Page 35 of Fall for You
But now that question seemed to stir something inside her. Or…no. Maybe it wasn’tjustthe question. If she were being honest, she’d been fantasizing and daydreaming for a while now. Ever since she’d found the hidden treasure in No Man’s Land.
She bent down to continue her work.
But it wasn’t aboutEric, necessarily. It was just the romance and the mystery of it all.
“Exactly,” she muttered. As she said it, she picked up the broken chair, ready for the pile, and accidentally dropped it on the floor.
It landed with a sharp thump…and the floor beneath it moved.
She blinked in surprise, shoving the chair out of the way and pressing the toe of her trail sneaker onto the board.
It moved again, and this time… Her jaw dropped as the floorboard gave way to reveal a small space that…was not empty.
She dropped to her knees, her insides starting to buzz with excitement. No way! It looked like a small leather pouch.
A little squeal escaped her, and she started to reach for it when a rustling of footsteps made her pause.
“You ready to wrap it up soon?” Dallas’s voice came from outside and Willow whipped around, quickly covering the shifting board by sitting on it.
As soon as he appeared in the doorway, he let out a laugh. “What are you doing down there?”
Blowing a curl off her face, she beamed up at him with an innocent smile. “Taking a small breather.”
“I think I can find you a nicer place to rest than this dust trap.” He waved a hand in front of his face as if clearing a cobweb, then grabbed another armload of stuff. “Come on, Tink. I’m starving. Let’s go grab some chow.”
Willow froze.
Now? He wanted to eat right now?
A whine grew within her, and it was taking everything to keep her mouth shut and not spill the beans on what she’d just found.
But something held her back.
Dallas arched a brow, and she nodded. “Sure. Chow’s a great idea.”
She waited until he’d turned before jumping to her feet and sliding the floorboard into place, taking a mental note of exactly how far away it was from the broken chair.
Dashing after her brother, she cleared the doorway enough to shut the door behind her, then grabbed a handful of things to carry.
“I should probably get back to work anyway.” She negotiated the step down onto the trail and walked behind her brother. “But I’ll make you some lunch first.”
“Back to work?” Dallas glanced over his shoulder with a grin. “Haven’t you just spent the last couple of hours working?”
She shrugged and smiled back at him, relieved when he turned around and kept walking. Her heart was racing in her chest, and a giddy laugh bubbled within her.
There was no way she’d just found another hidden treasure…
Had she?
The leather pouch came to life in her mind’s eye, and she couldn’t help imagining what secrets it held.
It was impossible to squash her grin. She let it bloom on her face, hoping Dallas wouldn’t turn around and notice.
She had to find out what was in that thing…which meant she had to come back alone and unearth that pouch just as soon as she could slip away unnoticed.
Chapter Fifteen
Dallas was pleasantly exhausted by the time he and Willow got back to the inn and deposited the broken junk where Drew had asked them to leave it.
