Lucy's Liberation [Elk Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Elk Creek 2

  Lucy's Liberation

  When her much-older abusive husband, Rance, dies, Lucy Peyton believes her nightmare is over and looks forward to a new life of independence. Her hopes for a marriage of love instead of convenience, however, are dashed when she discovers the provisions of her late husband’s will and realizes that Rance is still trying to crush her, even from the grave.

  Rance’s nephew, urbane adventurer and thrill seeker, Ki Benjamin, may have just found a reason to settle down in Podunk Elk Creek when Lucy’s petition reaches him in New York.

  Prentice Teague has a lot to make up for from his former life, and he gets a chance at redemption when he’s reincarnated as Ethan Crawford. A young cowboy who fell into some dubious company before his untimely death, Ethan now is the target of a corrupt mentor determined to finish the job he started when he shot Ethan in the back.

  Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 93,201 words

  LUCY’S LIBERATION

  Elk Creek 2

  Gigi Moore

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  LUCY’S LIBERATION

  Copyright © 2013 by Gigi Moore

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-203-3

  First E-book Publication: July 2013

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  LUCY’S LIBERATION

  Elk Creek 2

  GIGI MOORE

  Copyright © 2013

  Prologue

  Elk Creek – Oklahoma Territory – 1882

  “So, do you think there’s something to what Ginger says?”

  Jed Baxter glanced at his deputy from the corner of his eyes as they traversed the outskirts of town on horseback, side by side. “We wouldn’t be out here searching if I didn’t.”

  “You know what I mean, Jed. You think Ethan was…dry-gulched?”

  “Tarnation, Wiley, I don’t know what to think, but I’m sure hoping the girl is wrong.” Jed immediately berated himself for losing his temper. He had been trying to remain nonchalant since this whole thing began. He had known it wouldn’t serve a purpose to get upset or fret, especially not in front of the girl. Ginger McCall had been a mite upset enough for everyone concerned when she’d showed up earlier at the jailhouse voicing her suspicions. She was in a state and crying about something having happened to Ethan. Jed didn’t want to let on to his deputy, however, that he was as worried as Ginger, especially when so much time had gone by without anyone, and not just Ginger, having heard from or seen Ethan.

  Jed didn’t want to have to be the one to face Clint and Kate if Ginger’s suspicions were true, but it was his job. He just hated delivering bad news to people, especially good salt-of-the-earth people like Ethan’s momma and daddy. Despite the recent falling out with them the boy had suffered, Jed knew nothing was going to stop Clint and Kate from grieving their boy if he had in truth been killed.

  “What’s that up ahead?” Wiley pointed to a well several yards away where a pair of boots was just barely visible from behind the brick face.

  Jed squinted, the dawning day providing precious little light to see by. His deputy must have eagle eyes. He knew he kept the boy around for something. “Don’t rightly know, but we’re going to find out directly.” Jed dismounted his horse, pulling his gun out of its holster as he crouched low to the ground and began walking toward the well and pair of boots.

  “Is it him?”

  Jed winced at his deputy’s loud whisper. He couldn’t rightly blame the boy. He hadn’t been on the job too long and hadn’t learned to temper his youthful exuberance and impatience. “Don’t know yet,” Jed whispered back. He moved forward slowly and steadily, worried that the sidewinder who’d dropped whoever those boots belonged to was still about and ready to drop him and Wiley. The hair on the back of his neck stood at attention with the likelihood.

  He glanced back over his shoulder to see Wiley dismounting his horse to follow him in a low crouch, approaching the well from the opposite side as Jed.

  They almost reached it at the same time, but Jed’s head start gave him a few seconds to take in the scene before Wiley arrived and paused over the body with a gasp.

  “It is him.”

  Jed grunted his agreement. From the looks of it, the boy wasn’t too long dead either. Jed reached out to confirm his suspicions, his fingers not meeting much resistance as he poked the body. Stiffness hadn’t set in and the buzzards and crows hadn’t made an appearance yet, a good sign for the condition of the body. “I reckon we’d better get him back to town so’s O’Brien can take care of him.”

  “I reckon.”

  Jed glanced up at Wiley’s solemn tone. The boy looked a mite peaked. Ethan had been about Wiley’s age, if Jed recollected correctly. He reckoned the boys had gone to school together, as well as socialized around town, so it was expected for the boy to be looking a little green around the gills a
s he did.

  If Wiley was taking on so, how in the heck was poor Kate going to take it?

  * * * *

  Kelly O’Brien had had a busy, long couple of days, first building two deluxe caskets for two of Elk Creek’s dignitaries then overseeing the details of their funerals and burials.

  Furniture building was Kelly’s business and he had parlayed it into a lucrative sideline, acting as the town’s funeral director.

  He’d always been good with his hands and loved woodworking, but he was even better with people, always knowing the right thing to say for any situation, which came in handy when dealing with the grief stricken.

  No one, however, could have foreseen Clint and Kate’s boy getting himself shot up a little more than a day after the mayor’s mother-in-law and the banker’s wife both died. That turn of events could put a strain on even the best manager.

  Despite all this, he actually looked forward to this part of his job—the quiet preparation and solitude. He didn’t have any demands to meet except to dress the deceased and see that he’d look good for the family in his casket for his proper burial in the morning. He didn’t have to deal with the mourners until tomorrow and he didn’t have to deal with his disappointed wife again until he got home. By then, she would hopefully be asleep.

  In contrast, dead bodies were so cooperative. Dead bodies didn’t talk back. Dead bodies didn’t complain or have opinions. Dead bodies weren’t full of unpleasant surprises. He knew exactly what to expect when he handled a dead body and he liked it that way.

  Kelly hopped down from the front of the wagon, carrying a suit and shoes for Ethan that he had gotten from the lad’s mother, and proceeded to unlock the double doors with the key Simon had loaned him.

  As soon as he entered the icehouse’s cavernous insides, he almost regretted leaving his coat in the wagon. He didn’t know how Simon worked out of here most days, even from an office in the back, but he supposed the owner was used to the cold.

  Kelly figured he’d probably be so busy with Ethan in the next half hour or so, he wouldn’t have time to notice the cold either. At least the lad had had the good manners to get himself shot up in early spring when it wasn’t too hot out and his body hadn’t had too much of a chance to rot before Jed and Wiley had gotten to it.

  Kelly whistled a dirge he remembered from his childhood in Dublin as he proceeded inside, walking by rows and rows of insulated ice. He finally made it to the back of the building where Ethan had been set up on a worktable in Simon’s large, well-furnished office.

  Except for the body, the room had a homey, lived-in feeling with its polished wood furnishings of two chairs, a huge desk, and filing cabinet. There was even a tall wardrobe where Simon kept a few suits on hand for those times when he didn’t go straight home at night.

  Doc Malloy had seen to cleaning and neatly wrapping the body while Kelly had been occupied with his other duties earlier, and Kelly thanked him mightily for the assistance.

  Now all he had to do was…Kelly paused on the threshold of the office and peered at the table where Ethan’s body lay. He could have sworn he’d seen the sheet move. Maybe it was the wind that had ruffled it. Of course that was it.

  Kelly took up his whistling again, placed the suit and shoes and other undergarments on a nearby wooden chair before he made his way over to the table.

  He pulled back the sheet and looked at Ethan’s smooth, young face. The lad looked right peaceful for someone who’d gotten bushwhacked and shot in the back.

  Kelly couldn’t imagine what poor Clint and Kate were going through. He knew how he’d feel if one of his wee ones turned up dead.

  He shook his head as he pulled the sheet further down. There wasn’t much damage to the body. Anyone would barely know anything was wrong with the lad if he hadn’t been declared dead by the town doc and sheriff.

  Ethan sneezed.

  “God bless, ya, la—” Kelly gawked as the body rose to a sitting position, the eyes blinking as if to bring the room into focus.

  “Why is it so cold in here?”

  “Faith and begorra!” Kelly backed away from the table, stumbling over a chair before making it to the door.

  “Hey, wait!”

  Kelly would do nothing of the sort!

  He was outside and running down the mostly empty streets before Ethan’s corpse could utter another word. He was so befuddled and shocked, he didn’t pay heed to where he was going and nearly got run down by a horse and wagon coming from the opposite direction.

  “Whoa! Whoa!”

  Kelly turned, stopped, and threw his arms up in front of his face as if that would save him.

  The horse leading the carriage stopped short, rearing up, whinnying, and blowing rollers as Thayne Malloy pulled back on the animal’s reins.

  “Doc Malloy! Oh, thank goodness it’s you.”

  “You’re lucky I saw you in time, Kelly. What in the hell are you doing running around in the middle of the street like a madman?”

  “You have to come back with me to the icehouse. Ethan…he…Oh, saints preserve us, he’s alive!”

  “Now hold on a minute, Kelly. What are you going on about?” Thayne put the reins aside and climbed down from the wagon to make his way over to Kelly.

  “I’m telling you, the lad’s alive. He sat up and asked me why it was so cold.”

  Thayne arched a brow.

  “Don’t look at me like I’ve lost my mind, Doc. Just come with me and see for yourself.” Kelly turned and headed back toward the icehouse. He stopped at the doors and turned to see if the doc was following him. “Well. What are you waiting for?”

  Thayne shrugged and went after Kelly.

  Kelly kept up a steady stream of chatter while he led the way through the storage floor as if to give himself courage before going back into the office. He was glad that someone else was by his side and could corroborate his claim. He didn’t want to be the only one going crazy around there.

  When they got to the room, Ethan wasn’t on the table.

  Kelly turned and gaped at Thayne. “He was just here. I pulled back the sheet and was just getting ready to unwrap him so that I could dress him.”

  Thayne squeezed his shoulder. “I believe you, Kelly.”

  Kelly could tell from his tone that the doc actually did believe him, which was good, since now that he had left the icehouse, he wasn’t so sure of what he had seen or heard several minutes before.

  Until he noticed that the clothes he’d brought in were no longer in the chair at the same time a sneeze sounded from across the room.

  Thayne looked at Kelly and Kelly looked at Thayne before Thayne put a hand on the butt of his gun and a finger to his lips. He motioned with his head that he was moving to the area of the room where the sneeze had originated.

  Kelly watched as Thayne tiptoed across the room and peeped around the towering wardrobe.

  Rather than pull out and point his gun, Thayne got down on his haunches and held out his hand as if talking to a wee one. “It’s all right. You can come out. We’re not going to hurt you.”

  Kelly slowly made his way around to the wardrobe and saw Ethan sitting in the corner on his heels, half clothed and violently shivering.

  “Ethan, you’re among friends,” Thayne said.

  Ethan looked from Kelly to Thayne before he…he smirked.

  “You think the shooting left him daft, Doc?” Kelly asked.

  Thayne shook his head. “I don’t know what to think, Kelly.”

  From the look on his face, however, Kelly thought the doc had his ideas.

  “W–what…” Ethan paused to clear his throat. “What shooting?”

  Thayne looked back at Kelly before answering. “You were found out by the old well, shot in the back.” He waited as if for Ethan to respond. “Do you remember anything?”

  “I n–n–need a m–m–m–mirror.”

  Thayne looked at Kelly. “Does Simon have one in here?”

  “Well, sure, there’s one inside th
e wardrobe, but…” Kelly peered at Ethan. What a barmy request to make.

  He watched while Thayne helped Ethan to his feet and quickly ran around them to open the left-hand door of the wardrobe so that the lad could take a gander at himself.

  When Ethan stood before the mirror, though, he gawked at his reflection as if he had never seen it before, raising a hand to touch his own face. It was the darnedest thing.

  “No, no, no… This isn’t happening.”

  The words left his mouth in a whisper right before the lad wobbled on his legs, staggered back, and passed out in the doc’s waiting arms.

  Chapter 1

  “Well, what do you suppose we should do with him, now that he ain’t dead?”

  “I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the reasons why he’s not dead.”

  Prentice Teague lay as still as possible, still trying to wrap his mind around what fresh hell he was in and wondering whether or not it would be wiser to continue to play possum or open his eyes before these two lunatics tried to get rid of his body.

  I am not dead. I am not dead. I am not dead.

  Of course, he wasn’t him either. He was…someone else. Some young man he had never set eyes on before. Some guy with longish dark-chocolate hair and warm, if also confused, brandy eyes—miles away from and different than Prentice’s once-familiar wheat-blond hair and hazel-green eyes. That Prentice, however, was gone. He didn’t know where or how, but he was gone and no longer of this world.

  He squeezed his eyes tight as the memories assailed him. It all came back to him in a rush then, his trip to the Summerland, his meeting with Thayne and Cade’s mother and father, their sentencing him to…to this place.