It was as if something was alive in her. Something wonderful, that tripled in size when he’d kissed her temple.
For a moment, when they’d been looking at each other, she’d thought he was going to kiss her again, on the lips, but the policeofficer had found them. She was glad of that, glad they’d found Hugo, but her body was still tingling, especially her breasts, which Drake’s arm had been directly beneath, and her legs, where they’d continuously touched his thigh. Not to mention the swirling heat in more private places that she’d never been more aware of.
‘It’s him.’ Drake’s voice came from the darkness.
The officers and other men around her began talking, and she quickly shushed them, with both a sound and by waving her hands at them.
‘Is he all right?’ she called back to Drake.
‘Yes!’ he replied. ‘He’s asleep. Leave the horse there.’
Handing the reins to a man, she said, ‘Tie him up for me, please.’ Without waiting for a response, she quickly began walking down the alleyway and was about halfway when a door opened, casting enough light into the darkness that she could see Drake, as well as Hugo lying on the ground. There were sounds coming from the open doorway, voices and such, which made her assume that it was a public house.
‘You’re sure he’s sleeping?’ she asked Drake.
‘Either that or he’s passed out.’
‘Passed out from exhaustion?’
‘No.’
Arriving, she touched one of Hugo’s huge legs as he lay on his side, taking up the entire alleyway and breathing deeply. ‘From what then?’
Drake pointed to a wooden barrel. ‘From wine.’
A man in the doorway said, ‘That was my wine vat. He knocked the lid off and drank it empty.’
‘He’s drunk?’ she asked.
‘It appears so,’ Drake replied.
‘We’d heard a noise, and one of my customers opened the door, saw him drinking the wine,’ the owner said.
She’d never heard of such a thing, but then again, Hugo was the first elephant she personally knew. ‘Do elephants like wine?’
‘He must have smelled the fruit,’ Drake answered. ‘Fermenting or not, to him it was fruit, and he was both hungry and thirsty after his adventure.’
‘What are we going to do?’ she asked.
Drake grinned. ‘Get some water, wake him up, and get him home.’
Even though that sounded easier said than done, she had to smile in return. Drake knew what he was doing, and she knew the crowd that had gathered around them quickly would realise that, too.
There was grumbling and mumbling among the men Drake sent to get buckets of water. They seemed to think it would be impossible to wake up the elephant. Meanwhile, Hugo was snoring. The sounds were actually so low and malicious sounding that some members of the crowd sprang back, thinking the elephant was growling.
But even those crowd members couldn’t resist staying to watch, albeit looking poised to run at any moment, as Drake dumped a bucket of water on Hugo’s face. The elephant snorted and moved his trunk about like an arm, using it to wipe his face. It wasn’t until a second bucket was dumped on him that he opened his eyes.
‘Hey, old boy, how you feeling?’ Drake asked, kneeling next to Hugo’s big head and wiping away the water.
Hugo wrapped his trunk around Drake’s shoulders as he let out a low moan.
‘Not so good,’ Drake said kindly. ‘I can imagine that. You drank about twenty gallons of wine.’
‘Twenty-five,’ the publican corrected.
As if realising that was bad, Hugo dropped his trunk to the ground and moaned again, which sent a roar of laughter through the crowd.
Meridith laughed, too. While feeling a great sense of compassion for the animal, she also felt an intense amount of pride for Drake. He truly was the most wonderful man she’d ever met.
