“Then that’s all that matters right now. What happened?”
He set her on her feet, but wasn’t ready to turn her loose.
“My younger brother called Merlee, told her he’d found her foreman beaten and unconscious near the chicken coop. Told her to come get Will and take him to the hospital before he died. She and the fiancé went to the farm and Armand helped them tend to Will until emergency services arrived.” He took another breath. “They shouldn’t have had to go to the farm at all, Stormy. I should’ve been there. I should’ve been there to fix this before anyone got hurt.”
“I hear you, but Merlee and her fiancé are safe, and Armand made sure Will got to the hospital where he’s recovering. Are your parents in jail?”
He snorted. “Hell no.”
“Good. That means you have time to do what you came to do.” She patted his ass. “Let’s get packed and hit the road.”
She tried to move around him, but he held her in place.
“Hey, back at that truck stop…I was all kinds of wrong. I’ve never spoken to another human being like that and I’m ashamed I started with you.” He lowered his head, making sure he held her gaze. “I promise you, I’d cut out my own tongue before I speak to you like that again.”
She was quiet for a while, then a little smile formed along the edges of her mouth. He exhaled.
“Don’t worry, if it happened again I’d rip it out for you.” She spread her fingers as if they were claws and placed her nails around his larynx. “You don’t know how close you came.”
“Darlin’, I’m always close to coming when I’m around you.”
She shook her head. “Yep, I stepped right into that one.”
This is it, Delilah thought as she stood at the front door, waiting for someone to answer.
She hadn’t rushed to Lucas’s sister’s home immediately upon arriving to Oklahoma, and that was a testament to her faith and patience. She wanted to see him; more importantly, needed to free him,
Still, instinct—honed by years of discipline and training—cautioned her to take the time to get to know her surroundings, mingle with the residents of the small town, and learn what she could about the legacy of the family she would soon join.
What she learned so far confirmed that she’d chosen well. The Beaumonts had been a staple in the community for over five decades. Between Lucas’s grandparents and now his sister, who temporarily resided and conducted business on the family farm lands, Delilah would be marrying into a respected family.
Based on the stories from both the proprietor of the clothing boutique she visited and the owners of the bed and breakfast she’d stayed in the night before, Lucas himself was a town treasure. When she had asked about the remaining members of her beloved’s family, people were more guarded, only offering that his parents and brothers weren’t a part of the community but were in town visiting. Lucas must have brought them here so the whore could weasel her way into their good graces.
She knocked on the door again, smothering her growing impatience. If the whore was inside manipulating Lucas’s family as she’d manipulated him, Delilah would need to impress them with her beauty and wit, show them that the whore wasn’t worthy of Lucas, nor the right to continue his bloodline.
The acres of fertile farmland, the regal bearing of the farmhouse—it all supported the rightness of her place here. Of course, she could only stay when the weather was tolerable; the midday heat and humidity was suffocating.
Despite the rusted tan truck in the yard, she acknowledged that there was a chance no one was home. She debated returning to her air-conditioned rental car, but knocked again, this time more insistently, attempting to maintain composure.
She’d purchased today’s outfit because of its daring style; the skirt ended two inches above the knee, and the neckline of the sage silk blouse displayed her delicate cleavage. She was sure it would be enough to entice Lucas back to her.
Jesus Christ, she thought, wiping her brow,this heat is boiling me alive. The silk would wilt upon her frame before Lucas or his family even got a chance to see it.
She prepared to return to the car, but a crash echoed inside the house, heavy feet stomped toward the door. With a swiftness and violence that caused her to reach for the gun in her purse, the front door swung open and a filthy bear of a man filled the space.
Her initial impression was that he indulged in more than one deadly sin. His eyes were mean; angry red blood vessels surrounded the murky green irises. He wore a stained white T-shirt and wrinkled black boxers, both looking as if he’d pulled them from the bottom of a dirty laundry bin. His height was nearly that of her beloved’s, and his body was thickly muscled like her beloved’s but with a dense layer of flesh that spoke of unchecked indulgence.
This could be Lucas’s future if I abandoned him to the machinations of the whore, she thought. The level of physical wreckage she witnessed in this man could only come from the destruction of spirit.
She could not allow Lucas to exist in this particular circle of hell. She would not.
“Whatcha say now, out heah tryin’ to bust ma do’! Told y’all I don’t know nothing ’bout who whooped on that old man, so less ya got dat warrant and a mind to come up missing, you best go ’head on.”
Delilah blinked, worked to filter the man’s words, to ascribe them meaning as he looked her up and down. The haze of anger surrounding him receded, only to be replaced by the pungent sent of lust. Her body reacted as if worms crawled over her.
Then he smiled.
That was her beloved’s smile, that was the way her beloved’s eyes had danced with humor and light the night they’d first lain together. The semblance stayed her desire to strike out in preemptive violence. This man was clearly an older member of her beloved’s family. Perhaps it was best for everyone involved if she offered her hand in peace and healing instead of using it to end his life. Perhaps she could even forge a new path for this man, as God in his grace had forged for her.
