Page 15 of To Bed the Bride
“I’m looking for the other shepherd,” she said.
“There is no other but me.”
“Of course there is,” she said. “The younger man.” The handsome one. The annoying one.
“There is no other but me,” he repeated.
“That can’t be right.”
“Aye, it is.”
The first raindrops began to fall, large splattering drops that hinted that the clouds would soon release a deluge.
The puppy took that opportunity to pop out of the basket again.
Eleanor put her hand over his head to shield him from the rain and coax him back inside the shelter of the basket.
“I’ve come to return his puppy to him.”
The man glanced around as if looking for someone. “You’ll not see anyone but me here.”
“He has to be here,” she said. “I’ve come to return his puppy.”
“I’ve no use for a puppy.”
Nor was she going to leave the animal with him. The poor thing would likely be trampled beneath the hooves of the suddenly milling sheep. Thunder rumbled overhead and it disturbed them, enough that they were beginning to move of their own accord.
The shepherd began to whistle at his dogs.
“You’ll be going, I’m thinking, else you’ll be missing your horse next.”
He was right. She glanced over her shoulder to find that Maud had started walking down the road. The mare was all for finding the stable on her own.
The rain was falling in earnest now, drenching her in minutes. She made it down the hill and to Maud’s side, realizing that she didn’t have the shepherd’s help this time to mount. Rather than fuss about it, she simply grabbed Maud’s reins and began to walk, the whole time rehearsing what she would say to the owner of the puppy when she found him. The puppy himself was curled into a tight ball in the bottom of the basket, sleeping, and sheltered from the worst of the rain.
She hadn’t imagined Mr. Contino’s ire, but by the time she made it back home she was beyond caring. The rain had stopped by the time she reached Hearthmere, but the storm had already done its worst. Eleanor didn’t think she’d ever been as wet as she was right at the moment. Even her undergarments were drenched and she squished when she walked. Her shoes were probably ruined.
Two stable boys rushed out to help her, but they cared more about removing Maud’s saddle and rubbing her down than anything else. She didn’t even bother explaining to the stable master what had happened as she surrendered Maud’s reins.
The puppy, refreshed from his nap, popped up out of the basket, looking around with interest. He whined at her, which meant something, she was sure.
“That’s a cute one he is,” one of the stable boys said.
She nodded. “And a great deal of trouble.”
“If you want, I’ll take him off your hands, miss.”
The offer took her aback. So, too, did her instantaneous response. “Thank you,” she said, “but he’s my responsibility now.”
She walked out of the stable, bemused. How odd that she’d found it impossible to turn over the puppy to the care of the stable boy. But she didn’t know the boy well. Did he have a cruel nature? How would he treat the dog?
Like it or not, she hadn’t lied. She was responsible for the puppy, at least until she could find the mysterious shepherd and return him.
How dare the man simply disappear, especially after he’d complicated her life.
The puppy chose that moment to bark at her again. One solitary bark that had her stopping on the path. Placing the basket on the gravel, she opened the top, scooped the puppy out, and let him gambol on the wet grass. She would have to dry him off, but at least he might not have an accident on the rugs.
A little while later Eleanor had changed her clothes and made the puppy a little corral in her bedroom, arranging her hat boxes, trunk, and vanity bench around an area that had been stripped of any carpet. Instead, she had Ann go to the stable for some hay, which she’d liberally sprinkled on the floor. Eleanor reasoned that it would be easier to remove the hay if the puppy soiled it than refinish the floor.
