“And here I was just thinking you were not a practical man.”
“I am perfectly practical,” he answered coolly. “Most of the time, anyway.”
Clara couldn’t help but smile at him. He was quite ridiculous and very handsome at the same time.
Alden drew back slightly, as though startled by her smile. His eyes sparked with something unreadable in the lantern light.
Harvey shook himself again, and then stared off into the distance, as though seeing something Clara and Alden could not.
Clara shivered. “We ought to get indoors.”
“We ought tobeindoors.” Alden took up the lantern she had set down. “Come on. You can’t lead the dog and carry the light at the same time. More practical thinking for you.”
Clara smothered a retort. She wasn’t certain whether to be amused or irritated by the man, but he did help, so she wouldn’t offend him. Not until they were warm and dry and Harvey was all right, anyway.
She followed him back across the cemetery and to the gate through which she’d entered. Alden creaked it open, then closed it behind them with a metallicthunk.
“Did you unlock this?” he asked her as they turned away.
“No.” How would he think she could? “It was unchained when I arrived.”
“Hmm,” Alden said. “Possibly by the person who left the lantern.”
“Possibly.”
Later, Clara decided, she’d think this through and try to work out who could have done such a thing. Only someone whoworked in the cemetery or had the keys, obviously. A sexton from one of the nearby churches or chapels, perhaps.
For the moment, she only wanted to get Harvey under shelter from the rain and the cold.
She realized as they moved through the deserted lanes on the edge of the Heath that Alden was striding for his own house, not hers.
“My garden gate is that way.” Clara pointed down the curving shrubbery that ran behind the homes that lined the Heath.
Alden didn’t slow. “My garden is larger and uncluttered. We had this argument before.”
“Yes, but my family knows how to take care of dogs.”
He turned back, lifting the lantern to illuminate Clara’s face. “I grew up among packs of hounds, so I know dogs very well. Harvey will need space to run when he’s well enough to, and my garden shed is cavernous. And, as I said before, your mother’s rosebushes will be in no danger.”
Imagining her mother’s wrath if Harvey ripped into one of Lady Banks’s climbing roses made Clara concede the point. “Very well.”
She followed him to a solid, door-like gate. In contrast to the low shrubs and simple iron gate that led to her family’s garden in the back of their house, Alden had a high wall lined with a hedge and a tall wooden door that blocked any view of his garden. A carved raven at the top of the door surveyed those who approached.
Alden reached for the lead, but Harvey cringed against Clara, and she kept hold of it. Alden heaved a heavy sigh, produced a key, and unlocked the gate. Clara led Harvey inside, and Alden closed the gate behind them.
Clara feared Harvey would be frightened when he was shut inside, but the dog looked about the dark garden with some interest. He followed readily enough as Alden led them to a largedoor built into an extension of the house and opened this with another key.
He waved Clara inside the shed then hung the lantern on a hook near the door. She noted with approval the neat rows of tools on the walls, boxes and bags stacked evenly on shelves, and the well-swept floor. The shed held the musty, earthy odor of soil and compost that evoked the image of her mother kneeling beside a bench, potting her beloved roses.
Now that they were out of the rain and wind, another odor wafted around them. Clara wrinkled her nose. “Harvey very much needs a bath.”
“It’s too cold now,” Alden said. “I’ll give him a scrubbing in the morning.”
She raised her brows. “Youwill? Not one of your legions of servants?”
He eyed her impatiently. “I have four staff, including the gardener. Milford would give notice if I bade him wash a dog. The gardener works hard enough as it is, and the footmen are busy looking after my ungrateful friends.”
“Oh.” Clara rearranged her preconceptions. “If your friends are so awful, why are you allowing them your house?”
