Snow Angel by Jamie Carie Read Free Book Online Page A

here?”
    â€œSeven years now. Came up from Montana in ’90 to start a trading post with my friend, Will.” His eyes took on a faraway gleam. “My pa was a trader before he started ranching. He taught me everything he knew.”
    â€œWhat made you decide to come to Alaska?” Suddenly she wanted to know everything about him.
    He threw some fresh steaks into the pan as he talked, warming to the subject. “A friend of mine, Will Collins, came up first. We grew up together. When he got back to Montana we would sit around and talk about Alaska. Will couldn’t wait to get back here. He said I would feel the same once I came here, and he was right. I scouted around Juneau for six months before I found this place. It was summertime. You wouldn’t recognizethis valley in the summer, it’s so different. Anyway, I was following Gold Creek. Usually I would go south and follow the road all the way to the Silver Bow Basin and Jumbo, the mine down that way. But that day I pushed east and found Granite Creek. I passed an amazing waterfall and then came into this lower basin. That’s where this cabin is now. The valley and lower slope are covered with wildflowers and berries in the summer. It was perfect. I knew it was the place I’d been searching for. I can’t imagine I’ll ever leave. It’s wild, unspoiled. It’s home.” He paused and gazed out the open window to the mountains, and Elizabeth suddenly understood why the windows had no curtains.
    â€œI guess the land has become a part of me, in my blood.” Looking suddenly sheepish, Noah snapped his attention back to the skillet on the stove.
    Elizabeth felt herself drawn to him even more. She’d never met anyone so sincere, so passionate about something.
    â€œI like it here, too,” she said softly.
    Noah turned toward her with his piercing blue eyes and said, “But you like it for its gold.”
    Elizabeth felt mesmerized by those eyes. Smiling deep into them, she said softly, “It’s called ‘gold fever,’ and I’ve had it for years. That’s what is in my blood.”
    * * *
    November 29, 1881
    Dear Mrs. Rhodes,

    I have just received word from my correspondent at the New York Orphan Asylum. She writes of a child, about four years old who matches your daughter’s description. I leave tomorrow with the great hope that we have found her. I will, of course, write immediately should I locate her. You didn’t mention the photograph in your letter. Does this mean that you don’t have one?
    Thank you for the extra funds sent by personal messenger. It is my great pleasure to assist you.

    Sincerely yours,
    Jeremiah Hoglesby
    Private Detective for Hire

Four
    You really pan for gold?”
    â€œSure. I’ve been mining since I was fourteen.” She paused, steel threading her next phrase. “I know I can do it if I can just get a claim.”
    â€œAnd you plan on going to the Klondike?” Noah asked with his brows raised.
    â€œYes. I admit I haven’t mined alone before, but I did my share of the work. I can pan and work a sluice or a rocker. I know how backbreaking it is. If I can get my hands on a decent claim, I’ll hit pay dirt, I know I will.”
    Noah sighed and gave her a patronizing grin. “OK, you’re a miner. But do you have any idea the hardships on a trail like this one? There are mountains to traverse, lakes and rapids to cross. The Canadian Mounties won’t let you into the Yukon Territory without a ton of supplies that you have to pack there on your own back. Horses and dogs can only help some of the way, and only if the weather is just right for them. I’ve heard one of the trails has become a horse graveyard, so many of them have slipped and fallen into the ravines along the way. The trail is a muddy ice bog in the spring, and with all thatmelting snow, the rapids are so fast you can barely get a vessel down them with