The children in my current Redepenning novel, Unkept Promises, want a pet, and I’m inclined to give it to them. The question is what. A kitten or a puppy? Or something more exotic? A parrot? A monkey? A snake, maybe? They are in South Africa, but whatever I give them will need to go home to England with them.

Have you got an animal in a WIP to share with us? Post an excerpt in the comments.

Just to be going on with, here is the dog in my newsletter subscriber short story The Bookworm and the Beast, which I’m about to start rewriting as The Beast Next Door. Once rewritten, it will be a novella for the Belles’ Valentine’s Day box set.

Charis was struggling to hold onto her indignation at Eric’s deceit, especially with his eyes so intent on hers. He was so close. If she leant forward just a bit, she could have one of those heart-stopping kisses. But she did not want to be a countess, did she? Did she, if it meant she was Eric’s countess?

She frowned, just as the door burst open again, this time propelled by Ugo, one hundred pounds of wet mountain shepherd dog, barking his delight at having found Eric — yes, and Charis as well.

In moments, the sisters had joined them. Mama, too, all of them screeching when Ugo stopped his frantic greetings to his master and Charis long enough to shake himself, and to spray the whole room with his burden of rain.

At last, Ugo overcame his excitement enough to listen to the wrath in Eric’s voice, and to slink behind Charis’s sofa, sliding underneath enough to rest a cold wet chin on her foot. “I am sorry, Mrs Dalrymple,” Eric told Mama. “He must have slipped his collar and followed me.”

Mama managed a weak smile. “He is a– a handsome beast, is he not?”

“He is a wicked creature, who thinks charm will fish him out of well-deserved trouble,” Charis said sternly, fixing her beloved with a stern frown.