Free Untamed by Ciana Stone Page B

wouldn’t have been shot in the first place if not for her. That Johnny B was still out there, with more goons, and that he probably wouldn’t stop until he either got what he wanted or got revenge.
    In short, as long as she was around, Clint and Cam were still in danger.
    That realization hit her with a near physical blow. She turned and ran from the emergency room and climbed into Clint’s truck. As much as she wanted otherwise, she had to leave. She couldn’t put Clint or Cam through more, couldn’t put them in more danger.
    She drove back to the ranch, threw clothes into her duffel bag and grabbed the wad of cash she kept stashed in her underwear drawer. Despite all her protests, Clint had paid her every week for working on the ranch. She had enough to rent a car or get a flight.
    To where, she didn’t know. All she did know was that it was time to say goodbye to any hopes of a future with Clint.
    * * * * *
    “Lily!”
    Clint kicked the door closed behind him and hurried through the house, calling her name. Where the hell was she? When he’d returned to the waiting room after seeing Cam, Lily was gone.
    His truck had been missing from the parking lot and she didn’t answer her cell phone, so he’d called a cab to get home.
    When he got hom his truck was sitting in the drive but here was no sign of Lily. He went into the bedroom and stopped cold. Dresser drawers stood open, the normally tidy stacks of clothes within them jumbled.
    He noticed the closet door standing open and went to it. Her duffel bag no longer lay on the top shelf. Clint turned, looking blankly around the room. His eyes fell on the nightstand. Propped against the lamp was a folded sheet of paper bearing his name.
    He hurried to pick it up, unfolded and read.
    I can’t keep bringing trouble to your life. It’s my fault Cam got shot, and it will be my fault if Johnny B sends more of his goons. I can’t do that to you. I love you, Clint, and I’m sorry. Lily.
    Suddenly Clint’s knees went weak and he sat down hard on the bed. He stared at the note, read it again. She was gone. Lily had left him.
    * * * * *
    Lily stopped and stared at what had once been her home. Now it was little more than a charred pile of rubble. She turned off the engine of the rental car and climbed out. The silence hit her. Where was the chirps and trills of the birds, or the agitated chatter of the squirrels? It was like all life had left this place.
    The enormity of it hit her like a physical blow. How could she have destroyed something that was once so vital, alive and beautiful? How could she have let her anger drive her to something like this?
    The shame of it made her feel sick. Sure, she could blame Eddie. He’d lost the farm to Johnny B, but he hadn’t set the fire. Maybe if she’d tried harder, she could have found a way to save it.
    Maybe if she’d tried harder, she wouldn’t have ended up in Florida with Clint and his brother Cam wouldn’t be lying in a hospital recovering from a gunshot. Maybe she wouldn’t now be feeling that there wasn’t much point to her life.
    She’d fallen in love when she was a teenager and had lost that love. And when life gave her a second chance at it, she’d screwed it up. Her trouble had followed her and put the people she loved in danger.
    What the hell kind of woman was she? And what would her parents think if they could see her now?
    Thoughts of her parents brought another flood of tears. She wandered through the rubble of what had once been her home. There was nothing left but a few of the floorboards and those were charred and warped.
    The toe of her boot caught on something and she looked down. The ring for the cellar door, what was once called a root cellar. Her mother used to store the vegetables she canned in the root cellar.
    Would any of that have survived the fire?
    Suddenly it was the most important thing in the world to find out. Lily shoved and tugged, pushed and pulled the debris away from the door. She