“Ye all right tae stand?” he asked, in that deep Scottish burr.
“Y-yes, thank you so much,” she said, feeling her cheeks heat once more. He was even more handsome up close, and she had the sudden urge to lean into him, then caught herself before shedid. “I’m not certain I could have rescued this little pup, had you not come along.”
He slowly withdrew his hands, and she almost sighed in regret as that wonderful fluttery feeling of dancing butterflies in her belly faded away.
“Oh, I have a feeling you’d have figured out a way. You seemed very determined,” he said, chuckling.
“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” she said, with a smile. “I thank you just the same, Mr. Kerr. And this pup thanks you as well,” she added, holding the small dog up. The animal gave a soft whoof in reply and wagged its little tail.
“You are both very welcome,” he said with a twitch of his lips.
“Bath is not a large town. I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Do you live in Bath or nearby?”
He smiled down at her, revealing beautiful, white, even teeth and a dimple in each cheek that nearly made her swoon. Lord, but he just got more and more handsome with each passing moment.
“Very observant of you, Miss Davies,” he said. “I confess. I’m new to the area and am renting a modest townhouse. It’s just around the corner on Upper Church Street. I thought it would be a perfect place to paint, since it has a studio on the upper floor.”
“Do you specialize in a certain type of painting? I’m asking because I have four adopted aunts… Well, they’re known as the Golden Duchesses…I sometimes call them the GDs for short…which they find amusing. But they are quite droll, so they appreciate the moniker. They mentioned being interested in having their portrait painted…”
Fiddlesticks!She was rambling again. All she had to do was wait for him to reply to her question instead of giving a long explanation of why she’d asked it in the first place. She only needed to say a few words at most. She must get her habit of rambling on and on under control. She was going to bemanaging her own shop in a few short months and would be speaking to customers all day long—some who might be in a hurry, and others who might not like to chit chat. She would have to learn to be much more succinct and speak much more purposefully.
“I do paint portraits,” he said with another dimpled smile. “However, my specialty is landscapes. But I would be happy to meet with yer aunts and find out what kind of portrait they are interested in. I’m most curious, however. Why were ye in the ash pit with the dog?”
“I happened to be walking by when I heard it whimpering and sought to investigate, and the whimpering led me there,” she nodded at the ash pit, “and I leaned over the wall to coax it over to me…and well, you know the rest,” she finished, feeling her cheeks blush again.Fiddlesticks! Why do I have to keep blushing?She was acting like a silly debutante being asked to dance at her first ball.
The dog whimpered again. “Poor thing, it’s probably starving…”
“Aye. And I think it has a broken leg,” Mr. Kerr added, pointing out the misshapen leg.
“Oh, my goodness,” she said in dismay, gently shifting the dog in her arms. “You poor baby,” she crooned, petting the dog’s head and now, awkwardly trying to hold the pup tenderly without hurting it. “I hope I didn’t hurt you when I picked you up,” she said gently to the dog cuddled in her arms.
“You’re holding him with great care,” he said. “I expect his injury most likely came from being thrown into that pit.”
“To think that someone could be so heartless as to do such a cruel act, without caring what happened to the dog. It upsets me greatly that people injure poor defenseless creatures.”
“You like animals,” he said.
It wasn’t a question. She nodded. “Yes, I do. Cats, dogs, horses, wildlife—at least the wildlife I’ve encountered on my uncle’s land. Why, just last weekend I spotted the sweetest family of rabbits just hopping through the grass…” Her voice trailed off as she realized what she’d been doing. “I’m sorry. I have a bad habit of rambling.”
“Please, do not worry about that. You are all that is charming,” Mr. Kerr said.
And there was that sneaky blush again.
“Besides, it was my fault that you fell into the ash pit,” he continued. I feel certain you haven’t added to his injury. Ye may have saved the poor pup’s life. He’s already looking at ye as if you’re his everything. Had ye not heard his cries for help, he may have died in that pit—even with those wretched scraps. It looks like he’s been eating poorly for a while, already.” He chucked its nose, and the little dog licked his hand. “He’s going to be hard to saynoto, I think.”
“I thinkheis actually ashe,” Serafina said, her blush intensifying when she realized she had spoken without thinking. She felt sure that the topic of a dog’s genitals was not the type of discussion the headmistress at theJudith Allen School for Young Ladieswould have approved. “I…um…noticed when I shifted her in my arms. I suppose picking her up so quickly, I failed to…er…check.”
“Ahh…I see,” he said, his lips twitching, those dimples flashing. “Perhaps you should name her; that way, it could resolve the issue when you bring her to the home of your honorary aunties.”
“It all happened so quickly.” Serafina breathed, glad he had changed the subject to something less intimate, allowing her to avoid the uncomfortable discussion of the dog’s privities. “I’ll think of the name on the walk back to the GDs’ townhouse. It’s a few streets from here.”
As he escorted her out to the street, another “Eep!” escaped Serafina, and she looked around.
“Is everything all right?” Mr. Kerr asked.
“My books and my bag. I think I left them back in the alley against the wall.”
“Wait here, and I’ll fetch them,” he said.
