Page 37 of A Duke's Overlooked Spinster
“Buttons!” Sarah called the puppy. “We have to teach him his name. Buttons! Here is some milk,” she added, patting the edge of the bowl again.
Buttons’ little head whipped round in her direction, and he bounded over, but as soon as Henry stood up from where he had crouched on the mat, the little dog bounded towards him instead. Sarah laughed.
“He wants to play with you more than he wants milk,” she said with a grin. Another thought occurred to her. “Mayhap we should take him outside. He might need to, um...relieve himself.” She flushed.
“Yes! Then we can play! I want to play, too,” Henry declared, already running to the door.
Sarah tugged on her ankle-length outdoor boots, then looked for her shawl, but when it was not immediately obvious where it was, Sarah shrugged and went swiftly to the door. She wanted to get outdoors to play almost as much as Henry and the puppy did.
Henry and Buttons were already there, Buttons running in circles around Henry, jumping up to place his little paws on Henry’s leg.
“Off we go!” Sarah said with a cheerful laugh. She opened the door and Buttons and Henry exploded into the upper hallway.
“He cannot go down the stairs without help,” Sarah explained to Henry, who was running down the stairs, then paused as he saw the little dog sitting at the top with a frightened expression on his little face. Sarah bent down and picked him up—he fitted neatly in the crook of her arm; around half the size of a cat. Then she walked down the stairs to open the door for Henry, who was at the entrance, jumping with impatience.
As soon as Buttons’ paws were on the front path he exploded into action, racing after Henry, his front paws moving together like a rabbit in a playful canter. Sarah shrieked with laughter as the boy and the puppy raced around on the lawn.
“Faster, Henry!” she encouraged the boy. “He’s so quick!”
The little puppy bounded after Henry, who was laughing in delight. Sarah watched them play. Henry was naturally attentive and as soon as she saw Buttons tiring, she called to him.
“Slow down, young man. Buttons needs a rest.”
“Yes, Miss Brooke,” he replied and stopped at once, stooping down beside Buttons who tried to climb onto the boy’s knee to lick his face. Sarah leaned against a tree, worn out by the excitement. Before long, Buttons and Henry were racing around again.
“Throw a stick for him, Henry,” Sarah suggested, retrieving a twig a little longer than her index finger and about as thick from where it lay by her feet. “Perhaps he’d like to fetch it.”
“Yes!” Henry yelled, and took the stick, throwing it perhaps three yards for Buttons. The little puppy needed no prompting and raced off after it. He picked it up in his mouth and cantered around the lawn. Henry laughed and grabbed the stick, the two tussling playfully over it. Once he had retrieved it from Buttons, he threw it again.
“Go, Buttons!” Sarah called, delighted to see the little puppy having such a good time. Buttons raced off, and as he did so, two figures appeared on the path.
“Buttons!” Henry called, racing after the little dog, his voice high-pitched with concern. The two women on the path froze. Sarah recognized them instantly—the duchess, Robert’s mother, and Lady Marina. They were taking their morning walk about the grounds. She lifted her skirt and started to run.
Buttons, heedless of the women’s horror-struck faces, had run to Marina, lifting his paws up—which were muddy from playing on the lawn—and placing them on the hem of her skirt. Marina let out a piercing yell, as though she was being stung by bees.
“Help! Get it away! It’s ruined my dress!”
Sarah had reached the two women. She tensed as the duchess rounded on her. She looked angry, about to offer some stinging rebuke. Sarah rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do or how to react, when she heard footsteps crunch on the gravel.
“What on earth,” the duke said quietly, addressing his mother and Marina, “is happening?”
Chapter 17
Robert stood on the path, gazing down at his mother, whose face had, only seconds ago, been furious. Her expression when she saw him changed into one of disbelief.
“Robert! What are you doing here? This awful creature,” she added, gesturing in a way that took in both Sarah and the adorable puppy, “attacked us. It ruined Marina’s dress and Heaven knows if it bites or carries all manner of vermin. It shouldn’t be allowed.” She narrowed her eyes, glaring at Sarah with malicious intent. Sarah was white-faced with fear, her gaze moving to Robert swiftly and then down again.
“The dress has a few flecks of dirt on it. They will easily be removed,” Robert said with undisguised anger. “As for thecreature, as you call it, it is a puppy, approximately five months old, if I guess aright. It can do no harm to anyone—certainly not by biting. And if she believed it to be ill or ailing, I do not think that Miss Brooke would have brought it out to play with my son. Now, I think it would be best if you both took yourselves inside,” he added, including Lady Marina in his statement. He was doing his best to rein in his fury. His son was rooted to the spot with tears in his eyes and Miss Brooke was white-faced and shocked. The puppy, too, seemed scared, looking up at them with big, fearful eyes.
Unsurprisingly,he thought grimly.My mother’s tone was extremely threatening.
“This isridiculous,” his mother began, bristling at his tone. “I am a duchess, and your mother, and I demand...”
“I cannot be commanded, mother,” Robert said tightly. “I suggest that you go inside. You and Lady Marina,” he added, not even looking at her. He had seen her apparent terror of the small puppy, and it had filled him with a strange, cold feeling. Itwas almost sadness—a realization that, though these two people were in so many ways his equals, they were nothing like him at all. He could not share a common opinion with them, even on something as innocent as baby dogs. It was a realization that saddened him.
“Well, I never thought...” his mother began, but she saw his eyes narrow, and she must have recognized that he was her son, as resolute and unbending as she was herself. She turned around. “Come, Marina,” she said briskly. “Let us go indoors.”
“My dress is ruined,” Marina said sullenly, shooting a bitter look at Robert as she walked indoors, as though it was all his fault.
