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Cole entered the tent with brisk determination, but his feet stuck to the floor as the door closed behind him. Maddie was sitting on the bed, brushing her hair, and the smile on her face was so adorable, he forgot all else.
“Can you believe it?” she said, setting the brush down. “All that gold?”
Shaking his head for clarity, he asked, “Did you think we wouldn’t find any?”
“I knew we would.” She stood and crossed the room. “I just didn’t think it would be that easy.”
“Easy?” he asked, resting his hands on her hips. “You think all this has been easy?”
She looped her hands behind his head. “Well, it certainly could have been harder.”
“I suspect it could have been.” He highly doubted it could have been harder on him.
Giggling, she turned her face toward the table. “I put it in two pouches. One for you and one for me. I figure we’ll split it fifty-fifty, no matter who finds it.” Turning back to him, she asked, “Does that sound fair to you?”
“That sounds fine to me,” he answered, though at this moment he didn’t give a hoot about the gold. It was her—them—he wanted to discuss. “Maddie, today, when you found the gold—”
“I know,” she said. “I was being silly. The Fenstermacher brothers are nice men, and trustworthy, I suspect, just like you said.”
“What made you change your mind so quickly?” Her hands were still on the backside of his neck. Her fingertips, gently massaging the area, felt heavenly as they teased his thinking.
“You,” she answered. “Them, too, I guess, the way they set right in with helping you build the sluice box. And I’ve never tasted anything like that venison Albert made. It was so tender I barely had to chew.”
He grinned and tugged on her hips, forcing her to step even closer. “So that’s all it takes, a good meal, to make you change your mind?”
“I’m a terrible cook, aren’t I?”
Cole wasn’t about to go there. “You’re good at finding gold,” he said instead.
She laughed, but as the sound faded, her face grew serious. “Will you do me a favor?”
“Of course,” he answered without thought. “What is it?”
“Kiss me.” The heat that rushed into Maddie’s face didn’t stop there. It rushed around until every inch of her was warm and tingling. All day her mind had been on Lucky and kissing him again.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I want you to.” A moment later, she explained, “This has been the best day of my life. I don’t want it to end.”
“Maddie—”
An inkling of fear crashed through all her warm and tender sensations. She stopped it, though, with an inner willpower she hadn’t known about. “I’ve been thinking about you all day. About us. About kissing and...” She bit her lips together, knowing she didn’t need to say exactly what she’d been thinking.
He shook his head, but smiled. “You’ve been mining gold all day.”
She shot a glance toward the bed. “But I was still thinking about you. About us.”
He lifted a hand and slowly, idly, twirled a lock of her hair around his index finger. “What if it’s not what you want? If later you change your mind?”
Her skin turned overly sensitive, especially on the side of her face, where his finger continued to tangle itself into her hair, and her mouth grew dry. Tugging her tongue off the roof of her mouth, she asked, “Did you?” Swallowing a lump that formed, she continued, “Did you change your mind?”
“No,” he whispered near the top of her forehead.
His breath tingled her scalp through her hair and it made her want to shiver, even though she wasn’t cold in the least. “I won’t change my mind,” she said. “I know I won’t.”
His hands roamed up and down her back. “We aren’t married.”
“So?” She tilted her head back to look at him. “I don’t want to get married, Lucky, ever, just like you, but we don’t have to be married to have adventures, do we?”
He grinned. “You’re about the most adventurous woman I’ve ever met, darling.”
The words, the way he said it, floated through her perfectly, as his hand caressed the small of her back. Newfound boldness, which she’d only known during anger or grief, swelled inside her. It was unique, this strength growing inside her, and with it came another memory of the months she’d spent with one of her father’s mistresses. The owner of that house had often said, Men don’t know what women need. We have to show them. Don’t ever be afraid to do that.
