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“There now,” she spoke softly through trembling lips. “I am certain someone will come out to look for us. Well, for me, at least, since they have not learned of you yet.”

He heard a soft whimper from her chest, and then a dark snout poked out of her embrace.

A puppy. She had gone out and risked catching pneumonia for apuppy.

“Lady Scarlett.”

She looked up at him, her blue eyes wide. “Your Grace? What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you the same thing.”

She flushed despite her sorry state. “I… We were about to have breakfast when I heard him.”

Him. The puppy.

Hudson glowered at the tiny creature in her arms.

When it gave a soft whimper and buried itself into her chest, she only hugged it tighter and began stroking its soaked white fur affectionately, murmuring reassurances.

“You’re scaring him,” she scolded him gently. “He’s just a baby.”

“A baby that lured you out to your possible death in this downpour,” Hudson countered flatly.

She still had the temerity to glare at him. “There is no need to be so harsh, Your Grace. I admit that it was my fault that I panicked, causing Snowdrop to panic even more and rush into the woods.”

Snowdrop. She had even named the damned thing already.

“So, you thought it was wise to chase after it?” Hudson asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Naturally,” she replied with a defiant tilt of her chin. “Look at him—he seems to have been abandoned. Without anyone to care for him, he would never survive this downpour.”

“Youlook as if you would not survive this downpour.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, there is no need to mock my appearance. I know I look quite horrid right now. But I have Snowdrop, and that is all that matters.”

All that mattered was that he had found her and she still found it in her to argue and roll her eyes at him—puppy or no puppy.

“As much as I would like to argue with you all day about the logic behind your actions, we are actually in the middle of a downpour that shows no signs of abating soon.”

She flushed again.Delightfully. “I am well aware of that, Your Grace.”

Hudson smirked. “Are you now?”

“There is no need to be so?—”

“Correct? Right on the mark?”

“Mocking.” She glared at him. “And terribly vexing.”

Not as vexing as she was, yes, but they were still arguing in a downpour. One he would like to get her out of as quickly as possible before the rain stuck her clothes any closer to her body.

The puppy—Snowdrop—let out a slight yip as if to agree with her.

“Well,” she prompted. “Do you have any plans of getting us out of the rain?”

He glowered at her. “Iam not one to rush out without a plan in place.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.