At Home in Stone Creek (Silhouette Special Edition) by Linda Lael Miller Page A

careful.”
    â€œAlways,” Vince said cheerfully, and hung up.
    Jack heard a sound behind him, regretted that the Glock was hidden behind a pile of quilts in the sewing room.
    Ashley stood, pale-faced, in the study doorway.
    â€œThey’re coming here? Rachel and her mother?”
    â€œYes,” Jack said, letting out his breath. You could have shot Ashley , he heard Tanner say. A chill burned through him. “They won’t be here long—just until I can find them a safe place to start over.”
    â€œThey can stay as long as they need to,” Ashley said, but she looked terrified. “There’s no safer place than Stone Creek.”
    It wouldn’t be a safe place for long if Lombard tracked his ex-girlfriend and his daughter to the small Arizona town, but Jack didn’t point that out. There was no need to say it aloud.
    Â 
    Jack shut down the computer and retired to the sewing room.
    Knowing she wouldn’t sleep, Ashley showered, put on blue jeans and an old T-shirt, and returned to the kitchen, where she methodically assembled the ingredients for the most complicated recipe in her collection—her great-grandmother’s rum-pecan cake.
    The fourth batch was cooling when dawn broke, and Ashley was sitting at the table, a cup of coffee untouched in front of her.
    Jack stepped out of the sewing room, a shaving kit under one arm. His smile was wan, and a little guilty. “Smells like Christmas in here,” he said, very quietly. “Did you sleep?”
    Ashley shook her head, vaguely aware that she was covered in cake flour, the fallout of frenzied baking. “Did you?”
    â€œNo,” Jack said, and she knew by the hollow look in his eyes that he was telling the truth. “Ashley, I’m sorry—”
    â€œPlease,” Ashley interrupted, “stop saying that.”
    She couldn’t help comparing that morning to the one before, when she’d virtually seduced Jack right there in the kitchen. Was it only yesterday that she’d visited Olivia and the babies at the clinic in Indian Rock, had that disturbing conversation with Melissa outside the nursery? Dear God, it seemed as though a hundred years had passed since then.
    The wall phone rang.
    Jack tensed.
    Ashley got up to answer. “It’s only Melissa,” she said.
    She always knew when Melissa was calling.
    â€œI’m picking up twin-vibes,” her sister announced. “What’s going on?”
    â€œNothing,” Ashley said, glancing at the clock on the fireplace mantel. “It’s only six in the morning, Melissa. What are you doing up so early?”
    â€œI told you, I’ve got vibes,” Melissa answered, sounding impatient.
    Jack left the kitchen.
    â€œNothing’s wrong,” Ashley said, winding the telephone cord around her finger.
    â€œYou’re lying,” Melissa insisted flatly. “Do I have to come over there?”
    Ashley smiled at the prospect. “Only if you want a home-cooked breakfast. Blueberry pancakes? Cherry crepes?”
    â€œYou,” Melissa accused, “are deliberately torturing me. Your own sister. You know I’m on a diet.”
    â€œYou’re five foot three and you weigh 110 pounds.If you’re on a diet, I’m having you committed.” Remembering that their mother had died in the psychiatric ward of a Flagstaff hospital, Ashley instantly regretted her choice of words. This was a subject she wanted to avoid, at least until she regained her emotional equilibrium. Melissa, like Brad and Olivia, had had a no-love-lost relationship with Delia.
    â€œCherry crepes,” Melissa mused. “Ashley O’Ballivan, you are an evil woman.” A pause. “Furthermore, you have some nerve, grilling me about Alex Ewing, when Jack McCall is back.”
    Ashley frowned. “How did you know that?”
    â€œYour neighbor, Mrs. Pollack, works part-time in my office, remember? She told me he