AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dang, the woman was more and more intoxicating the closer she came to him. He caught the scent of mango. Lotion, probably, and it smelled delicious. “Did I mention you look amazing, by the way? And you smell amazing, too.”
She looked him over from top to bottom. “You clean up nice, too.”
“Well, thank you.” He was wearing jeans, a leather jacket, and a tight T-shirt. His hair was curly, as always. At the moment, it was a bit longer on top.
She smiled at him. “And I like the curls, Mr. Birch.”
Something about the way she said his name so officially made him want to kiss those perfect lips. But he didn’t know her, and he didn’t want to ruin whatever was going on.
“Shall we go?”
A woman who saidshall. He liked it. “Yes, weshall.” He put his hand out.
She stared at it hesitantly.
He dropped it. “No worries.”
As he moved to leave the boutique, he spotted a picture on the wall. Actually, it was more of a treasure map. He paused. Of course, after living in this town for the past two months, he’d heard about the Stone family and the conquistador’s gold. Some articles that had come up with Lucy’s name had been about the search. He’d been to the museum downtown, and after buying the motorcycle from Marshall Stone, he’d had a good dose of gold lore, but this picture was different.
“Oh, that’s a replica of the map that the Stone family has in their home. I think there is one at the museum downtown, too. I’m sure you’ve heard the story about the gold and Mr. Banks.” She sighed. “Yada yada yada.”
He turned to face her, realizing that she’d been on the front lines of all the stories with the gold. “So you witnessed the shoot-out a couple of months ago that Marshall told me about?”
Lucy looked unimpressed. “I did.” She stared at the map for a bit. “That gold brought nothing but problems for my friends. I’m sure you know it’s not around here. They don’t know where it is, but their father took it somewhere years ago and the Stones are done looking for it. It’s long gone.”
“Where’d he take it?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know anything.”
He knew that was a lie, but he grinned at her. “Okay.” It made him want to know even more. He smothered that interest. He wasn’t here for a gold hunt; he was here for this woman. Still, anyone’s curiosity would be piqued by the possibility of gold.
Raine traced the outer layer of the glass that encased the fake map. “Gone but not forgotten,” he whispered.
Raine wasn’t just anyone, and if there was a mystery involved, he and his brother could crack it.
No.
His life wasn’t about the next deal, even if it was a gold hunt. He had changed his ways. He turned back and put his hand out again. “You ready to have some fun?”
Surprising him, Lucy took his hand and strutted past him. She led him out the door and then closed up the boutique and enabled a security system she had on her key chain.
In his quick estimation, he assessed that the alarm wouldn’t be hard to hack. If he knew what type it was, a couple swipes on the website would let him locate and disable the alarm, if he wanted. But he didn’t. He didn’t need to do stupid crap like that anymore.
“I can do all things with Christ, who strengthens me,” he mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” he said.
They got to the motorcycle, and he handed her a helmet, then put on his own.
She hesitated. “So you’re not some crazy who’s going to hurt me or anything, are you? Like take me somewhere, kill me, and bury the bones?”
Raine frowned. She was far too trusting if she thought she could avoid danger just by asking. “Nope. We’re just going to have a good time tonight.” He patted the side case on the motorcycle. “I’m thinking stargazing and chocolate strawberries.” He flashed her his winning smile. “If they don’t melt. And just getting to know a beautiful woman.”
Lucy let out a huge breath. “Well, I guess I can trust you. You do know Marshall. I’m going to go off that. He’d hunt you down and kill you if you messed with me.”
Raine hesitated, then grinned.
