Read Claire, Angela - Heart of Stone (Siren Publishing Classic) Online
Authors: Angela Claire
Claire, Angela - Heart of Stone (Siren Publishing Classic)
Heart of Stone
Widowed Colorado cowboy Jake Stone has a baby to take care of. But when he asks his aunt to come west to help, she sends Melinda O'Chauncey instead...a walking, talking inspiration for sex if Jake ever saw one. But Jake has no intention of ever marrying again, so he vows to keep his hands off the sexy new nursemaid. Easier said than done!
As skittish as Jake is about matrimony, Melinda couldn't marry the handsome cowboy, even if he got down on his knees and begged her. She has secrets of her own that she hopes are far, far behind in Boston.
Add to that a rash of mysterious happenings on the ranch that make Jake's wife's death a question mark, and a wedding may turn out to be the least of Melinda and Jake's problems. In fact, it looks like a funeral might be in store for them instead.
Genre:
Historical, Western/Cowboys
Length:
31,372 words
HEART OF STONE
Angela Claire
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
HEART OF STONE
Copyright © 2011 by Angela Claire
E-book ISBN: 1-61034-206-2
First E-book Publication: March 2011
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of
Heart of Stone
by Angela Claire from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Angela Claire’s livelihood.
It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Claire’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
DEDICATION
To my dear friend, Elizabeth Church, who has such a generous spirit and who always gives me encouragement when I need it.
ANGELA CLAIRE
Copyright © 2011
Prologue
The cowboy crept into the ranch house. Stone had ridden away hours ago, but the old man assured him the woman would still be in bed. Sure enough, though he heard no noises from the bedroom when he stood in the doorway, there she was, asleep. Well, not asleep precisely. Her eyes were open, but she was just lying there, like a little blond rag doll. He smiled. He bet he could make her move right quick. His cock perked up at the thought. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. The old man had warned him not to touch her.
Except to kill her of course.
It was supposed to look like a natural death. She looked white as death already, the bones of her pretty little face stuck up against that white, white skin. Gal must have never ventured out once under the
Colorado
sun to stay that pale. She sure was pretty, though, even listless and skinny as she was. Too bad he couldn’t take a little more time with her, but you didn’t cross the old man.
He approached the bed, and the woman didn’t even seem to register it. He held the pillow over her face, and swear to God, she didn’t even put her arms up to struggle. It took no longer than it would to wring the neck of a chicken.
When he took the pillow away from her face, she even looked real peaceful like. He felt a pang of remorse, completely foreign, but dang if it wasn’t there. Whoever this little gal had been, she didn’t deserve to die so young. But the old man had plans, and if you knew what was good for you, you followed along.
If you didn’t want a pillow over your face one day real soon, that is.
Chapter One
Colorado Territory, 1869
The train was late again. Big surprise. Jake Stone stood on the platform and pulled his hat down farther as a shield from the glaring sun. October was supposed to be a little cooler, seeing as how snow in
Colorado
could make its introductions as early as the first of November. No matter. The ranch house was cool enough, even in this unseasonably warm weather. Aunt Lil wouldn’t find it intolerable. Now when the snow came, well, that would be another matter. But as long as he could convince his aunt to stick it out a year or two, the baby would be old enough to work out some other arrangement. Then Aunt Lil could head on back to her precious
Boston
. He hated to ask his only kin to put herself out so much. Lord knew this rancher’s life was not what his genteel aunt was used to. No more than it had been what
Victoria
was used to.
His picture-pretty wife had never cottoned to the dusty summers and isolating winters of a rancher’s life. He should have sent her back to
Boston
when the baby was on its way like she’d begged him to, but he’d been selfish. He’d thought it would work out, that the baby would be fine. And little Ginny was fine, more than fine. As perfect a little creature as he’d ever seen with all her ten toes and fingers and the sweetest little smile when she looked up at her daddy.
Victoria
, however, had not been fine. The birth had taken too much out of her, and for months after, she remained listless and uninterested in anything, even Ginny. It got so she wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning or even feed the baby unless Jake put the hungry little infant’s mouth up to his wife’s breast. After a while, Jake was plumb afraid to leave the baby alone with her.
For a time, his neighbor’s wife, Annie Wilson, had sent over her oldest girl to mind the baby while Jake was out on the ranch. Though a twelve-year-old girl, even one with a half dozen little brothers and sisters, was no substitute for a mother, it was the best he could do under the circumstances. But when
Victoria
’s milk dried up altogether and the baby was still too young to wean, there was no choice but to take Annie up on her offer to nurse Ginny along with her little Scott. So the baby had gone over to the Wilson’s, and then Victoria, with even that tenuous grasp on responsibility gone, had given into whatever melancholy gripped her. One evening, after riding the herd hard, Jake came in dusty and short-tempered only to find his wife truly gone. At first he thought she must have taken her own life, and in a way she had, but with nothing as crude as a knife or a hangman’s noose. No, in her own stubborn way
Victoria
had just drifted back to
Boston
. She died in her sleep, leaving Jake suddenly alone with a baby to raise.
It was fine for Ginny to stay at the Wilson’s while she was still nursing, but she’d been eating oat mush and crackers for a month now, old enough to wean, and Jake wanted his child with him. The last time he’d been over to see his little girl, she’d cried when he took her out of Annie’s arms, like she didn’t even know her daddy anymore. That just wouldn’t do. She was a Stone, and by God, he would bring up his own child. So he swallowed his pride and wrote to his Aunt Lil, explaining the situation and asking her to come out west and help him out until Ginny was a little older. He’d expected to have quite a correspondence with his strong-willed aunt, most of it centered around giving up this fool idea of ranching and coming back to work in
Boston
. He figured eventually he’d manage to convince her. But, to his surprise, Aunt Lil had acquiesced right away, sending a letter telling him to meet the train two weeks hence, which was today, as a matter of fact.