Deserving Henley

DESERVING HENLEY The Refuge, Book 2 SUSAN STOKER CONTENTS Blurb Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Epilogue Also by Susan Stoker About the Author BLURB Years of adversity have molded Henley McClure into the attentive, conscientious psychologist she is today. She lives for her daughter, Jasna, and her work at The Refuge, an exclusive retreat for victims of PTSD. Her life is fulfilling…if a little lonely. But the only man who’s captured her interest, the most standoffish of the mountain retreat’s seven owners, lives in self-imposed isolation. It will take a little vulnerability on her own part, a dead car battery, and the surprising help of her daughter to break through Finn’s defenses. His Coast Guard career ended in a tragedy that ground Finn “Tonka” Matlick’s life to a halt. For years, his only solace has been the animals he tends to at The Refuge…and admiring Henley from afar. He had no plans to risk potential heartache ever again, until an incident at the retreat had him clinging to Henley like the broken man he is. The kind, patient therapist and her sweet, thoughtful daughter may be the only ones capable of putting him back together. As Finn slowly heals, and he and Henley grow ever closer, someone is watching. Waiting. Planning. Evil in the making who ultimately wants to watch the world burn, one victim at a time. And they’ll start by targeting one of the people Finn loves most. **Deserving Henley is the 2nd book in The Refuge Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2023 by Susan Stoker No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Edited by Kelli Collins Cover Design by AURA Design Group Manufactured in the United States CHAPTER ONE Henley McClure had just finished a particularly emotional group session at The Refuge, and while she was tired, she was also filled with satisfaction. That always happened when one of her clients had a breakthrough in a session. Being a psychologist was her calling, and she loved it. She worked for a thriving practice in Los Alamos, but in recent years, she’d actually reduced her hours at the office in town in order to spend more time at The Refuge. Working with the men and women who visited the nationally renowned retreat in the mountains of New Mexico was more satisfying than she’d ever dreamed. Even though she didn’t get to know her patients very well, since she usually only saw them for a few sessions, knowing she was helping them come to terms with the traumatic events they’d been through—events that had led them to The Refuge in the first place—filled her heart with gratification. She also had the highest respect for the seven men who owned and ran the retreat. They were all former military, each having gone through their own traumas, which had led them to want to help others dealing with PTSD. Of course, there was one owner she was drawn to more than the others. Finn “Tonka” Matlick had caught her eye from the first moment they’d met. Not because he was extremely handsome—which he was. In fact, all of the owners were. No…it was because of the hurt she saw deep in his eyes. One that matched her own when she looked in the mirror some mornings. Where she’d had the benefit of many more years and excellent therapy to help manage her anguish, Finn’s was still raw and visceral. He did his best to hide his pain from the world, but it was there. Lurking in the depths of his soul. In the couple years that she’d known him, Henley had never tried to talk to Finn about what had put that agony in his gaze, despite being qualified to do so. He was extremely standoffish, preferring to tend to the animals at The Refuge rather than talk to the guests, or even hang out with his friends. He’d attended many of the group sessions Henley offered to the guests, but he never contributed, never spoke about his past. Still, just having him there when she shared her own traumatic past with her patients made it a little easier to tell the tale. Seeing sorrow and empathy in his eyes made her anger and grief over what she’d endured feel just a little less sharp. But that was as deep as their relationship went. She’d actually thought maybe things between them would change after the horrible incident from two weeks ago, when a man came onto the retreat’s property with the intent of kidnapping Alaska, the girlfriend of owner Drake Vandine. During that scary event, Henley and Finn had connected on a level they hadn’t before…or at least Henley had thought so. But since that night—the night he’d cried in her arms in the barn as they protected the animals from the intruder—he hadn’t treated her any differently, which was a huge disappointment. Her only consolation was that she would swear Finn was