I closed my eyes briefly and then sighed. “I just wish . . . I just wish there wasn’t so much we had to keep overcoming. Probably when it’s all over, we’ll just be bored.”

“The two of us? Never.”

We kissed, and he pressed me up against the side of the shanty. Somehow, the argument had made me want him even more, and heat shot through me at the feel of his body on mine. One of his hands tangled in my hair, and the other played dangerously with the edge of my skirt, pushing it up my leg.

“Be careful,” I said, unable to resist. “I don’t think this shanty wall can withstand very much.”

He pulled back, his breathing rapid and eyes hungry as they looked me over. Not hungry. Ravenous. “Now who doesn’t take things seriously?”

“Hey, it’s a credit to your prowess that I’d even think—”

I lost track of what I was saying as a flash of sunlight caught my eye. I pushed Cedric aside, confusing him even more, and knelt down to where I’d seen the sparkle. It was in Glen’s rock pile. Sifting through them, I found one that glittered golden in the sunlight. I held up for Cedric to see.

“Is it real?” I asked.

We’d heard plenty of stories in White Rock about prospectors being deceived by look-alikes. Cedric got down beside me and held the rock up. It was only a pebble, but it was solid gold.

“It’s real,” he confirmed. “Where did this come from?”

“The future royal geologist found it over by the outcroppings, heading toward the foothills. I saw it shining but thought it was some kind of crystal.”

We walked to the far side of the claim, opposite the river. The sparse vegetation thinned out even more here as the rocky land took hold. I pointed to the base of the outcropping in question. It was no mountain, but the large formation was still high enough to make me uneasy when I thought of how high Glen had gotten. And that wasn’t even near the top.

Cedric stared up at it for a long moment. “You need to meet my neighbor. Sully. Nice old guy. He’s helped me figure a few things out. His claim has some rock formations like this, and he said he nearly ground them to dust looking for gold. Apparently, there was some early Hadisen explorer who found big deposits of gold in things like these—massive deposits. Larger than anything gleaned from the river.”

I followed his gaze, and let those words sink in. “How would you be able to find out? Just start chipping through?”

“Kind of. Look, there’s a crevasse at the top. Digging into it might show something. If I can get up there—”

“Get up there?” I stared at the tallest cliff. “That’s pretty high.”

“I’ll need some equipment to climb up and check. Come on, Adelaide,” he added, seeing my face. “It’s safe with the right gear. And if there is a deposit in there, we’re set.”

“Where are you going to get that equipment?”

He held up the pebble. “This’ll buy what I need for the initial inspection. If there is gold in there, that’s going to be a much more serious excavation. One we’ll need to talk to Warren and Elias about. We might need to talk to them anyway. The sooner we can move on this, the better.”

The smile on his face was radiant as he looked back at me. The sunlight lit up his tanned features, turning his auburn hair molten. He looked like some sort of ardent young god. A dirty one. But despite all the doubts I had in the world, I believed in him.

“Adelaide,” he told me. “You might just be married in silk after all.”

Chapter 25

I stayed back with the Marshalls the next day while Cedric went to buy the climbing gear. It was hard to hide my excitement as I helped with the chores, but I couldn’t risk tipping my hand yet.

“Well, you’re in a good mood,” Mistress Marshall remarked. “Haven’t complained once about the lye.”

“Just have other things on my mind, that’s all.”

“Getting use out of the cinnamon thorn, eh? That’s the only thing that could give you a smile that big.”

“Haven’t even touched it,” I said. She obviously didn’t believe me.

When Cedric took me out on the claim the next day, I barely waited until we’d cleared the Marshall property. “Did you get the gear?”

“Yes and no. The supply store had only some of the things I needed. And then I ran into Elias Carter.”

“Wonderful. Is he smiling yet?”

“No. Especially when he found out what I was there for. He’s skeptical about a deposit in the cliffs and says I’m just stirring up trouble. If there really is a substantial amount there, we’d have to bring in more laborers, and there are a lot of men in town jumping at the chance for extra work.”

I could picture Elias delivering all of that in his condescending tone. “So, what? He’s not going to let you do it?”

“I can survey it, but he wants to see it himself—at least from a distance. He’s supposed to come out today and bring some climbing gear from another supplier in town that was closed yesterday. He made it clear, of course, that it was a terrible inconvenience for him.”

“Of course.” I sighed. “And here I thought this was going to be a nice day.”

It was a nice day. The work was so second nature now that I could do it automatically and spend time talking with Cedric. We talked about the future, what we’d do in Westhaven, what we’d name our children with their yet-to-be-determined religious futures. The happy mood evaporated when Elias rode up with a few cronies in tow.

“No ball gown today, huh?” he asked. “From a distance, I wouldn’t even think you’re a woman at all.”

“Do you have the gear?” Cedric asked pointedly.

Elias nodded to one of his men, who threw down a pile of ropes and spikes. “The gold you left didn’t entirely cover it. We’ll be adding it to your account.”

Cedric managed a tight smile. “Of course.”

Elias gestured impatiently. “Well, then, let’s see this fortune you think you’ve found. I don’t have all day.”

We went to the far side of the claim, opposite the river. The sparse vegetation thinned out even more here as the rocky land took hold. Cedric pointed to the base of the outcropping in question. It was no mountain, but it was still high enough to make me uneasy. The jagged, uneven surface was equally disconcerting.

“Sully says this is just what Davis Mitchell had on his claim when he made his big strike,” Cedric said.

Elias squinted up. “Sully? You mean George Sullivan? I’d hardly consider him an expert. He’s been out here a year with no luck.”

“But he knew Davis Mitchell,” Cedric pointed out. “And saw his claim.”

Davis Mitchell was a legendary figure in Hadisen. He’d made a huge fortune in gold and eventually returned to Osfro to live on his earnings. If there was even a remote chance this might yield the same, it had to be investigated.

“And,” added Cedric, “this is the edge of my property. If there’s gold here—”

“Mister Doyle’s property,” corrected Elias. “You only work it.”

Cedric was undaunted. “If there’s gold here, it’s likely part of a vein that runs up through those foothills and into that mountain stretch. Those don’t have any leases, right? Mister Doyle could hire workers directly and wouldn’t have to split it with a claimholder.”