Page 17 of A Whiskey River Princess

He nodded. “Well, come here and I’ll show you how to scramble eggs.”

Before long, he had shown her how to scramble and hard boil eggs, too. A few minutes later, they checked on the biscuits, and they were golden brown and cooked to perfection, the scent filling the room.

“They smell delicious,” Dirk gushed, giving her a friendly smile.

She almost smiled in return… almost.

“You did a good job.” Dirk lined a bowl with a clean dish towel, slid the biscuits in, and then cover them with another towel.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, clearly amazed, ignoring his praise.

He held out a chair for her. “To keep the biscuits warm longer.”

As she sat down, he slid the chair under her, and then sat down next to her.

“Thank you. You’re a good teacher.” She shook out the cloth napkin lying by her place setting and laid it across her lap.

He smiled and folded his hands, perching them at the edge of the table. “Let’s say the blessing first, shall we?”

They both bowed their heads, and he said a beautiful blessing over the meal, giving thanks for the good food and good company. She blushed.

When they started eating, Dirk noticed that she ate daintily, taking small bites, appearing to be refined, despite her humble clothes and appearance.

They ate in silence, but Dirk was enjoying the company, nonetheless.

“So, what brought you to my door last night?” he asked as he casually buttered a biscuit.

When she didn’t answer, he nodded, understanding. For some reason, she wasn’t ready to talk to him about it.

He could wait.

After breakfast, she sat back and dabbed daintily at the corners of her mouth. “Thank you for breakfast. Now, if you don’t mind taking me to the train station in Laramie, I’ll be on my way. I can pay you—”

Dirk laughed as he ate the last bite of his biscuit and sat back, fully sated. “As I said, the pass is closed from the blizzard, and we won’t be able to get through. In fact, I’m not going to my livery stable this morning in town because it’s snowing so hard.” He got up and looked out the back window at the snow blowing against the log cabin. “And it looks as if it’s not going to let upanytime soon.” He went over to the door, picked up his boots, and started putting them on as she watched. “If you don’t mind, you can clean up from breakfast while I go check on the cattle.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “You expect me to clean up this mess by myself?” Her disgusted gaze traveled around the kitchen.

He nodded as he slipped on his other boot and stood. “Yes, I do.”

She huffed as she stamped her foot. “Well, if you expect me to be your maid, then you’re going to be waiting a long time.”

He took a step closer, suppressing a smile, and whispered just over her head, “Around here, we call it helping out. There are no maids in Whiskey River.”

Gabriella looked up at him, her eyes wide. “I’ve never done it before.”

Dirk shrugged, wondering how she could have lived such a sheltered life. “There’s nothing to it. I’ll tell you what. Clean up the best you can, and I’ll be back to check on you in a bit.” He headed toward the door before she could answer.

But she was quick on his heels. “And where do you think you’re going?”

He smiled at her brashness; she was again the feisty kitten who couldn’t hurt a flea. “Out to tend the cattle and livestock. They need to be fed. So, I expect the dishes to be done and put away when I return.” He slipped into his coat and donned his cowboy hat as a thought occurred to him. “That is, unless you’d like to come out and shovel horse stalls with me.”

Gabriella balled up her fists and stomped her foot. “I never!”

Dirk smiled. He loved her feistiness, but she had a lot to learn about country life. “Well, if you’ve never washed dishes before, you’d better learn.” As he walked out the back door, something hit it from the other side.

He shook his head and laughed, hoping that it wasn’t anything valuable.

He spent the rest of the morning checking on and feeding the cattle. Despite what he had told Gabriella, the horses’ stalls didn’t need to be shoveled yet. But if everything went well, he would need to go to the livery stable soon to check on it.

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