Read The Rocky Mountain Heiress Collection for Free Online Page B

done it again. Unless Tova and Isak are joining us, you only needed to feed three.”
    “It’s only us tonight,” Elias said, “but none of us shall leave the table hungry.”
    Daniel reached for a slice of bread and tore off a corner. “Should we eat even half of this, none of us could leave the table at all.”
    “You know I’ve only one set of recipes, and they’re for a shipload. If you don’t like it, hire a real cook.”
    “What would I do with a real cook? I keep you here for entertainment value, not your cooking.” The statement was patently false, as evidenced by the bite of rye bread Daniel popped into his mouth.
    “Try to complain now, lad. I baked your favorite.” Elias’s laughter trailed behind him as he disappeared into the kitchen.
    Rather than follow, Daniel moved to the window that filled one end of the room. Clouds gathering above the distant peaks foretold of rain. Likely the mines were already being soaked.
    Though the strike that crippled the mines in May and June had been halted and their leader finally captured and placed under arrest, the underlying issues still remained. The men wanted better working conditions and a bigger share of what was quickly becoming a substantial pie, and now they’d had a taste of what striking might accomplish. A storm would do nothing to improve their temperaments.
    One more thing to deal with upon his arrival.
    An off-key version of a familiar sailing song drifted under the kitchen door. Daniel smiled. For all the grief that awaited him in Leadville and, likely, the trouble that would come with the opening of his father’s letter, still he could find a haven here.
    Trouble could not touch him inside his home.
    Through dinner with Charlotte, charades, and a bedtime routine that included two trips to the library for just the right book, Daniel tried to ignore the letter in his pocket. Coffee and a game of chess with Elias followed, and still he postponed reading the documents.
    “Something bothering you, lad?” Elias asked.
    “Bothering me?” He moved his queen into position to take Elias’s king, then looked up. “Check.”
    “You sure?”
    Daniel nodded as his opponent countered and called checkmate.
    He sat back and frowned. He’d missed the obvious.
    “I’ll not ask why you let me win,” Elias said, “though I will inquire whether I might be of service in whatever problem you’re contemplating.”
    Daniel thought only a second before pulling the letter from his coat pocket and setting it on the chessboard.
    Elias glanced down, then looked at him with narrowed eyes. “So the old man’s found you.”
    A statement, not a question. Interesting that Elias, too, never considered the letter could be from Edwin rather than his father. Edwin would never write. He was too much of a coward. Only the earl would send a letter to a son he’d declared as good as dead ten years ago. Likely Edwin was still too busy celebrating the victory.
    “It appears so,” Daniel said as he returned the letter to his pocket.
    “What does your pa want from you?” Elias gasped. “Not her?”
    Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know. I haven’t opened it.”
    “I see.” Elias rose and yawned with more enthusiasm than necessary. “Besting you at chess sure has made me sleepy. I believe I’ll turn in and leave the supper dishes for Tova. She always loves it when I do that.”
    Daniel mustered a smile. “I think you’re harboring a secret crush for our housekeeper, Elias.”
    “Why would you say something as foolish as that?” Elias stepped over Daniel’s outstretched legs to walk away. “You know I never did like a bossy woman. Why, that Tova, she’s about the bossiest of all the…”
    His voice trailed off as the old seaman disappeared down the hallway toward his bedchamber. A slamming door punctuated the sentiment.
    “Methinks thou dost protest too much, dear friend.” Daniel reached for his lukewarm coffee and smiled, until he felt the letter shift