At Home in Stone Creek (Silhouette Special Edition) Read Online Free PDF Page A

low.
    Tanner shook his head, his jaw clamped down hard, as though irritated by Jack’s statement. Since he’d gotten married, settled down and sold off his multinational construction company to play at being an Arizona rancher, Tanner had softened around the edges a little, but Jack knew his friend was still one tough SOB.
    â€œThis is where you belong,” Tanner insisted. Another grin quirked one corner of his mouth. “If you’d had sense enough to know that six months ago, old buddy, when you bailed on Ashley without so much as a fare-thee-well, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
    Ashley . The name had run through his mind a million times in those six months, but hearing somebody say it out loud was like having a fist close around his insides and squeeze hard.
    Jack couldn’t speak.
    Tanner didn’t press for further conversation.
    The ambulance bumped over country roads, finally hit smooth blacktop.
    â€œHere we are,” Tanner said. “Ashley’s place.”
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    â€œI knew something was going to happen,” Ashley told Mrs. Wiggins, peeling the kitten off the living room curtains as she peered out at the ambulance stopped in the street. “I knew it.”
    Not bothering to find her coat, Ashley opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. Tanner got out on the passenger side and gave her a casual wave as he went around back.
    Ashley’s heart pounded. She stood frozen for a long moment, not by the cold, but by a strange, eager sense of dread. Then she bolted down the steps, careful not to slip, and hurried along the walk, through the gate.
    â€œWhat…?” she began, but the rest of the question died in her throat.
    Tanner had opened the back of the ambulance, but then he just stood there, looking at her with an odd expression on his face.
    â€œBrace yourself,” he said.
    Jeff Baxter, part of a rotating group of volunteers, like Tanner, left the driver’s seat and came to stand a short but eloquent distance away. He looked like a man trying to brace himself for an imminent explosion.
    Impatient, Ashley wedged herself between the two men, peered inside.
    Jack McCall sat upright on the gurney, grinning stupidly. His black hair, military-short the last time she’d seen him, was longer now, and sleekly shaggy. His eyes blazed with fever.
    â€œWhose shirt is that?” he asked, frowning.
    Still taken aback, Ashley didn’t register the question right away. Several awkward moments had passed by the time she glanced down to see what she was wearing.
    â€œYours,” she answered, finally.
    Jack looked relieved. “Good,” he said.
    Ashley, beside herself with surprise until that very instant, landed back in her own skin with a jolt. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
    Jack scooted toward her, almost pitched out of the ambulance onto his face before Tanner and Jeff moved in to grab him by the arms.
    â€œChecking in,” he said, once he’d tried—and failed—to shrug off them off. “You’re still in the bed-and-breakfast business, aren’t you?”
    You’re still in the bed-and-breakfast business, aren’t you?
    Damn, the man had nerve.
    â€œYou belong in a hospital,” she said evenly. “Not a bed-and-breakfast.”
    â€œI’m willing to pay double,” Jack offered. His face, always strong, took on a vulnerable expression. “I need a place to lay low for a while, Ash. Are you game?”
    She thought quickly. The last thing in the world she wanted was Jack McCall under her roof again, but she couldn’t afford to turn down a paying guest. She’d have to dip into her savings soon if she did, and not just to pay Brad.
    The bills were piling up.
    â€œTriple the usual rate,” she said.
    Jack squinted, probably not understanding at first, then gave a raspy chuckle. “Okay,” he agreed. “Triple it is. Even though it is the