Free Blessings of the Heart and Samantha's Gift by Valerie Hansen Page B

let them use ink.”
    He brightened. “How about a treasure hunt? You could set the rules, pick which rooms they’re allowed to look in, stuff like that. And we could each supervise one hunter to keep him out of trouble. How about it?”
    “Well…I suppose that might be all right, providing we watched them carefully.” Bree figured she must be getting bored, too, because she was beginning to warm to his crazy idea. “You could pick something to hide, tell me where it is, and then I could use the markers to draw a map for the kids to follow. I’ve always been good at art.”
    Mitch grinned. It was nice to see the wealthy woman loosening up a little. A change in her neat-freak attitude would be a welcome relief. And the boys definitely did need something to do. They hadn’t caused much trouble so far, but it was only a matter of time until their bottled-up energy bubbled over and got out of hand. Like the dog’s had.
    “I have a good idea,” he said. “Let’s hide a little bag of cookies so they’ll have a real reward when they find their treasure.”
    “Great!” Brianne eyed the dog in his arms. “Go get rid of that monster and meet me in the kitchen. I’ll find you a sandwich bag to put the cookies in. Emma made a big batch of peanut butter and raisin the last time she was here.”
    Following her directions and rejoining her took Mitch only a few minutes. “Okay. Ready,” he said.
    “Good.” She handed him a small plastic bag and pointed to the cookie jar. “Go for it.”
    Smiling, he took the bag and filled it, then held it up for inspection. “Okay. Now what? Where do you want me to hide these?”
    “I don’t know. Someplace easy to get to but hard to see. And low to the ground. We don’t want the kids climbing all over the furniture.”
    He hesitated. “Now that I think about it, this may not be such a good idea, after all. You sure you want to go ahead with it?”
    Being totally honest, Bree had to admit the game sounded like a welcome diversion. “Of course I do. You and I will be right there. What can go wrong?”
    He shot her a lopsided grin, his dark eyes twinkling.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “Oh, nothing. I was just picturing you saying the same kind of thing about your pond before it went south and wiped me out.”
    Bree made a face at him. “All the more reason for me to make you and your children feel welcome here. Now go stash those cookies and come tell me where you put them so I can get started on the treasure maps. And hurry up, before I have time to change my mind.”

Chapter Seven
    F rom her sanctuary in the kitchen, Brianne was putting the finishing touches to her homemade maps when she heard squeals of glee followed by the light slap of small bare feet in the tiled hallway. Ryan burst into the kitchen with Bud on his heels. There was something contagious about his eager, expectant expression.
    “Okay, fellas,” she said, smiling and holding out two sheets of paper. “Here are your treasure maps. To be fair to Bud, I drew pictures so you wouldn’t have to read any words.”
    She bent over and pointed. “See? This is where we are now. And here at the big X is where you’ll find your cookies. Are you ready?”
    Both boys nodded soberly.
    “Okay, then. Your daddy will go with Ryan, and I’ll help Bud in case he gets lost. Let’s go.”
    Ryan was out of the room like a shot. Holding the teddy bear by an ear, Bud clutched his map in his other hand and gave Bree a look that was half adoration, half heartfelt plea.
    She smiled at him. “How about letting me carry your bear for you so you’ll have one hand free? We’ll be right here with you. Promise.”
    To her delight, the shy child hesitated only an instant before passing her the precious stuffed toy. Touched by his show of trust, she cradled the teddy as if it were a real baby.
    “I think we should go this way,” she told him quietly, pointing first to the map, then to the hallway. “I know a