Watching to see if his spell was a success, he saw the head of the snake appear at Miss Dashwood's hems, thankfully on the ground before it made a beeline for somewhere that was not up his company's skirts. Satisfied he'd managed to do the job without dropping Miss Dashwood or making it worse, Owen was momentarily distracted by the sudden feeling of a hand at the back of his head.

She was still clinging on for dear life, but he hadn't anticipated that. "You should now be snake free, Miss Dashwood." Owen had watched it disappear into a nearby garden where it belonged. The gentle reminder she was now safe should have been reason enough to put her down, but it wasn't him that was still holding on tightly at the moment. He was distinctly trying to ignore the feeling of her hand in his hair.

"And hopefully no worse for the wear?" Owen highly suspect he would have known if she'd been bitten or anything more serious like that.