Lucy's Liberation [Elk Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Gigi Moore Read Free Book Online

stood outside the office in the main corridor of the building.
    Was she sure? Lucy hadn’t been less sure about anything in her life. In fact, she hadn’t been sure about much of anything since Rance had died and left her up a creek without a paddle. Sometimes, she felt like she was going plumb loco.
    What other reason was there for her to agree to marry Hezekiah Benjamin?
    Aside from the fact that he hadn’t delivered the most romantic of proposals, she had just gotten out of one horrendous marriage. How could she recklessly walk into another one with a relative stranger?
    Was she that desperate to get what rightfully belonged to her?
    She had slaved away the better part of seven years in Peyton’s, sometimes forced to do unmentionable things with virtual strangers. She wanted to know what it was like to be independent, to own something. She had actually earned Peyton’s. She had put just as much blood, sweat, and tears into the business as Rance had.
    Was she being too mercenary, too proud and selfish? Wouldn’t it be better to just move on, away from the saloon and all those bad memories and just start fresh?
    She didn’t want to be a quitter though. She’d felt if she turned her back on both options presented to her, she’d be quitting. She’d be letting Rance win, not that he wasn’t doing a heck of a job getting the best of her even from the grave. If it wasn’t for his daft stipulations, she would already own Peyton’s and the house, just by virtue of being Rance’s widow.
    Lucy forced herself to smile for Thayne’s sake and watched as some of the tension slowly left his body. “I’m about as sure as I’m going to get,” she said.
    Thayne smiled back at her and squeezed her shoulder. She immediately felt better at his touch. He always seemed to have such a calming effect on her and she didn’t know what she would have done without him to lean on all these months.
    He was a good and sweet man and Maia was lucky to have him.
    Thinking about the Malloys and their happy marriage made Lucy doubt her decision all the more, but she wouldn’t go back on her word. Her word was all she had, after all, and she wasn’t going to give Mr. Benjamin the satisfaction of seeing her doubt.
    What about that devoted and loving husband and the babies you wanted?
    Maybe that life wasn’t meant for her. Maybe what men like Rance and Cody and Hezekiah offered her was all she was ever going to get. Maybe being a convenient choice for some man was her fate. She could live with that. She had lived with much worse after all.
    Lucy swallowed hard at the thought that she had compromised and given up on her dreams again.
    At least with Cody she knew what she would have been getting. Granted, that wasn’t much better than what she’d had with Rance since he and Cody were rightly cut from the same cloth. She would have only had to stay married to Cody for a year in order to get everything. With Hezekiah, she knew next to nothing about the sort of man he was and she would get half of everything almost immediately if he stuck to the written agreement Thayne and Mr. Flint had just witnessed her and Hezekiah sign. On top of everything she only had to stay married to Hezekiah for six months.
    One year for everything, six months for half of everything.
    Lucy weighed the settlement in her head and she still wasn’t sure she hadn’t just run from the fire right into the flames.
    Thayne took his pocket watch out and flipped it open to check the time. “Well, if you don’t need me here for anything else, I think I’m going to mosey on over to the shop and check in on the wife.”
    Lucy chuckled at his eagerness to leave. What she wouldn’t do to have a man who wanted to be with her every hour of every day the way Thayne and Cade liked being with Maia. “I’m all right here. You go on and get to Maia. Tell her and Sabrina I’ll be there directly.”
    “Will do.” Thayne leaned in to give her a hug and Lucy heard someone clearing