Page 26 of The Baron Takes a Wife

Elena was taken back almost three years earlier when she tried to use the same excuse on David, how her life had changed since then. “Most women are if they are in the wrong circumstance. It will not matter, I believe.”

“I don’t know what to say…”

“I need to check, and I will bring your employer to see you in a few days, but if she says yes, would you like that?”

“Yes, yes, grazie my lady, grazie.” Annamaria kissed Elena’s gloved hand. It was an unfamiliar gesture here in London, but it took Elena back to her home for a moment.

Now Elena just had to talk to Sophie, but if Sophie had accepted her with open arms, she could accept this tough, funny woman, wouldn’t she? Elena prayed she had not just made an empty promise and vowed to do whatever she could to bring her plan to fruition.

Chapter Eight

On the way back, they were stopped in the carriage for so long that David got out to see what was causing the delay.

Irene and Elena sat in silence for several moments, but then curiosity overtook them when David did not return. As she descended from the carriage, Elena saw David talking with a man over something bloody on the ground.

“We really ought to shoot it, guv, put it out of its misery,” she heard a young man tell her husband.

As she stepped closer, mindful of the busy street, Elena realized it was not a person but a dog whose back legs had been trampled by a wheel or a horse’s hooves. While she did not grow up with dogs in the home, as that was not the way of her people, dogs ran freely through the streets of her village. Her heart went out to this large, wolf-like animal that still wagged its tail and looked longingly at David despite its obvious pain.

“Oh, David.” He looked up as she touched his shoulder. “Let us take him home.”

“Yes, please, Davie, please,” Irene had joined them. She had never heard her call him that, but it seemed to work to some effect as David’s gaze was torn between the two women.

“Irene, he’ll probably die. Leaving him to, uh, this young man might be kinder…”

Irene shook her head. “Elena’s a nurse. She can fix him.”

David looked at Elena, cocking his head to one side. “Can you?”

She studied the dog, which she could tell was golden and black, even with the grease and matted blood in his fur. She looked over his legs. One looked like it might heal fully. It was just broken. She wasn’t sure about the other as it lay beneath him. But still, this dog deserved a chance. And they could give it to him.

“I think so.” David still looked undecided, so she added, “I seem to remember someone else with a serious injury who kept fighting against tall odds.”

David shrugged. “I never thought of that part as the fighting. But I suppose it was.” He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “All right.” He stripped off his coat and began to make a sling of it to carry the dog, who was quite large. Once they had him in the carriage, Irene and Elena fussed over the dog to make him comfortable. At one point, Elena looked up and saw David shaking his head at the two of them.

“What is it?”

He crossed his arms in front of himself. “I’m not convinced this old chap didn’t know exactly what he was doing when he dodged in front of that horse today. He wound up with two ladies fawning all over him.”

Irene looked up. “He’s just jealous,” she told Elena, turning her attention back to the dog.

****

David carried the blasted animal into the townhouse. It was challenging without his cane, but he knew Irene and Elena couldn’t manage it on their own. Fields looked appalled as he approached.

“The ladies decided to save a trampled street dog this afternoon. Have the maids bring some hot water and clean cloth. Would Mrs. Jenkins be bothered if we take him downstairs?”

Fields recovered quickly. “Mrs. Jenkins can handle anything, sir.”

“Just so,” he said. He carried the animal downstairs as Elena cleared off a table. She looked down at her lavender gown, which, while not as elaborate as an evening gown, was surely not ideal clothing for treating a bleeding animal. As if reading his thoughts, she shrugged and immediately got to work.

Elena cleaned and set the animal’s wounds, speaking to him soothingly. He was rather a handsome fellow now that Elena had cleaned up some of the blood and grime, quite large for a street dog, with a coat of tan and black. He was reminded of Alsatian dogs he had seen on the Continent. David hated himself, but he rather envied the animal in those moments when she gently tended to him, though he was still moved to pity for the poor beast. Even greater than his envy was his pride in how efficient she was, how competent. He knew she treated men outside Balaclava but rarely saw her do it. He also knew that she might not be considered a proper or trained nurse in the eyes of the world, but he couldn’t have been prouder if she had treated the queen herself instead of some poor animal on a table. In his observation of her, he didn’t notice a coldness on his hand. The animal had moved his nose into David’s palm as if to force him to pet his nose. He looked up at David longingly.

David sighed, finally resigned to this new addition to the household. “I suppose if he is to stay here, he ought to have a name.”

Elena pondered for a moment. “What about Goliath?”

David looked again at the beast as he gave in and scratched his ears and head. “Well, he is rather a large, strapping fellow.”