‘Would you?’ She closed her eyes. ‘I think he’s dying. He was moving when I picked him up-he sort of moaned-but he didn’t struggle.’

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Dom said, and put his hand on her cheek in a fleeting gesture of reassurance. ‘Don’t move.’ He tucked the rug more tightly round her, pulled a couple more logs onto the fire then left, leaving the door wide so she could watch him.

Her eyes followed him. She must love the dog a lot to carry him with her foot like that, he thought. It’d be good if he could do something. But, like she’d said, the dog looked close to death.

The creature hadn’t moved. Dom flicked the hall light on so he could see him better and stooped over the limp form.

He wasn’t dead yet. Neither was he unconscious. The dog’s eyes were huge. He looked up at Dominic and his expression was almost imploring.

If there was one thing Dom was a sucker for it was a dog, especially a dog in trouble. And this one was really in trouble. ‘Hey,’ Dominic said softly, and put a finger gently behind the dog’s soft ear. He scratched gently. ‘Hey, it’s okay.’

He liked this dog on sight. It was mix of English bulldog and something he didn’t know. Part bulldog, part mutt? Dog ugly in every sense of the word. He looked a bit like Winston Churchill, missing the cigar.

But he didn’t smile at the thought. The situation was too serious.

Tending an injured dog had problems not normally associated with people, the main one being their propensity to bite. This one looked beyond biting, but Dom sensed that even when he was well this dog would be docile. His eyes followed him with absolute trust.

But, hell, he must be hurt. Why wasn’t he moving?

A few months ago Dom had attended a guy who’d come off his bike onto gravel. That’s what this dog looked like-he’d been dragged along the road. His coat was a mass of scratches, some deep. His mistress was in a much better state than he was.