ANHOURORso later, Mutley was curled up asleep in his basket on Drake’s sitting-room floor in front of the fireplace, snoring as if he belonged on a critical care chest ward. Drake was still wondering what the hell had come over him to agree to mind the scruffy mutt that looked like something out of an alien movie. But it just went to show how Aerin could get him to do almost anything.
Inviting her to stay with him was another thing that surprised him. He wasn’t keen on visitors at the best of times. But then, Aerin was hardly a visitor. She was his current lover. For how long, he wasn’t sure and that gave him a niggling sense of unease. He was usually very sure of when a fling was going to end, because he was the one who ended it.
But everything about his fling with Aerin was different.
Aerin was sitting on the sofa opposite him with a cup of hot chocolate cradled in her hands. Her slim legs were folded beneath her, her hair a golden cloud around her shoulders. ‘Mutley looks quite at home.’
Drake gave a non-committal grunt and took a sip of his own hot drink before putting it on the table beside the sofa. He patted the cushion next to him. ‘Why don’t you come over here?’
Her eyes lit up and a shy smile curved her mouth. She put her drink down on the coffee table between the two sofas and came over to sit beside him. He laid one arm along the back of the sofa near her shoulders, his other hand picked up one of hers and he raised it to his mouth and kissed her bent knuckles. ‘Have you heard how Mr McPhee is doing?’
‘Not yet.’ She sighed and glanced at her watch on her wrist. ‘But I’m not his next of kin so they’re hardly likely to tell me much. He has a son, but I don’t think he’s seen him in ages. I think he might live overseas. Do you think I should try and track him down?’
Drake played with the silky tresses of her hair. ‘I can do that for you.’
‘Oh, would you? I’d be so grateful. I have a big wedding this weekend and I’m starting to panic about it. I’m usually so organised but, with the reunion and our extended stay in Scotland, I have some serious catching up to do.’
He curled a strand of hair around his finger. ‘Where’s the wedding? Somewhere local?’
‘Kent, on the most beautiful estate the bride’s parents own. The service is at a local church. I hope the weather is kind to them, the bride and groom are such a lovely young couple. I want everything to be perfect for them.’
‘It’s a tricky time of year for a wedding, I would’ve thought. Don’t most people want a spring or summer wedding?’
‘Yes, but the groom is dying of a brain tumour. There isn’t time to wait for spring or summer. He might not make it to Christmas.’
Drake frowned. ‘That’s sad.’
‘Yes, it is. But it’s so wonderful to see how much they love each other. They truly are soulmates.’ Her shoulders slumped on another sigh. ‘I’m not sure how Yelena will cope without Viktor. He’s her whole world and she is his.’
‘It seems a risky business loving someone,’ Drake said. ‘You stand to lose them one way or the other.’
Aerin looked at him with her clear grey-blue gaze. ‘Yes, but that’s not a good enough reason to not love at all.’
He forced a smile and threaded his fingers through her hair again. ‘Time for bed?’
‘We’d better take Mutley out for a toilet break first.’
‘I’ll do that,’ Drake said, rising from the sofa. ‘You head on up.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely.’
By the time Drake had taken the old dog out and waited for him to sniff the entire garden for the right place to take a leak, more than half an hour had gone by. Mutley finally waddled back in and went back to his bed in front of the fireplace. Drake offered him a treat, but the dog gave a rattling sigh and lowered his chin to the cushioned bed, giving him a doleful side-eye look.
Drake gave him a gentle scratch behind his ears. ‘I know you miss him. But he’ll be as good as new soon.’
The old dog blinked at him and then sighed again as if to say:I don’t believe in miracles.
‘Yeah, I hear you, buddy. I don’t believe in them either.’
Aerin was in the process of unpacking her overnight bag, shaking out her work clothes for the next day, when Drake came in. ‘Thank you for looking after Mutley,’ she said. ‘But what will we do tomorrow when we’re both at work?’
‘I’ve already organised a pet door to be installed. My housekeeper will be here too.’
‘Oh, that’s great. I can’t really take him with me.’
‘Yes, well, I’m not sure what the magistrate would say if I turned up with him, either. I guess I could pass him off as a therapy dog.’