that I finished everything with a bang! To my delight, much like the characters themselves, as soon as I started writing, Lydia and Gideon hijacked the plot and decided to have a rollicking good time. In addition, characters from the first two books, Accidental Courtship and Accidental Family, decided to help out. I had so much fun bringing everyone together for one last happy ending.
I love to hear from my readers, so if you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me at my website, www.lisabinghamauthor.com, or through my social media sites, www.Facebook.com/lisabinghamauthor, and Twitter @lbinghamauthor.
All my best to you,
Lisa
Dedicated to Joyce, my mother.
Thank you for always believing in me.
Contents
February 21, 1874 Utah Territory
Gideon Gault sensed trouble. Something strange was happening in Aspen Valley, something...unsettling. A thread of agitation ran through the community surrounding the Batchwell Bottoms Silver Mine. It bubbled beneath the surface, filling him with anxiety—even though, for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why.
Pausing at the entrance to the mine, he planted his hands on his hips and squinted against the sun. For the hundredth time that day, he allowed his gaze to sweep over the street beyond.
“Problems?”
Glancing over his shoulder, Gideon acknowledged Charles Wanlass, the mine’s blasting foreman, and recent newlywed.
“I don’t know. Do things feel...odd...to you?”
Charles smiled. “Odd? In what way?”
“I don’t know. I just...”
Charles’s grin grew even broader, and Gideon grimaced. The man grinned a whole lot these days. Ever since Charles had married and adopted twin babes, Gideon’s friend existed in a perpetual bubble of happiness that was beginning to grate on Gideon’s nerves. Especially since Gideon seemed to be surrounded by miners who were afflicted with the same brand of besottedness.
“There’s something going on,” Gideon groused, trying again to explain the fact that, each day, he grew a little more skittish, a little more suspicious. He woke up with the sensation that something was off-kilter with Aspen Valley and went to bed sure that he’d missed something important.
But what?
“Maybe it’s the
