Free In Praise of Younger Men by Jaclyn Reding Page A

green once, twice, but only came upon nannies with children, or romantic couples of which the men were already plainly spoken for. One such couple, an elder pair, both greeted Harriet with a nod and a smile as they strolled arm-in-arm along the graveled walkway. Harriet found herself stopping on the path to watch them and admire the obvious devotion they had in their eyes for one another. It was the sort of devotion rooted in having spent years—even decades together. She wondered ruefully if she would ever know such happiness.
    As they vanished from sight through the trees, Harriet tried to imagine her own life decades from then. Would she have someone to grow old with? Someone who would care for her in sickness, someone to share in the joy of a morning walk through the park with her? What if her marriage was a loveless one? What would she do when she no longer had her family around her? Both Auntie Gill and the baron were getting on in years, and Geoffrey would likely meet someone and fall in love with her and would spend the rest of his life surrounded by the children created of that love. Whenever Harriet tried to imagine such a happy scene for herself, a life surrounded by children and love, there was only one man she pictured beside her—
    —the one man Fate wouldn’t allow her to have.
    Harriet was sitting on a bench lost deeply in thought, shaded by the winter-bare branches of an oak, when Robbie, who’d been sniffing at the ground by her slippers, shot up suddenly, bounding off for the opposite side of the park. His leash slipped hopelessly from Harriet’s fingers before she could stop him.
    “Robbie, no! Stop!”
    He paid her no heed as he dashed beneath the cover of an evergreen and disappeared.
    Harriet took up a handful of her skirts and ran as quickly as she could toward the trees where he’d gone, calling his name as she searched for his familiar brindly shape in the bushes. All she could hear was the distant sound of his barking. And then, a moment later, she could hear nothing more.
    She came around a turn and was met by an empty expanse of green echoing with the nearby sounds of the streets. What if she lost Robbie in the city? He’d never been to Edinburgh before, wouldn’t know his way around the twisting narrow alleys and wynds. He could easily dart into the street right as a carriage was driving by. He was so small, so fast, the driver would never see him.
    “Robbie?” she called again. Her voice had grown desperate. “Where are you?”
    “Good day,” summoned a voice from the other side of a rather large oak. “I think perhaps the chap you’re looking for is over here.”
    Harriet circled around to find a man who looked to be in his forties leaning against a vast granite boulder. A tall brown-and-white deerhound stood beside him, quite obviously the object of Robbie’s attention, since Robbie, himself, stood right beside them, his pink tongue hanging out as he blinked at Harriet with his bright dark eyes.
    “Oh, yes. That is him.” Harriet bent down to retrieve his trailing leash. “I am so sorry we disturbed you, sir. I was lost in thought and he bolted before I ever had a chance to stop him. He never behaves this badly.” She glared at him crossly. “That was very naughty of you, Robbie.”
    Robbie lowered his pointed ears in a gesture of repentance, but only for a moment.
    The man, who was dressed as a gentleman in a brown frock coat and buff-colored breeches, simply smiled. He had light-colored hair, sort of a silvery sand, that was cut short and fell somewhat scattered about a high forehead. His rounded cheeks were rosy from the cold morning air, and his pale bluish-gray colored eyes beneath bushy brows had a weary sort of look about them.
    “It was no trouble at all,” he said. “Maida here didn’t mind having some canine company.”
    Harriet reached to pet the other dog’s slender snout. He was a beautiful creature, dwarfing Robbie beside him, with an elegant arch to