"You all would be pretty ticked if I got lucky and found it first shot, after all the time you've put in."
"He has a point." Kate reached up to pat Laura's hand, signaling that she was fine now. "Anyway, men just don't get Seraphina's dowry. Do they, Mick?"
"Seems to me if she'd had one, she'd have been better off doing something with it instead of burying it somewhere and taking a header off a cliff."
"See?" Her point made, Kate rose. "I'm going to check out lunch. Rumor is Mrs. Williamson made potato salad."
"I'll give you a hand." Enjoying the tension that had leapt into the air, Margo decided to let it hum. She sent Michael a quick wink before following Kate.
"I'd gone upstairs to make some calls," Michael began before Laura could retreat. "Looked out the window and saw five pretty girls scattered over the cliffs. It was hard to think about going back to work without getting a closer look."
"We try to spend a few hours out here every Sunday. So far we've found two coins. Or rather Margo found one and Kate found one. The girls and I are batting zero."
"Is it important to you? Finding gold?"
"The hunt's important. And the mood." She shifted her gaze to the sea. "The possibilities. I imagine her there, that young girl standing on the edge of the cliff thinking she had nothing left to live for."
"There's always something to live for."
"Yes, there is." She did retreat, the few bare steps the rocks allowed, when he lifted a hand to her face. "I should help with lunch. You're welcome to have some if you like."
"I wanted to talk to you about the girls, if you have a minute."
"Oh." The wariness in her eyes became concern. "If they're getting in your way—"
"Laura," he said patiently. "Do you really think you're the only one who can appreciate their company?"
"No, of course not." Annoyed with herself, logic hampered by rampaging emotions, she dropped her hands to her sides. "What is it?"
"I've been giving them a few pointers in the saddle. Kayla…" He glanced back, grinning as he watched the little blond head bob. "She's a pistol. She'd be doing bareback jumps if I let her."
"Please." Laura shuddered. "My heart."
"Kid wants to gallop full out in the worst way. Wants everything full out. You gotta admire that. But she listens. She learns. I'm crazy about her."
Laura blinked against surprise and sunlight. "She… she's full of Mr. Fury and his horses every time she comes back from the stables." Determined to relax, she sat on the rock, and barely jolted when he joined her. "She's starting to lose interest in her dance lessons."
"I don't want to mess with your plans."
"No." Smil
ing now, Laura shook her head. "She only wanted them because Ali had them. That's Kayla, always determined to keep up."
There were tiny blue flowers fighting out of a crack in the rock toward the sun. In an absentminded move, Michael plucked one and offered it. "Did you get her that drawing instructor?"
Surprise again flitted into her eyes. How odd that he should remember those little family details. "As a matter of fact I did find someone." She glanced down at the bloom in her hand, wishing she could take those habitual offer of flowers as casually as he did. "She'll start next week."
"Kid's got real talent. Me, the only way I can draw is with a ruler. About Ali."
"She's going through a difficult time. She's not as flexible as Kayla, or as resilient. She's so easily bruised."
"She'll come around." He took her hand, playing with her fingers. "The riding lessons. I don't know how far you want me to push it."
With a sigh, Laura studied her older girl, sitting so ladylike on the ground beside Margo. "If she isn't cooperating, there's no reason for you to push anything."
"Laura, she's a natural."
"Excuse me?"