title: Stone Creek: A Novel
author:  Victoria Lustbader 
description: Childless, married Lily Spencer, 46, falls for 30-something widower Danny Malloy and his five-year-old son in this would-be Whartonesque marriage tale from former book editor Lustbader (<I>Hidden</I>). Lily's troubled marriage has led her to retreat to the small Catskill town of Stone Creek while husband Paul, 54, a successful Manhattan attorney, remains submerged in work. Paul and Lily have given up hope of having a child: Paul with brisk efficiency, Lily still mournful and yearning. When she and gifted, still-grieving furniture restorer Danny espy each other in the Stone Creek supermarket, sparks fly. As they come together, Lily finds in Danny the companionship Paul doesn't provide, and in Danny's son, Caleb, she finds a boy who needs a mother. As much as Lustbader tries to give Danny equal time, his struggles with a secretive, unforgiving mother-in-law never attain the resonance of Lily's search among an ex-husband, a current husband, a lover and a boy for someone with whom she can share her love and pain. Piercingly personal descriptions of love, loss and desperate attempts to plug life's gaps give Lustbader's second novel its emotional edge, while there's plenty of steam for romance readers. <I>(June)</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00003.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Few defy Lord Rockford and come away unscathed
  
  Victoria Lewis has grown up in the long, dark shadows cast by Stonegrave Hall.
  Yet when the master takes her sick mother into his care, she must finally
  confront the man whose presence is as brooding as his windswept Yorkshire
  lands.
  
  Men quake at Lord Rockford’s mere command, yet this slip of a girl defies him
  at every turn! His fury at her is matched only by his desire, and Victoria’s
  pure innocence burns brightly in the darkness of the hall. But the light
  threatens to lay bare secrets that could ruin them both.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  His gaze, uncompromising and intent,  
  settled heavily on her.  
  There was something so powerful in that look—  
  an energy that flowed into her.
  
  Victoria shuddered with a mingling of fear and awe. Indomitable pride,
  intelligence and hard-bitten strength were etched into every feature of his
  face. His mouth was firm, with a hint of cruelty in it; there was
  determination 