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Ofcoursehe would know to ask that question. As a friend of the Blackmores, he would know Bathsheba’s sister, Rachel, who was also deaf.
Samantha’s stomach pitched like a boat in a storm. The blasted man would obviously be familiar with sign language and might very well have seen her signing with Donny that night in the slums. At this point, she could only hope that it had been too dark for Kendrick to notice.
Play the hand you’re dealt.
“As you can see,” Samantha said with an apologetic smile, “Hercules has injured himself, and Felicity is quite worried about him. She wonders if you might look at his paw. I know it’s a lot to ask, but—”
He held up a hand to interrupt, smiling. “My grandfather regularly employs me to care for his extremely decrepit terrier. I’m sure this old fellow can’t be any worse.”
“You don’t know Hercules,” Samantha said with a sigh.
“Let’s have a look, shall we?”
He crouched down in front of the cat. Hercules stared at him, his expression especially annoyed, his tail twitching ominously.
“Och, laddie,” Kendrick murmured in a warm brogue as he gently scratched the cat’s head. “Ye hurt yer wee paw, did ye?”
Samantha held her breath. Hercules had been known to bite when annoyed, and today he was very annoyed.
Astonishingly, his tail stopped twitching and he actually started to purr.
“Good Lord,” she said.
Felicity lowered herself onto the floor next to her pet. She pointed to his right paw, and then waved her hand over it.
Kendrick nodded. “How did he cut it?”
Felicity lifted her hands as if opening a window, and then wiggled two of her fingers.
Samantha sighed. “Apparently, Hercules made an outside foray and came back injured.” She leaned down to meet her sister’s gaze. “He is a house cat, not a street cat.”
Felicity shrugged.
“Cats don’t like to be confined, especially not the male of the species,” Kendrick said as he ducked his head to inspect the paw.
“Aye, just like a man,” Mrs. Johnson said in a snort. “Always gettin’ up to trouble.”
Samantha shot her housekeeper a disbelieving look. The situation was now officially beyond ridiculous.
Felicity held out her left arm and then rolled her other hand over it. Kendrick looked at Samantha.
“She wants to know if you can bandage it,” she explained.
“Most certainly. Mrs. Johnson, would you fetch my satchel?”
“Aye, Dr. Kendrick.”
Samantha held her breath when he lifted the injured paw to examine it. When Hercules simply kept purring, she couldn’t believe it. Only a few weeks ago, the blasted cat had bit her when she’d tried to remove a thistle from his fur.
“Would ye look at that,” Mrs. Johnson murmured as she shot Samantha a little grin. “Yer a miracle worker, sir.”
Clearly, all the females in the house had lost their minds over the handsome doctor Kendrick.
“More a scrape than a cut.” Kendrick smiled at Felicity. “Someone did an excellent job of cleaning his paw.”
When the girl beamed and tapped her chest, he grinned and gave her a thumb’s up. Clearly, they had no trouble communicating. That was quite . . . wonderful.
He’s wonderful.
