puppy kisses. 'So you won't curse me when he leaves a puddle on your floor or gnaws one of the nice Italian shoes Darcy's always admiring?'
'No. It's the most wonderful present I've ever had.' She reached out for Aidan, sandwiching the delighted puppy between them. 'You're the most wonderful man in the world.'
Much as the dog had done to her, she covered Aidan's face with adoring kisses.
Perhaps he'd brought the dog to charm her, but there was no point in feeling guilty about it because it had worked, was there? How could he have known he would be filling a deep childhood longing with a flop-eared mongrel pup?
He tucked the uneasy sensation away and managed to cover her enthusiastic mouth with his.
He wanted her happy, he reminded himself. That was the important thing.
'I need a book,' she murmured.
'A book?'
'I don't know how to train a puppy. I need a book.'
Because it was such a typical reaction, he grinned and drew back. 'First off, I'd recommend a lot of newspapers to cut down on those puddles, and a stout hunk of rope to save your shoes.'
'Rope?'
'So he'll chew on that instead.'
'That's clever.' She beamed now. 'Oh, and he'll need food and a collar and toys and shots. And-' She lifted the pup into the air again. 'Me. He'll need me. Nothing ever has before.'
/ do. The words were in his mind, struggling their way to his tongue, but she leaped up, to whirl herself and the pup in a circle.
'I have to put my things back inside and run down to the village and get him everything he needs. Can you wait and drive down with me?'
'I can, yes. I'll put the things inside. You stay out and acquaint yourself with your new friend there.'
As Aidan walked to her table, he let out an unsteady breath. It was best he hadn't said it, he told himself. It was too soon for both of them to change the level of things. There was plenty of time to bring up marriage.
Plenty of time to figure how it would best be done.
She bought him a red collar and leash, and dishes of bright blue. Aidan found her some rope and tied it into a sturdy hank. Still, she filled a sack with other things she deemed essential to her puppy's happiness and well- being.
She took him for a walk around the village, or tried to. He spent most of the time trying to shake off the leash or tangling himself in it or chewing on it. She resolved to get her hands on a training manual as soon as possible.
She met Brenna as her friend was loading a toolbox into the back of her lorry outside the village bed-and- breakfast.
'Good day, Jude, and what have you there? Isn't that one of the Clooney pups?'
'Yes, isn't he wonderful? I'm calling him Finn after the great warrior.'
'Great warrior, is it?' Brenna crouched down to give Finn a friendly scratch. 'Aye, you're a fierce one I'll wager, mighty Finn.' She laughed as he leaped up to lap at her face. 'He's a lively one, isn't he? You made a nice choice. I'd say he'll be nice company for you, Jude.'
'That's what Aidan thought. He gave him to me.'
Lips pursed, Brenna glanced over. 'Did he, now?'
'Yes, he brought him to the cottage this afternoon. It was so sweet of him to think of me. Do you think Betty will like him?'
'Sure and Betty loves company, too.' After a last pat for Finn, Brenna straightened. 'She'll be pleased to have the pup to play with. I was just about to stop in the pub for a pint. Do you want to join me? I'm buying.'
'Thanks, but- No, I should get Finn home. He must be hungry by now.'
The minute they parted, Brenna made a beeline for the pub. She caught Darcy's eye, gave a quick jerk of her head, then moved off to a corner table where she could have some privacy.
Darcy brought along a glass of Harp. 'What are you bursting with?'
'Sit down a minute.' She kept her voice low and her eye on Aidan over Darcy's shoulder when Darcy sat. 'I just saw Jude walking her new puppy down the street.'
'She's got a puppy, does she?'
'Shh. Keep your voice down or he'll hear we're talking of it.'
'Who'll hear we're talking of what?' Darcy asked in a hissing whisper.
'Aidan'll hear we're talking of how he picked out one of the Clooney bitch's litter-handsome one, too-and took it up to Jude at her cottage for a present.'
'He-' Darcy caught herself as Brenna shushed her again, then leaned forward conspiratorially. 'Aidan gave her a puppy? He didn't say a word to me about it, or anyone else as far as I know.'
Since it was news both fresh and surprising, Darcy pondered over it. 'He's been known to give a lass a trinket from time to time, but that's usually for an occasion.'
'That's what I'm thinking as well.'
'And flowers,' Darcy continued. 'He's always been one for taking flowers to a woman who's caught his eye, but this is different altogether.'
'Exactly different.' Brenna slapped the table lightly for emphasis. 'This is a live and permanent thing. A sweetheart sort of thing, it is, not just the I'm-enjoying-myself-in-your-bed sort of thing.' To punctuate the opinion, she lifted her glass and drank.
'Well, she gave him that painting she bought in Dublin, and he's taken with it out of all proportion if you ask me. Maybe he was after giving her something back, and just happened on the pup.'
'If it was to give her something back in kind for the painting-and I thought it a lovely painting-he'd have given her a trinket or a bauble or something of the sort. A token for a token,' Brenna said firmly. 'A puppy is several steps up from a token.'
'You're right about that.' Darcy drummed her fingers, narrowing her eyes at her brother as he worked the bar. 'You think he's in love with her?'
'I'd risk a wager on it that he's heading in that direction.' Brenna shifted. 'We ought to be able to find out, and if not us, Shawn could. And we can wheedle it out of him easy enough, for he never thinks twice about what's coming out of his mouth.'
'No, but he's fierce loyal to Aidan. I'd like her for a sister,' Darcy considered. 'And seems to me she suits Aidan down to the ground. I've never seen him look at a woman as he does our Jude. Still, Gallagher men are notorious slow to move to marriage once the heart's engaged. My mother said she had to all but pound my father over the head with orange blossoms before he came to ask her.'
'She's planning to be here more than three months more.'
'We'll need to move him along faster than that. They're both the marrying kind, so it shouldn't be that hard. We'll give this some thought.'
Aidan was right. Finn was good company. He walked the hills with Jude, entertaining himself when she stopped to admire wildflowers or pluck the buttercups and cowslips that flourished as May coasted to June. Summer came to Ireland on a lovely stream of warmth, and to Jude the air was like poetry.
When the weather was soft, with the rain falling like silk, she kept her wandering short so she could tuck herself cozy in the cottage.
And when days were dry, she indulged herself and Finn with those long walks in the morning so he could run wild circles around an indulgent Betty.
Whenever she did, rain or shine, she thought of the man she'd seen on the road from Dublin, walking with his dog. And how she had dreamed of doing the same whenever and wherever she wanted.
Like the dog she'd imagined, Finn slept by the hearth when she made her first attempt at soda bread. And he whimpered when he woke lonely at three in the morning.
When he dug at her flowers, they had to have a serious talk, but he made it through two full weeks without chewing on her shoes.
Except that one time they'd agreed to forget.
She let him walk and race until he was tuckered out, then when weather allowed, she set out her table and
