Chapter Thirty
DOMINIC MIGHT NOT BE drunk enough to sleep yet, but neither was Brooke after his last remark. She would have loved to think that he wanted her so much that it bothered him that she slept so nearby, but she didn’t believe that. He might have kissed her on two occasions, but neither time had been because he actually wanted to kiss her.
Maybe she should have told Dominic she had been referring to her bed, not his. She giggled, imagining his surprise. Would he have taken her up on the offer? Not before the wedding, he wouldn’t.
She sighed and stood at the window overlooking the park, which was bathed in moonlight. She should go down to the kitchen for a glass of warm milk to help her get back to sleep—She saw a white animal loping toward the house. Good grief, the white dog had followed her home and had got inside the hedges?
She hurried downstairs and to the back of the house out through the music room, which had tall French doors that opened onto the wide terrace above the park. She stood at the top of the steps that led down to the gardens and waited to see if the dog would come to her. It did, slowly mounting the steps. Brooke was grinning by then.
“I’ve always wanted my own pet,” she told the dog, feeling brave enough to rub it behind its ears as soon as it was within reach. “Well, one that I don’t ride. Would you like to live here? Come along if you do. We’ll figure out how to get you settled in, in the morning.”
As if it understood her, the dog followed her into the house. She stopped by the kitchen first and grabbed a large bowl of the thick stew she’d had for dinner and took it with her to her room. At least no servants were about to notice her unusual friend.
After setting the bowl on the floor, she closed the door and watched how quickly the dog ate the food. She probably wouldn’t be able to keep it here . . . well, not without permission. But after what Dominic had said about Raston, he might allow it. He liked dogs, so why wouldn’t he? Of course she knew exactly why: to deny her simply because he could.
She would worry about that in the morning. And she’d have to find out from the kitchen staff what they fed Wolf. Her friend had devoured that large bowl of stew in mere seconds.
She filled the empty bowl with water before she sat next to the dog on the floor to get better acquainted. After it had let her rub it behind the ears, she didn’t think it would object to a more thorough petting. It didn’t, and when it lay on the floor next to her so she could rub its belly, she was able to see it was indeed a female. Brooke was completely won over. She would find a way to keep it.
In the morning when Alfreda woke her, bringing in a fresh pitcher of water, Brooke smiled at the dream she’d had about the white dog coming to Rothdale. It had been so vivid and yet so unlikely, which was why she gasped when she saw the dog sleeping at the foot of the bed.
Her first impulse was to cover it with the blanket until she could explain what it was doing there, but she said to Alfreda, “Don’t be alarmed. I’ve found myself a new pet. It’s friendly.”
“And why would I worry—that’s a big dog. I’ve already been to visit Raston this morn, so I think I’ll keep my distance.”
“It’s just a dog, Freda.”
“Is it? I’ll just go assure the staff of that before you take it outside and half the household runs out screaming.”
Brooke grinned. Alfreda was being quite pragmatic about it even if she was backing out of the room. “You’ll grow to love her!”
“Why does everyone keep telling me who or what I’m going to love?” Alfreda mumbled on her way out the door.
Brooke dressed quickly, talking to the dog all the while. She hoped Alfreda had just been joking about the screaming, but maybe she should clear the way before she let the animal out of the room. But it jumped down from the bed to follow her when she started toward the door, so she stopped and bent down on one knee.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes to take you out for a romp. Can you wait? Stay?”
It was obviously used to people. Never a growl, not once showing its teeth, but Brooke still didn’t know for sure if it understood her, let alone any simple commands. But it sat on its haunches in the center of the room, let her pet it again, and stayed there while she hurried to the door. She nearly tripped over Wolf as she left the room. He’d been sniffing at the bottom of her door and tried to get past her into the room, but she quickly closed the door before he could. She would introduce the two animals—she hoped they would get along—but not before she had permission to keep her pet. At least Wolf wasn’t barking and drawing attention to the secret visitor in her room.
But the worst kind of attention had already been drawn. “What the deuce?” Dominic had stepped out of his room and seen what his dog was doing. “You charmed my dog with that bloody carrot, didn’t you?” With Wolf now scratching at her door to get in, Dominic approached. “Does he think you have more carrots in there?”
“Yes,” she lied.
But she made the mistake of being too obvious in blocking her door by standing with her arms spread wide. Which is why he pushed her aside to open it. Wolf rushed in, but stopped abruptly when he saw the other dog. Dominic didn’t move any farther into the room either.
“That’s a wolf,” he said incredulously.
Brooke snorted. “And how would you know when you’ve never seen one?”
“I have and I’ll show you, but you’re not getting anywhere near that animal again.”
She tried to walk around him to put herself between him and the white dog, but he thrust out an arm to block her. “Stop it,” she protested, “it’s a friendly dog.”
“Do you even know what a friendly dog is like? It would be wagging its tail at you, not sitting there eyeing you like you’re its next meal. We have to kill it.”
She gasped. “Don’t you dare!”
The whimpering drew her eyes to Wolf. He had dropped down to his belly and was inching his way toward the other dog, whimpering all the way. Eyes wide, she guessed in amazement, “That’s his mother.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Dominic scoffed.
“Use your eyes. That’s a lost pup begging its mother to accept him back in the pack.”
“You can’t keep it.”
“And why not? You kept Wolf. Your pet was just as wild when you found him. He tried to eat you.”
“He didn’t know any better, now he does. But that”—Dominic stabbed a finger toward her majestic friend—“is a wild thing full grown.”
“How can you say that when she is calmly sitting there doing absolutely nothing threatening?”
“You can’t keep a real wolf indoors.”
“I disagree that it’s a wolf.”
He glanced at her sharply. “Oh, now you think they are extinct, when you have twice tried to convince me otherwise?”
She stuck her chin out. “She helped me. She called me back to the ruins during the rainstorm when I couldn’t see two feet in front of me. She knows people. She didn’t growl at me when I first saw her. She didn’t growl at Alfreda this morning. She’s not growling at you when you are threatening her. I want to keep her. She’s obviously not a wolf.”
In answer he took her hand and pulled her out of there and straight downstairs to the parlor. “What are you—?”
The question was answered when he dug a key out of his pocket and moved to the southeast corner of the large room where the tower wall curved into the house. She’d tried to get into the tower room while exploring the house on her own, but she’d found it locked.
She tensed when Dominic unlocked the door, thinking he intended to lock her up in the tower while he killed her pet. She was ready to fight him tooth and nail, but she was arrested by what she saw inside that room.