Page 30 of A Whiskey River Princess

Dirk stopped and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “If you don’t want to go—”

“No, that’s fine,” she cut her off. “You go take care of the livestock and I’ll do my best in here.” She looked around as if not knowing where to start.

But Dirk knew that she had to start somewhere. Anything she did would help her to improve her homemaker skills. “Just do the best you can and if there’s anything you need, let me know and I’ll help you with it when I come back in.”

Dirk chuckled as he crossed the room to the back door and held it open. “Coming, boy?” he asked Buster, lying lazily by the fire. He immediately jumped to his feet and followed him out.

Dirk found himself hurrying through his daily chores so he could spend more time with Gabriella. She was quickly becoming his addiction: the more time he spent with her, the more he craved.

An hour later, the cattle and livestock were fed. He looked outside the barn and the snow had stopped for most of the day. He thought it should be safe enough to go into town before it started back up again.

“There you go, Bessie.” Dirk poured the feed into the trough for his best milking cow. He gave her a gentle pat, stowed the tin feed bucket, and walked back toward the house as Buster followed.

When he walked into the house, Gabriella was on her hands and knees, her dress drenched in water, scrubbing the floor. Dirk tried not to smile, but she looked so cute on the floor withmore water on her than on the floor. Why in the world she had chosen this moment to learn how to scrub the floors when they were going into town, he had no idea.

“Oh!” she chirped, eyeing Dirk. She waved the scrub brush and water dripped down her arm. “I didn’t see you come in!”

“I just walked in.”

Buster skipped over and started lapping up a water puddle on the floor.

“No, Buster! Don’t do that!” Gabriella tried to get up, but her feet slipped out from under her, and she landed hard on her back side. “Ow!” She tried to get up again but fell into the wash bucket, spilling water all over the floor.

Dirk chuckled, hurrying to help her. “Gabriella, what are you doing?”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I finished washing the dishes and I thought that the floor could use a good scrub.” She let her hands fall onto her lap, looking down at her drenched dress.

He looked over her shoulder and through to the kitchen. To his amazement, the dishes were cleaned, but laying haphazardly on a dishtowel and crumbs were still lying on the kitchen table, where they hadn’t been wiped off. He reached down to offer her a hand up. She took it, but slipped and he steadied her, pulling her into his arms.

When he looked down, she looked so vulnerable, helpless, the feisty kitten beaten. His heart quickened as he held her. It had been a long time since he’d held a beautiful woman in his arms. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and began dabbing at the mixture of tears and wash water on her face. She looked up at him with doe eyes, stirring something inside him that he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“Here.” He handed her the handkerchief and then took a step back, keeping her at arm’s length, but steadying her. “Why did you pick now to wash the floor?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t think it would take that long.”

Dirk smiled. “Scrubbing the floor takes longer than you think.”

She forced a smile and said something in French.

One corner of his lips curled into a smile. “English, please?”

“For a valiant heart, nothing is impossible.” She looked down at the mess on the floor. “It’s a saying in my country.”

He smiled at her proudly. She was down, but she wasn’t beaten. “I’ll tell you what. Let me show you how to scrub the floor. First, you have too much water on the floor, and you also need a rag.” He took a rag from a drawer, bent down, and started to wipe up the water when he felt her warmth beside him.

“Let me help.” She had another rag in her hand and carefully repeated his actions, watching his every move.

He smiled proudly at her. “You dip the end of the scrub brush into the water and then scrub the floor in circles. Then, you wipe it with the rag and rinse it in the wash water. This way, the floor dries quickly, and the boards won’t warp from the excess water. You keep repeating the process until the floor is clean.” They worked together side by side until the mess was cleaned.

When they were finished, Dirk stood and picked up the bucket containing the dirty water, but Gabriella placed her hand on the bucket handle, too.

“I’ll do it,” she said, looking up at him with beautiful blue eyes.

Gabriella seemed so eager to learn that he almost agreed. “No, I’ll do this. You go clean up. I’d like to take you to Whiskey River before it starts snowing again.”

It was obvious that Gabriella was about to object, but then smiled. “I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes.” She smiled as she headed off toward the spare bedroom.

Dirk let out a deep breath and carried the bucket outside as Buster followed. “What am I doing?” he asked as he poured out the wash water at the side of the house. He hadn’t been this attracted to a woman in a very long time.

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