‘Right behind you.’ He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. ‘I couldn’t have done this without you.’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t believe that.’
‘It’s true,’ he said, then lifted her onto the horse a man delivered beside them.
He held her steady until she wiggled into saddle, getting herself secure. She was confident in her ability to ride the horse, but wasn’t so confident in several other things.
‘All set?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
He handed her the reins. ‘Stay ahead of us, but take it slow. Hugo’s first step will probably be wobbly.’
She nodded.
‘Everyone needs to clear out,’ Drake said. ‘Give him room.’
The crowd, which consisted of men, a few women, and a handful of bobbies, all complied, hurrying past her towards the end of the alley, while others entered the public house to watch from the doorway.
Once the space was cleared, Drake tapped the inside of Hugo’s front leg. ‘Time to go home, boy.’
Meridith encouraged the horse to move forward and divided her attention between guiding her steed towards the end of the alley and watching Hugo’s progress.
His first steps were so wobbly that she gasped and stopped the horse, her heart leaping into her throat, because she thought Hugo would fall down and Drake would get crushed beneath him.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen, and Hugo kept walking forward. His head was hanging low, as if he wasn’t feeling the best, which he probably wasn’t. He seemed to consider the man walking beside him his saving grace; he kept reaching his trunk around and rubbing Drake’s shoulder.
Meridith could relate. Drake had been her saving grace the night of the Montgomery ball. Did that mean more than she’d thought? Did he mean more than she thought?
She couldn’t hear any words, but was certain Drake was talking to Hugo, and she felt more than pride. A massive warmth had filled her chest. She’d never known a man who had more compassion and patience than Drake. He was truly one of a kind. Loving him would be so very easy.
Two bobbies met her at the end of the alleyway. ‘We’ll mount up and lead the way to the zoo,’ one said. ‘Make sure that any traffic or crowds stay clear.’
‘Thank you,’ she replied, her mind becoming even more tangled.
It was slow going, and there were indeed traffic and crowds waiting. They cheered and clapped as the small parade travelledalong the route back towards the park: first the bobbies, then Meridith on the horse, then Drake and Hugo, followed by many of the men from the public house.
Word of an elephant on the loose had spread through London, and Meridith wasn’t overly surprised when Peter’s coach appeared on one of the streets. One of the officers had stopped the coach, and Peter climbed out of it and jogged over to her.
‘What on earth are you doing?’ he asked.
‘I believe that is obvious,’ she said, not letting the horse stop.
‘Get down and get in the coach.’
‘No, I’m going to see Hugo gets back to his enclosure. Then I’ll be home.’
‘Do you have any idea what sort of talk this could create?’
‘I truly don’t care, Peter.’ She didn’t. She had too many other worries. Nodding towards the road ahead of her, she said, ‘Unless you plan on walking beside me all the way to the zoo, you should return to your coach. The park is round the next corner.’ Ironically, the public house hadn’t been too far away from the park. It had just seemed further because they’d ridden along so many side streets.
Peter shook his head, then jogged back to walk beside Drake for a few moments, and Meridith wished she knew what they were saying, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t embarrassed by what she’d done tonight. In fact, she was overwhelmingly happy that she’d been a part of finding Hugo. Overwhelmingly happy to have spent so much time with Drake.
She just didn’t know what she was supposed to do about all these new thoughts and feelings. They were quite overwhelming.
Peter jogged back to his coach, and she followed the bobbies, who cleared aside onlookers as they entered the park. Once again, she took note of the damage that would need to be repaired, becoming more determined to find out who those boyswere and put them to work. That was something she could do, and she tried to focus on that all the way to the main gate of the zoo.
Another crowd was gathered there, including newspapermen with their tripod cameras set up. A flash startled the horse, and though she easily maintained control of him without a mishap, she did turn about to see how Hugo was reacting.
