Say Yes to the Duke by Kieran Kramer Read Free Book Online

sleek head, Janice looked up
     at Mr. Callahan. “This is a lovely bed. Thank you for preparing it.”
    “I did next to nothing.” Again, it was as if they were meeting for the first time.
    Janice was grateful for his discretion, yet a small, hidden part of her was also disappointed.
     What a shame that people were trapped in their own special roles and not able to do
     exactly what they wanted. According to her parents, her role was to be a respectable
     member of the Beau Monde. The thought had never bothered her before—indeed, she’d
     been grateful that Daddy had saved them from penury—but it certainly did now.
    If Mr. Callahan had been dressed by Weston and wore boots by Hoby—if he had a title
     and properties—he’d be an eligible suitor. But instead, she was supposed not to notice
     that he existed, beyond the services he provided as a groom, such as lifting her foot
     into the saddle if she required assistance.
    She looked away from him to the dog. “She has to have a name. I think I’ll call her
     Esmeralda.”
    Oscar chuckled.
    “Why such an elegant name?” Mr. Callahan asked.
    “It’s the least we can do for her,” Janice answered serenely.
    “Of course.”
    She heard the groom’s light sarcasm but chose to ignore it.
    Esmeralda got to her feet. Shook her head. Looked miserably at her visitors. Sat on
     her haunches, whined, and stood again. Then collapsed and focused on her hindquarters.
    “I think she’s ready,” Mr. Callahan said.
    “Aye.” Oscar kneaded his hat in his large hands.
    “All right,” Janice whispered. “Good luck, dear girl.” She stood and went slowly to
     Oscar’s side, almost all of her attention focused on Esmeralda. But part of her was
     constantly aware of the groom—of Mr. Callahan.
    “You’ll come back in the morning,” Oscar reassured her, “to a litter of puppies for
     you to admire.”
    “No.” Janice pressed her lips firmly together. “I want to see them being born.”
    “It could take hours,” Mr. Callahan said. “The duke will be expecting you back soon.”
    “And it’s not fitting for you to stay and watch anyway,” Oscar added.
    “Of course it is,” she replied softly. “It’s natural. And I can’t leave her.”
    And then it happened, what they’d all been waiting for. At that very moment, Esmeralda
     gave birth to a black-and-white puppy. She made quick work of freeing the tiny thing
     of its cord and licking it clean.
    Janice pressed both hands to her face, her eyes filling with tears at the sight. “She
     knows exactly what to do, doesn’t she?”
    The squirming puppy sought its mother, and Esmeralda tended to it with calm purpose.
     “She’s a good little mother. Oscar, isn’t it marvelous?” Janice turned around.
    But Oscar wasn’t there. He lay sprawled in a heap on the straw-covered floor.

 
    Chapter Five
     
    “Oh, no,” Janice whispered, and crouched in the straw next to Oscar’s inert form.
     At least he was breathing. And his color was good. “I can’t believe he fainted.”
    Mr. Callahan chuckled and knelt next to her—mere inches from her. “It’s always the
     toughest who go down at birthings.”
    She could feel his heat. Smell his clean, soapy scent, mingled with a whiff of leather
     and linen. But she must focus on Oscar, not on the groom, who laid two fingers on
     the older man’s neck.
    “His pulse is strong and steady,” Mr. Callahan said. “He’ll come round.”
    At that, Oscar’s eyes opened and he looked quizzically about him. “What the devil?”
    “You fainted,” Janice told him gently.
    “No,” he whispered. “I don’t faint.” He sat up on his elbows. “Last thing I remember,
     we were watching the dog—” He swallowed hard.
    Janice looked over her shoulder at Esmeralda and gasped. “Another puppy!”
    Esmeralda once more did what her instincts told her to do, cleaning the wriggling
     newborn and nudging him to snuggle with his sibling.
    Oscar groaned and laid his head back