Angel Baby by Lisa Jackson

Author:Lisa Jackson [Jackson, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488091582
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1998-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

“We’re home.” The words sounded hollow as Lesley, carrying Angela in her infant seat, stepped into her empty house. As if sensing a change she didn’t much like, the baby squirmed and let out an irritated cry. “Shh, sweetheart. It’s okay.”

But the old farmhouse felt like a tomb. It was warm enough, the lights bright, but it seemed vacant inside, without that special glow that makes a house a home.

Stop it, Lesley. You’re imagining things. Fool that you are, you just don’t want to leave Chase Fortune, that’s all. Get over it. Setting her jaw, she walked across the kitchen and tried to ignore the fact that she experienced no sense of homecoming, no relief at being home again.

Chase carrying groceries and Rambo were right behind her. “Stay,” Chase commanded the old hound as he was bounding through the door.

“No, it’s all right. He can come in.” Lesley had become fond of the dog and didn’t want him left freezing on the back porch.

“He’s wet.”

“Aren’t we all?” she asked, lifting her eyebrows as she stared pointedly at the snow melting on the shoulders of Chase’s jacket.

Rambo, as if understanding that he was the center of the conversation, cocked his head, then, tail tucked between his legs, slunk into the house and took up residence under the table.

Chase muttered something under his breath about “spoiled mutts who don’t know their place,” as he set a sack of groceries they’d picked up at the local market on the table by the window. He shifted Lesley’s suitcase from one hand to the other. “Where do you want your bag?”

“Just leave it anywhere. I’ll take it upstairs later.”

“I’ll do the honors.” He didn’t say anything else, but she knew he was thinking of her ankle, and it touched her in a way that surprised her. For a rawhide-tough cowboy with a stubborn streak that would give any mule a run for his money, Chase had a kinder side, as well, one she only caught glimpses of.

She tucked Angela’s blanket more tightly around her and set the carrier on the counter where the baby could watch Lesley as she turned on the coffeemaker and put away the groceries.

The coffee was just beginning to drizzle through the machine when Rambo let out a low woof.

Chase’s boots rang on the hallway upstairs.

A truck’s engine roared down the drive. Lesley peered out the window and recognized Ray Mellon’s Dodge plowing down the lane. Snow was piled on the roof of the cab and inside the bed of the truck.

“We’ve got company,” Lesley said, winking at her baby. Aside from Chase, Ray was the first neighbor she’d seen since Angela’s birth. “You’d better be on your best behavior,” she whispered to the baby as Ray cut the engine and hopped down from the pickup. Wearing a parka, wool cap and insulated pants, he hiked through the snow and stepped onto the back porch. He brushed the snow from his clothes and started to knock, but Lesley threw open the door.

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