CHARITY'S GOLD RUSH (A Strike It Rich in Montana novel) Read Online Free Page A

back down behind a thick bush .
                  “What are you afraid of?” Sam appeared at Charity’s elbow. “Pa told me how you saved Meg from a horse. Ain’t nothing out here that big.”
                  Charity clasped a hand to her throat. “Saints alive, child! You scared ten years off me. Besides, horses don’t eat people. ”
                  “You’re funny.” Sam raced back to the wagon.
                  Meg finished her business and tucked her hand in Charity’s. “I think I’m going to like you being my new ma, even if you do talk strange.”
                  Charity’s heart warmed at the little girl’s words. Hopefully, Charity was cut out to be a mother, strange words and all.
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                  Amos leaned back in his leather chair and folded his ankles on top of his polished oak desk. He rolled an unlit cigarette between his fingers. So, Gabe got himself hitched again.
                  It wouldn’t do him any good. He’d still lose his land, and most likely his new bride along with it. The man had already proved he couldn’t keep a woman alive in Montana.
                  Amos tightened his fingers, snapping the cigarette. Growling, he tossed it in the waste receptacle at his feet. Amos had seen the pretty Irish gal around town, even thought once or twice about making her acquaintance. Pity she married Gabe. Doing so only put her in harm’s way. Amos would have rather left her out of things.
                  He settled the chair back on all four legs and moved to the window where his ranch stretched out before him in a glorious display of green grass, wildflowers, and fat cattle. A successful ranch. The only thing lacking was a creek and a family. Both of which he intended to rectify within a year.

 
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    Charity clutched her stomach. What she’d originally thought was a lush green hill turned out to be her new home. It made her stone cottage in Ireland look like a mansion. A wooden door and a window with paper tacked over the opening comprised the front.
                  To her right sat a barn, glorious in comparison to the hovel Gabriel seemed so pleased about , judging by the grin on his face . A garden, surrounded by a split-rail fence, sat off to the east. She could imagine dipping her feet into a creek that bubbled about fifty yards away , and thanked the Lord she wouldn’t have far to cart water . Trees dotted the landscape. A beautiful place, except for the hole in the ground that would be her home.
    She accepted Gabriel’s hand and allowed him to help her down , then pulled away as soon as possible . No sense dwelling on the heat of his skin against hers, or how safe his size made her. Her new husband made it quite clear they’d share a space for a year and no more .
                  Sam ran ahead and opened the door , Meg on his heels .
    With head held high, Charity stepped inside her new home, and wilted. Little light came through the window. A wood stove occupied a corner of the one room. At least she wouldn’t have to cook over an open fire. A wooden table with two benches took up the center of the space. Shelves with canned goods ran along the walls. Was that a bug scurrying across the packed dirt? Beneath the cans , clothing hung on hooks along walls covered with old newspapers. A tattered quilt separated two beds. Charity would bet her stockings that the mattresses were filled with straw . She’d give almost anything to sleep on goose feathers. Except, Charity didn’t gamble. Mercy, she wasn’t one to think above her lot in life, but she’d expected a bit more than this.
                  She stepped aside and let Gabe squeeze past with her trunk. He set it next to one of the beds. “I’ll set up your cot and string another blanket. You and Meg can share this space, Sam and I will share the other.”