To Have and To Hold (Wyckerley 02) by Patricia Gaffney

Author:Patricia Gaffney
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-09-23T00:38:26+00:00

12

"Mrs. Wade? You in there?" His arms were full of a big, bulky box; Sebastian had to knock on Rachel's door by kicking it with the toe of his boot. "Open up, Mrs. Wade!"

He heard rushing footsteps just before she threw open the door. Her surprised face was damp and she stiff had a towel in her hand; she'd been freshening up before she went down to see about getting the evening meal started—he knew her housekeeperly schedule almost as well as his own now.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly, staring at him, staring at the box.

"Nothing's wrong. Close the door, then come and open your present." He went past her and set the wooden crate in the center of her sitting-room rag. "Hurry, this present won't wait."

Her cheeks flushed pink. She sidled closer, holding her hands together under her chin. "Is it really a present?"

"Yes. It's a gigantic hat; Miss Carter and Miss Vanstone and I have been working on it for days." He laughed when her eyes went wide as saucers: she'd actually believed him for a second. Well, why not? He'd never told her a joke before. "No, it's not, you goose. Hurry and open it, will you?" Before it opens itself.

She came closer. "What could it be?" she wondered, running her hand along the top of the box. Just then a snuffling sound came from within. "Oh," she said, and snatched her hand away. "It's alive!" Sebastian made a face, as if to say, Who knows?

A small hook around a nail head was all that was keeping the lid down. She flicked it open with her finger and lifted the hinged top carefully, half an inch at a time. Before the dark gap was two inches wide, a nose and then a head poked through, then two yellow paws, and finally the writhing, wriggling body of the whole excited puppy, leaping out with a graceless but effective bound and landing on the floor at her feet.

"Oh, it's a dog," she cried softly, and immediately sat down on the floor beside it.

Sebastian knelt beside her. "I thought you might like to have it."

"Ohh," was all she could say as she stroked the animal's soft sides and let it sniff at her and lick her cheek.

"I told Holyoake to ask among the tenants and see if he could find one. I told him there was only one criterion—it had to be a yellow dog."

She lifted her head from the puppy's to look at him. He'd had reservations about the wisdom of this gift, but the expression on her face told him his idea was perfect. Inspired. "Oh, Sebastian." She shook her head at him, at a loss. He wanted to kiss her, but the dog got in the way and kissed her first. "What's his name? Is it a he? Where will I keep him? Oh, it's a beautiful dog."

It was hardly that. Halfway between a puppy and an adult, it was a gawky adolescent dog, vaguely retriever-ish, with something else thrown in, something too immature yet for precise identification.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.