Desire's Golden Dreams by Tish Domenick

caught fire for the third and last time. Hannah tore it down this time. She left the property barren for years until the price for the land became so inflated, Wade talked her into selling it. That was shortly after she built the house in the Berkeley Hills that overlooks San Francisco.”
    “The one I live in now?”
    “The original of it, yes. It has been rebuilt to suit the owners over the years.”
    “Where did Andre live?”
    “Andre preferred hotel life. He spent money as soon as he got it. He liked to treat his friends and himself very well.”
    “Did he have a gold strike?”
    “Only the one he had when Hannah met him. However, it lasted only five or six years. After that he was in on a few placer mines that ran out just as quickly and money had to be split among the owners.”
    “He didn’t have any other skills or jobs he could do?”
    “He thought himself above manual labor and had no other profession because he did not care to learn anything other than prospecting. Since Andre was not a part of the mine’s profits, he began to resent the other husbands’ wealth. His placer mines could have let him live comfortably if he hadn’t spent so lavishly. He hadn’t invested. He hadn’t saved a cent. He’d only spent. He gave lavish parties, treated his friends, and lent grub stakes to miners who never returned the loan.” Slim downed the beer and slammed his glass on the bar top. Hands in pockets, he slowly walked to the chair opposite Hannah’s.
    “The civil war loomed heavily in the background over the United States. Andre could not understand it. When his money was nearly gone and his mine was defunct, he went back to France. He had fun for a while living off stories of California and its gold. Then he disappeared. Hannah and her husbands didn’t hear of him for years until someone sent them a newspaper article about a man who claimed he owned a gold mine being jailed for disturbing the peace.”
    “Was that all? Did Hannah never look for him, never lend him money? Did he never come back?”
    “He’d written letters making it sound as if he were doing well. After seeing the newspaper story, Hannah contacted a lawyer and managed to get him out of jail and pay his debts. She wired him money until he disappeared again. She would have sailed over to find him, but she was pregnant again. He’d made his wishes known through Hannah’s lawyer indicating he would not be happy to have her see him in his present condition. When her detectives found him again, Hannah wrote to him telling some huge lie about having worked his mine and found another vein. Until his death, which was only a few years later, she sent him a monthly stipend supposedly from his mine’s profits.”
    “He died so young?”
    “The non-stop drinking ate his liver.”
    “And Hannah gave birth to my great-great-uncle Joel.”
    “Yes, Joel Tolliver was born the day the Civil War ended.”
    “He was what they used to call a rake, wasn’t he?”
    “From day one, Hannah called him her little scamp and spoiled him terribly. But we are getting way ahead of ourselves. Next time you come, I’ll relate Wade’s story.”
    “It’s a deal.” Hannah took Slim’s arm and he escorted her to the mouth of the cave. She reached up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
    He swept her into a real kiss, claiming her lips and sparring with her tongue. When he released her, she was breathless. “Are you Hannah’s Little Scamp?”
    “I’m not related, remember? Now, be on your way before night falls.”
    He swatted her on the fanny and she chuckled as she started her car. All the way home her body hummed with the effects of his kiss. As she pulled into the garage, she checked her cell and found a text from Bolt. A wave of guilt racked her and she tensed. He couldn’t know she had enjoyed another man’s kiss. He couldn’t know her body sang with the touch from a ghost. She read the text.
    Driving in for booty call tonight. Phone sex not enough 4