The Valet and the Stable Groom: M/M Regency Romance by Katherine Marlowe Read Free Book Online

Ledford’s potential wrath had been diminished by Hugo’s presence, which cast a rose-gold glow over everything. As long as Hugo remained alongside him, the unimaginable task of decorously retrieving a basket of puppies from their mistress’ rooms seemed like a perfectly ordinary endeavour.
    As they entered the sunroom, Clement turned toward the main front stair which he, as one of the upper servants, habitually used. Hugo caught his wrist.
    The grip was light, but it was enough to make Clement pause and turn his head.
    Hugo nodded to the side hall which would lead to the back stairwell. Less likely, Clement supposed, to encounter Mrs. Ledford. He nodded, and they made their way quietly along the hall and up the stairs.
    The hand on his wrist remained, half-forgotten, as they navigated the lower hall, and only released as they reached the stairs. Clement wanted to reach for him and clasp his hand again. Hugo projected such gruff good humour and steady warmth that being around him felt like sipping tea by a cozy fire, but there was of course no polite reason to take his hand.
    Laughter trickled out from the door to Mrs. Devereux’s room. Clement paused in the hall and tapped at the door, awaiting permission to enter.
    Within, they found the room in something of a shambles, with master and mistress of the house both seated on the floor while the puppies tumbled and explored around their laps and the nearby furniture.
    “Clement!” Hildebert exclaimed with delight, sitting with one fat puppy dozing in his lap and another one tugging ferociously at his coat sleeve. Clement winced on behalf of the coat. “And … Mr. Ogden?”
    “At your service,” Hugo replied, and bowed. “I hope my charges have been well behaved?”
    “Your… oh!” Hildebert said. “Dear me, I never thought to wonder where the puppies had come from. Are they ours?”
    “They are,” said Hugo, kneeling by the mother dog and ruffling her floppy brown ears. “This is Constance, who is, if I may say so, the best dog in your stables. The dogs are bred for herding, since we have a surfeit of sheep in these parts, but I’d be glad to train some hunting dogs if you have such an inclination.”
    “No, no, I’m afraid that I’m a disaster on horseback. Though they are such noble animals! I’m sorry that you shan’t be kept very busy on my account. As long as the carriage horses are handsome, I leave the stables entirely to your command, my good Mr. Ogden. Constance, you said? What an excellent dog!”
    “Mr. Ogden,” said Jane. An attentive puppy sat in her lap, watching all the conversation with as much polite interest as Clement had seen from well-bred debutantes. “Would you allow me to take one of the dogs as a pet?”
    Hugo’s smile was flattered and confused at once. Clement wanted to make a catalogue of his smiles. “My lady, all of the dogs are yours. You may do with them as you please.”
    “I suppose that’s true,” Jane said, gently ruffling the ears of the puppy in her lap. The animal looked up at her and panted quietly. “But I know very little about dogs and I should need your guidance as to their training. Do you believe that this one would make a good pet?”
    “That one is possessed of an excellent disposition and a clever mind,” Hugo said. He beamed with satisfaction. “It would be my pleasure to advise you on the subject, Mrs. Devereux.”
    “Does he have a name?”
    “She does not. The task falls to you to name her.”
    Jane considered the puppy, lifting her paws and regarding her nose to nose.
    “Titania, I think,” she declared at last. “Which will suit her well whether she behaves as a queen or if she does some manner of mischief.”
    “Titania it is,” Hugo declared, and the two of them entered into an extensive discussion of the proper care of a house dog.
    Clement decided that it would be best not to mention Mrs. Ledford’s inevitable disapproval. He felt odd standing at formal attention while his