Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(91)

“Not at all. I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow if we’re going to be gone all weekend, so I understand.”

But I’d stay up all night with you if that’s what you wanted.

Lily rose from her chair at the table and hesitated. He caught her hand and twined their fingers and waited while she seemed to have trouble putting the right words together.

“I feel guilty that you’re sleeping in your recliner.”

Drawing her hand to his lips, Del replied, “Don’t. I slept there most nights before you came. It’s no bother.” Lifting his eyes to hers, he added, “You know where I’ll be if you need me though.”

Lily’s lips parted as if she wanted to speak again, but she bit her lip and then nodded. He stroked her palm and released her hand. He knew why she hesitated but was powerless to do anything that wouldn’t make her feel guilty when she was forced to reject the idea of him joining her in bed.

Damn that tattoo!

He rose from the chair and looked into her eyes as she whispered, “Good night, cowboy.” She tried to hide it, but he could sense her disappointment.

With an index finger tucked under her chin, he tipped her head up and kissed her gently. Her shuddering sigh brushed his lips, and he flicked his tongue at her lower lip and nibbled it lightly as he sank his fingertips into the silky strands of hair at the nape of her warm neck.

He released her lips and looked into her expressive golden-brown eyes. “We have time, Lily Bell. There’s no need to rush.” His cock tingled as if reminding him that it disagreed.

Looking more disappointed than she probably realized, Lily nodded. “You’re right, I know. Good night.”

He’d just drifted off to sleep later that evening when he was awakened by a strange noise.





Chapter Twenty-Two




Del rose from the recliner and padded on silent feet down the hall. As he approached the open bedroom door, he could hear her panting breaths. He looked at the bed, illuminated in moonlight. This time Lily wasn’t sleeping peacefully. Her rapid breathing sounded desperate. Frantic.

He grimaced at the low, despairing moan that came from her as she lay still under the sheets and blankets, obviously fighting her demons in her sleep. He knew that powerless feeling. Unable to move, to fight, to flee, or even scream.

Without further inner debate, he went to the bed and sat down beside her. She moaned again, sounding like a trapped animal. Knowing the desperation to take action in a dream and feeling immobilized, he stroked her bare arm and shoulder. She didn’t calm and seemed to grow even more fearful in her dream.

It registered after a few seconds of stroking that her skin was bare. Feeling like a bastard as his cock hardened while he soothed her, he drew the sheet aside and saw that her upper chest was bare. She’d gone to bed naked.

He looked over and saw her gown and robe on the end of the bed. What must she have been thinking as she slipped from them with the bedroom door open, before climbing into his bed nude? The thought stiffened his cock even further as he caressed her arm again.

She shifted in the bed, finally able to move, and he knew what was coming. As the paralysis of deep sleep left her, the ability to move and react returned to her. He could hear both pain and fear in each panting breath.

Let it out, Lily Bell. Let it out for both of us.

Her hands clenched into fists, she fought the covers, took a deep gulping breath, and screamed until his eardrums vibrated. She kicked at the covers as though she were fighting an attacker, flinging them aside and scissoring her legs as though she were trying to gain purchase and jump from the bed.

He turned the switch on the lamp so she would not awaken in the dark and be even more terrified. To keep her safe as she fought, he anchored her hips to the bed and that was when he looked down and saw the dark tattoo inked into her otherwise beautiful body. In the dim light he could also make out the faint line of an old scar beneath her left breast. He hazarded a guess that it was from a knife wound.

He tucked his chin into his chest to stifle the deep growl that threatened to erupt at such heinous marks on this gentle, loving woman. He placed his hand over her warm abdomen and wished there was a way to make the tattoo disappear so she’d never have to see it again.

Sobbing loudly she fought his hands, exhaled as though she were drowning, and let out a desperate-sounding, drawn-out wail. “No! Oh, God! No!”

His ears rang with the sound of her anguished cry.

She suddenly froze, and her eyes opened, moving wildly, probably unsure if she was still dreaming or was now awake. She focused on him, then the lamp, then looked horrified when she realized where his hand lay, atop the brand of her ex-husband.

Her head flopped back to the pillow, and he felt her shudder under his hand as a great heaving sob erupted from her throat.