He didn’t want to argue with her, but his life was vastly different than his father’s, who, as far as Mateo could see, never cared for anyone or anything but himself. He didn’t want that sort of life. If he was to take a bride to Santiava and have a family with her, he could not imagine seeking companionship anywhere else.
He wanted a family. He wanted to love a wife and his children. He did not want to marry the duchy. He wanted to marry who he loved.
Everything felt wrong. Being in London felt wrong. His feelings for and about Hattie felt all wrong, upside down, and turned around—they were too bloodyfriendly. That was not right.
What he was doing was not right.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
FLORA’SCONFIDENCEHADgrown by leaps and bounds over the course of the week, chiefly because Queenie told hereveryonewas talking about her as the one who’d captured the Santiavan’s heart. “If not his heart, at least his agreement,” Queenie added slyly.
Hattie was walking with Flora and Queenie to the elephant exhibit at the zoo. Hattie didn’t mention how she’d come by her ticket, and neither did anyone ask. For two women who could have whatever they wanted, how she had come by her ticket was of no consequence to them.
Hattie hadn’t wanted to go, of course, but after a few rainy days, the day was so beautiful and bright, she was happy for an excuse to be in the sun.
An arena had been set up at the zoo, and a large railed-in grandstand—the patron’s box, as Lila had called it—was set above the masses for people willing to pay to have a better view. It looked to hold about fifty in all, and there were already quite a lot of people in the box. It reminded Hattie of a stroll in Hyde Park in the morning—everyone who was anyone wanted to be seen.
Flora reported that her parents had come, too, and had invited Lord Abbott and his mother to join them.
“So brave of you, darling, to issue an invitation,” Queenie said. “Did he reply?”
“Of course! Well, someone did. But he’s coming.”
They made their way to the box, where a steward directed them to seats. Flora moved to the front row to join her parents. She was wearing a white muslin and looked ethereal to Hattie. She couldn’t deny that Flora would make a lovely duchess.
Queenie saw someone she knew and wandered off, leaving Hattie standing alone in the aisle. Someone knocked into her; she realized she had to take a seat because she was blocking the aisle. She took the closest one she could find—in the last row.
She watched as people filtered in to take their seats. She heard someone yelling her name and she looked over the side of the box. It was Daniel, of course. He and her entire family were in the crowd below. Even her mother, who swore her poor circulation made her ankles unusable and therefore rarely left the house.
Hattie ignored Daniel and sat up. Lady Aleksander had given her the only ticket for the box that she had left. The tickets for her family were general admission. She was excited to see this elephant without her family around her. Queenie said it performed tricks.
Most of the seats were taken when Lord Abbott entered the box with his mother. He didn’t notice Hattie and led his mother to the front, where Lord Raney had saved them a pair of seats. He introduced his mother to them all, then took a seat next to Flora.
It was as good as done, Hattie guessed, and tried to ignore the painful squeeze of her heart.
At last, Jumbo appeared, laboring down a path. Six men were crowded into a box on his back. A fenced paddock of a sort had been assembled, and the crowd closed in around it to watch Jumbo walk in a circle. The men on his back—acrobats—jumped down, then tumbled and twisted away from the elephant to the fence. One man placed a box in the middle of the paddock, then waved a baton at it. It seemed impossible that the elephant could understand what the man meant, much less fit himself on the box, but he did, balancing his great size on a surface that was hardly even the size of her writing desk.
Next, when the elephant had stepped down from the box, a dog appeared in the arena with a rope in its jaws. With its tail wagging, the dog dropped one end of the rope in front of Jumbo. The elephant picked up the rope with its trunk. The dog raced back to the man with the baton and gave the other end to him. The man and the elephant began to turn the rope, and the dog jumped. The crowd roared with delight.
Hattie couldn’t help but watch Teo watching the elephant. She was at an angle, but it seemed to her his expression was stoic. Occasionally, Flora would lean close to say something, and he would nod or respond briefly. But he didn’t appear to be enjoying the performance.
Jumbo went on to trumpet on command, and to back up, and to turn in a circle. The dog ran up his trunk and rode around the ring on his back. Each trick sent the crowd into more roars of approval. A brief intermission was announced, and someone brought Jumbo some hay. Hattie remained in her seat and watched a steady stream of people come to greet Flora and Teo. Flora was very proud—Hattie could tell from the way she smiled and greeted everyone in turn, and then made sure that they had been introduced to Teo.
The man with the baton was getting ready for the second act when Teo stood to stretch his back. That’s when he saw Hattie. He smiled. She did, too. He said something to Flora, then began to make his way to the top of the box just as Jumbo returned, this time carrying children on his back. The crowd was delighted; several of them rushed the fence to have a turn.
Teo reached the back row and took the seat next to Hattie. One gentleman stopped to greet him, but when he left, Teo turned to her and smiled. “You’ve come to see Jumbo.”
“He’s huge. I’ve never seen anything so large.”
Teo nodded. “He is the largest elephant I’ve ever seen.”
Hattie laughed. “You’ve seen more than one?”
“I have. In Africa, with my brother. I saw the flying elephants there, too.”
“The flying elephants,” Hattie repeated uncertainly.
He nodded but kept his gaze straight ahead. “They are quite a bit smaller, but their ears have much greater wingspan. Quite impressive, really.”
