Read Online Once Burned by Suzie O'Connell - Free Book Online Page B

and taking steps to avoid it had the opposite effect. It was nice to know, for once, that a man cared enough about her to try to protect her from himself. And in that, her time with Henry was already a success.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    LINDSAY STEPPED OUT of Henry’s truck as soon as he shut it down in the parking area on the western edge of Virginia City. A small creek bordered by dense foliage blocked most of her view of the well-preserved gold rush town, and she was anxious to get busy exploring. They had only an hour and a half until the show started, which wasn’t nearly enough time to see everything, but she wasn’t willing to forgo the play to indulge her curiosity about the town. Vince and Henry had both spent a good portion of the ride from Northstar lauding the good time to be had watching the Illustrious Virginia City Players.
    Lindsay leaned against the tailgate of the truck and waited as Henry opened the stubborn back doors to let Evie and Vince out of the back seat.
    “Are you sure you don’t mind us tagging along?” Evie asked Henry as she climbed out and stretched.
    “Positive,” he replied. “Lindsay’s here first and foremost to spend time with you . At any rate, it’s a little late to change my mind now since we’re already here.”
    After Henry closed all the doors and locked his truck, he strode around to Lindsay and hooked her index finger with his. She glanced up at him and was greeted by a gentle, reassuring smile, so shyly, she twined the rest of her fingers with his, loosely joining their hands. She expected him to drop her hand when Vince and Evie joined them, but he didn’t. Evie glanced at them, and though her lips twitched upward, she withheld comment for the time being. Henry started toward town, and the newlyweds fell into step behind them.
    “Since we girls haven’t been here before, where do you gentlemen suggest we start?” Lindsay inquired as they cleared the trees and the town sprang into view.
    “We’ll start on the south side and save Cousin’s Candy Shoppe for last because we’re sure to make purchases there, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like packing sacks of candy around for the next hour and a half,” Henry replied. “It’s sort of a family tradition to get a few sweets for the play, and I thought you might like to bring a few treats home to Noah. They have everything from old-fashioned rocky candy to giant jawbreakers to saltwater taffy.”
    She glanced up at him, surprised he had thought of her son, and started to thank him but refrained as they stepped up onto the boardwalk and her attention was diverted. They passed several old buildings with locked doors, but when she peered in the windows, she saw that they had been maintained with all the supplies and tools and miscellany that had filled them during the height of the placer gold rush that had brought droves of hopeful miners to Alder Gulch in the mid 1860s. Other buildings were still in operation and housed touristy-type shops with everything from era-style clothing to figurines carved from various rocks and crystals to Montana-themed mementos.
    As they explored the town together, Henry kept hold of Lindsay’s hand. Vince and Evie made several purchases, but Lindsay’s wallet remained in her slender purse. While the newlyweds nosed around the Vigilante Mercantile, Henry pulled Lindsay outside.
    “Are you having fun?” he asked, snatching her other hand and pulling her against him.
    “I am.”
    Maybe this wasn’t real and maybe she shouldn’t be so comfortable in the embrace of a man she’d known only a few days, but it felt good to be held with such casual, easy intimacy, and Henry was already an old friend. That felt good, too.
    They’d spent most of yesterday together thanks to Evie’s insistence that he and his twin brother join their party at the Ramshorn Hot Springs, and they’d talked and laughed and flirted shamelessly. Lindsay’s impulsive decision to be completely