Read Peppermint Creek Inn for Free Online

lonely loon. The distant hoot of a gray owl and to her utmost delight, the occasional shrieks and croaks of frogs from the swamps of the nearby lake as they awoke from a long winter’s nap.
    In the dimming evening sky, an arrow of Canada geese whizzed past overhead, skimming the nearby treetops, busily chattering away as they headed north and tried to decide on an appropriate rest area to soothe their weary wings for the night.
    The shadows grew deeper, casting a deserted misty glow over the charred remains of her ruined inn and the tiny cabins huddled in the nearby forest. Sara sighed and smiled wistfully as she remembered the first time she’d seen the desolate sprinkle of two dozen boarded-up wooden cottages among the towering pines. And the ghostly appearance of the huge deserted log house, as it sat proudly in the flower-rich meadow.
    One look at Jack’s sullen face, her in-laws’ shocked expressions and finally at her sister Jo’s doubtful look, had spurred Sara to square her shoulders, roll up her sleeves and tell them there was lots of work to do and they’d better not waste any time in getting to it.
    It had been a challenge getting everything done by the target date of one year. They’d erected a two-story, sixty-room pine log inn that summer with the help of local craftspeople using the giant logs from their own property. They’d outfitted the log house with a new sheet-metal roof and sturdy windows, repaired the ramshackle cottages during Fall and furnished everything during winter. The next year the doors were opened wide for business.
    Business had been brisk with a waiting list of at least one year. They’d been talking of expanding when…
    Don’t think about it, Sara. Don’t go down that road again.
    Sara shivered as the Spring breeze prickled against her bare arms and crawled through her housecoat and cotton pajamas. It was getting late. She had to get some sleep if only for a couple of hours or the stranger would be her nurse and not the other way around.
    She shoved the note back into her pocket and at the same time heard the stranger’s strangled cry from within the house. She sighed wearily. Another nightmare.
    Quickly, she slipped inside the house.
    —
    In the nearby meadow, Sara didn’t see the yellow flicker of a match being struck, or the burnt orange glow from a cigarette floating slowly out of the tree line a few hundred yards away. If she had, she’d probably think it an odd-looking lightning bug.
    She didn’t see the tall shadow stumble into the clearing of the meadow, to stand and watch the house for a full five minutes. And she didn’t hear the shadow curse silently under his breath or see him whip the cigarette butt into the parking lot, then stomp angrily down the muddy, puddle-riddled road. If she had, she’d have known her problems could be starting all over again.

Chapter Three
    A biting sting on his cheek along with a sharp command to open his eyes snapped through the black fog claiming his senses. The intense feeling to run for his life shot through his veins, waking him with a start.
    For a moment, he felt slightly nauseous as gray fragments of memory lurched through his cloudy mind. Fuzzy visions of gentle, caring hands bathing his fire-riddled body. Of warm feminine fingers stroking his hard cock.
    “Easy now.”
    It was her voice. Soft and husky. Reaching out to him. Anchoring him.
    His eyes popped open and he saw a dimly lit oil lamp on the nearby wall. It cast enough light to see her pretty heart-shaped face framed with tousled auburn hair, which cascaded in luscious silky curls down to the small of her back. Faint dark circles hung under her haunting brown eyes, yet they did nothing to dampen the somewhat shaky smile she cast his way.
    His eyes narrowed curiously. She was smiling at him? Even after the way he’d forced his way into her house, threatened her life with a gun and—
    A breath caught in his throat. He’d saved her life.
    Had it been a dream? It