Rocky Mountain Dreams & Family on the Range by Danica Favorite (summer beach reads txt) 📕

“Good reading?”

He looked up. “My pa’s journal. Not all of it makes sense, but I was hoping it would offer some clues as to where he might have found the silver.”

Silver. Always silver. But maybe she could get him to see reason before it caught hold of him.

“They always claim to have found silver, but...” Annabelle shrugged. “There are a lot of charlatans out there who will seed an old mine with a few nuggets to trick people into thinking they’ve made it big.”

She gestured around the cabin. “This is not the home of a man who found silver. You’ve seen the mansions in town. That’s where the ones who strike it big live.”

Joseph closed the book and looked up at her. “I know.” He sighed, then set the book down. “But he sent money home. More money than our family had ever seen. I’ve gotten dozens of jobs, but nothing that brought in the kind of money he sent. It had to come from somewhere.”

Even in the dim light, she could see the lines drawn across his face. Was he thinking the very thought that had occurred to her? A person didn’t get the nickname “Bad Billy” for being an upstanding citizen.

“I don’t think it was silver,” she told him in the most gentle tone possible.

The look on his face made her wish she hadn’t been the bearer of bad news. But he was fortunate to face the truth now. She looked around the room and spied a bucket on one of the crates.

“I’m going to finish picking flowers with Nugget. I found some greens that will be good to take home to Maddie. We’ve only got a few minutes longer before we need to start heading back. Otherwise, it’ll get too dark to find our way home.”

Annabelle grabbed the bucket, wishing that the truth wasn’t so harsh. But that was the trouble with dreams. Believing in tales, but not having the proof to back it up, meant that disappointment was inevitable.

At least Joseph was able to see the truth sooner rather than later.

Annabelle headed back outside. Once again the light nearly blinded her. But not so much that she didn’t recognize another horse. And a man talking to Nugget.

“Hello!” Annabelle waved her hand and started in their direction. The man looked up but didn’t return the wave. Instead, he took Nugget by the hand.

Annabelle quickened her pace toward Nugget and the man. “Nugget!”

The closer she got to them, the more her heart thudded. Nugget was tugging against the man’s grasp.

“Let go of her!” Annabelle ran in their direction. “Joseph!”

Hopefully if the man heard that there was another man present, he would leave poor Nugget alone.

“Stop!” Annabelle’s throat hurt from screaming so loud, but it distracted the man enough that Nugget was able to tear away from his grasp and run in her direction.

Annabelle gathered Nugget in her arms and started toward the cabin. The man took a step in their direction, then stopped. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed Joseph running toward them.

“What’s going on?” His shout spurred her to turn and run to him, clutching Nugget tightly.

“The man...he was trying to take Nugget.”

Nugget whimpered against her bodice. Joseph’s face hardened.

“Get inside the cabin and bar the door. I’ll handle this.”

Annabelle didn’t need to be told twice. This kind of lawlessness ran rampant in the mining camps and surrounding areas. Even being in town could be dangerous, but at least there, no one dared accost an innocent child.

It wasn’t until they were safe inside the cabin, the door barred, that Annabelle dared breathe. Just one more reason to want to leave. These ruffians...

Nugget lifted her head, and Annabelle realized that the child’s tears had soaked her bodice through.

“Oh, sweet girl...” She smoothed Nugget’s hair and began humming a melody she remembered from her mother. Nugget rested her head back against Annabelle, and Annabelle continued humming and rocking the little girl as she tried peering out the cracks in the wall to see if the horrible man had left.

“Don’t let him take me,” Nugget whimpered. “He’s a bad man.”

Annabelle lifted the little girl’s head and examined her face. “Do you know him?”

Nugget nodded, then peered around at the door as if to see whether the man was coming after them.

“Who is he?” For once, Annabelle wished she would see the miners as individuals, rather than just a whole group. Maybe she would have recognized him.

The child gave a shrug, those wide eyes still focused on the door. “Dunno. But he shouted at Papa a lot.”

A man who shouted at the little girl’s father a lot who just happened to be at the cabin to try to take her. No, Joseph’s father wasn’t a legitimate miner. He was something far worse and more scary. How had her own father been fooled into helping this man?

Someone pounded on the door. “Annabelle, it’s me. Joseph. It’s safe to come out now.”

Still clutching Nugget to her, Annabelle opened the door, and Joseph gathered them in his arms. Warmth rushed all around her. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply of a strong, earthy scent. His hard chest felt so good against her cheek, and his warm body cradled Nugget between the two of them. Safe.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m—” Before Annabelle could finish telling him they were fine, he’d taken Nugget from her grasp and was cradling her like a baby. Of course it was Nugget he was worried about, and the reason he’d gathered them in his arms. She’d been foolish to get wrapped up in a moment of fancy.

Fancy was what got everyone here in trouble.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Annabelle told him, clearing her throat, and silently applauding herself for making it sound like she’d known who he was interested in all along. “I didn’t see any injuries, so she’s just a little scared, that’s all.”

He ignored her, keeping his gaze focused on Nugget. “What happened out there?”

“I was picking