Page 34 of The Duchess’ Second Chance

“Maybe in time,” Sampson said. “You’ll just have to be patient, all right?”

Rose sighed and nodded her agreement.

The big black dog had spotted the two of them now and had begun to make his way toward them. Sampson put a hand on Rose’s shoulder to make sure she stayed back. The moment he had done so, he recalled his admonition to Mrs. Linden not to touch the girl…but Rose hadn’t reacted to him. Her eyes were fixed on the dog.

Hermes stopped a few yards away from them and sniffed the air.

Rose held her hand out boldly. “Here, boy,” she called. “Come here, Hermes. Who’s a good dog?”

Hermes padded closer and licked her hand, then held up his head to be patted.

Rose gave a delighted squeal. “He does like me! I knew he would!” She scratched Hermes behind the ears. “Good boy! See, Sampson? He likes me!”

“I guess he does!” Sampson marveled as the dog rolled over playfully onto his back, exposing his belly. “I haven’t seen him act like this in years, though.” It was the way he had once acted with Sampson, long ago, before the war had changed everything.

He sank down to his knees and held his own hand out to his dog.

Hermes sniffed him, considering.

Then he bounded forward into Sampson’s arms, almost knocking him over, his whole body wiggling with excitement. A surprised laugh burst forth from Sampson as he hugged the dog, hardly able to believe that this was happening—that he really had his relationship with Hermes back after so long apart.

“Good boy,” he murmured in the dog’s ear. “Good boy, Hermes. I missed you, too. I’m so glad you didn’t forget me, boy.”

Rose giggled and threw herself down on the ground beside the dog.

“Mrs. Linden isn’t going to like that very much,” Sampson observed, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. “You’ve gotten that nice dress all dirty.”

“It’s not that nice,” Rose said. “Amanda always said it didn’t matter if I got my clothes a little dirty, because they were only play clothes. Lord Stapleton used to complain that I wore homemade dresses, but he wouldn’t give Amanda any money for anything else, so she had to make my clothes herself.”

Sampson frowned, thinking of Amanda working hard to sew all of Rose’s things. “I didn’t realize that.”

“She’s good at it.” Rose looked down at her dress. “If she asked me not to get dirty I probably wouldn’t, because she works so hard to make my things. But I am glad she doesn’t ask me that. I like to play.”

“A child should have clothes to play in,” Sampson agreed. “But perhaps we ought to buy you some new things. Just to make sure that Amanda realizes she doesn’t need to make your clothes by hand anymore. What would you say to that?”

Rose pondered. “Would you be angry if I got dirty in clothes you bought for me?”

“Not a bit,” he assured her. “As I said, a child should be free to play. Although perhaps a couple of nice party dresses too, for special occasions.” He thought of the room he and Amanda had worked to prepare for guests. If they did have guests, Amanda might like to be able to dress Rose up for the occasion.

Rose nodded. “That would be all right,” she agreed.

“Amanda would probably like to be the one to pick out the new clothing—or at least, to help you do it,” Sampson mused. “I’ll see to it that she gets some money to attend to that.”

“Very well,” Rose said. She smiled. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“What’s nice?”

“Both of us thinking about what Amanda would like,” she said. “It was never like that before. I was always the only one worrying about that, because she doesn’t really think about herself, and Lord Stapleton…well, he never cared about it. It was just me. But she deserves to have people who care about her.” She grinned. “We can take care of her together now.”

“Yes, we can,” Sampson agreed quietly, stroking Hermes’ head. It was so very similar to what Amanda had said about both of them being responsible for keeping George’s memory alive that he could hardly believe it.

He’d never felt like this before—as though care for another person was a thing that would grow and expand if shared. If he had thought of it before, he would have thought of it as merely a task. A responsibility that might be divided between people and made less for it, as though he had less to worry about with regard to Amanda because she had someone else looking out for her too.

It wasn’t like that at all. Instead, the knowledge that he and Rose both cared for Amanda made it all bigger somehow. It made him care about her more. Suddenly, he wasn’t just responsible for Amanda. He was also responsible for protecting someone Rose loved.

And the most unexpected thing of all was that he didn’t mind having that responsibility. In fact, he welcomed it. His life was enriched by it. He certainly never could have anticipated that when he had promised George he would do this.

I’ve only had her in my life for a short while…, and already I don’t know what I would do without her.