Free Rush of Love by Jennifer Conner Page A

behind him held a myriad of emotions on their faces.
    Some awe, but mostly jealousy.
    This was the dream for all these men. Since the Seattle Post Intelligencer headlines screamed, ‘GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!’ the year before, thousands streamed into the city on their way to Alaska. They wanted to be what Samuel Cooper was.
    A rich man.
    Opal drew her long brown curls off her shoulder and tried to pay attention to what Millard, the head of National Banks gold reserves said. Millard was a mean little man with a sharp nose and an even sharper tongue. He’d warned her, he didn’t approve of women working in men’s jobs. Which meant anything … other than prostitution. Though Opal would never dare point it out, she prided herself on the fact that she could count money faster than Millard. Millard read off the amount of Samuel’s payout, and she quickly began to count the stack of bills. When she ran out, she looked up at the banker. “I need more money.”
    “Oh, for goodness sake.” He stalked off towards the back room’s vault.
    “Needs bigger bills, huh?” Samuel pushed his black brimmed Stetson to the back of his head and grinned. It was rare to still see cowboy hats around Seattle, which proved he must be from out of town. Samuel leaned over the counter again, and dropped his voice, “ Ahhh … finally alone.”
    Opal wished he’d stop doing that, because she had the urge to meet him half way. He smiled revealing a dimple in his left cheek. His clothes were worn from hard work, but he was still cleaner than ninety-percent of the miners who traipsed through the bank. And, he had all his teeth.
    “Would you accompany me to dinner?”
    “Wh ..what ?” she stammered. Opal looked over her shoulder to see if Millard was behind her. Samuel wasn’t the first man to ask her out. There weren’t enough women in Alaska, and when men returned to Seattle, they wanted to find the first woman they could. Samuel was the first man she’d had even the slightest urge to accept an offer from.
    “He’s not back yet.” Samuel grinned again. “So, you still have time to say yes.”
    “I can’t go out with you.”
    “Why not?”
    “I just… can’t”
    “Your pa wouldn’t allow it?”
    “I don’t have family.” Why had she told him that?
    His face darkened. “I’m sorry.”
    “You don’t need to be sorry.”
    “The decision is up to you. Make the right one. I always do.”
    Opal laughed. “You’re full of yourself.”
    “Yes, I am. On top of the world right now, and I need a pretty woman to share it with.”
    She hesitated.
    She wanted to say yes, but shook her head just as Millard moved alongside her again.
    Was this a lost chance at love? What was she thinking? She reminded herself he’d be gone in a week.
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 2
     
     
     
    Opal’s back ached and the buttons on her shoes rubbed her ankles through her wool stocking. She’d been on her feet for the last ten hours. They hadn’t even been given time for lunch, much less privy breaks, and now worked two hours over without pay. At the end of the day, the totals were off by twenty cents. Millard demanded they recount all the gold sale receipts. Goodness! She was ready to take the change from her hand bag to make up the difference. She didn’t have money to throw around, but it would be worth twenty cents to get back two hours of her life. Shuffling along the cobblestone street that lead back to her boarding house, she grumbled under her breath.
    “Miss Grey?” a deep voice asked.
    She spun so quickly, she nearly tripped over her own feet.
    “I didn’t mean to startle you.” Samuel moved out of the shadows.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I told you, I want you to accompany me to dinner?”
    “I said no.”
    “I would have remembered if you’d said ‘no’. Before that snake of a man came back from the vault and interrupted our conversation, all you did was shake your head. A shake of the head means maybe. It’s definitely