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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426885891 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Steeple Hill Books |
| Publication date: | 12/27/2010 |
| Series: | Serenity Bay , #2 |
| Sold by: | HARLEQUIN |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Sales rank: | 736,865 |
| File size: | 688 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Ashley shoved open the door of her Vancouver condo with her crutch and hobbled inside, absorbing the stale odor of a place too long uninhabited. She let the door swing closed behind her, made sure it was locked, then concentrated on inhaling deep breaths.
She was home. She was safe.
The mail sat neatly stacked on a side table, thanks to her little farther into the room.
All she really wanted was to run. Which was sad when she'd spent so much time and effort dealing with her panic attacks, making this her safe haven. The accident with Kent had only proven what she already knew—there was no safe place. As if to emphasize that point, the fear that had assailed her in the elevator a few moments ago now ballooned and wouldn't let go.
The phone rang. "Ash?" Piper's familiar voice soothed her fractured nerves. "I thought you'd be coming home today. How are you feeling?"
"Battered and bruised, Pip. My ankle's weak so I'm on crutches for a couple of days. But I'm okay." Would she ever be okay again?
"And Kent?"
"Walked away without a scratch. It was my side of the sportscar that was hit." She debated whether to explain, then decided there was no point in pretending. "He kept going faster, though I begged him to stop. He told me he could handle it, that he knew what he was doing with such a powerful car. He lied about that. He lied about everything."
"Oh, Ashley. I'm so sorry."
She couldn't handle the rush of sympathy. Not now. Not today.
"I'm not," she said steeling herself against the pain she knew would follow the words. "It wasn't me he really wanted. It was the money. It's better it happened now, before we're married, than finding out two years down the road."
"Yes, it is," Piper agreed quietly. "When do you go back to work?"
"I don't. Ferris let me go when I had to cancel out of the exhibition."
"The rat! You couldn't help the accident."
"I should never have believed Kent when he said he knew how to drive a race car. He admitted at the hospital that he'd never even been inside one before."
"Yes, but—"
"Ferris was in a tight spot with the gallery expansion and he was depending on me to help. Being in the hospital because I was stupid and let myself get talked into something isn't an excuse."
"I suppose Kent left the bill for that car for you to pay, too, didn't he?" Piper waited a second then groaned. "Oh, Ash. The greedy—" "Believe me, it was a cheap escape. Anyway I don't want to talk about him, Pip. I'm tired." Ashley leaned against the wall, rubbed the throbbing spot at the side of her head. "I guess I need to rest."
"Then as soon as you feel up to it, you should come here. The autumn colors are always gorgeous around the Bay." Piper's voice changed, softened. "Cathcart House is made for visitors.You know that. Think of it—you could sleep in every morning, take long walks when you're better, think about your next move. You could even help me plan my wedding. Or you can just relax if you want. Please say you'll come."
Piper sounded so happy, so at peace with her world. Ashley swallowed a tinge of envy.
"I should really be looking for a job, Pip."
"Don't tell me you've emptied your grandfather's trust account already? You were supposed to be recuperating in that hospital, not buying stuff online."
Piper and Rowena were the only two people Ashley would allow to tease about her recent inheritance. Piper's taunt brought back happy memories of other times they'd shared in Serenity Bay.
"You're awfully quiet, Ash. You'd better fess up. Just how many pairs of shoes can one woman buy?" Piper demanded.
"Since you're the queen of shoes, you tell me." Ashley glanced down at the scuffed and dirty sneakers she'd worn home from the hospital. Looked like she'd have to go shopping. She wanted no lingering memories—of Kent or the accident. "Ash?"
"I'm here," she murmured. "Just thinking."
"Why not come visit me?" Piper pushed.
Ashley could picture exactly how Serenity Bay would look. The water always seemed darker, deeper in autumn. The sky switched to a richer shade of cerulean. The hills cloaked their rolling sides in the finest burnt orange, fiery red and forest green.
And the people—she doubted many of them would know about her broken engagement, even though Serenity Bay was
"Rowena's coming down for the Labor Day long weekend," Piper wheedled. "We'd have a chance to reconnect."
The last weekend of summer. It was too tempting. "Okay I'll come," Ashley agreed. "But just for a few weeks. I want to work, Pip. I don't want to be one of the idle rich."
The snort of disbelief carried clearly down the line. "Like that would happen, Ms. "Frenetic Pace' Adams. When can I expect you?"
Ashley glanced around. There was nothing to hold her here. "A week—no, two. The doctor said I'll need a few days for my ankle to strengthen. It will take me about five days to drive there. Say, two weeks from today?" she suggested.
"Yes!" Piper cheered. "I can hardly wait."
"Listen, I know you're busy. I don't want to interfere with your work there, or get in your way."
"You won't. The busiest part of the summer is over. It went better than we could have imagined. Now if I could just get my winter plans to work."
"Winter plans?" Ashley yawned, suddenly tired.
"You're exhausted. I can tell." Piper chuckled. "Never mind my brilliant ideas. I'll tell you all about it when you get here. Go rest, Ash. Dream of all the things we'll do together once you get here."
"Yes. It'll be great." But she didn't hang up. Instead Ashley clung to the phone, needing to share what lay so heavily on her heart. "What's wrong with me, Pip?" she finally whispered.
"Absolutely nothing," her friend stoutly insisted. "You just made a mistake."
"Two of them. I thought I knew Parker. And yet I had no idea that he was in love with someone else."
"He should have said something earlier." Piper's voice wasn't forgiving.
"I should have listened better."
"Does it matter now? Your engagement to Parker only lasted a couple of days before you learned the truth and cor-rected things. It's not your fault. He wasn't honest about his feelings for someone else."
"Maybe. But what about Kent? I thought I could trust him. I thought he was everything I wanted in a husband." She hated saying it out loud. It sounded so silly, but why deny the truth when Piper knew it anyway. "All he wanted was my money, Pip."
"I'm sure that isn't so. But even if it is, he's gone now. You're starting over."
"Yes." She chewed her bottom lip. "Don't tell anyone, okay, Piper?"
"About the engagements?" Piper's soothing tones did wonders for Ashley. "Of course not. No one will care anyway. One look at you and the men will be knocking down my door."
"I doubt that." She chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then admitted what was really on her mind. "I suppose people asks about it."
"I can almost guarantee that someone will. After all, your dad lived here till he died. Some of the old folks will remember him, and you. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing if that's all it is. But sometimes when people find out about it they change, ask me to do things, insist I help them. It can be rather scary." She felt silly admitting that but it was the truth. "Last week a woman who said she knew my grandfather came into the gallery and asked me to pay for her son's rehab. I was lucky Ferris came back from lunch early but even then he had to call the police to make her leave. I've been on tenterhooks ever since, hoping she won't accost me on the street."
"I'm sure no one here will do that. Mostly I've found that people here are as friendly as you are. Just like when we were kids. The only thing is I've already told Jason about Kent and all the rest," Piper soothed. Her soft voice brimmed with hap-piness. "We don't have any secrets."
"Jason's okay. You trust him, so I do, too."
"Yeah, I do trust him. Totally. Which is why I can hardly wait to marry the man."
"I'm happy for you, Pip."
They discussed how long it would take to drive from Van-couver to the cottage country two hours north of Toronto.
"It's an awfully long drive to make alone, Ash."
"It's the only way. I can't fly. Last time was horrible." Piper sighed. "I was hoping you were getting over those panic attacks."
"Some days I think I am. Then something happens and it starts all over again."
"That's an even better reason to come to the Bay. You know you're safe here."
Not quite true, but Ashley wasn't going to get into it. She promised to call Piper every night she was on the road, then hung up. Because her ankle ached she sank onto the sofa she'd bought with her first paycheck, the one Kent hated so much—the one she loved because to her the pale-blue suede said home. She gazed at her watercolor of Serenity Bay.
Would she be safe there?
She was older now, had learned how to take precautions. Therapy had helped her deal with the panic attacks. But most importantly, he wasn't there anymore. She'd been back to the Bay several times and never once had she seen the man who'd grabbed her that spring afternoon so long ago.
Thinking about him made her anxious, so Ashley closed her eyes and let daydreams of happier times take over—until the familiar nightmare cut in. Then she rose and changed into her nightgown. From the vial in her purse she took out one of the sedatives that would guarantee a deep, dreamless sleep and swallowed it.
Snuggled into bed, she refocused on Serenity Bay and the good times she'd once found on its shores.
Michael Masters gazed at the cherubic face of his sleeping daughter. Tatiana was so small, yet she held his heart in that grubby little fist.
He touched a fingertip to the cloud of hair as dark as his own, felt the silken texture of one fat curl wrap against his skin. He'd never imagined he would experience weak knees and palpitations all because of one four-year-old girl.
Lest he disturb her afternoon nap, he tiptoed from the room, monitor in hand. If she made a squeak he'd be back in here in three seconds. But he hoped she'd nap for an hour, long enough that he could get some work done.
His studio, if you could call it that, was at the back of the house, far from her room. It was an addition roughly thrown together, a place to work in his spare time.
Spare time. Ha! A joke. There was never any spare time, not since Tati had whirled into his life.
Michael stepped inside the room, breathed in. Pine, spruce, cedar—they mingled together into a woodsy blend that made his fingertips itch to get to work. Once he'd checked the volume on the monitor, he set it on his work table, picked up the oak piece he'd begun two weeks ago and grabbed a chisel. In his mind he visualized what he wanted to create, then set about releasing the face from the wood, bit by hardened bit.
He was almost finished the left side when it dawned on him that he'd heard nothing from Tatiana's room. He glanced at his watch, blinked.
Two hours? Tati had never slept that long in all the time she'd been with him, no matter how he tired her out.
He set down his chisel, touched the wood with one scarred thumb, then placed the carving on the table, too. As he made his way quietly through the house he chastised himself for not being a better father. Maybe Serenity Bay wasn't the best place for his daughter to grow up. Sure, his mom was here and she'd gladly offered all the mothering one small grand-child could want, but Serenity Bay was the back of nowhere. There was no ballet school or children's theater here. Maybe Tati was missing out on something.
He pushed open the door of her room, ready to tease her awake.
His heart dropped like a stone.
The bed was empty.