Page 41 of Guiding Little Gabi

Just as she began to scratch, the door behind them opened. Moses walked out, carrying their bags, accompanied by Master Derek. “How’s the allergic reaction coming along?” he asked.

Gabi really didn’t think it was very nice that Master Derek’s lips were twitching when he asked. It wasn’t funny.

Her Daddy was injured, practically a mortal wound, and it was all her fault. She felt horrible. And her Daddy wouldn’t even spank her because he said it was an accident.

Accident or not, she deserved a spanking because it made him miserable.

“I am so sorry, Daddy. So, so sorry.”

Her Daddy frowned down at her. “Teacup, there were two things I asked you not to say. What were they?”

Double rats with cheese!

“I’m not supposed to ask if you’re angry. And I’m not supposed to say I’m sorry.” Then, before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “I'm sorry for being sorry, Daddy.”

Raleigh turned to Master Derek. “Can we use your office one more time before we leave?”

With a grin, Master Derek shook his head. “Normally, I’d be happy to oblige. Unfortunately, I can see your taxi heading down the drive. I’m afraid you’ll have to use your own office when you get home.”

Raleigh had taken one look at the car she’d rented and ordered a taxi. Master Derek said someone from the ranch could return her rental.

Gabi hadn’t known until then that her Daddy had an evil grin. But he did, and he used it when he said, “I can hardly wait.”

“How was I supposed to know this would happen?”

“It was probably the chemicals in the fingernail polish,” Master Derek said.

“How was I supposed to know you were allergic to fingernail polish, Daddy? It was the only thing I could find that was bright enough red. Hey, does the label warn people that you might have a back allergy to their polish? I’ll bet we could sue. I should write a letter?—”

“No!” both her Daddy and Master Derek said, cutting her off. Even Moses shook his head.

Grinning, she said, “Kidding! I’m only kidding!”

That was the wrong thing to say. “You keep ‘kidding’ like that and you’ll wind up sitting on a sore ass all the way back to Darling.”

She gasped. “Daddy! That’s mean.”

“No, that’s the truth. What’s mean is painting a vagina on your Daddy’s back.”

Her cheeks flamed. “It was supposed to be a heart! They said to pick two things that go together and paint one of them on the back of each shirt for the game. I wanted you to have a heart, and me to have an arrow. I can’t help it if my creative skills are more pronounced in more verbal areas than painting ones.”

“Oh, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to be verbal when I get you to my office, little girl.”

“See? I knew you were mad. That means you lied, too.”

He was saved from admitting his crimes when the lodge door flew open. Sadie rushed out, waving a tube above her head. “I knew we had some somewhere! This is the salve I told you about that will help your Daddy’s itchies!”

She skidded to a stop and would have fallen if her Daddy hadn’t caught her. “How many times do we have to have a talk about not bursting through the door and running on the gravel, young lady?”

She grinned up at him. “I guess that’s up to you, Daddy. If it were me, I’d mark it as a lost cause and dance on to the next thing.”

Master Derek didn’t seem quite as amused as his Little wife. “I’ll be marking something soon, but you’ll be doing the dancing.”

He might be trying to sound angry, but Gabi saw the twinkle in his eye. Unlike someone else she knew who would remain nameless. But his initials were Raleigh Stevens.

Sadie turned her grin on Gabi. “So, I know what happened to your Daddy with the vajayjay heart, but did you make sure you don’t have a penis instead of an arrow on your back?”

Gabi blinked in surprise. That would be cool. But since she didn’t itch, she doubted it. Shaking her head, she said, “Probably not.”

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