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Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. About Alison Stuart
  3. Also by Alison Stuart
  4. Title Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Author’s Note
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. Preview of The Goldminer's Sister

He shook his head and set the paper down on the table. Whatever had driven Adelaide away from her father, she had walked away from what looked like a considerable fortune. That alone would be sufficient to induce a man like Richard Barnwell to seek her out. His instincts about the man had been correct.

In his bedroom, he dragged his travelling box from under the bed and took out the Colt. He unwrapped the oilcloth and hefted the gun, the stock warm and familiar in his hand. For years it had never left his side but Maiden’s Creek had woven some sort of spell and for the first time since he had enlisted in the army, he had not felt the need to carry the weapon on a daily basis. Now he laid it on the table and unwrapped the cleaning kit. The act of cleaning the weapon would give him the time and space he needed to think.

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Eight

11 February 1872

Adelaide could not fault Richard’s attentiveness. Every evening, as they had agreed, he arrived in time to share supper with her and Danny. Even Netty seemed to have softened towards him. Once it became apparent that Netty’s position in Adelaide’s household was friend, confidante and companion, not servant, Richard had treated her as an equal, drawing out her chair at the dining table and standing when she entered the room.

Then there was Danny. After the box of soldiers, every evening he had brought a different present. Tonight it had been a book and gales of laughter greeted Adelaide as she carried their supper into the parlour. She set the bowl of vegetables she carried on the table and asked about the book.

Richard looked up. ‘I found it at a funny little bookshop in Melbourne and I thought it would amuse the boy.’

Adelaide took it from Danny. A rainbow on the cover proclaimed Cole’s Funny Picture Book. She flicked through the pages of cartoons and puzzles. She’d certainly never seen anything like it before but if it broke the ice between Danny and Richard that could only be a good thing.

After supper, Richard asked to speak to Adelaide alone. Danny and Netty retreated to the kitchen, closing all the doors between them.

Anticipating the subject of such a private conversation, Adelaide’s stomach filled with butterflies. Richard indicated for her to take a seat on the day bed. She acquiesced, folding her hands in her lap. She had thought long and hard about the answer to the question she expected.

Richard paced the room a couple of times before coming to sit beside her. He took her hand in his and cleared his throat.