A Girl's Best Friend

Book 0: Country Escapes

by Julie Caplin

Genres: Family Life; Small Town & Rural; Contemporary Romance; Romantic Comedy

Synopsis

Welcome to your new cottage in the country - complete with grumpy vet, village gossip and a very muddy dog . . .

Heartbroken city girl Ella has retreated to her godmother's countryside home, determined to heal in peace.

But the village locals - and a very mischievous Labrador named Tess - have other plans. As she's forced into wellies and fresh air, Ella meets people who make her question everything - and everyone - she thought she wanted.

And when an unexpected face from her past appears, Ella is faced with a choice: return home to the future she always dreamed of, or take a leap of faith and follow the muddy pawprints towards a life - and love - she never expected to find...

From the globally bestselling author comes a gorgeously romantic tale set in an idyllic countryside village - perfect for fans of Phillipa Ashley, Sarah Morgan and Jill Mansell.

*Previously published under the name Jules Wake.*

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Print pages: 100000

Sample

I suppose I should really thank my husband for this book – he who announced one New Year’s Day to our children’s absolute delight that this was the year of Project Dog. Immediately visions of being chief dog-walker, pooper-scooper and general cleaner-upper filled my head.

Enter my cunning plan. To ensure that my enthusiastic family became a tad less enthusiastic, I volunteered us all to dogsit for Ash, a very handsome black Labrador, owned by friends of ours.

This backfired spectacularly as at the end of the week, I’d fallen completely in love – but we had to face the practical reality: it wouldn’t be fair on a dog to take one on at that stage in our family life.

However, there is a bonus, as much of what I learned that week inspired the story that became A Girl’s Best Friend. So thanks, Nick!

I’d especially like thank the Matthews family – Mel, Jay, Ben, Jacob and Olivia – for being brave enough to lend the lovely Ash to complete dog novices for one half-term holiday; and my children, Ellie and Matt, who were the most excellent dog-walking companions.

Heartfelt gratitude goes to local vet, Patrick Dale, in Tring, who let me spend some time at Springwell Veterinary Surgery, learning just what goes on in a veterinary practice. It was an absolute eye opener! One of the highlights, and look away if you’re squeamish, was being allowed to watch a dog being spayed using keyhole surgery, about which Patrick is evangelical because it is so much kinder and less invasive to animals. I may also need to apologise to him, as he bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Patrick in my book.

Thanks also go to superstar pet-sitter and book-blogger, Ann Cooper, who read an early draft to check that I’d got my dog facts correct.

Last but not least, thanks go to my best writing buddy, Donna, who is always there for me with Prosecco and pep talks; my fab agent Broo Doherty and my lovely editor Maddie West for falling in love with this book as much as I did; and to Thalia Proctor for making the process delightfully painless.

And of course you, for choosing A Girl’s Best Friend. Enjoy x

As the train rocked to a halt with a gentle thud, Ella rounded up nearly all her worldly goods. It seemed her life had come full circle, back where she started, except she really hadn’t been that far. Like an overloaded tortoise, rucksack on her back, pulling two cases and juggling the variety of mismatched bags, she struggled along the platform, but had to give in and make two trips up the flight of stairs before rumbling along the bridge to the car park, every step feeling more leaden than the last.

‘Ella, darling.’ Her mother darted across the car park. ‘Gosh, you do look tired. How are you?’ Her eyes, bird-bright, gave Ella an assessing look.

‘I’m fine.’ Her terse, brittle response elicited a quick worried frown. Ella looked away. One slight crack in her determined defence and her mother would prise her wide open, like a reluctant mussel, forcing everything out.

‘Let me help.’ Despite her diminutive size, her mother tried to take the larger case. ‘Good Lord, what have you got in here?’

‘Everything,’ muttered Ella with feeling, having dragged it from Shoreditch across London and then been wedged up against it from Euston to Tring for the last forty-three minutes. She’d packed as much as she could and brought along most of her art supplies and her clothes; everything else, not much at all, had gone into storage.

Her mother tutted. ‘I don’t know why you didn’t ask us to come and collect you, it would have been a lot easier.’

Ella gave a vague smile and managed to refrain from pointing out that it would have been far too much like being picked up at the end of a college term. An admission of failure. She settled into the front passenger seat of the little runaround, as pristine as the day it rolled away from the showroom with its little pockets and gadgets to keep everything in its place. Mints, de-icer, cloths, spare air freshener. For some reason all that neat orderliness irked her and she longed to run a streak through the slightly misted windscreen with one finger, just to leave a mark. Ella woz ere. Ella was somewhere. Ella was still in here somewhere.

‘Now,’ her mother started brightly, ‘your father’s going to meet us there. Magda’s left the house all ready for you and I’ve popped a few bits in the fridge. You’re to treat the place as your own, help yourself to anything you want and of course there’s—’

‘Mum, I spoke to Magda myself.’

‘Right. And how are you . . . er . . . you know . . . feeling?’

‘Mum, you can mention Patrick’s name without me bursting into tears.’ Ella tightened her mouth, schooling her face into an impassive mask. ‘We’re just taking a break, at the moment. Taking some time to assess things.’ Even-toned, her explanation sounded perfectly normal. Well thought-out. Logical. A grown-up way to do things.

Ella winced as her mother swung out of the car park, narrowly missing taking off the wing mirror of an oncoming car. Conventional to the core, Mum and Dad had no idea about how relationships worked these days. Some days she wondered if she did.

Nausea rolled in her stomach as her mother speeded up along the straights, veered around corners and slowed to a snail’s pace when the country lanes narrowed.

‘Are you sure you’ll be all right on your own out here?’ Her mother jerked her head towards the village signpost as they passed it.

‘Mum, after living in London, I think the crime rate in Wilsgrave is considerably lower, unless of course there’s a serial killer on the loose that I hadn’t heard about.’ The first ribbon of small houses started to appear and Ella’s mother slowed down.

‘I meant being on your own. Not knowing anyone. You can always come back home.’

‘I’ll be fine.’ This already felt enough of a defeat. Thank God, she’d have the use of Magda’s car. She could be back within Central London in forty-five minutes at a push.

Her mother pulled smartly into a space right outside a pretty double-fronted end of terrace house.

‘Here we are, then. I’ve got the keys. No sign of your father yet. He’s going to miss Tess.’

Was that his new chiropractor? A tamer version of Miss Whiplash? Releasing herself from her seatbelt, Ella took the proffered keys and got out of the car. Daffodils, tulips, crocuses, and anemones danced in the dappled light cast by overhanging trees. They lined the narrow brick path leading to a front door painted in a tasteful National Trust shade of pale green, their scent perfuming the air.

For a moment Ella paused. Sunshine yellow contrasted with brilliant blue. If only she had the ability or the skill to capture the hope and promise of those spring colours, the shapes and textures, that fabulous fractured light or even the essence of the season, new life, new hope. A pang filled her chest, blooming with a fierce emptiness. Focusing on the front door, she averted her gaze and marched up the path.

Juggling with the keys her mother had handed over in the car, she stepped into a roomy hallway with a flagstone floor. She’d been to her godmother’s plenty of times before to know that to her left was a big kitchen, pretty enough if your taste ran to French provincial, and large enough to house a huge central table. To the right a door led into the wood beamed lounge with its focal open fireplace which took up most of one wall and an eclectic mix of furniture which shouldn’t have worked together but did, all of which made the room seem smaller than it was. Ahead steps led up to one large master bedroom, a second smaller bedroom and the bathroom. Beyond that the loft conversion, a long white room, almost bare of furniture, lit by skylights through which the light flooded, making it the perfect studio. This was just about the only reason she’d agreed to come and house-sit for six months. Well, that and having nowhere else to go. Work had been impossible of late, she was so behind. Incarceration in the country with nothing else to do might focus her mind and force her to address the blank pages of cartridge paper.

‘Ah, your father’s here.’ Her mother’s voice held a touch of nerves – or was it uncertainty?

Carrying what looked like his own body weight in a sack which read complete dog food on the front, her father shouldered his way in through the front door, straight into the kitchen.

‘Phew, that was heavier than I thought,’ he said, dumping the bag on the flagstone floor. ‘Hello, love.’ He gave her a cheerful smile now he’d released the load.

‘What’s that?’ Ella’s voice echoed in her head, sounding overly sharp.

‘Dog food.’

‘I can see that.’ She hated herself for using the tone with Dad, ever the sweetheart and as laid back as they came. ‘I meant, what is it for?’

He instantly looked sheepish and turned towards her mother for support.

‘I thought you said you’d spoken to Magda,’ said her mother, suddenly developing a fixation with rubbing away some mark on one of the kitchen counters. ‘She said you wouldn’t mind.’

‘What? Storing dog food for people?’

Her mother flashed an over-bright smile. ‘I’ll just get the rest of Tess’s things.’

With that, she bustled back out of the tiny cottage hallway.

‘Mum . . . ’ Too late. She was already halfway down the long skinny garden to Dad’s trusty Mercedes. Who the hell was Tess? Was Ella expected to run some kind of storage facility?

A clatter from the hall moments later made Ella jump, setting her heartbeat racing a thousand miles an hour.

‘What the hell?’ The angry snap escaped before she could stop it.

‘Sorry, dear.’

Her mother’s over-apologetic, sparkly isn’t-everything-peachy smile pricked all Ella’s guilt buttons as she watched her carry in some large oval of foam and fabric and a leather and metal chain-choker-dog-lead thing. At Ella’s feet, the metal bowls she’d dropped were still rattling and vibrating to a final standstill on the floor.

‘Here.’ Her mother thrust the lead into Ella’s hand. Definitely a dog lead. What the hell did she want with a dog lead?

Paws skittered across the stone floor and she heard the snuffle of excited dog.

‘What’s that?’ Ella backed away, staring down at a tubby black Labrador, sniffing furiously around the skirting boards, its tail thud-thudding against the wall.

Mum tried to hide her snigger. ‘A dog, dear.’

‘I can see that. What’s it doing here?’

‘It . . . er,’ – her mother and father exchanged a look – ‘lives here.’

‘No way on earth.’ Ella folded her arms, her shoulders rigid as tension gripped them. ‘You are not leaving that thing here.’ Fear skittered in the pit of her stomach; she couldn’t, absolutely couldn’t be responsible for anything right now.

‘She’s not going to be any trouble.’ Mum lifted her chin, standing resolute. ‘Besides, it will do you good.’ She gave Ella a sharp-eyed up and down, her mouth wrinkling.

Dad chipped in. ‘She’s lovely. Great company.’

‘You have her, then.’

‘We can’t. You’re at home all day.’

‘Mum . . . ’ Her mother wasn’t paying a blind bit of notice. Instead she unloaded another bag in the kitchen.

‘Poo bags.’ She screwed up her nose. ‘I brought you a scooper. Sorry, but I’m sure it’s no worse than babies’ nappies.’

Ella’s head jerked up, panic-spiked adrenaline roaring through her veins.

‘You’ll get used to it.’

‘And you would know, how?’ Ella asked, spitting sarcasm like hailstones. They were not an animal family. She’d never even had a hamster. She was not a dog person.

The dog had moved away from the wall, head in the air as if scenting new prey.

Her mother ignored her, wearing an air of busy-busy like some kind of armour, impervious to Ella’s objections. Dad had made himself useful shifting the bag of food to the pantry.

With the precision of an Exocet missile on target, the dog headed towards her, snuffling, and her hand received a fulsome wet slurp.

‘Eeeuw! Seriously Mum, you can’t leave it here.’ Ella wiped her hand furiously on her jeans, itching to wash it immediately.

‘It’s a she and she’s lovely, aren’t you? She’s called Tess.’ To make up for Ella’s obvious uselessness with dogs Mum patted Tess with a great show, although Ella felt pretty sure the pats were vertical, carefully pushing the dog away from her immaculate cream wool trousers.

‘Mum,’ she whined, with all the grace of a petulant toddler sensing defeat.

‘It’s easy, darling. You won’t know she’s here.’

‘Mum, I can’t have a dog.’ She sighed, she certainly didn’t want one. She didn’t want anything, anyone. Was being left alone too much to ask?

‘Of course you can. You’re here all day. It’s easy. Honestly, I don’t know why you’re making such a fuss. All you have to do is feed her twice a day. Once in the morning, once in the evening at six o’clock. One scoop only. Put water in the other bowl. Take her out for a walk once or twice a day.’ Her pasty cheeks received another narrow-eyed look. ‘Fresh air and exercise will do you good. You look so tired and . . . ’

Ella waited to see how she might diplomatically mention the pounds she’d mislaid recently.

‘And,’ her mother puffed herself up like a pigeon, ‘she’ll be company for you and your father won’t be quite so anxious about you being here on your own at night. We’re worried about you.’ Her mother’s mouth quivered.

Ella sighed. ‘Mum, I’m fine. Honestly. I’ve been busy, working really hard. I’ve got a deadline.’ One that, currently, had as much chance of being met as her and this thing entering Crufts. ‘I’m fine.’

Her mother tilted her head, turning away, but not before Ella spotted the slight sheen in her eyes. Shit. That’s what mothers did. They worried. Cared. Maternal instinct preprogrammed. When did it kick in? Hard and fast, from conception? Birth? Or did it settle in with serene grace, bedding in as the mother–child bond grew?

Crossing the kitchen, feeling a tender whip of shame, she touched her mother on the shoulder. ‘All right, I’ll take the damn dog.’

‘That’s wonderful. It’ll do you good, get you out of the house. In fact,’ she said brightly, ‘Dad only took her for a short walk earlier.’

‘Actually Shirley, it was—’

She shot him a look. ‘A dog like this needs lots of walks – don’t you, sweetheart?’ She gave the dog another vertical pat. ‘Why don’t you take her to Wendover Woods once you’ve settled in?’

She watched as her parents in their separate cars – Dad in his faithful Mercedes and Mum in her nippy runaround – vied to let the other go first before they pulled away from the kerb. It took them a good five minutes of misplaced manners before her mother finally conceded and roared off in an irritated huff. Dad gave her a cheerful wave and followed in an altogether more sedate manner.

The minute they were out of sight, whatever backbone Ella had mustered to hold it all together upped and left without so much as a backward glance. Her inward breath sliced sharp in tandem with a half sob. Stumbling to one of the wooden chairs, she collapsed onto it, dropped her head to the table and cried. No-holds-barred sobs, tears running down her face – and she didn’t give a shit when they mingled with her running nose or when she wiped it with the back of her sleeve, sniffing with pig-like snorking noises against the tidal flow.

It was so bloody exhausting trying to pretend everything was OK, and a bloody relief they’d gone and left her in peace. A gentle whiffle around her ankles reminded her she wasn’t completely on her own. Not that a dog counted. She gave one last unladylike sniff and glared at the animal at her feet.

‘And you’re the last thing I damn well need.’

She pushed her hands against the table to shove herself upright and crossed back to the sink. Through the kitchen window, beyond the long front garden, the empty green and silent street seemed to mock her. Why had she let herself be persuaded by Magda? It might only be an hour back into town, but there were 24 hours in day, 168 in a week, 672 in a month and she had 4,032 of the buggers to fill over the next six months. (She’d worked that depressing figure out on the train on the way here.) With what? This place could have been the dark side of the moon, for all the similarity it had with London. There was nothing here.

The dog began another of its nosy explorations of the corners of the kitchen, snuffling with the gusto of a Dyson on turbo charge. As her gaze followed it, she spotted a navy blue envelope pinned to a floral fabric-backed noticeboard. Her name was written on it in Magda’s distinctive script, the silver letters flowing like moonlight across the dark colour.

She released it from the pin. It looked like a party invitation. Although it was probably more instructions for the boiler or for locking up the house. Wearily she tossed the envelope down on the table.

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ she snapped as the dog gave her what definitely looked like a disapproving frown, its brown eyes blinking, and furrowed lines appearing on its furry face.

Rolling her eyes at her own stupidity and for the prick of guilt that lanced her, she reached for the envelope.

Mother Nature has a wonderful way of healing. Repeat this blessing daily to find your peace and centre.

Oh dear, was Magda on some spiritual kick? That was new. With a wry smile, she read the writing written on a postcardsized piece of heavy blue paper. Her godmother meant well but surely no one believed in this mumbo-jumbo. It was rather sweet, although she didn’t imagine for a moment, it would make her feel better.

Under Spring’s awakening gaze

Breathe Earth’s bountiful fragrances

Enjoy slow lengthening days

Find peace among the blossom

the warmth of deepening rays

breathing life back

Pay homage to nature’s beauty

and circle the blooms daily

And take peace as yours

Blessed be

Madga x

‘She’s nuts.’ Ella shook her head. Definitely barking. Imagine a floatily dressed sergeant major and you had Magda. How on earth had the Women’s Institute stalwart that was Ella’s mum hooked up with her and stayed friends for thirty years?

Walk among the blooms daily. Yeah, right. About to throw it in the bin, Ella tapped the card thoughtfully and with a sudden change of heart pinned it back onto the noticeboard.

‘Do you have to do that? It’s very unnerving,’ Ella said to the dog, as she sketched the outline of one of her characters, frowning when the shape of the head didn’t look quite right but not looking up from the heavy white cartridge paper. If she didn’t look at the dog, it might get bored and stop watching her with that amber-eyed intensity. Annoyed that she’d been side-swiped by her mother’s emotional blackmail, she’d deliberately put off the prescribed walk until later. She had work to do. Her publisher was waiting – with shortening patience, if the last email was to go by – for the latest in the series of Cuthbert Mouse books. And at this rate, she was going to have a long wait.

Ella had gone straight up to the loft and got out the bare minimum of art stuff. Pencils and paper. The rest could wait. If she just made a start it might ease the pressure.

The dog sighed and lifted its eyebrows in an amusingly quizzical way. She carried on pencilling in Cuthbert’s tail, trying to ignore the definite snake-like aspects that weren’t supposed to be there. The dog yawned, with a yowly sound-effect, before walking round to the other side of her chair.

‘What?’ Ella said after it had shifted and fidgeted its way around the room for ten minutes. ‘It’s hard enough trying to do this without you disturbing me.’

Damn, Cuthbert looked more like evil Yoda than happy dormouse.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake.’ With sudden slashes, she scribbled over the feral little face and chucked down the pencil. ‘OK. We’ll go for a walk.’

The weather outside didn’t look promising. ‘If I get drenched I won’t be pleased.’ Nature and she weren’t exactly at one. In fact, she was pretty sure it hated her as much as she hated it at the moment. Rain ran in haphazard, maverick rivulets down the Velux windows. She didn’t even own a pair of wellies. Snow boots or trainers? What had possessed her to pack either? Not that the process of filling her cases and every last bag had been anywhere nearing methodical. Trainers were fashion suicide – she wasn’t even sure how she came to own a pair and certainly not these lurid atrocities. The bloody snow boots had cost a fortune, the one time they’d been skiing. Neither she nor Patrick had taken to it.

Day-glo pink trainers, then. What else though? It was so cold this morning and would be even colder up in the woods which crowned the Chiltern Hills. It’d have to be layers. Tights, baggy leggings and an ancient pair of cargo pants usually reserved for decorating. Might as well go the whole hog and look totally ridiculous. She topped the ensemble with a turquoise ski jacket. Lord knows it wouldn’t ever be worn on the ski slopes again.

By the time her laces were tied, the dog was waiting by the front door, lead in its mouth, tail going like a windscreen wiper on full speed. At least one of them was glad to be getting out. Ella caught a glimpse of herself in the hall mirror and wanted to cry. Seriously? What did she look like? Thank God, no one round here knew her.

She drove, or rather trundled, the short distance up to Wendover Woods in Magda’s funny little red car. The whole way she had to keep winding up the window because with each rattle it worked its way down again. As soon as the boot was opened, the stupid dog jumped out, knocking her flying into a puddle on the gravelled surface.

‘Urgh!’ Dark muddy water immediately soaked through her shoes, tights, leggings and trousers. The dog didn’t so much as look back. No, the darned animal hit the ground running and was off, darting in front of a car just turning into the car park. Shit. An irate horn blared. Not even a full day and she’d nearly killed the stupid thing.

The dog came dancing back to her side and she grabbed its collar, trying to ignore the cold slap of wet material against skin. She was so not a country girl. Managing to successfully avoid the eye of the driver, it took Ella several attempts before she latched the lead onto the metal ring of the collar.

‘Idiotic creature.’ Her heart banged against her ribs. God, what would she have told Magda if she’d damaged her dog on its first outing? What did you do if a dog got hurt? Did you have ambulances for animals? Where was the nearest vet? Were they like doctors? Did you have to register with them? Did they have accident and emergency, like for people, where you sat dry-eyed, in bloodstained embarrassment, for hours?

She tugged sharply at the lead. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here, before that bloke spots us.’ Semi-jogging to get away from the car park before he got out of his car, she hit a speed not managed since school days. As soon as she was out of sight, she had to stop. Clutching her knees, she bent over, desperately trying to suck air into tortured lungs. Her heart pounded so vigorously she could feel the pulse attempting to fight its way out of her temple. Any moment it might explode. Everything went black. Heavens, was she having some kind of heart attack?

Gradually catching her breath, she stood up, worrying she might be sick at any second.

Sucking in lungsful of air, praying no throwing up would be involved, she took a slower pace, cautiously letting the dog off its lead. Thankfully it didn’t run off. Like a newly released prisoner, it sniffed and snuffled the verges on either side of the lane, criss-crossing backwards and forwards in front and behind, chasing some elusive scent of goodness only knows what.

The dank air closed in. Ella could hear the steady incessant drip, drip of water through the trees. Damp seeped into her layers, spreading fingers of cold, as she plodded along behind the dog, feet squelching in trainers which were not built for the uphill path down which streams of water chased their way.

Why on earth had her mother thought this would do her good? All she wanted was to curl up under a duvet and sleep for ever. Snuggle in with imagination and memory to keep her company, replaying the elusive imaginary conversation in her head where Patrick would admit he’d made a terrible, terrible mistake. That he’d changed his mind.

The hollowness in her stomach stopped her in her tracks and she looked around at the trees melting into the hazy air. If she kept walking could she fade into the mist too? Dissolve into the landscape. Not have to face the cold reality of what she’d lost.

She stared sightless into the gloom until a wet head nudged her hand. She flinched.

‘Urgh.’ She searched for a tissue in her pocket.

The dog wagged its tail and bounced away before coming back to waddle around her feet in circles, batting the back of her knees as if to urge her on. She moved stiffly.

The woods, perched high up in the Chilterns, outlined the contours like a thick pelt of velvet, softening the undulating hills in a tapestry of vivid greens. The air smelt of peat and grass, a musky, grubby scent that brought back images of muddy boots and puddles. Her footsteps were muffled by the mulch of years of leaf fall. Overhead, leaves just unfurling their shades of bright spring greens fluttered in a light breeze with the occasional rusty groan of tree branches rubbing together. As Ella listened, she realised that far from being totally silent the woods reverberated with sounds. Bird song, wood pigeons cooing, others whistling, the dog’s heavy pants and the pad pad of its paws as it nosed through the undergrowth.

Some far-sighted soul had placed a bench on the top of the escarpment, from which one could take in the view of Aylesbury Vale stretching towards the distant horizon, if the weather was good enough. Not today, though. She sat, plunking herself down with an uncoordinated thud, the dog at her feet, as she stared into the drizzly plain below. The weather matched her mood. The ache was still there. The constant lead weight wedged under her ribs was definitely still there, along with the strung-out, stressed tightness which if she was honest had been there for much longer than the last month.

When had it become so much a part of her life? That horrid sense of being late for something all the time, something intangible that she couldn’t see or touch but that made her incessantly anxious and worried. It had been there before Christmas. Bonfire night. Halloween. The holiday to Rome in September.

For some stupid, stupid reason, she started to cry. Bugger, she’d thought she was all cried out. As the tears streamed down her cheek, the dog – Tess – came and sat right beside her, leaning heavily against Ella’s leg. Absently she touched one of her ears.

‘I bet you think I’m mad, don’t you, Tess?’ Beneath her fingers, the dog’s ear felt surprising soft and velvety. ‘Humans are so complicated. It must be much easier to be a dog. Eat, sleep, walk. You don’t have relationships. Don’t have jobs. Big decisions. People letting you down.’

The dog watched her, the eyes soft and gentle, as Ella stroked her head. She shuffled closer as if she were listening to every word.

‘You’ve no idea what I’m talking about, have you?’

The dog just blinked.

*

The cold had taken hold, seeping right into her bones, and it took her a minute to get her car keys out of her pocket.

‘Come on, in you get,’ she said, opening the boot.

The dog stood next to her, looking as pathetic and exhausted as Ella felt.

‘Come on. In.’ Ella tapped the car, as if that might help. ‘The sooner you get in the sooner we can warm up.’

She leaned down and got a noseful of yucky wet dog smell as she looped her arms around the barrel belly and tugged.

Tess stood four square as if she’d dug her paws in and wasn’t going anywhere.

‘Oh, for crying out loud.’ Ella opened the back passenger door. Maybe that would be easier for the dog.

She heard a crunch of gravel and turned around to see a man marching towards her with quick angry strides.

‘What—’ she managed to stammer, aware of his fury. Dark brows had drawn in two angry slashes about flashing eyes.

‘Are you mad?’ he growled.

‘Pardon?’ What was his problem? She peered up at him from underneath the hood of her ski jacket.

‘Have you any idea what happens to a dog if you brake suddenly?. . .