“How did you manage this?” Jake couldn’t keep the amazement from his voice. “Sammy’s always been…a bit leery of dogs.”
“This brave little man?” She gave Sammy a hug. “He just needed to see how much dogs are like we are. All they want is a little love.”
Boo-Boo butted her arm with his nose.
Rowena laughed and scratched the dog behind his ears. “All right, a lot of love. Isn’t that right, you big old baby?”
“Big baby!” Sammy cried, laughing. “Isn’t he, Daddy?”
Jake scratched the dog’s deep chest. “He sure is.”
Boo-Boo gave a little howl, loving all the attention.
Sammy giggled and helped Jake scratch the mastiff’s chest. “Can Boo-Boo go to our house?”
“Not today, Sammy,” Jake said. “But I’m sure you can visit Boo-Boo any time.”
“Of course he can.” Rowena stood and held onto the dog’s collar. “As a matter of fact, my father’s cairn just had a litter of puppies. Is it all right if I take Sammy to see them tomorrow?”
Jake stood, too, and picked Sammy up. “Where does your father live?”
“In a village called Kempten. It’s about half an hour’s drive.”
“You drive?”
“Of course I drive. I can take a car from the palace garage any time.” She placed a hand over her brow to shade her eyes from the early afternoon sun as she looked up at him. “Would you like to go with us?”
As he gazed down at her lovely, upturned face, Jake realized he very much wanted to go.
During the past couple of days, he’d discovered that he liked Rowena’s method of handling children. Laughter mixed with positive comments rather than frowns and criticism. And she’d just performed a miracle with Sammy.
He wanted to see the man who’d raised her. She must be very loved, to have so much love to give.
To children, of course.
“It would do you good, to get out of the palace for a while,” she said. “Have you seen much of Edenbourg?”
“Just the road from the airport to Old Stanbury.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “You’re the one who found the king’s car, aren’t you?”
Jake stiffened. “Yes. Why?”
“It’s just that the coastline road is not the shortest route from the airport to here.”
Jake frowned. Luke had provided him with directions from the airport.
“Are the puppies like Boo-Boo?” Sammy asked.
Rowena smiled. “No, they’re a lot smaller. Papa has a Cairn terrier. He bought her when he and I went to Scotland on vacation several years ago.”
Jake let go of what was bothering him about the airport road. “Cairn?”
“Ever seen the Wizard of Oz?” Rowena asked.
“Who hasn’t?”
“Toto was a cairn.”
“Toto!” Sammy cried.
“Have you seen the Wizard of Oz, Sammy?”
Jake nodded. “We watched part of it a couple of months ago. Until the witch got a little too much for…um…me to take.”
Laughter brightened Rowena’s dark golden eyes. “She scares me, too.”
“Me, too,” Sammy admitted.
“Are you going in to the palace?” Jake asked, turning to let her precede him.
Rowena still held onto the dog’s collar. “I need to take Boo-Boo back to the kennel.”
Sammy struggled against Jake’s hold. “I wanna go with Ena.”
Jake held on with difficulty. Sometimes holding on to his son was like trying to hold on to an eel in a vat of oil. “I don’t know, Sammy.”
Rowena met Jake’s gaze with an “I agree with you” nod. “Tell you what, Sammy. Go with your papa. I’ll be back in just a minute, and I’ll take you to see the pool inside the palace. It was built a hundred and fifty years ago.”
Sammy was clearly torn, but reluctantly agreed. “’Kay, Ena.”
Before there could be any more discussion, Jake turned toward the palace.
Sammy watched Rowena over Jake’s shoulder. “Guess what, Daddy?”
“What, Sammy?”
“We go see her puppies tomorrow, right?”
Jake gave his son a hug. “Right, Sammy. Tomorrow we’ll go see her daddy’s puppies.”
Sammy slipped his arm around Jake’s neck. “You, too. Right, Daddy?”
“Yes, Sammy. Me, too.”
With a contented sigh, Sammy laid his head on Jake’s shoulder.
Jake’s heart turned over. He didn’t care what was going on in the negotiations tomorrow, he was going to see Rowena’s puppies.
With Sammy, of course. Just for Sammy.
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