Angel in My Arms by Colleen Faulkner Page B

between them.
    Celeste didn't know who was acting more peculiar, Fox or the dog.
The dog had never sat in the swing with her before. Not even when John
had been alive.
    "We… uh, the dog and I, we checked out the claim." Fox said it so
casually that she knew there was more meaning behind his words than he
let on.
    "Oh?" She scratched Silver behind his ears. "And?"
    Fox pushed Silver off the swing impatiently as the dog turned and
tried to lick his face. "Enough all ready." Fox's eyes met her gaze.
"And…" He gave a noncommittal shrug. "We panned a little in the river.
Didn't find anything, but I think digging is worth a try. We might hit
gold. Who knows?"
    Celeste lifted an eyebrow. She didn't know what she expected from
Fox, but this wasn't it. Did he mean they should mine the land
together, as business partners? Would he be willing to do that? Could
she trust him?
    But that would mean he would stay,
a little voice whispered in her head.
    Celeste halted the swing with her foot.
"We?
When did my
idea of a mining operation become a partnership?" She crossed her arms
over her chest. "I think you've got some explaining to do, Mr.
MacPhearson."
    Fox took his time in responding. "I just thought it would be a
decent business venture for us both. You could make the kind of money
you would need to get yourself out of Carrington—"
    "And whoring," she offered tartly.
    "You could do what you wanted to do, Celeste, whatever that might
be. Set yourself up as a rich widow in California. Open a mercantile
store in Boston. You could do anything you set your mind to."
    She pushed the swing with the toes of her boots and they glided
backwards. The warm breeze kissed the dark hair at his temples and sent
it fluttering. His rugged good looks and earnest, dark eyes made it
difficult for her to concentrate on the subject of the claims John had
left her. "I understand the advantages for
me
of making money
off the claims, should I strike gold." She looked straight ahead,
focusing on the painted white rail on the far side of the porch. "My
question is, what's the advantage to you?"
    "What advantage does any businessman see in a business proposition, but money?"
    She glanced at him. "You want to form a partnership so we can mine the claims together?"
    "The land was left to both of us. My understanding is that it can't
be divided, but must be shared. I don't know what the hell John was
thinking when he wrote the will like that, but what's done is done. We
could split the profits straight down the middle." He made a cutting
gesture with one hand. "Fair and square."
    "If there are profits," she amended. "But if we don't find gold?"
    "We can work the details out later." He rose from the swing and
offered his hand to help her up. His tone was all businesslike, yet
relaxed.
    Celeste climbed out of the swing without his assistance, a feeling
of desperation tight in her chest, Suddenly she saw this venture as her
only chance to survive whole. There had to be gold on John's land.
There just had to be.
    Her satchel in his hand, he held the front door open for her. "But
if there is no gold, I… I'd just have to return to San Francisco
without the riches."
    She passed him in the doorway.
And I'll have to return to whoring,
she thought.
An impossibility.

----
Chapter Eight

     
    "Five-card draw, ladies and gents." Celeste dealt the cards with the
ease of a riverboat gambler. "One-eyed jacks and the man with the ax
are wild. Cost you two bits to play."
    Coins clinked in the center of the table in Kate's kitchen. It was
Sunday afternoon and the usual gang was gathered. They had been meeting
in Kate's kitchen on Sundays since the first week she'd opened the
dance hall in Carrington six years ago. Back then, the town had been
bustling. Gold had been found at Albert's Fork, and men traveled from
as far as California to try their luck in the little gold-mining town.
Like most gold booms, this one had not lasted long, and Carrington was
soon just another occasional