A Creed in Stone Creek by Linda Lael Miller

Author:Linda Lael Miller
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Montana, Western, Cowboys, General, Love stories
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2011-03-27T10:00:00+00:00

THE MEAT LOAF WAS PRETTY GOOD, in Steven’s opinion, and after several hours with Melissa O’Ballivan, definitely the hottest woman he’d ever encountered, in or out of bed, he was ravenously hungry.

He was managing to keep his misgivings at bay, but he knew they were slinking around like wolves on the fringes of the light from a campfire, waiting to pounce.

She sat across the table from him now, fresh from the shower they’d just shared, wearing his T-shirt and nothing else. He felt downright overdressed in his jeans and the shirt he’d been wearing earlier.

Melissa picked up her fork, but instead of taking a bite of food, she looked around. Smiled.

“What?” Steven asked, amused, but feeling a touch of something else, too. Something proprietary, though he wasn’t ready to call it jealousy.

“It’s ironic,” she answered, with a saucy twist of her mouth and a twinkle in her beautiful eyes. “I’ve been inside this bus maybe three times in my life—Brad bought it for the guys in his band, while Ashley and I were still in high school, and Olivia had just started college. And none of us were allowed anywhere near it unless he was with us—he was that determined to protect our virtue.”

Steven smiled. “Can’t say I blame the man for that,” he commented. “Looking out for three sisters—especially kid sisters—has to be a challenge.”

Melissa took a few bites, looking pleasantly thoughtful. Then she asked, “Do you have sisters, Steven?”

He shook his head. “I’m an only child,” he said.

“That sounds lonely.”

“You know what they say. A person can be lonely in a crowd.”

“That’s true,” Melissa admitted. “And I have to admit, there were times when I wouldn’t have minded being an only child myself.”

“Did you always want to be a lawyer?”

“No,” she replied. “My first ambition was to reign as queen of Stone Creek Rodeo Days.”

“Did you?”

“Sure did,” Melissa answered. “When I was nineteen. Did you always want to be a lawyer?”

Steven paused a moment before shaking his head. “Nope,” he said. “I planned on running a ranch, like my dad.”

“What changed your mind?”

Steven was a little surprised to find himself discussing a matter he’d barely talked about with Zack, his best friend, or Brody and Conner, his cousins. “Ranching was in my blood,” he said, “but so was the law, as it turned out. My grandfather founded one of the biggest firms east of the Mississippi. It was a family business.”

“Was?” Melissa’s tone was casual, but she was watching him closely.

“My uncles still run it. It wasn’t the same after my mother and grandfather passed away.”

“Wasn’t there a place for you—afterward?” she asked.

Steven shook his head. “Not one I’d fit into,” he said. “Zack—Matt’s father—was a good friend of mine, from way back. He put in a good word for me where he worked, and I moved to Denver.” He paused, looking back. It wasn’t something he allowed himself to do very often; in his opinion, there wasn’t much to gain by indulging in personal retrospectives. “Turned out I liked practicing criminal law a lot better than corporate.

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