She ignored him and grabbed hold of his hand. “Hold fast to me so that I can stretch out and reach that poor thing.”
All Bened could see was a small animal’s head bobbing on the water. It was not getting any closer to them but he knew it was paddling furiously against the current that was trying to pull it deeper into its flow. He looked at Primrose who was hanging on to his hand and reaching out to it. He braced himself and switched his grasp from her hand to her wrist, then reached beneath the water with his other hand to grab hold of her tucked up skirts, struggling not to think of her bared legs hidden by the water. Now that he knew she was safe he was a little too interested in the way her wet gown clung to her full breasts. He did not need thoughts of her bared legs adding to that distraction.
“You are trying to save a rat?” he asked.
“It is a puppy. She just threw it in the river.”
Primrose feared it was taking her too long and she would soon see the animal pulled off downstream to its death. She reached out as far as she could, confident that Bened would hold fast. Her fingers brushed over the animal’s small head and then she clutched the loose skin at the back of its neck. It did not struggle against her grip and she yanked it free of the current, clutching it against her chest as Bened wrapped an arm around her waist and carried her back to the riverbank.
They had just reached the shore when she abruptly realized he was bare-chested. And a magnificent chest it was, she decided. Broad, a small patch of curly black hair in the middle of whatever they called a man’s breasts, with smooth dark skin stretched over muscle. She was just thinking of rubbing her cheek against it when he set her down on her feet. The direction of his gaze reminded her that her skirts were kilted up, exposing her bare legs, and she quickly lowered them, grimacing at the feel of the wet material against her skin.
“That river has killed a lot of people,” Bened said, resisting the urge to flex some muscles when he saw how intently she was staring at his chest, “and you just walk into it to save a rat.”
“It is a puppy!” she snapped, finally finding the strength to reluctantly tear her gaze away from his chest and look into his face. “She threw it in the water.” Primrose glared at the maid who was wise enough to quickly avert her greedy gaze from Bened’s chest. “Took it out of that basket and just hurled the poor thing into the water.”
“My mistress told me to do it. This one is for the river, is what she said. She saw it was a runt and only had one eye and told me to be rid of it,” the young maid said.
“Then she should have done it when it was first born, not waited until it was weaned,” said Bened. “Snap its neck. A quick death before it is old enough to know what life is. This rat—”
“Puppy!” Primrose yelled.
He ignored her. “—was aware and drowning is a bad death. They have time to try to fight it.”
“No one noticed it until the mistress came to look over the litter when she was told they were weaned. She wanted to see if there was one she wished to keep or if she would just sell all of them. She will just make me come back and try again,” she added with a glance at the puppy Primrose was busily rubbing dry with her towel.
“Who deals with the breeding?” asked Bened.
“The stable master does all the breeding of the dogs. He kept the last one she wanted gone but it was not maimed like this one.”
“Tell him what I said about snapping the neck.”
“I will, sir.” She looked again at where Primrose was working so hard to get the puppy dry. “Keep the basket.” She turned and made her way back up the hill.
Bened watched how Primrose coddled the tiny dog, and sighed. He knew they would be lugging the thing along with them and he would have to keep an eye out for its safety as well. If it ever got separated from them, she would insist upon searching for it, ignoring the fact that they were being hunted. As a man who had once saved a three-legged dog from being shot by its owner, he fully understood but it was a very poor time to add a helpless animal to their baggage.
“You have saved it so now we can leave,” he said, hoping she would see that they could not take the animal on their journey yet knowing it was a false hope.
Primrose looked around and frowned. “The maid left.”
“She left the basket.” He sighed when she hurried over to get it and ever so gently tucked the tiny animal inside. “You do understand that we are probably being hunted now as assiduously as your brother, do you not?”
“Of course I do.”
He winced for there was a definite tone of insult to her voice. “It is not a good time to be dragging a puppy along with us. They need more care than an older dog. More careful watching. Perhaps we can take a little time seeing if someone else would take it and care for it.”