Page 16 of Savage Blooms
Finley
He hadn’t meant to steal her away from the house, certainly not for this long, but Finley’s best intentions tended to fly out the window when pretty girls were involved.
“Watch your step,” he said, instinctively holding a hand out for Nicola as she traversed a treacherous slope. The rolling lawn had turned to birch and oak forest a few minutes ago, and her flat-bottomed boots weren’t made for serious hiking.
“Thanks,” Nicola said, grasping his hand with her warm, soft fingers. Finley’s stomach did a somersault. She smelled like daisies and pressed powder and spring rain, and when she grinned at him in triumph as she made it safely down the embankment, Finley wanted to die a little.
He was just showing a guest around the property, he reminded himself. He was doing Eileen a good turn byhelping to entertain Nicola, therefore giving her some time to talk to Adam alone. There was nothing untoward about what was going on here.
He might almost believe it, if he repeated it enough.
They slowed as they came across a small cottage in the woods, hewn from the same gray stone as Craigmar and decorated with the same white trim. Smoo and Smug lazed around in the fenced front garden, flanked by sprays of bright yellow daffodils. Finley stole a glance at Nicola to gauge her reaction. His home was modest, and it wasn’t exactly modern, but he kept it tidy, and he was proud to have it as his own.
Nicola stopped ten feet from the house, rooted to the spot with wide eyes. Finley wanted to kick himself. She had liked the lamb, so he thought she would like the hounds. But Adam had told him just yesterday that Nicola was afraid of dogs. Why had he even decided to show her where he lived, like that was something that might interest her?Stupid, Finley.
“You really are afraid of them, aren’t you?” he asked. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
Smoo yawned, exposing his teeth, which were probably as long as Nicola’s pinky finger.
“I was bit by a neighbor’s dog when I was five,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the dogs just long enough to glance at Finley. “I never really got over it.”
“I was going to bring them out walking with us, but I can leave them here instead,” Finley said. One of thedogs let out a whine, as if he was aware he was going to be left behind.
“Hush, Snug,” Finley chided. “That’s Snug there, with the one blind eye. The other one is Smoo.”
“Funny names for such big dogs.”
“Big babies, maybe. I raised them both on table scraps. They’re my best friends.”
“They must be very well trained, if you’ve had them so long.”
“They’re well-behaved when they want to be,” Finley said.
“Is this where you live?” Nicola asked, taking in the house now that she had moved past the shock of the dogs.
Finley just nodded, unsure of what else to say. Would it be too much to invite her inside? He wasn’t sure he wanted her seeing all his paperbacks and history books overflowing from the bookshelf and stacked on the floor, or the secondhand armchair he had dragged here from the charity shop, or the stereo he had inherited from his father set up in place of a television. It might expose too much of him, tender parts he didn’t want anyone else to see.
“I like it,” she said, taking a few more wary steps forward. “It looks like it’s been well taken care of.”
Complimenting the care he had taken with power washing the stone and repainting the trim and weeding the front garden was probably the sweetest thing shecould have said to him, but Nicola didn’t know that. Finley did his best to tamp down the way his heart swelled. She was just making pleasant conversation with a stranger, Finley reminded himself.
This is about Eileen. You’re only doing this as a favor to her.
“You know,” Nicola said, voice high and thin, “my therapist says I should take more risks. Maybe I could say hello to uh, Snug. And Smoo.”
Finley shot her a grin, incorrigible as a schoolboy.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Nicola said, taking two more tiny steps forward. She was almost at the gate now, which was still securely closed against the dogs inside the garden. The wooden posts were high enough to prevent all but the most determined dog from hopping over the fence, as Finley had learned through trial and error. Unless Smoo went chasing after a squirrel the dogs stayed behind the fence.
Finley let himself inside the garden and shut the gate securely behind him. Then he took a dog collar in each hand and held the beasts close at his side, talking in a low, firm voice.
“Hush now. Behave yourself in front of the lady, boys. You know how to say hello, don’t you?”
Nicola approached the fence very, very slowly, as though something might explode if she moved too quickly. Then she curled her fingers around the gate and peered at Snug,who tilted his head at her and grinned. His tail thumped against Finley’s leg in a friendly wag.
“How did he lose his eye?” she asked.
