Read Online Smitten Book Club by Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter - Free Book Online

We can string up some lights and give it an even better going over if I don’t find anything. Call your friends while I check it out.”
    He crawled back inside and studied the space with the flashlight. There was no obvious hole where anything could be hidden. The couple of offshoots ended within a few feet, and he shone the light up the walls clear to the ceiling. Nothing.
    He spent more time combing the bigger area, but still came up empty-handed except for an old axe with a B carved into the handle. When he went to the opening to tell Heather, he met her crawling through the hole with a bigger flashlight in her hand.
    She looked up at him from her hands and knees. “Lia brought over several more flashlights, and Abby is on her way with a battery-powered floodlight.” Her small chin was set with determination. “We’ll find it.”
    He helped her up, but she quickly stepped away from him. The cave felt intimate and warm with her in it. “Did you call Molly?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t want to get her hopes up in case this turns out to be nothing.”
    “It’s the right cave. Look.” He turned and grabbed the axe to show her.
    Her fingertips traced the letter on the axe. “You don’t think there’s any treasure here, do you?”
    He shook his head. “I think someone probably took it out a long time ago. This place hasn’t been disturbed in ages.”
    Shouts echoed from outside, and Heather turned toward the opening. “I think Abby is here. Maybe we’ll find something with more light.”
    But an hour later they were still empty-handed. It seemed someone had already mined all the gold.

Never be afraid to apologize. It takes great courage to admit you’re wrong, and you will only be stronger for it.
P EARL C HAMBERS , The Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship
CHAPTER EIGHT
    Y ou look lovely, dear.” Rose bustled into the sun-room where Heather sat on the flowered sofa with her hands folded in her lap. “That bright blue suits you.”
    “Thank you.” Heather had taken special care with her appearance today, and the short, form-fitting dress was new. Charlie wore new jeans and a blue T-shirt. She’d washed up his sneakers too. He leaned against her shyly.
    The soft tans and comfortable furniture in the bright space should have put Heather at ease, but she wished she’d never agreed to come for dinner. It was going to be so awkward since Paul had kissed her yesterday. Her fingers stole to her lips. She’d remember that kiss the rest of her life.
    Rose set a silver tea tray on the table, then lifted the pot to pour the tea into the delicate blue-and-white cups. “Paul will be here shortly. He’s out looking at houses to buy. I’ve told himhe can live here as long as he likes, but he’s a grown man and finds it off-putting to be living with his great-aunt, I think.”
    Something inside Heather clenched. “He’s buying a house?” Somehow she hadn’t really believed he would stay here for good.
    Rose nodded. “He seems to be done with city life and wants to settle down here in Smitten. I knew it would happen sooner or later. Paul puts on a front that fools most, but not his old auntie. He asked my David to tag along and give him an unbiased opinion.”
    Heather smiled. Rose and her long-lost love were the cutest newlyweds she had ever seen.
    “A front?” she said. Maybe this was her chance to learn a bit more about Paul.
    Rose handed her a delicate teacup. “He’s always felt his mother’s abandonment. He and his sisters were yanked around from town to town until he was eight. She was an alcoholic, you know. Married five times. I think that’s why Paul has always been a little skittish of relationships. I knew God would help him settle eventually, though. It’s time.” She bent down and smiled at Charlie. “I brought you some cocoa, honey. And cookies.”
    After a moment Charlie took the mug she offered, then scooted back against his mother.
    Heather stirred sugar into her tea.