" Goggie!” she exclaimed, holding both hands out urgently to Lad, who’d been dozing by the fire.

“By all means,” Michael replied amicably, as if he and Mary were having a conversation. “Let’s bring the mutt with us, as well. He’s almost presentable now that he stinks o’ roses. "

― Elizabeth Hoyt , Scandalous Desires (Maiden Lane, #3)