Mrs. Wiggins leaped up onto a slipper chair near the fireplace and curled up for a long winter’s snooze.
Carefully, Ashley removed the tiara that held her veil in place and set the mound of gossamer netting aside. She stood in front of the bureau mirror and fluffed out her hair with the fingers of both hands.
Her cheeks glowed, and so did her eyes.
The door opened softly, and Jack came into the room, no tuxedo jacket in evidence, unfastening his cuff links as he walked toward Ashley. Setting the cuff links aside on the dresser top, he took her into his arms, buried his hands in her hair, and kissed her thoroughly.
Ashley’s knees melted, just as they always did.
Eventually, Jack tore his mouth from hers, turned her around, and began unfastening the buttons at the back of her dress. In the process, he bent to nibble at her skin as he bared it, leaving tiny trails of fire along her shoulder blades, her spine and finally the small of her back.
The dress fell in a pool at her feet, leaving her in her petticoat, bra, panty hose and high heels.
She shivered, not with fear or cold, but with eagerness. She wanted to give herself to Jack—as his wife.
But he left her, untucking his white dress shirt as he went. Crouched in front of the fireplace to light a blaze on the hearth.
Another blaze already burned inside Ashley.
Jack straightened, unfastened his cummerbund with a grin of relief, and tossed it aside. Started removing his shirt.
His eyes smoldered as he took Ashley in, slowly, his gaze traveling from her head to her feet and then back up again.
As if hypnotized, she unhooked her bra, let her breasts spill into Jack’s full view. His eyes went wide as her nipples hardened, eager for his lips and tongue.
It seemed to take forever, this shedding of clothes, garment by garment, but finally they were both naked, and the fire snapped merrily in the grate, and Jack eased Ashley down onto the bed.
Because of her pregnancy—news they had yet to share with the rest of the family, because it was too new and too precious—his lovemaking was poignantly gentle.
He parted her legs, bent her knees, ran his hands from there to her ankles.
Ashley murmured, knowing what he was going to do, needing it, needing him.
He nuzzled her, parted the curls at the juncture of her thighs, and his sigh of contented anticipation reverberated through her entire system.
She tangled her fingers in his hair, held him close.
He chuckled against her flesh, and she moaned.
And then he took her full in his mouth, now nibbling, now suckling, and Ashley arched her back and cried out in surrender.
“Not so fast,” Jack murmured, between teasing flicks of his tongue. “Let it happen slowly, Mrs. McKenzie.”
“I—I don’t think I—can wait—”
Jack turned his head, dragged his lips along the length of her inner thigh, nipped at her lightly as he crossed to the other side. “You can wait,” he told her. “Please, Jack,” she half sobbed.
He slid his hands under her bare bottom, lifted her high, and partook of her with lusty appreciation.
She exploded almost instantaneously, her body flexing powerfully, once, twice, a third time.
And then she fell, sighing, back to the bed.
He was kissing her lower belly, where their baby was growing, warm and safe and sheltered.
“I love you, Jack,” Ashley said, weak with the force of her releases.
He turned her to lie full length on the bed, poised himself over her, took her in a slow, even stroke.
“Always have,” she added, trying to catch her breath and failing. “Always will.”
EPILOGUE
December 24
Stone Creek, Arizona
JACK MCKENZIE STOOD next to his daughter’s crib, gazing down at her in wonder. Katie—named for his grandmother—was nearly three months old now, and she looked more like Ashley every day. Although the baby was too young to understand Christmas, they’d hung up a stocking for her, just the same.
The door of his and Ashley’s bedroom opened quietly behind him.
“The doctor is on the phone,” she said quietly.
Jack turned, took her in, marveled anew, the way he did every time he saw his wife, that it was possible to go to sleep at night loving a woman so much, and wake up loving her even more.
“Okay,” he said.
She approached, held out the cell phone he’d left downstairs when he brought Katie up to bed. They’d been putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree by the front windows, he and Ashley, and the place was decorated to the hilt, though there would be no paying guests over the holidays.
Busy with a new baby, not to mention a husband, Ashley had decided to take at least a year off from running the bed-and-breakfast. She still cooked like a French chef, which was probably why he’d gained ten pounds since they’d gotten married, and she was practically an expert on the computer.
So far, she didn’t seem to miss running a business.
She’d been baking all day, since half the family would be there for a special Christmas Eve supper, after the early services at the church.
They’d stayed home, waiting for the call.
He took the cell phone, cleared his throat, said hello.
Ashley moved close to him, leaned against his side, somehow supporting him at the same time. Her head rested, fragrant, against his shoulder.
He kissed her crown, drew in the scent of her hair.
“This is Dr. Schaefer,” a man said, as if Jack needed to be told. He and Ashley had been bracing themselves for this call ever since Jack’s last visit to the clinic up in Flagstaff, a few days before, where they’d run the latest series of tests.
“Yes,” Jack said, his voice raspy. Wrapping one arm around Ashley’s waist. He felt fine, but that didn’t mean he was out of danger.
And there was so very much at stake.
“All the results are normal, Mr. McKenzie,” he heard Dr. Schaefer say, as though chanting the words through an underwater tunnel. “I think we can safely assume the marrow transplant was a complete success, and so were the antirejection medications.”
Jack closed his eyes. “Normal,” he repeated, for Ashley’s benefit as well as his own.
She squeezed him hard.
“Thanks, Doctor,” he said.
A smile warmed the other man’s voice. “Have a Merry Christmas,” the doctor said. “Not that you need to be told.”
“You, too,” Jack said. “And thanks again.”
He closed the phone, tucked it into the pocket of his shirt, turned to take Ashley into his arms.
“Guess what, Mrs. McKenzie,” he said. “We have a future together. You and me and Katie. A long one, I expect.”
She beamed up at him, her eyes wet.
Downstairs, the doorbell chimed.
Ashley squeezed Jack’s hand once, crossed to the crib, and tucked Katie’s blanket in around her.
“I suppose they’ll let themselves in,” Jack said, watching her with the same grateful amazement he always felt.
Ashley smiled, and came back to his side, and they went down the stairs together, hand in hand.
Brad and Meg, with Carly and Mac and the new baby, Eva, stood in the entryway, smiling, snow dusting the shoulders of their coats and gleaming in their hair.
Olivia and Tanner arrived only moments later, with the twins, who were walking now, and Sophie.
“Where’s Melissa?” Olivia asked, looking around.
“She’ll be here soon,” Ashley said. “She called about an hour ago—there was a lot of traffic leaving Scottsdale.”
Ashley looked up at Jack, and they silently agreed to wait until everyone had arrived before sharing the good news about his test results.
The men spent the next few minutes carrying brightly wrapped packages in from the trucks parked out front, while the women and smaller children headed for the kitchen, where a savory suppe
r was warming in the ovens.
Ashley and Meg and Olivia carried plates and silverware into the dining room, while Carly and Sophie kept the smaller children entertained.
A horn tooted outside, in the snowy driveway, and then Melissa hurried through the back door.
“It’s cold out there!” she cried, spreading her arms for the rush of small children, wanting hugs. “And I think I saw Santa Claus just as I was pulling into town.”
Soon, they were all gathered in the dining room, the grand tree in the parlor in full view through the double doors.
“I have news,” Melissa said, just as Jack was about to offer a toast.
Everyone waited.
“I’m coming back to Stone Creek,” Melissa told them all. “I’m about to become the new county prosecutor!”
The family cheered, and when some of the noise subsided, Ashley and Jack rose from their chairs, each with an arm around the other.
“The test results?” Olivia asked, in a whisper. Then, reading Jack’s and Ashley’s expressions, a joyous smile broke over her face. “They were good?”
“Better than good,” Ashley answered.
Supper was almost cold by the time the cheering was over, but nobody noticed.
It was Christmas Eve, after all.
And they were together, at home in Stone Creek.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1528-3
HOLIDAY IN STONE CREEK
Copyright (c) 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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A STONE CREEK CHRISTMAS
Copyright (c) 2008 by Linda Lael Miller
AT HOME IN STONE CREEK
Copyright (c) 2009 by Linda Lael Miller
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