At Home in Stone Creek. Linda Miller Lael

Читать онлайн книгу.

At Home in Stone Creek - Linda Miller Lael


Скачать книгу
you hungry?”

      “Yeah,” he said. “Bacon and eggs would be good.”

      Ashley raised one eyebrow. He’d barely managed chicken soup the night before, and now he wanted a trucker’s breakfast? “You’ll make yourself sick,” she told him, hiking her chin up a notch.

      “I’m already sick,” he pointed out. “And I still want bacon and eggs.”

      “Well,” Ashley said, “there aren’t any. I usually have grapefruit or granola.”

      “You serve paying guests health food?”

      Ashley sucked in a breath, let it out slowly. She wasn’t about to admit, not to Jack McCall, at least, that she hadn’t had a guest, paying or otherwise, in way too long. “Some people,” she told him carefully, “care about good nutrition.”

      “And some people want bacon and eggs.”

      She sighed. “Oh, for heaven’s sake.”

      “It’s the least you can do,” Jack wheedled, “since I’m paying triple for this room and the breakfast that’s supposed to come with the bed.”

      “All right,” she said. “But I’ll have to go to the store, and that means you’ll have to wait.”

      “Fine by me,” Jack replied lightly, extending his feet and wriggling his toes, his expression curious, as though he wasn’t sure they still worked. “I’ll be right here.” The wicked grin flashed again. “Get a move on, will you? I need to get my strength back.”

      Ashley shut the door hard, drew another deep breath in the hallway, and started downstairs, careful not to trip over the gamboling Mrs. Wiggins.

      Reaching the kitchen, she poured kibble for the kitten, cleaned and refilled the tiny water bowl, and gathered her coat, purse and car keys.

      “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she told the cat.

      The temperature had dropped below freezing during the night, and the roads were sheeted in ice. Ashley’s trip to the supermarket took nearly forty-five minutes, the store was jammed, and by the time she got home, she was in a skillet-banging mood. She was an innkeeper, not a nurse. Why hadn’t she insisted that Tanner and Jeff take Jack to one of the hospitals in Flagstaff?

      She built a fire on the kitchen hearth, hoping to cheer herself up a little—and take the chill out of her bones—then started a pot of coffee brewing. Next, she laid four strips of bacon in the seasoned cast-iron frying pan that had been Big John’s, tossed a couple of slices of bread into the toaster slots, and took a carton of eggs out of her canvas grocery bag.

      She knew how Jack liked his eggs—over easy—just as she knew he took his coffee black and strong. It galled her plenty that she remembered those details—and a lot more.

      Cooking angrily—so much for her motto that every recipe ought to be laced with love—Ashley nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice behind her.

      “Nice fire,” he said. “Very cozy.”

      She whirled, openmouthed, and there he was, standing in the kitchen doorway, but leaning heavily on the jamb.

      “What are you doing out of bed?” she asked, once the adrenaline rush had subsided.

      Slowly, he made his way to the table, dragged back a chair and dropped into the seat. “I couldn’t take that wallpaper for another second,” he teased. “Too damn many roses and ribbons.”

      Knowing that wallpaper was a stupid thing to be sensitive about, and sensitive just the same, Ashley opened a cupboard, took down a mug and filled it, even though the coffeemaker was still chortling through the brewing process. Set the mug down in front of him with a thump.

      “Surely you’re not that touchy about your décor,” Jack said.

      “Shut up,” Ashley told him.

      His eyes twinkled. “Do you talk to all your guests that way?”

      As so often happened around Jack, Ashley spoke without thinking first. “Only the ones who sneaked out of my bed in the middle of the night and disappeared for six months without a word.”

      Jack frowned. “Have there been a lot of those?”

      Jack McCall was the first—and only—man Ashley had ever slept with, but she’d be damned if she’d tell him so. After all, she realized, he hadn’t just broken her heart once—he’d done it twice. She’d been shy in high school, but the day she and Jack met, in her freshman year of college at the University of Arizona, her world had undergone a seismic shift.

      They talked about getting married after Ashley finished school, had even looked at engagement rings. Jack had been a senior, and after graduation, he’d enlisted in the Navy. After a few letters and phone calls, he’d simply dropped out of her life.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgECWAJYAAD/7RFQUGhvdG9zaG9wIDMuMAA4QklNA+0KUmVzb2x1dGlvbgAA AAAQAlgAAAABAAECWAAAAAEAAThCSU0EDRhGWCBHbG9iYWwgTGlnaHRpbmcgQW5nbGUAAAAABAAA AB44QklNBBkSRlggR2xvYmFsIEFsdGl0dWRlAAAAAAQAAAAeOEJJTQPzC1ByaW50IEZsYWdzAAAA CQAAAAAAAAAAAQA4QklNBAoOQ29weXJpZ2h0IEZsYWcAAAAAAQAAOEJJTScQFEphcGFuZXNlIFBy aW50IEZsYWdzAAAAAAoAAQAAAAAAAAACOEJJTQP1F0NvbG9yIEhhbGZ0b25lIFNldHRpbmdzAAAA SAAvZmYAAQBsZmYABgAAAAAAAQAvZmYAAQChmZoABgAAAAAAAQAyAAAAAQBaAAAABgAAAAAAAQA1 AAAAAQAtAAAABgAAAAAAAThCSU0D+BdDb2xvciBUcmFuc2ZlciBTZXR0aW5ncwAAAHAAAP////// //////////////////////8D6AAAAAD/////////////////////////////A+gAAAAA//////// /////////////////////wPoAAAAAP////////////////////////////8D6AAAOEJJTQQIBkd1 aWRlcwAAAAAQAAAAAQAAAkAAAAJAAAAAADhCSU0EHg1VUkwgb3ZlcnJpZGVzAAAABAAAAAA4QklN BBoGU2xpY2VzAAAAAGsAAAAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMlAAAB9AAAAAUAYwBvAHYAZQByAAAAAQAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH0AAADJQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAA4QklNBBQXTGF5ZXIgSUQgR2VuZXJhdG9yIEJhc2UAAAAEAAAAAThCSU0EDBVOZXcg V2luZG93cyBUaHVtYm5haWwAAA3PAAAAAQAAAEYAAABwAAAA1AAAXMAAAA2zABgAAf/Y/+AAEEpG SUYAAQIBAEgASAAA/+4ADkFkb2JlAGSAAAAAAf/bAIQADAgICAkIDAkJDBELCgsRFQ8MDA8VGBMT FRMTGBEMDAwMDAwRDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAENCwsNDg0QDg4QFA4ODhQU Dg4ODhQRDAwMDAwREQwMDAwMDBEMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwM/8AAEQgAcABG AwEiAAIRAQMRAf/dAAQABf/EAT8AAAEFAQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAMAAQIEBQYHCAkKCwEAAQUBAQEB AQEAAAAAAAAAAQACAwQFBgcICQoLEAABBAEDAgQCBQcGCAUDDDMBAAIRAwQhEjEFQVFhEyJxgTIG FJGhsUIjJBVSwWIzNHKC0UMHJZJT8OHxY3M1FqKygyZEk1RkRcKjdDYX0lXiZfKzhMPTdePzRieU pIW0lcTU5PSltcXV5fVWZnaGlqa2xtbm9jdHV2d3h5ent8fX5/cRAAICAQIEBAMEBQYHBwYFNQEA AhEDITESBEFRYXEiEwUygZEUobFCI8FS0fAzJGLhcoKSQ1MVY3M08SUGFqKygwcmNcLSRJNUoxdk RVU2dGXi8rOEw9N14/NGlKSFtJXE1OT0pbXF1eX1VmZ2hpamtsbW5vYnN0dXZ3eHl6e3x//aAAwD AQACEQMRAD8A5enqRLgylpLRoPNXMZ7g83F/6U8t1LQBwzTb/aVx/Ta7A4gAwAQTDXH4WtH/AJ8b coMxbGWmnUktkhw2ug9xs9lv9epZ/HE7OgYkDV0em5V1QNb4c+x8EnsfzY/d/NW79b+mNzPqLnUx FmLWMkFw1DqCLLP86l1qx+nYxa0bmksfGseHef3l1nUmuv8Aq31ComTbg5DJ+NNgarOM20cukg/P iSSSsLV1qfV/+k2jxrP5VlrS6CYzHjxrcnY/mDDzH81PyZv/AOUq/n+QpJEt/aLS6Zg7I/e/lf2N 6Sk/75g6f9S/7p//0ORr+tW+wenRY5/7ggj/ADQrj/rJlurLb+nusZO4EPDHD+U3bucxyLgY7MDp 7WVgbwA6x3iTzqs7qfVOoYr2h9LH12CRLJaR4eq2x3uVLghKVRgNNrLoETjG5TP0i3cS3pHU8gOb nZXSsgmXvZudLjy+3HqtpdZ/x2G/1P8AS4/+EXf4HS/rTThupd1KnqmJdU5tZJLi5j2Gv2W2N3fn f9y15PfjOd+nvw34rHe4WCSyPznLoPqV9YeuYZfTgNfm4zrWE4uQ5tdTtx2WPrybDvpu/qe
Скачать книгу