The Lightkeeper's Daughter by Colleen Coble

confident they all felt in the dog’s presence. If not for Gideon, John would have been fearful of allowing Edward in the water.
    He could do worse than courting Addie. The thought came out of the blue, but he quickly realized he was getting ahead of himself. But he acknowledged his willingness to go where this relationship might lead.
    Henry and Clara would be gone tonight. When Edward was in bed, John might be able to get to know the intriguing Adeline Sullivan a little better. When was the last time he’d been this interested in a woman? Not since Katherine, he realized. And maybe that should be a warning to him.
    But no. His relationship with Katherine had been a very different situation. She’d flirted, then backed off, then flirted and backed off again. She’d played a cat-and-mouse game that led to marriage before he realized what was happening. She’d offered her family name and beauty to escape an older suitor her father had selected, and John snapped it up because he thought she really loved him. Reality had soon set in.
    This young woman was different. He bit into his sandwich. “There is no subterfuge in you, Miss Adeline. Why is that?”
    Color came and went in her cheeks. “Everyone has layers. Even me.”
    He leaned closer as his son neared and allowed a curl to wrap his finger. “I look forward to peeling back those layers.”
    Her blush was charming. What would she think of living on a naval base?

    Addie glanced at John a few times as the buggy pulled away from the beach. Edward and Gideon slept as they traveled back toward town. “Thank you for a lovely day,” she said.
    “The pleasure was all mine.”
    Lassitude encased her limbs, and her eyes were heavy. The next thing she knew, she heard voices call and the rumble of more buggies. She opened her eyes to find her head resting on John’s shoulder as the buggy rolled through Mercy Falls.
    “I’m so sorry!” she said, startled. After she jerked upright, she brushed her hair out of her face.
    He smiled at her. “I didn’t mind.”
    Heat seared her cheeks, and she turned, pretending to scrutinize the stores and shops they passed rather than his amused eyes. Ahead, Mr. Driscoll stepped from the darkness of an alley onto the street and approached a woman who was holding a baby. “There’s Mr. Driscoll,” she said. She called out to him and waved. He flinched at the sound of his name but waved back when he caught sight of them.
    “He should take care in that neighborhood,” John said. “If a fellow is going to get mugged, it would be there. Thugs and gamblers haunt these streets.”
    “He’s probably delivering medicine to someone,” she said.
    “It’s no place for a woman and infant. He should escort her home.”
    They left town and entered the coolness of the forest. She smelled wildflowers and the scent of deep woods. The trees were so high and the trunks so big that all she could do was stare. She would never get used to it. “Is this virgin forest?” she asked.
    “Yep. One of the last tracts left.”
    The beauty and serenity of the place drew her. The branches nearly touched the blue sky. “Why is it still unlogged?”
    “Laura’s grandfather left it to her daughter, Julia. When the child died, it went to Clara, and she signed it over to Edward. So this will be Edward’s as soon as the paperwork declaring Julia deceased comes through.”
    Addie’s throat convulsed. He was talking about her. This land belonged to her. She couldn’t take it in. “So it belongs to Edward now? Or will soon?”
    He nodded. “I intend to use it to increase Edward’s net worth.”
    “What are you going to do with it?”
    He hesitated. “I haven’t decided. I’ve had a lucrative offer from a logging company, but it seems a shame to destroy something so beautiful.”
    In her mind’s eye, Addie saw a lovely home for tuberculosis patients in a grove surrounded by clean air and nature. For someone like Nann Whittaker. If Roy Sullivan hadn’t