Yukon Cowboy. Debra Clopton

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      She continued on toward the tour company, glancing across the street at the quaint church where children played in the playground. Bethany had spent many Sundays sitting beside Nate on the second-from-last pew of that church. Since moving from Treasure Creek, she’d not been in church on a regular basis. Her faith, like her heart, had taken a hit when Nate had told her he didn’t love her, and that she shouldn’t hang around town because of him.

      Bethany’s dreams back then had conflicted with one another. She’d wanted to be successful in her own right as a wedding planner, and she’d wanted Nate. And she’d wanted children with Nate. In her naivety, she’d thought she could have it all. But there weren’t many weddings in Treasure Creek before the article.

      Now she was just looking to have a lovely life. She wanted satisfaction and fulfillment. She wanted…something elusive that she hadn’t found with her career in San Francisco. Sure, she’d flown to Italy and Australia and other places to carry off the weddings of wealthy clients for the firm she’d worked for, and loved every minute of it. But now, at twenty-nine, with no husband and no children, she knew she wanted more. And she hoped that more was here in Treasure Creek.

      She wanted to know that God had a plan for her life—a plan that she would understand soon. Maybe, being back in Treasure Creek, she’d find the faith she once had. The faith to believe that God really did have her in the palm of His hand.

      A prayer for Joleen was a start.

      Out in the wilderness, she’d always felt closer to God. Who wouldn’t? Maybe out there she’d feel the peace she’d missed.

      “Nate, I want you to look around the cabin at point three on your tour, but I really don’t want you going to Klink’s Ridge,” Amy said, from across the desk in her office. “We both know no good can come of that. And if by some stretch of the imagination the treasure is in there, then it will just have to stay there, unless you find another entrance. I can’t imagine my great, great grandfather scaling the wall to hide something in such a dangerous place.”

      Nate ran a finger along the crease of his cowboy hat. He planned to scale that ridge and find the cave that his grandfather had believed held the treasure. He’d tried it once and almost fallen to his death, just like his grandfather had. But Nate had made a careless mistake. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. He’d been thinking about it, and felt he owed it to his grandfather to figure out if he’d discovered anything before he plunged down the face of that cliff. Amy didn’t need to worry herself about it, though, so he kept his plans to himself.

      “I’ll be checking around the cabin. When you showed me the map I realized—because the map leads me to believe the treasure is buried near a cabin—that maybe my grandfather thought the same thing. This opening on the face of Klink’s Ridge may be a cave opening he thought linked to a cave. I’m not sure what my grandfather was thinking. I may never know. But I’m going with my gut here and checking all this out.”

      Amy nodded. “There are just some things in life only God knows the reasons for.”

      Nate’s thoughts went instantly to the day he heard the doctor tell him he would never father children. After a mild case of the measles—despite his childhood vaccine—Nate had been shocked when his dad suggested the doctor test him during his checkup. He’d been nineteen, and when the test revealed that he was sterile his world had changed. He’d gone from being a man with everything to a man with nothing in an instant, knowing there was no way on earth he would be able to look Bethany in the eye and ask her to marry him. Why had this happened to him? He’d asked himself and God that question over and over again…with no answer.

      God’s reasoning wasn’t something he thought about much anymore. He still went to church on occasion, just because in Treasure Creek it was expected. He’d be considered a heathen for certain if he never stepped foot in the church…and maybe yes, there was a possibility that he might hear something from the preacher that helped him process the reasoning behind his inability to give the woman he loved the children she wanted so badly. Even now the thought made him ache through and through.

      “I’ve found the perfect guide to help you with this tour group.”

      Amy’s soft voice broke into his deep thoughts and he pulled back from the mental road he’d been traveling on—it was a road that led him nowhere good. He was glad to have something else to think about. Before Bethany had come home, he’d pressed any longing for her he had deep into the most hidden recesses of his being so that he was able to cope. Coping. It was a double life he lived, but knowing she was living her dreams helped him. Now that she was here, coping was going to be a killer.

      “Who’s going with me?” he asked. He liked all the younger tour guides. Most were just out of high school, ready to learn as much as possible so they could begin leading their own tours. None of them had ever been as great to have along as Bethany had been…she’d always given the tours a good twist. Her insights into the country and the animal life always added a fun element.

      “The Taylors have adopted this little boy, and he’s pretty rambunctious and has a few attention problems. They requested a female guide to help lead the tour, because the mother felt she would be more comfortable, given the situation.”

      Nate wasn’t surprised to have an extra guide on a family tour, especially since he was going to take a few private excursions in the hopes of finding the treasure. But a woman—who? The only woman guide they had at the moment was Casey Donner, and she was already out in the field. At least he thought so. “Who? Did Casey get back in early?”

      “No. It’s someone new.” Amy tapped her pencil on the table, then let it drop as she pushed her chair back and got up.

      She was acting differently. What was up, he wondered, as she crossed to the door, cracked it open and peeked out into the waiting area then closed the door. The last thing he wanted on this tour was to be breaking in a wet-behind-the-ears woman.

      Turning, she settled serious eyes on him. “Okay, she’s here now. This is going to be great, Nate. Remember, I’m doing what is best for this family, and I expect you to do the same. Here at Alaska’s Treasures tour company we always think of the clients first.”

      Nate wasn’t sure how to take Amy’s tone or the look on her face. But her words had his stomach feeling suddenly like hot mush. “Amy, what have you done—” he started, but she opened the door and beckoned someone inside.

      The last someone he’d ever expected to see walk through that door as a tour guide. Bethany.

      Chapter Three

      Bethany walked into Amy’s office and stopped in her tracks. Nate jerked to his feet so fast, he sent his chair sliding into the bookcase behind it as he gasped in horror.

      What had she done to make this man change toward her like he had?

      “Amy,” she snapped, her temper at his attitude spiking. “I’m not sure I understand—or like this one bit.”

      Nate positively glowered at Amy, looking like he could wring her neck. The man obviously had a problem, and it looked like Bethany was it.

      Unaffected by either of them, Amy smiled breezily, as if Nate looked at her that way all the time. She drew Bethany into the room and closed the door. “Look, I didn’t think either of you would understand this. That’s why I chose not to tell you what I’d done until now. But, Bethany, the minute I heard you were coming to town I knew you both would be the perfect guides for this family СКАЧАТЬ