A Stone Creek Collection, Volume 2

by Linda Lael Miller

  “Well,” Jack commented, “that went well.”

  “Shut up,” Ashley said.

  Jack let out a magnanimous sigh and spread his hands.

  Ashley went to the cupboard, got out two plates, set them on the table with rather more force than necessary. “You,” she said, “are complicating my life.”

  “Are you talking to me or the cat?” Jack asked, all innocence.

  “You,” Ashley replied tersely. “I’m not getting rid of the cat.”

  “But you are getting rid of me? After that orgasm?”

  “Shut up.”

  Jack chuckled, pressed his lips together, and pretended to zip them closed.

  Ashley served the crepes. They both ate.

  All without a single word passing between them.

  After breakfast, Jack retreated to the study, and Ashley cleaned up the kitchen. Melissa called just as she was closing the dishwasher door.

  “It wasn’t the cat,” Melissa said, first thing.

  “Duh,” Ashley responded.

  “I mean, I thought it was, but I’m probably catching cold or something—”

  “Either that, or you’re allergic to Jack.”

  “He’s bad news, Ash,” Melissa said.

  “I guess I could take up with Dan,” Ashley said mildly. “I hear he’s looking for a domestic type.”

  “Don’t you dare!”

  Ashley smiled, even though tears suddenly scalded her eyes. She was destined to love one man—Jack McCall—for the rest of her life, maybe for the rest of eternity.

  And Melissa was right.

  He was the worst possible news.

  CHAPTER 6

  “I’m going out to Tanner and Olivia’s after work today,” Melissa said. “Gotta see my nephews in their natural habitat. Want to ride along?”

  By the time Melissa left her office, even if she knocked off at five o’clock—a rare thing for her—it would be dark out. Ardith and Rachel would surely arrive that night, and Ashley wanted to be on hand to welcome the pair and help them settle in.

  She’d already decided to put the secret guests in the room directly across from Jack’s; it had twin beds and a private bathroom. Jack would surely want to be in close proximity to them in case of trouble, and the feeling was undoubtedly mutual.

  “I didn’t sleep very well last night,” she confessed. “By the time you leave work, I’ll probably be snoring.”

  “Whatever you say,” Melissa said gently. “Be careful, Ash. When the sex is good, it’s easy to get carried away.”

  “Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” Ashley replied. “Have you seen Dan lately?”

  Melissa sighed. “We’re not speaking,” she said, with a sadness she usually kept hidden. “The last time we did, he told me we should both start seeing other people.” A sniffle. “I heard he’s going out with some waitress from the Roadhouse, over in Indian Rock.”

  “Is that why you’re considering leaving Stone Creek? Because Dan is dating someone else?”

  Melissa began to cry. There was no sob, no sniffle, no sound at all, but Ashley knew her sister was in tears. That was the twin bond, at least as they experienced it.

  “Why do I have to choose?” Melissa asked plaintively. “Why can’t I have Dan and my career? Ash, I worked so hard to get through law school—even with Brad footing the bills, it was really tough.”

  Ashley hadn’t been over this ground with Melissa, not in any depth, anyway, because they’d been semi-estranged since the day of their mother’s funeral. “Is that what Dan wants, Melissa? For you to give up your law practice?”

  “He has two young sons, Ash. The ranch is miles from anywhere. In the winter, they get snowed in—Dan homeschools Michael and Ray from the first blizzard, sometimes until Easter, because the ranch road is usually impassible. Unless I wanted to travel by dogsled, I couldn’t possibly commute. I’d go bonkers.” Melissa pulled in a long, quivery breath. “I might even pull a ‘Mom,’ Ashley. If I got desperate enough. Get on a bus one fine afternoon and never come back.”

  “I can’t see you doing that, Melissa.”

  “Well, I can. I love Dan. I love the boys—way too much to do to them what Delia did to us.”

  “Mel—”

  “Here’s how much I love them. I’d rather Dan married that waitress than someone who was always looking for an escape route—like me.”

  “Have you and Dan talked about this, Melissa? Really talked about it?”

  “Sort of,” Melissa admitted wearily. “His stock response was, ‘Mel, we can work this out.’ Which means I stay home and cook and clean and sew slipcovers, while he’s out on the trail, squiring around a bunch of executive greenhorns trying to find their inner cowboys.”

  “How do you know that’s what it means? Did Dan actually say so, Melissa, or is this just your take on the situation?”

  “‘Just’ my ‘take’ on the situation?” Melissa countered, sounding offended. “I’m not some naive Martha Stewart clone like—like—”

  “Like me?”

  “I didn’t say that!”

  “You didn’t have to, Counselor.” A Martha Stewart clone? Was that how other people saw her? Because she enjoyed cooking, decorating, quilting? Because she’d never had the kind of world-conquering ambition Brad and Melissa shared?

  “Ashley, I truly didn’t mean—”

  Ashley had always been the family peacemaker, and that hadn’t changed. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt my feelings, Melissa,” she said gently. Oh, but you did. “And maybe it is time I had a little excitement in my life.”

  With Jack around, excitement was pretty much a sure thing.

  Out-of-the-stratosphere sex and a drug dealer bent on revenge.

  Who could ask for more?

  There was a smile in Melissa’s voice, along with a tremulous note of relief. “Kiss the babies for me, if you see them before I do,” she said.

  Ashley hadn’t decided whether or not she’d make the drive out to Starcross Ranch that day. It wasn’t so far, but the roads were probably slick. Although she had snow tires, her car was a subcompact, and it didn’t have four-wheel drive.

  “I’ll do that,” she answered, and the call was over.

  Jack, she soon discovered, was in the study, working on potential websites for the bed-and-breakfast. He was remarkably cool, calm and collected, considering the circumstances, but Ashley couldn’t help noticing that his nondescript cell phone was within easy reach.

  She went upstairs, cast one yearning look toward her bed. Climbing into it wasn’t an option—she might have another wakeful night if she went to sleep at that hour of the day.

  Using her bedside phone, she placed a call to Olivia.

  Her sister answered on the second ring. “Dr. O’Ballivan,” she said, all business. Olivia had taken Tanner’s name when they married, but she still used her own professionally.

  Olivia was managing marriage, motherhood and a career, at least so far. Why couldn’t Melissa do the same thing?

  “You sound very businesslike, for someone who just went through childbirth twice in the space of ten minutes,” Ashley said.

  Olivia laughed. “That’s modern medicine for you. Have twins one day, go home the next. Tanner hired nurses to look after the babies round the clock until I’ve rested up, so I’m a lady of leisure these days.”

  “How are they?”

  “Growing like corn in August,” Olivia replied.

  “Good,” Ashley said. “Are you up for a visitor? Please say so if you’re not—I promise I’ll understand.”

  “I’d love to have a visitor,” Olivia said. “Tanner’s out feeding the range cattle, Sophie’s at school, and of course the day nurse is busy doting on the two new men in the
house. Ginger isn’t in the mood for chitchat, so I’m at loose ends.”

  Ashley couldn’t help smiling. Ginger, an aging golden retriever, was Olivia’s constant companion, and the two of them usually had a lot to say to each other. “I’ll be out as soon as I’ve showered and dressed,” she said. “Do you need anything from town?”

  “Nope. Loaded up on groceries over the weekend,” Olivia answered. “The roads have been plowed and sanded, but be careful anyway. There’s another snowstorm rolling in tonight.”

  Ashley promised to drive carefully and said good-bye.

  She tried to be philosophical about the approaching storm, but for her, once Christmas had come and gone, snow lost its charm. Unlike her siblings, she didn’t ski.

  The shower perked her up a little—she used her special ginseng-and-rice soap, and the scent was heavenly. After drying off with the kind of soft, thick towel one would expect a “Martha Stewart clone” to have on hand, she dressed in a long black woolen skirt, a lavender sweater with raglan sleeves, and high black boots.

  She brushed her hair out and skillfully redid her braid.

  Frowned at her image in the steamy mirror.

  Maybe she ought to change her hair. Get one of those saucy, layered cuts, with a few shimmery highlights thrown in for good measure. Drive to one of the malls in Flagstaff and have a makeover at a department-store cosmetics counter.

  Jazz herself up a little.

  The trouble was, she’d never aspired to jazziness.

  Her natural color, a coppery-blond, suited her just fine, and so did the style. The braid was tidy, feminine, and practical, considering the life she led.

  On the other hand, she’d been wearing that same French braid since college. Spiral curls, like Melissa’s, might look sexy on her.

  Did she want to be sexier?

  Look how much trouble she’d gotten herself into with the same old hairdo and minimal makeup.

  Quickly, she applied lip gloss and a light coat of mascara and headed downstairs. Pausing in the study doorway, she allowed herself the pleasure of watching Jack for a few moments before saying, “I’m going out to Olivia and Tanner’s. Want to come along?”

  Jack turned in the swivel chair. “Maybe some other time,” he said. “I think I’d better stick around, in case Vince shows up with Ardith and Rachel sooner than expected.”

  Ashley didn’t know who Vince was, though she had caught the name when she accidentally-on-purpose overheard Jack’s phone conversation with Ardith the night before.

  “Did he call?” She wanted to ask Jack if he was feeling ill again, but something stopped her. “Vince, I mean?”

  Jack nodded. “They’re on their way.”

  “No trouble?”

  His gaze was direct. “Depends on how you define trouble,” he replied. “Ardith has a husband and two other children besides Rachel. She’s had to leave them behind—at least for the time being.”

  Ashley’s heart pinched. She knew what it was to await the return of a missing mother. “Aren’t the police doing anything?”

  “They were willing to send a patrol car by Ardith’s place every once in a while. Under civil law, unless Lombard actually attacks or kills her or Rachel, there isn’t much the police can do.”

  “That’s insane!”

  “It’s the law.”

  “The husband and the other children—aren’t they in danger, too?” Wouldn’t the whole family be better off together, Ashley wondered, even if they had to establish new identifies? At least they’d have each other.

  “The more people involved,” Jack told her grimly, “the harder it is to hide. For now, they’re safer apart.”

  “A man like Lombard—wouldn’t he go after the rest of the family, if only to force Ardith out into the open?”

  “He might do anything,” Jack admitted. “From what I’ve seen, though, Lombard is fixated on getting Rachel back and not much else. Ardith is in his way, and he won’t hesitate to take her out to get what he wants.”

  Ashley hugged herself. Even inside, wearing warm clothes, she felt chilled. “But why is he so obsessed? He wasn’t around when Rachel was born—he couldn’t have bonded with her the way a father normally would.”

  “Why does he run drugs?” Jack countered. “Why does he kill people? We’re not dealing with a rational person here, Ashley. If I had to hazard a guess at his motive, I’d say it’s pure ego. Lombard is a sociopath, if not worse. He sees Rachel as an object, something that belongs to him.” He paused, and she saw pain in his eyes. “Do me a favor?” he asked hoarsely.

  “What?”

  “Don’t come back here tonight. Stay with Tanner and Olivia. Or with Brad and his wife.”

  Ashley swallowed. “You think Lombard’s coming—Here?” She’d known Jack thought exactly that, on some level, but it seemed so incredible that she had to ask.

  “Let’s just say I’d rather not take a chance.”

  “But you will be taking a chance, with your own life.”

  “That’s one hell of a lot better than taking a chance with yours. Once I figure out what to do with Ardith and Rachel, make sure they’re someplace Lombard will never find them, I’m going to draw that crazy son-of-a-bitch as far from Stone Creek as I can.”

  “This isn’t going to end, is it? Not unless—”

  “Not unless,” Jack said, rising from the chair, approaching her, “I kill him, or he kills me.”

  “My God,” Ashley groaned, putting a hand to her mouth.

  Jack gripped her shoulders firmly, but with a gentleness that reminded her of their lovemaking. “I’ll never be able to forgive myself if you get caught in the cross fire, Ashley. If you meant it when you said you loved me, then do what I ask. Take the cat, leave this house, and don’t come back until I give the all clear.”

  “I did mean it, but—”

  He brushed her chin with the pad of his thumb. “I understand that you come from sturdy pioneer stock and all that, Ashley. I know the O’Ballivans have always held their own against all comers, faced down any trouble that came their way. But Chad Lombard is no ordinary bad guy. He’s the devil’s first cousin. You don’t want to know the things he’s done—you wouldn’t be able to get them out of your head.”

  Ashley stared into Jack’s eyes, so deathly afraid for him that it didn’t occur to her to be afraid for herself. “When you went looking for Rachel in South America,” she said, her mouth so dry that she almost couldn’t get the words out, “that wasn’t your first run-in with Lombard, was it?”

  “No,” he said, after a long, long time.

  “What hap—?”

  “You don’t want to know. I sure as hell wish I didn’t.” He slid his hands down her upper arms, squeezed her elbows. “Go, Ashley. Do this for me, and I’ll never ask you for another thing.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she told him.

  He leaned in, kissed her forehead. Took a deep breath, seeming to draw in the scent of her and hold it as long as possible. “Go,” he repeated.

  She agonized in silence for a long moment, then nodded in reluctant agreement. She’d wanted to meet Ardith and Rachel, but maybe it would be better—for them as well as for her—if that never happened.

  “You’ll call when you get to your sister’s place?” Jack asked.

  “Yes,” Ashley said.

  She turned away from Jack slowly, went back upstairs, packed a small suitcase.

  She didn’t say goodbye to Jack; there was something too final about that. Instead, she collected Mrs. Wiggins and set out for Starcross Ranch, though when she arrived at Tanner and Olivia’s large, recently renovated house, she left her suitcase and the kitten in the car.

  The last thing the Quinns needed, with new babies and incubators and three shifts of nurses already in res
idence, was a relative looking for a place to hide out. After the visit, she would drive on to Meg and Brad’s, ask to spend the night in their guesthouse.

  Although she knew she’d be welcome, Brad would want to know what was going on. After all, she had a perfectly good place of her own.

  Lying wouldn’t do any good—her brother knew Jack was there, knew their history, at least as a couple.

  She would have to tell Brad the truth—but how much of it?

  Jack hadn’t asked her to keep any secrets. Given the situation, though, he might have thought that went without saying.

  Tanner stepped out onto the porch as she came up the walk. He smiled, but his eyes were filled with unasked questions.

  Ashley dredged up a tattered smile from somewhere inside, pasted it to her mouth. “Hello, Tanner,” she said.

  “Jack called,” he told her.

  Ashley stopped in the middle of the walk. A special system of wires kept the concrete clear of ice and snow, and she could feel the heat of it, even through the soles of her boots.

  “Oh,” she said.

  He passed her on the walk without another word. Went to her car, reached in for the suitcase and the kitten.

  “I was going to spend the night over at Brad and Meg’s,” she said, pausing on the porch steps.

  “You’re staying here,” Tanner said. “It’s not as though we don’t have room, and I promise, the dogs won’t eat your cat.”

  “But—the babies—Olivia—the last thing you need is—”

  Beside her now, Tanner tried for a smile of his own and fell short. “Brad and Meg will be over later, with the kids. Melissa’s stopping by when she’s through at work. Time for a family meeting, kiddo, and you’re the guest of honor.”

  Curiously, Ashley felt both deflated and uplifted by this news. “If it’s about giving up Jack, you can all forget it,” she said firmly.

  Tanner didn’t respond to that. Somehow, even with a protesting cat in one hand and a suitcase handle in the other, he managed to open the front door. “Olivia’s in the kitchen,” he told her. “I’ll put your things in the guestroom. Cat included.”