Page 7 of The Sheriff & the Nurse

She yanked on the door and thankfully he released it. He stepped back as she pushed the start button, grinning as if he’d won already. Driving away as quickly as she could, she did not look back.

The ride home was excruciating. She was trapped, scared, and angry. She’d barely escaped from the slime, but she’d have to face him in the near future. How could she get Dr. Hampshire to leave her alone?

Her hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly, her neck ached and her knuckles turned white. She shook each hand out as she raced along roads lined with trees. The normally familiar and beautiful forest was dark and spooky looking in the deepening evening gloom.

She should call Daisy, but if she did, she’d end up spilling everything she’d kept hidden for so long. Daisy was feisty; she’d want to go to war for Lily, tell Mom, Dad, Rose, and Bennett the truth, and upset everyone.

No. She had to stay strong.

She turned on the radio, but it didn’t help much. Flipping through stations, she settled on Sirius XM’s The Highway station. She loved country. It reminded her of Clint.

Clint. Had she really claimed she was engaged to him? She rubbed at her aching neck. Talk about letting her inner desires manifest themselves. What was she going to do?

She tried to focus on the words of the country song playing.

She gave me her hand, I gave her a ring

Then as soon as I could, I gave her my last name

Groaning, she wished Russell Dickerson’s “God Gave Me a Girl” was her and Clint’s song and story. But it couldn’t be. He’d told her himself:You … me … it’s a no.

No way could she call Clint up and beg him to be engaged to her.

She finally pulled onto the dirt road that led to her family’s ranch. Since her sister Rose had won a million dollars on a reality television show sponsored by the deceased and angelic Mercedes Belle and married the gentle giant retired Major Bennett Mason, the ranch had expanded a lot. They’d updated the cabins and bunkhouse for the refugees. Bennett had built a house for him, Rose, Tyler, and Jack, their adopted teenage sons, and his mama when she wasn’t home in Alabama. Lily and her younger sister Daisy had fixed up one of the older cabins on the property, but now Daisy was finishing her PT schooling at Texas A&M.

Lily liked living alone. Except nights like tonight when fear consumed her. Her fingers zinged with sharp prickles and her eyes darted around as she parked her car on the gravel in front of her cabin.

What if he followed her and attacked her? Okay, maybe that was dramatic. She had no idea what Dr. Hampshire might do, but she feared it would be something diabolical.

She hurried up the steps to the small porch, relief filling her as the exterior light flickered on. Once she was inside with the dead bolt turned, she could finally relax, pray hard, and come up with a solution. She wasn’t due back at the hospital until Saturday. Two days off. She’d deal with Dr. Hampshire then. Somehow. Maybe it was time to confide in her dad or Bennett or … Clint.

No. She and Clint were a no. She could not believe that she’d thrown his name out there as the man she was engaged to.Repressed longings for certain. And Dr. Hampshire hadn’t even bought it.

She pulled the key out of her purse, but as she lifted it to the door, she realized the door wasn’t latched.

What?

Her eyes widened and she backed up. She’d locked her front door when she left early yesterday morning. She felt safe on the ranch with Bennett in charge of security and her parents’ home only a couple hundred yards through the trees, but her sister Rose had been attacked in the bunkhouses by a security guard and there was always the lingering threat of Dr. Hampshire in the background.

Pulling her phone out of her purse, she swiped it open and then clicked on the phone app. She dialed 911 but didn’t push send. She wasn’t calling emergency services because her door was slightly ajar and risk having the sheriff himself show up.

A thrill went through her that counteracted the fear of her door being open and a possible intruder lurking inside. Sheriff Clint Coleville. She could cuddle into that enticing chest. Tell him she needed him to protect her and to pretend he loved her. What would that look like?

Focus,she demanded herself. Should she go investigate? Should she wait in her car and see if somebody came out her front door? She could have Bennett come check it out. No intruder could win against the former Green Beret Major and gentle giant who was her favorite, and only, brother-in-law.

No. She wasn’t waiting, and she wasn’t involving Bennett. She’d hidden this problem successfully for years. None of her family knew about the stress of Dr. Hampshire and she wanted to keep it that way. Her parents thought the doctor was a hero. So gross.

She was sick of Dr. Hampshire and his mind games, sick of being afraid.

Please help me, she begged heaven above.

Standing tall, she lifted the small canister of pepper spray on her key chain and twisted the cap to arm it. Her finger trembled on the button as she shoved hard on the wooden front door. It swung wide. She darted her hand inside and flicked on the light switches. Looking around, her stomach pitched and then dropped. Nobody sprung out at her, the house wasn’t trashed, but a huge sign, white butcher block paper with precise black writing, hung over the fireplace mantle with balloons attached. She’d think Rose or her mom had made it to celebrate something if not for the words printed neatly on it:

It’s time to choose, Lily Lillywhite.

Dump your boyfriend or I slit his throat.

We’re meant to be together.

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