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She filled the pan with water and then dropped in handfuls off the shovel to swirl about, and then repeated the actions several times. When she lifted her head and looked around as if to see if anyone was watching, he averted his gaze and took off his hat to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Miners now lined the banks, mostly on the other side, which didn’t make a lot of sense. The water was deeper and faster moving on that side, leaving little or no sandbars for the gold to collect upon. Still, a group—the Fenstermacher brothers, Abe, Albert and Tim—had made camp directly across the river from them. Those men were busy panning, mostly the little creek that trickled into the river next to where they’d set up their tent.
Maddie had pointed that out to him, how they’d set up a tent and started mining immediately. He’d chosen to ignore her statements rather than argue with her. She’d see sooner or later, when the first rainstorm hit and the Fenstermachers’ camp floated downriver.
Built high above the water, on a nice little knoll complete with grass for the mules and chickens, their camp would remain dry. She’d appreciate his hard work then.
Flagging a hand at the squawking Homer, she stood, and though she appeared to be walking normally, Cole caught the glimmer in her eyes. He set down his hammer and moved toward her, his heart thudding, which happened every time he was close to her now.
Homer was the first to speak. In a raspy bird whisper, he said, “Gold.”
“Hush, now,” she said to the bird before telling him, “Come into the tent.”
Cole followed, grinning to himself. He hoped she had found a nugget. She’d been working hard enough.
At the framed-in wood door, she said to Homer, “You go on home now.”
The bird squawked, but ran for a few feet before his wings caught air and he flapped his way downriver.
“Shut the door,” Maddie whispered, already standing near the table inside the tent.
Cole did as instructed and moved closer, watching how her hands shook as she lowered the pan onto the tabletop. Holding back the desire to lay a hand on her shoulder, just to steady her nerves, he focused his attention on the pan. Wet, shining black dirt covered the bottom of the pan, and mixed amongst it was gold. Not big flakes or nuggets, but a splattering of fine grains. He dipped a finger in the dirt and examined the gold more closely.
“It’s gold, Lucky,” she said. “Gold.”
A hint of the fever filtered Cole’s bloodstream—something he’d contracted back on the Mary Jane, when Whiskey Jack had opened a bag of dust and poured a little out in his palm. He recognized it right away. How his mouth went dry and his heart raced. How he couldn’t pull his eyes off the fine specks.
“Will you tell me?”
Cole snapped his head up. Maddie had crossed the room, stood by their bed and was staring at him with woeful eyes.
“Tell you what?”
Her arms fell to her sides as if heavy and useless. “What I’ve done to make you so mad at me,” she said. “So angry not even gold excites you. Makes you happy.”
Cole brushed the dust off his finger back into the pan with his thumb and crossed the room to where she stood. He was happy, happier than he’d been in a long time, but the gold had little to do with it. Letting out a tiny chuckle, he shook his head. “I haven’t been mad at you, Maddie.”
She frowned, but then grinned. “That’s gold, Lucky. What we came here to find.”
The shimmer in her eyes sent him right to the end of his rope. “It sure enough is, darling,” he whispered, dipping his head while tilting hers back to line up their lips. The connection was startling. Her lips were softer, sweeter, than his memory could recall, and when her arms wrapped around his torso, he ran his tongue over the entire length of her lips.
Her sigh mingled with his breath, and he kissed her cheeks, her chin and the corners of her mouth before teasing her lips apart and kissing her more deeply and thoroughly than he’d ever kissed a woman.
Images of lowering her onto the bed behind them caused him to ease out of the kiss.
Glassy eyed, she blinked and then grinned. “That was a real kiss, wasn’t it?”
He took a step back in order to keep her at arm’s length while admitting, “Yes.”
Her lips twitched as a smile formed and her cheeks turned red. “You’re right. There was a difference.”
There certainly was, and places inside him were throbbing in response. Although he wanted to kiss her again, he laughed and pulled her into a hug.
