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“No. You hate dogs.” Her hand tightened instinctively around the puppy snuggled next to her leg. “I could see it in your eyes.”
His lips pursed, his voice low. “Just because I don’t want to step on dog shit inside a room, doesn’t mean I hate anything. I had a dog.”
“You did?” Her eyes opened more fully and she tucked her free hand under her head to get a better look at him. The cloak was still draped over her body—he’d left it in place to make sure she would retain as much heat as possible, and it took her several wiggles before her arm was comfortable in the new position. “Was it a bad dog? Is that why you hate them?”
“No. And I don’t hate dogs.”
She shrugged slightly, the motion getting lost under the cloak. “Did it have a name?”
“Wolf.”
“What happened to Wolf?”
“He was discarded.”
“Disca—was he killed? No.” She jerked upright, her full attention on him.
“Discarded—that was what my father called it anytime something had to disappear.” A bitter smile cracked onto the edges of his lips. “Such a polite word. Discard. When I was eight, my father tripped over Wolf and fell on his face. He started kicking my dog, calling it a worthless maggot pile.”
Her mouth opened in horror, her eyebrows pulling tightly together. “He didn’t—didn’t kill it?”
He shook his head. “I got to Wolf before my father could do anything to him and ran with him. I gave him away to the blacksmith’s granddaughter. I knew Wolf would protect the girl well.”
Victoria’s face only slightly relaxed, the worry still heavy in her brow. “Did you ever see him again?”
“I tried not to.”
“Did you miss him?”
That gave him pause.
Did he miss the dog? Maybe. He’d never really allowed himself to think on missing it. A useless emotion, missing something. That had been when he’d learned that lesson.
He didn’t answer her. Couldn’t, really.
Not that it mattered, for her body was swaying, her eyes drooping in his silence. It only took the slightest nudge of his fingers on her arm and she curled forward, leaning into his chest, her head settling into the crook of his shoulder.
Such an odd urge, an odd thing for him to do, nudge her into him and then wrap his arm along her back, holding her in place.
He couldn’t explain why he did it, other than he inexplicably wanted the weight of her body against his.
Her cheek nuzzled against his chest, a low murmur from her lips easing into his lawn shirt. “This doesn’t compromise me.”
A smile came to his face. “Never.”
In the next breath, she was asleep, a dog snuggled into her skirts, her feet warm between his legs.
What had he become?
Done?
{ Chapter 12 }
The whining was back.
The dream had her fully, the puppy whimpering, trying to break free from the snow, until she realized the dog was next to her, in the bed, whining and pawing at her thigh, trying to wake her up.
Victoria’s eyes opened slowly, the fireplace down to coals but giving off just enough light to see the dog was awake with frantic paws in front of her belly. She was on her side on the bed and…
