Secret Sisters Read Online Free

Sanctuary Creek. The town had been founded well over a century earlier, but it had remained little more than a dot on the Arizona map for most of its history. Eighteen years ago Edith and Madeline had moved to the small community. Edith had opened a B&B to make ends meet. The property had been the first in what had become a chain of boutique inns.
    In recent years the town had been discovered by tourists, retirees, and those seeking winter homes in the Sunbelt. The developers had soon followed. Sanctuary Creek was now a picturesque Southwestern destination that rivaled Scottsdale and Sedona.
    Jack walked her to her car. His continuing silence worried her. There was another boot waiting to drop.
    She got in behind the wheel and looked up at him.
    â€œWhat?” she asked when she couldn’t take the suspense any longer.
    Jack looked out at the view of the desert and mountains for what seemed like a very long time.
    â€œI know about commitment issues,” he said. “Got a few myself.”
    She clamped her hands around the steering wheel.
Just breathe.
    â€œExcuse me,” she said in her iciest executive accent. “I don’t recall discussing commitment issues with you.”
    He looked down at her, sunlight glinting on his dark glasses.
    â€œNext time, use someone else to dig up the dirt on one of your dates,” he said, his voice cold, flat; emotionless. “I’m good with the business side of things, but I don’t want to get involved in your personal relationships.”
    She felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her.
    â€œUse someone else?” she repeated. “But doing background checks is part of your job.”
    â€œMy firm provides business-related background-check services. Not the personal kind.”
    â€œNo offense, but from what I can tell, your company could use whatever work it can get. Why don’t you want this kind of business?”
    â€œWe all know what happens to messengers. Sooner or later they bring news that the client doesn’t want to hear. The outcome is never good for the messenger.”
    He closed the car door, turned, and walked toward a silver-gray SUV parked a couple of slots away. He did not look back.
    She fired up the ignition and drove out of the parking lot, headingfor the corporate headquarters of Sanctuary Creek Inns. She had things to attend to at the office before she went home to pack for the trip to Cooper Island.
    She glanced once in the rearview mirror. There was no sign of the silver-gray SUV.
    So much for thinking of Jack Rayner as her personal hired gun.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Jack splashed some whiskey into a glass and went to stand at the window of his condo. From where he stood he had a sweeping view of the valley and the town of Sanctuary Creek. The lights of houses and condominiums and resorts scattered on the hillsides overlooking the community glittered like fool’s gold beneath the desert moon.
    On the far side of the valley he could see the glow of the gated community in which Madeline’s condo was located. She would be packing for the trip north tonight. Tomorrow she would be on her way to an island that she and her grandmother had left eighteen years ago. As far as he had been able to determine, neither of them had ever returned, nor had they shown any desire to go back to Cooper Island.
    Yet Edith Chase had never sold the Aurora Point Hotel.
    Edith had been a savvy businesswoman. Why had she hung on to a property that was evidently rotting into the ground?
    He wished he’d had more time to get to know his first major client. He’d certainly been impressed with Edith. He had also been very grateful to her. She had taken a chance on him and he had been determined to prove that his firm, tiny though it was, could handle securityfor her hotel chain. But now Edith was gone and he was left to deal with Madeline Chase.
    He told himself that he had done his job today. He had given his client the data she