Emmy (Gold Rush Brides Book 2) by Cassie Hayes

plate of food…if you could call it that. “I woke up early to fix breakfast. You didn’t eat supper last night, Sheriff, so I thought you could use some food before we head out again.”
    He simply grunted as he gnawed on piece of meat, hoping he wouldn’t chip a tooth and wondering why she was being so solicitous. When she tried to take a bite of it herself, he almost choked with laughter. Her big blue eyes grew wide and horrified, and she pulled the offending bit of food from her mouth as demurely as she could. When the tears started welling in her eyes, he felt a twinge of guilt and took pity on her.
    “Much obliged, Miss Emmy,” he mumbled around a stale piece of biscuit, crumbs falling on to his plate. “Don’t normally go in for a big morning meal but this just about hits the spot.”
    His men nodded furiously, chewing and swallowing as best they could.
    “Really?”
    “Oh, yeah!”
    “Yup.”
    “Mmmhmm!
    Emmy looked suspicious but ate her own food anyway, and silently took everyone’s plate down to the stream for washing. When she returned, a fresh layer of bear grease was on her still-inflamed skin.
    Mason barely paid attention and was actually grateful for the meal and gritty coffee, as bad as it had been, because now his brain was working overtime trying to figure out which direction to lead his men. Kirby had to pay for what he’d done to Marie and their baby, and Mason wouldn’t stop until he brought the monster to justice!
    They all mounted their horses but didn’t move. Everyone was looking to him to lead the way, but he flat out didn’t know which direction to go. They’d spent the previous day crisscrossing the terrain from settlement to settlement trying to find anyone else who had seen Kirby, but none had…or at least admitted it. They were running around like chickens with their heads cut off and not making an inch of progress. As it was, they couldn’t be more than ten miles out of Nevada City, after all their backtracking.
    “Which way, Mace?” asked Fred.
    Mason looked south, then east, then back south again. “Well, if they headed east, we might find them in Colfax or Foresthill. If they continued south, maybe Auburn, Pilot Hill, Placerville or Coloma. Or they could have gone west to Sacramento. There’s no way of knowing. Hang it all!”
    He slammed his fist into his thigh in frustration, drawing a nervous whinny from his horse. He patted her neck to soothe her and wished he could be calmed so easily.
    “Wait, say those town names again.” Emmy deftly guided her horse closer to him, her eyes wide.
    “Why?”
    “Just say them!”  
    There it was, Miss Bossy Pants. It was really only a matter of time before she reared her ugly head again. Well, he’d be hanged if he was going to kowtow to her demanding ways, giving her a cold, hard stare instead of answering her.
    Fred tired of their little stand-off and jumped in. “Colfax, Foresthill, Pilot Hill, Auburn, Coloma, Placer—“
    “Auburn! That’s it. That’s the one!”
    “What about it,” Mason asked irritably, sucking a stubborn coffee ground from a back molar.
    “It’s the color of hair!”  
    The four men stared at her like she had lizards crawling out of her ears. She was excited but he hadn’t a clue as to why. Mason guessed that if she didn’t have that black gunk smeared all over her face, her cheeks would have been the loveliest shade of pink.
    “Okay, boys, let’s pick a direction and see what we find,” he finally said, shaking his head and urging his horse forward.
    “Wait!” she cried, grasping his arm to stop him. Her small fingers didn’t have much strength but each one felt like a hot iron on his skin, and that was through a thick shirt and leather coat.
    “No, I completely forgot about this but as soon as you mentioned the name of that town, it popped into my head. In one of his letters, Roy mentioned something about how he couldn’t wait to take me to his place in Auburn. I remember