Heart of Gold by Lacy Williams Read Free Book Online

hurt?”
    “Not hurt.” Her answer was muffled in his shirt. “Don’t like small, dark places.”
    Oh. Then spending time in this dank, enclosed space was probably making her uncomfortable.
    “Any chance of us escaping?” Even her voice shook.
    “I’ll go look out again in a little bit. Maybe they’ll bed down and we can sneak away.”
    She nodded, her head nudging under his chin.
    Charlie ran a hand down her back, hoping to offer comfort. It was hard, being close to her like this, knowing how determined she was to return to Omaha. Knowing there might be someone waiting for her back home.
    Remembering how Edith hadn’t thought he was good enough.
    “You can hang onto me for as long as you’d like,” he teased, and Opal drew slightly back, as he’d known she would. At least she didn’t step out of his arms.
    He had to ask. Had to know. “Is there really someone-are you really going to marry someone back in Omaha?”
    She stiffened slightly, but still didn’t pull away. “There is someone. I’m not-we don’t love each other, but the match would be beneficial to us both.”
    She seemed to hold her breath for a moment, then went on. “His family is well-off and has promised that if I wished it, I could support the orphanage.”
    So she wasn’t in love with this other man. The admission sent Charlie’s heart to soaring, though he tried to control it.
    “So you’re not really promised to him,” Charlie pressed.
    “Why do you ask?” Her breath fanned his chin and he imagined her looking at him, their faces only inches apart.
    Charlie allowed his hands to follow the slope of her shoulders, traced the slender column of her neck and then cupped her cheeks.
    “Because I can’t stop thinking about kissing you again.”
    Her soft gasp cut off as his lips covered hers. She didn’t push him away, like he expected, or pound his chest—no, she responded with a tilt of her head, a soft noise in the back of her throat that sent his pulse thundering in his ears.
    When at last he had to pull away to catch his breath, he couldn’t resist placing kisses on her cheek, her temple. He felt a smug satisfaction that she was breathing as hard as he was.
    Certainly, she wasn’t thinking about being stuck in the dark now. Neither of them were.
    “Let’s sit down, darlin’. I’ll go check on the bandits in a bit.”
    “Don’t call me that,” she murmured, but it was halfhearted at best.
    He sat with his back to the cold stone wall, and she settled at his side, her knees pressed against his thigh and head resting on his shoulder.
    “You would really marry this man to support your orphans?” Charlie asked, because he knew Opal wasn’t the kind of woman who was free with her affections and she’d just been kissing him. But he’d also thought he knew Edith and look what had happened with that. So what did it mean for his heart now?
    He hadn’t meant to fall in love with the boss’s daughter. Couldn’t be sure when it had happened. Maybe because of her courage when the roughnecks had chased and shot at them the first time? Or her constant kindness and bond with Carl?
    Or was it even now, while she trusted him to take care of her while they were in danger?
    She was a long time in answering, and Charlie’s tentative hopes plummeted. What could he offer a woman like Opal, when this other man could give her all her heart desired?
    “I don’t have much choice,” Opal said softly. “Even if I believed God was listening to my prayers, there’s no solution in sight. No money.” She paused. “I can’t just let those children be put out on the streets. There’s one little boy… only a toddler. His parents died and he had no one to take him in. And yet, he never stops smiling. He has this adorable little toothless grin…”
    Charlie’s chest tightened unbearably. How could he have misjudged her so in the beginning? Thinking she was just like Edith, that she was only after money.
    Opal was nothing like his