Chapter Two
As hard as she’d been trying to ignore Drake, which, in truth, had been extremely difficult due to his enthusiasm, Meridith couldn’t stop herself from twisting to look at him when he’d replied to the Baroness Montgomery.
She had to swallow away the dryness in her throat, because her entire system was still reacting to the way he’d hugged her, and she’d hugged him in return.
It had been brief, but it had happened, and her breathing had yet to fully return to normal.
Her cheeks still felt hot, too. Yet, she had to know if she’d heard correctly.
‘You donated Hugo to the zoo?’ she asked, thankful that her voice didn’t crack.
The zoo was the one thing that brought her true joy.
Peter allowed her to oversee the family donations to this sole charity, and it was an act that she took very seriously.
Although the elephant was quite large and imposing, she’d been touched when she’d learned that when he’d first arrived, Hugo would only eat for the man who had brought him across the ocean and to the zoo. Captain Taylor.
Why hadn’t she realised that Drake was the Captain Taylor she’d heard about upon being introduced to him? Because she hadn’t been interested in meeting him, that’s why. Wasn’t interested in knowing anything about him, because he was simply one amongst many that her family paraded before her.
One who was far more handsome and more interesting than any of the others, but she couldn’t let that go to her head.
‘I did,’ he answered. ‘But only made the deal after I was sure that he’d be comfortable there.’
‘I can assure you that the zoo takes excellent care of all of the animals,’ she said, knowing that firsthand from her many visits.
‘I’m well aware of that, Lady Meridith,’ Drake replied with the same smile he’d cast her way throughout the croquet game.
‘I was referring to Hugo’s comfort, specifically.
He hadn’t been treated kindly in the past, and I wanted him to know that I wouldn’t let that happen to him again.
Elephants are quite intelligent animals. ’
It felt as if Meridith’s heart doubled in size over the compassion in his voice. He was undeniably as remarkable as he was handsome. His black hair was parted on the side with a portion angled across his forehead, and his eyes were dark blue and filled with pure kindness.
‘Our youngest son, Adam, is fascinated with Hugo,’ the baroness said. ‘He would visit the zoo daily if we allowed it.’
‘Well, allow me to let you know a secret,’ Drake said.
The table went silent, and as captivated as the others, Meridith held her breath as she waited for him to continue.
‘Hugo will soon be providing rides to visitors,’ Drake said.
‘Oh, my,’ the baroness said. ‘Is that safe?’
‘Very,’ Drake said. ‘Hugo is as gentle as he is big.’
Meridith had not heard anything about Hugo providing rides and made a mental note to ask Mr Andrews during her next visit, which could very well be tomorrow, just to confirm what Drake said.
She had no reason not to believe him, but surely he had at least one imperfect quality? ‘Do you still visit Hugo?’ she asked.
‘Every chance I get,’ Drake answered. ‘The first few weeks, I was there every day, because he wouldn’t eat for anyone else, and trust me, elephants need to eat.
Upwards of two hundred pounds of food a day.
Normally they spend nearly their entire day eating, and Hugo just wasn’t.
I stayed in his elephant house with him for the first few days, but when I left, he’d refuse his meals.
I told him that I couldn’t live in an elephant house forever, so the two of us had to make a deal.
’ He winked at her. ‘Actually, once he got to know the caretakers, he became more comfortable and started eating regularly.’
Heat rushed into her cheeks again, and she turned her head away. He troubled her composure in a way she’d never experienced before. That in itself was unnerving.
‘Two hundred pounds is a tremendous amount of food,’ the baroness’s husband, Baron Montgomery, said. ‘How long was he on your ship?’
Meridith tried, but she couldn’t stop herself from turning his way again and listening intently to his reply.
‘Longer than usual,’ Drake said, ‘because we had to keep stopping at ports. Not so much for food, but for fresh water. He drinks fifty gallons a day. I had a few crew members who thought I’d lost my mind when I was trading barrels of rum for water.
It was at a small island off the coast of Portugal.
They had me over a barrel, so to speak, and they knew it. ’
‘That doesn’t sound very profitable,’ Peter said.
Meridith pinched her lips together. Peter would think of profits over the care of an animal. Then again, all the men she knew would think that way, most likely Drake, too.
‘It wasn’t,’ Drake replied. ‘Not for me, but Coastal Shipping didn’t lose any money on it. He was my elephant, so I paid for everything.’
He was still smiling, as if the money truly was no concern when it came to Hugo. ‘Where did you find him?’ Meridith asked.
‘Africa. He was being used to load and unload ships in the Gulf of Guinea. I was picking up a load of cotton and cocoa from there, and well, let’s just say that I couldn’t leave him behind when it came time to sail.’
Meridith couldn’t help but realise that she was truly impressed by Drake and fascinated by his stories. Perhaps she’d had too much sun today.
‘Have you donated other animals to the zoo?’ Alena asked.
‘No, he’s the first. But he’s not the first one that I’ve brought to England on the zoo’s behalf.’
‘Such as?’ Meridith asked.
‘Lions, monkeys, a couple of giraffes, zebras, fish for their aquarium, to name a few. Oh, and the kangaroos from Australia.’
‘I had no idea,’ she said, to herself, but it came out aloud. Mr Andrews had mentioned the captain, but hadn’t specifically told her about all of the animals Captain Taylor had delivered. She had to find out why.
Then again, she might already know why. Because she hadn’t given any indication that she wanted to know more. No man was of interest to her.
‘I brought them some birds from South America,’ he said. ‘And I was supposed to transport a bison from North America for them, but it never arrived at the dock. Not sure what happened there.’
‘Is there a continent you haven’t sailed to?’ the Earl of Westmorland asked.
‘No,’ Drake replied. ‘Been to all of them several times.’
The others around the table started asking questions about places he’d been, and he replied, telling them about exotic places and people.
Some of what he said sounded outlandish, or maybe that was because Meridith was only half listening.
Her mind was going over things that Mr Andrews had told her, and how he’d praised Captain Taylor for the way the animals always arrived in good health and condition, which wasn’t true for some arrivals transported by other firms.
Meridith had spoken to Peter about it once, asking if their ships ever hauled animals for the zoo, and he’d said that they hadn’t.
That they mainly shipped dry goods. She had let it go at that, and now wondered why she’d never taken an interest in the family business.
Perhaps because she’d never been encouraged to, not even by her father.
Now that she was thinking about it, that was simply an excuse.
She didn’t need to be encouraged; she could have done that all on her own.
The truth of the matter was that she was rarely encouraged to do anything, other than find a husband.
Even in that, she wasn’t encouraged to find one on her own, but simply take her pick from the many that were paraded in front of her.
No one had explicitly said that was what was happening, but she’d seen through her siblings’ excuses about her ‘needing friends her own age’.
Friends would be other young women. Young men were possible husbands.
Again and again, over the last couple of months, she’d found herself introduced to a man or paired up with him for some activity or another.
There had been so many the past year that it would make her head spin if she tried to remember them all. And all of them had been far more interested in marrying into her family than in her personally.
That had been why she’d been paired with Drake for the croquet game.
A game that had turned out to be fun despite her reluctance, in part because she had tried to hit the ball through the hoops, had tried to win, something she would never usually have bothered with.
Especially not when she was playing against Peter.
She couldn’t remember the last time her older brother had been beaten—most people let the Duke of Chesterfield win at everything.
Alena would be sure to tease him about it for days.
To be honest, it felt good to have won today. For no reason, other than it had allowed her to prove that she could. That was the only reason she could think of anyway.
And it was Drake who’d encouraged her. He’d made her want to succeed, and that was a rarity.
He was a rarity, too. Normally, she was able to find something about each of the men she’d been introduced to that was truly unlikeable. That was proving to be difficult with Mr Taylor.
Which merely meant she needed to look harder, beyond the zoo animals and his cheerful attitude, because he was not a man she could ever like or be interested in.
That simply couldn’t happen with a man that her family introduced her to.
She had her own mind, whether her family thought so or not.
When she found a husband, it wouldn’t be one who had been chosen for her.