Yukon Cowboy. Debra Clopton

fun.”

      Bethany met Nate’s gaze, and it struck her again that if they’d gotten married they would probably have had a child around Cody’s age. The thought was like a splinter wedging its way into her determination to not let Nate see how much she was still affected by his rejection of her and the life they could have had together. Planting a smile on her face, she winked at him—a cover-up for the real emotions plaguing her. “I remember how much you enjoy leading tours. Even tours with rambunctious little boys. I’ll never forget that set of twins that one summer. You had as much fun as they did, pulling pranks along the trail. If my memory serves me right you were the one who came out of your tent and had a bucket of water dumped on top of your head.” It was true.

      She laughed remembering that. “I never did know if that was Barry and Bart’s doing. Or yours.”

      He looked innocent. “I guess you’ll never know.”

      They stared at each other for a long moment. Bethany had to keep smiling, as if that was just a cute memory between friends. It was going to be hard, but that was how she was going to approach this trip. She was fine, and no one, especially Nate, was going to know how hard this was on her.

      Great fun. Nate wondered how she meant that an hour later, as they unloaded their packs from the van. He’d had them carried deep into the interior of the Chilkoot Trail. They would be hiking all day, but sleeping in a lodge for the night. It was bit of a harder trek than he normally took a family on with a small child. However, this was the way he needed to go to check out his hunch about the treasure. This was the way to Klink’s Ridge and the spot where his grandfather died. Until Amy’s boys had found the map hidden in a secret compartment of her kitchen cabinets, he had not understood remotely what his grandfather had been thinking. After seeing that the treasure was supposedly hidden in a spot somewhere between the Chilkoot Trail and the Taiya River, it made more sense to him. Nate was on a mission to find that spot, and maybe—just maybe—it was the same spot that X marked on the map.

      He was worried about Cody, though. The little boy was active and he didn’t seem to take instruction well. He hoped Bethany really was up for the hike and helping him keep up with things on the trail—Cody being number one on the priority list.

      “Everyone grab your backpacks. And remember to stay close at all times. This is a tour and we are going to see the most beautiful land in the world, but it is wilderness. There are wild animals out there and we need to respect that—”

      “Mr. McMann,” Ely March cut in, tugging his new wife close to his side as he threw his paper-thin shoulders back and puffed out his chest. “It’s safe though, right? They told us it was safe.”

      Nate hid a smile. Ely was about as big around as a pine sapling, even had a pimple on his chin, he was so young. Nineteen, but Nate was having to trust the birth date. The kid didn’t look a day over sixteen.

      Lisa looked almost nineteen and stared at Ely like he was superman—complete adoration lighting her eyes. It was a look Nate had seen at least a dozen times over the last hour. The two kids were over the top in love and attached at the hip—how they were going to ride two horses was a mystery that was yet to be figured out.