I think—especially lately. It changes you when you find a couple of men who love you beyond all reason, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, I think it really does.” Curious to know Emily Anne’s story, and a little more open to what she had to share with her, Lucy leaned against the reception counter. “Summer said you wanted to talk to me about Chloe Rhodes, and that I should listen to what you have to say. Would you like to go and grab some lunch?”

  “I’d love to, but my men are waiting for me at the Dancing Pony. They’re having a meeting there.”

  That was an odd coincidence. Lucy became even more curious about the meeting Beck had mentioned in his voice mail message. “Beck and Patrick are there, too, I think. Does that meeting have to do with Chloe?”

  Her concern must’ve shown in her face because Emily Anne immediately spoke up, waving a dismissive hand. “Not in the way you think. When she and her sister were kids, they lost their parents in a tornado. The man who had been their dad’s business partner and charged with the duty to see to the estate, stole it. The Lusty Town Trust hired Mel and Connor—those are my men—to see if that man—Ralph Baxter could be tracked down. Not that he can be charged with that, although I don’t think there should be a statute of limitations when it comes to crimes where kids are the victims.”

  “I agree with you there. But why are they having the meeting here, in Divine?”

  “Because they’ve traced Ralph Baxter to Divine. Anyway, what I wanted to say was, when you think of it, it’s a full circle, you know? Chloe was here and now she’s in Lusty.” Emily Anne stopped speaking, obviously gathering her thoughts. “When Chloe and her sister went to foster care, they were separated. Carrie ended up in a home where the parents were raising a little sociopath. He abused Carrie, and when he got out of prison he came looking for her. If Chloe hadn’t been there, he might have succeeded in his horrible plan. But she was, and because she’d been prepared, she was able to save the life of Sheriff Kendall. She had to kill that awful sexual predator to do it, and even though the man deserved killing, it was a hard thing for her to deal with afterwards. But Grant and Andrew were there to help her through it. I believe with all my heart that those two firefighters were meant to be hers.”


  Lucy had to admit, it made it much harder to dislike Chloe Rhodes for what she’d done to Beck, knowing what she’d gone through as a child, not to mention having to kill someone, even if they were in need of killing. Lucy couldn’t imagine what that must’ve been like for her. She sensed that Emily Anne felt a great need to get what she was saying out of her, so she kept quiet and let her continue.

  “When I first met Chloe, it was just after she came to town. Did you know that she is an esthetician, and massage therapist, too, just like you?”

  “Yes, Beck told me a little about her.”

  “Yes, she’s self-employed and has her own place, too. She wouldn’t have anything to do with those two Jessops at first. She was still pretty broken up about having to say no to Beck. She told me that she simply hadn’t loved him enough to say yes, and that it would be worse to accept his proposal and then have it all go to hell in a year or two. I didn’t really understand that at the time, because I had been dumped by my boyfriend a month before and I was still stinging—convinced that no one would ever love me.”

  “Beck was more than badly hurt, he was a mess. Even when I was falling for Patrick, and he insisted that Beck, who was always around, was a good guy, I couldn’t figure out why he was so surly, so—” A dry laugh escaped her. “He was a bastard at times. And then came Valentine’s Day.”

  “Chloe called him to tell him she was getting married. I know. That was the day her men proposed to her.”

  “Yeah. I think that was the moment he went into a free fall, because until then he had hopes she would come back to him. He was devastated.” Recalling again the sight of him sprawled on the muddy ground with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s at his side made her heart hurt. A tear tracked down her cheek and she softly swore as she swiped at it. She’d been determined to not get emotional.

  “Chloe isn’t a bad woman, Lucy. She just wasn’t the woman for Beck. But I think you are.”

  Not a bad woman? Who lives with a man, shares his bed, pretending to love him and then abandons him when he proposes to her?