Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(36)

“Hi, Clay!” Jack held out his hand to shake. Clay introduced Lily to Jack and Adam, and smiled at Grace as she came around the front of his truck carrying little three-month-old Rose Marie.

Grace gently patted the baby’s back as she settled her against her shoulder and said, “Hi, Clay. I hope you don’t mind that I came along. I wanted to welcome Lily to Divine.”

Sure you did, little matchmaker. The twinkle in Grace’s eyes told him she knew what he was thinking.

Chuckling, he turned to Lily and made the introductions. Lily’s smile was guarded but Grace greeted her kindly like an old friend.

Grace gestured at the house. “So this is where you grew up, Lily?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Clay told us you were friends when you were all little.”

As the men talked about the house, Clay observed Grace draw her into conversation. When Grace spoke to her casually about Jack, Adam, and Ethan, Lily’s cheeks grew rosy and he could almost hear the wheels turning in her head as she pondered what their love lives were like.

Lily reached out to touch Rose Marie’s back, and Grace offered to let her hold the alert infant. Lily bit her lip hesitantly and Clay felt for her, wondering if she was recalling the sad reason for her emergency hospital stay. She nodded and carefully received the baby from Grace and positioned her in the same manner that Grace had, against her shoulder. Clay wondered if he had a sappy smile on his face as he watched her cuddle Rose Marie.

Of course that brought to mind images of her expecting a baby and having one of her own to hold and cherish. His imagination went a little wild and he pictured her in an arrangement like Grace’s. He had a feeling she’d be every bit as giving as any of the women he knew who were involved in a committed ménage relationship. He realized that he pictured himself as one of the lucky parties. It was all an exercise in frustration.

A little while later, after looking the house over thoroughly, Jack came outside with Adam and smiled. “Lily, the basic structure is rock-solid. We’ll have you back in your home before you know it.”

Clay would’ve preferred to go back to feeling sexually frustrated, as opposed to the heavy feeling in his heart that announcement created.



* * * *



One afternoon in late November, Clay sat at his workbench absentmindedly watching the security monitor. Lily stood behind a showcase, chatting easily with two men. He observed her in the monitor with increasing regularity, and if he was being honest with himself, it wasn’t solely because he was keeping an eye on the store or safeguarding her, it was because he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.

Clay enjoyed watching the excitement in Lily’s beautiful eyes as she’d taken on revamping the personal jewelry program. At times, she seemed to examine some of the pieces as a customer considering them, rather than merely as a retail transaction. Once, she’d caught him watching her and had blushed profusely. She obviously took pride in her efforts and the orders that had been stacking up were shipped by the end of that first week.

It pleased him that she took such good care of his shop and his customers. She didn’t just get by, doing her job and disappearing the moment her workday was done. She took extra care with every customer as though she were invested in the business. She always seemed comfortable talking to the people who came through his door and put them at ease in the process. She brought warmth to his showroom with her easygoing personality and sense of humor. She also seemed to be handling Tabitha just fine. Tabitha had complained to him that she was too “chatty.”

Just then she smiled, and the men responded with nods and laughter. He was taken aback by the wave of possessiveness at how comfortable they seemed talking and laughing with her. Clay scrubbed his hands over his face and groaned.

He could tell by their body language that the men weren’t flirting with her but merely conversing. She was only doing her job and they were her customers. Getting territorial in this setting was over the top but the feeling persisted. Desire for her was turning him into a cranky, jealous bastard.

He squinted at the monitor and realized who he was looking at and felt a little more foolish. He knew how those two men felt about the woman they were probably shopping for. He rose from his stool and stretched, then went out into the showroom to greet Duke Rivers and Gage Randall.

Tabitha was at lunch, otherwise she’d be having a conniption fit right then. One of the other idiosyncrasies of her job was that the occasional polyamorous group needed wedding or binding ceremony rings, which he was more than happy to create. She never missed an opportunity to communicate her righteously indignant feelings to him.