Lover's Gold Read Online Free Page B

onion.
    When her father died, he’d left behind dozens of staggering debts, most of them owed to Redmond and Dawson. The men had taken the McAllister mansion as partial payment, but Dawson had insisted Elaina and her mother remain in the lovely old Victorian house when by rights they should have sold it to pay off some of the debts. He’d take care of whatever they owed Dolph Redmond, he’d said.
    Elaina could still hear her mother’s deathbed words: “You’ve got to set things right, pay him back somehow, clear the family name.” Elaina had heard the words so many times they still rang in her ears.
    “Some debts can’t be repaid,” Ada interrupted, and Elaina wondered, not for the first time, if reading minds was one more of the buxom woman’s many talents.
    “ ’Sides, the way old man Dawson takes care of you ain’t nothin’ special. You work for yer keep, same as me.”
    “It doesn’t matter. I owe him and I intend to repay him, for Mama and for me.”
    Ada shook her head. “I just wish there was somethin’ I could say to make you change yer mind.”
    “Nothing’s going to change my mind, Ada. I won’t be beholden to him. Besides, maybe somehow I can make things better at the mine.” Secretly, she hoped that after she and Chuck were married, she’d be in a position to exert some influence over working conditions at the mine, make some improvements. It was a long shot, but it was a chance she was willing to take.
    Ada just shook her head. “Yer blasted pride’ll be yer downfall, honey.”
    Elaina ignored her, turning out the next onion with renewed vigor. She owed Henry Dawson, and though she felt no love for Chuck, she was going to repay her obligation to Henry the only way she could—by marrying his son, as she knew he wished. Elaina grabbed a dish cloth and dabbed at her eyes, suddenly glad for the onion tears that disguised a few of her own.
    Dan Morgan unpacked the few articles of clothing he’d brought on his trip east, shrugged out of his shirt, and sat on the edge of the bed to pull off his boots.
    Thoughts of the beautiful woman he’d seen today stirred images of the courageous little girl who’d saved his life nine years ago. She was beautiful now, but no more beautiful than she had looked to him that day in the mine.
    “You saved our lives, Lainey,” he’d said to her. “We’ll never forget you.” Or the men who did this, he’d added to himself. His black hair was matted with dirt and coal dust, and all he could think of was making the mine owners pay.
    “What will we do now?” Lainey had asked, brushing coal dust from her skirt as she got up from the ground.
    “ We aren’t going to do anything. Tommy and I are leaving.”
    Tommy looked stunned.
    “It’s too dangerous for us to stay here now,” Ren explained. “We know too much. If someone discovered the truth about what happened here today, it could raise questions about the accident at the Middleton Mine. Redmond and Dawson can’t afford to let that happen. And that makes it too dangerous for Tommy and me to stay.”
    “Can’t we just go to the sheriff?” Lainey asked.
    “Who’d believe us? Besides, they’d just claim I was stirring up more trouble between the miners and the management. There might be another so-called accident.”
    “I guess you’re right,” she admitted, “but I still don’t want you to go.” She smiled sadly, then blushed beneath his close regard.
    “You mustn’t tell anyone you saved our lives, Lainey. Let them think we’re dead.” He was tired and dirty, wet, tom, and ragged—and he now knew for certain his father had been murdered.
    For the first time Ren noticed the girl’s bleeding fingers. “God, Lainey.” He kissed her bloody hands as he knelt beside her, tipping her chin up with his hand. “You’re the bravest little girl I’ve ever known. Maybe someday Tommy and I can make this up to you. I don’t know how, but maybe someday.” He kissed her dirt-smudged cheek and