Staring into the firelight, Dorcas considered all the changes in her life of late.

A son. A husband. And now, two terrier pups who absolutely refused to leave her side. Privately, she'd hoped they would take to Sydney and Gabriel and let her alone. They proved, for the present anyway, to be as stubborn as she was. No matter where she went in the house, she had company - the exception being the private quarters she and Gabriel now shared. The dogs enjoyed sleeping with Sydney, which came as a relief to Dorcas. She had nothing against animals and dogs were loyal, generally hardworking and protective. But she tired of the pair in her home being constantly underfoot.

As usual this evening, she'd done her best to settle the whelps next to the fireplace in the blanket Sydney wrapped them in the day he and Gabriel brought them home. It had worked - for about an hour. Then the pair, both males, had risen, stretched themselves out in a luxurious fashion and toddled over to where Dorcas relaxed on the sofa, reading by the light of a kerosene lamp.

"No! Tonight, you shall NOT get your way!" she'd told the pups, who now had the strength to stand on their hind legs and whimper at her until she hauled them up into her lap each evening. It galled her slightly that Gabriel had taken to teasing her about being unable to deny the whims of their, as he termed them, "four-legged sons." And of course this set Sydney to joking that "You've got TWO one weaknesses now, Ma!"

Small ears pricked up, the pups whined and cocked their heads at Dorcas, who cut her green eyes at them.

"Cry all you like," she snipped, "but I am returning to my book."

The pair lay down beside the sofa, temporarily defeated. Both issued pitiful whimpers every so often, hoping for a reaction.

"No," Dorcas said, forcing herself to sound harsh.

Now Gabriel entered the room, having seen Sydney off to bed. The pups would soon enough join the boy there, but they first sought their mistress' full attention.

Gabriel settled down beside his wife and placed his arm around her.

"I see that my competitors for your affections are unhappy," he joked. "You have refused their ministrations?"

Dorcas fixed him with a steely, but wry, gaze. She knew Gabriel was trying to tweak her and, though she pretended to take offense, the truth was that she adored these little games of theirs. And so she played.

"You men," she shot back, a smirk playing at her lips. "You pursue women ardently, indulge yourselves in our affections and then, once you believe you have us where you wish us to be, you take your leave of us and assume that, come the next day, all will be well if you repeat the cycle."

She cast a glance down at the small lumps of fur snuggled at her feet.

"I see it matters little if the pursuit is two-legged or four."

This got Gabriel laughing.

"My love," he said, pulling her close to him, "I will never be able to outwit you. Consider this two-legged creature of the male species your most loyal servant, even if he continually fails to overtake you."

At this, Dorcas gently caressed her husband's cheek and, gazing up into his soft brown eyes, brought her lips to his.

"I do not wish you to be my servant," she whispered. "Only my partner. And I didn't realize we were racing. Are we? Why?"

Gabriel kissed her again.

"We are not," he said. "Although you have so much energy, Dorcas, that sometimes I feel as if I should catch up with you - and find it difficult to do just that. I mean it as a compliment, not otherwise."

Dorcas nestled her head against Gabriel's strong chest. She felt a pang of desire to have him heft her into his arms and carry her up to their bedroom. But she wanted to be sure Sydney was well asleep before anything of this sort happened.

Gabriel seemed to silently sense her wishes, for he hugged her tightly before stating, "I will check on our son once more. Then, perhaps, we should turn in for the night ourselves."

Smiling at him as he got up from the sofa, Dorcas agreed.

"I will put out the fire, then," she said, before adding, with a knowing grin, "This one, anyway."

Then she reached down, scratched her small admirers' fuzzy heads, and offered them some kind words.

"Upstairs with you both," Dorcas told the pups, who yawned in response before stretching again. Gabriel hoisted them into his arms and carried them up to Sydney's room.

At the staircase, he turned back towards his wife.

"Next for you," he told her, his voice low and husky.

"If you can catch me, Mister Cochrane," she teased.