Page 52 of The Duke's Hellion

“Rex? Who’s that?”

“My dog.” If he had been thinking more clearly, he would have answered with more kindness in his tone, but at the moment, his brain had turned to pudding and any filters he normally used to screen his thoughts were gone. Hmmm…this must be how Mimi felt every day.

“You have a dog?” He noticed the alarm in her voice and picked up a shred of his decency.

“Yes, I do. But don’t worry about Rex. He’s been put in a safe place away from you.”

“Oh…” she said with her eyes trained on him. “Thank you. That’s…very kind of you.”

He drew near to her and took her hand in his. “You’re my wife, Mimi. I know you have a fear, and I would never subject you to that.”

“That’s so thoughtful of you, Sam. I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing to say about it. Rex and I will continue our relationship on the side.” He winked at her, feeling the need to add some levity to the moment.

“As long as he’s your only side thing, I’m all right with it.” Her smile made it all worth it. It was no hardship to confine Rex to a large space on the estate and ensure their paths never crossed. It was a small compromise considering the many sacrifices couples had to make.

“I shall go for a walk as well.” Her smile warmed his heart.

“That’s not necessary, I can take a treat to Rex without you.”

“You don’t want me to go?”

“I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do. I would never ask you to—”

“You’re not asking.”

He smiled at her. “That’s true.”

“And you’ll be with me the whole time?”

“I will.”

“Then let’s go. You can introduce me to Rex.” She wrapped her hand around his arm. “I might just wave from a distance, but I’ll still say hello. Probably.”

“Let’s go then.”

It was a bit of a walk to find Rex. He was lazing around in a field. Rolling over in the dirt, following butterflies with eyes. Moving about as fast as he normally did, which was the average pace of a turtle. He was an old soul and wasn’t the kind to express himself too vividly.

When they reached the fenced off area, Sam placed his hands on the top wrung and looked out at Rex. The dog noticed him but didn’t immediately come bounding over, more or less, he looked over his shoulder at Sam and nodded at him. As much as a dog could nod his greeting.

Sam felt his pockets to offer a treat.

“Drat! I forgot his treat. We’ll have to go back and get it.”

“I think I’ll just wait for you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ll wait here by yourself? With my dog? Alone?”

She lifted her arm to point at the dog, “He hasn’t really moved since we got here. And he can’t jump the fence, can he?”

Sam laughed as he glanced over at his dog who was now cloud-gazing. “Rex is not the fence-jumping kind.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Sam took off leaving Mimi with Rex.

*

---