His Brother's Bride by Denise Hunter Read Free Book Online

the map and gold. That is the only reason you are there.
    Since you have become so lax in your thinking, I am going to save you from your laziness by setting a deadline. You have until winter’s first frost to find the gold. Anyone with any wits about them could manage that. Unless you want your grandmother to be sent away, you’d best get to work.
    Uncle Stewart
    Emily’s belly clenched, and her fingers trembled on the page. She sat down on the settee, glad she’d sent Adam out to play. She was beginning to despair of ever finding the map. She’d finished looking in the attic and around the house. It was only spring, but winter would be here before she knew it. What if she couldn’t find the gold by winter? What if the map was not even here? Someone could have found it and thrown it out long ago for all she knew.
    She heard Adam squealing outside and peeked out the window. He sat in the dirt watching some bug crawl along the ground. He coaxed it onto a stick and squealed again. Emily smiled. She longed to go outside and play with him, but now she felt compelled to search for the map.
    She looked around the room for some area, some piece of furniture she hadn’t searched already. She’d looked everywhere.
    Maybe she was going about it all wrong. Maybe Cade knew something that would give her a clue as to the gold’s whereabouts. Maybe he even knew of the map but didn’t know its significance.
    That’s it. I’ll see if I can find out something from him. It sure beat looking for a needle in a haystack. Especially when she didn’t even know if the needle existed.
    â§
    Emily put another spoonful of potatoes on Adam’s plate and smiled at him.
    â€œThank you,” he said.
    Her eyes met Cade’s, and she read the approval in them. She’d been working with Adam on his manners. He was a fast student, ready to learn and eager to please. Keeping him clean, though, was a task she’d given up on. She’d learned to let him get as dirty as he pleased, then have him get washed up for supper.
    She glanced at Cade, who was serving himself another slab of ham. He could put away food, that man, but still stayed slim and solid. Well, it was no wonder with the hard work he did all day. Her gaze fell to his hands, so strong and tanned. His fingers, squared at the tips, were long and so. . .masculine.
    And still.
    Her gaze found his, and she saw he was studying her. She’d been staring at his hands, she realized, and knew he must think her odd. She picked up her fork and worked a piece of ham onto it, feeling the burning in her face. He’d never said a thing about their embrace in the attic awhile back. But she’d thought about it more than she cared to admit. If Cade had thought much of it, she couldn’t tell, for he’d been as distant from her as he ever had.
    Her uncle’s words flashed in her mind. You are there to find the map and gold. That is the only reason you are there. The weeks were slipping away, and she had to start questioning Cade, like it or not.
    She glanced in his direction and realized Adam was telling him about a game she had played with him today. How could she steer the conversation toward the map in a way that wouldn’t draw Cade’s suspicion? Then an idea occurred to her.
    â€œPerhaps tomorrow we could play a different game,” she said to Adam.
    His dark eyebrows popped up high. “What game?”
    â€œWell, seeing as how you like dirt so much, perhaps I could bury some treasure. I could make you a map with pictures and see if you can find it.”
    â€œReal gold?”
    Emily laughed and hoped it didn’t sound as brittle as she thought. “Well, I don’t have any real treasure, but maybe we could use buttons and just pretend it’s real.”
    Emily glanced at Cade, hoping to jog some memory. If he’d seen a map lying around somewhere, maybe he’d think of it now.
    â€œCan we