Page 57 of Anything But a Duke
“Are you coming too, Mr. Iverson?” Miss Grinstead asked with a glance over her shoulder.
“Yes, I’ve long wished to take in the displays.” He caught up to the two of them and positioned himself beside Miss Grinstead, careful to keep a polite distance. He needed to focus on the reason for this introduction, not on the dark-haired lady inventor he’d been looking forward to seeing all morning.
“Do you like animals?” Miss Grinstead asked brightly.
Miss Ashby shot him a pointed look behind her friend’s back.
“I appreciate animals most ardently,” he replied, trying to infuse a note of sincerity into his tone. He didn’t dislike animals, but he’d experienced them mostly as poor pack horses or stray dogs who were as desperate as he’d once been to find their next meal and a safe spot to sleep for the night.
“Which kind?”
Aidan tipped his head back to catch Miss Ashby’s notice. He shrugged and she did the same.
“Mammals, amphibians, reptiles?” Miss Grinstead asked, as if the distinctions were at all helpful.
“Those with claws fascinate me,” Miss Ashby put in. “Nature has provided taloned creatures such a clever and useful device.”
Aidan arched a brow in her direction. Why did her preference not surprise him at all?
“You’ll be pleased, Di,” Miss Grinstead tittered at her friend. “They are adding more fearsome creatures, so I’m given to understand. If we’re lucky, we may see a tiger or lion today.”
Aidan wasn’t keen on seeing wild and fearsome animals caged, but he followed the ladies inside the grounds and stopped with them at the first surround that contained a group of lithe, active monkeys. The long-tailed creatures jumped from tree branch to tree branch, stopping only briefly to stare down and assess their observers.
Miss Grinstead moved closer, fascinated with their every movement. Aidan allowed her to lecture him on the eating habits of primates for over a quarter of an hour. When he could take no more, he retreated and let her continue to ogle the creatures on her own.
His pulse ratcheted up a beat when Miss Ashby approached. “You’re doing much better this time,” she whispered.
“Do you intend to give me marks every time I speak to one of your friends?”
“One would think you’d welcome a lady’s advice on how to woo another lady. Particularly one of her dearest friends.”
Miss Grinstead moved on and looked back to see if they intended to follow. The next area featured a high cast-iron fence closing in a few majestic elephants. They were enormous beasts with long, fierce tusks.
“Quite extraordinary, are they not?” Miss Ashby enthused.
“Yes.” Aidan couldn’t help but agree. Their size made them impressive, but there was something in their mien that held his gaze. The one closest to the fence turned its head to appraise him and then unfurled its big petal-like ear as if offering a wave of greeting.
“They’re not terribly exciting as animals go,” Miss Grinstead commented after a period of watching the creatures perambulate around what seemed to Aidan a far too small enclosure. “Quite wrinkled and slow moving. But they’re loyal and make excellent animals for carrying heavy loads. Hannibal used them as war animals during the Second Punic War, as I’m sure you know.”
“They may not look like much, but there’s a majesty to them,” he said, not truly caring if Miss Grinstead heard.
“Not every creature can be beautiful, Mr. Iverson,” Miss Ashby said quietly. “But it doesn’t diminish their intelligence and value.”
Aidan cast her a shocked glance. Her blush deepened to a bright red. He sensed somehow that she was referring to herself, but the notion was ludicrous. Miss Ashby was quite possibly the cleverest women he’d ever known. She had to know that she was beautiful.
“Of course, my dear. One can rarely judge an animal’s cleverness based merely on morphology.” Miss Grinstead patted her friend’s hand and then tugged Miss Ashby toward another fenced circle of green where three lanky-limbed camels stood.
Aidan watched the two women awhile before following. From a distance, he noticed that Miss Grinstead wasn’t quite as intrigued with the animals as he’d initially assumed. She was fascinated all right, but it wasn’t with the caramel-coated camels pacing their fenced domain. Her gaze was focused beyond the creatures on a thin, sandy-haired young man who stood on the other side of the ringed enclosure and looked back at her with answering interest.
It soon became clear to Aidan that it wasn’t a passing moment of mutual admiration. They seemed to know each other enough to communicate without words. The gentleman pulled a fob watch from his waistcoat pocket and tapped its face. Miss Grinstead returned the minutest of nods.
She turned to Aidan and Miss Ashby and asked, “How do both of you feel about reptiles?”
“We’re here to see any and all creatures,” Miss Ashby said with a nod, but Aidan didn’t miss the little tremor of a shiver that shook her shoulders. “Lead the way, Grace,” she said with a smile.
Miss Grinstead rose onto her tiptoes and looked off into the distance. The young man who’d attracted her attention was nowhere in sight.
“I think,” she said, lifting a hand to block the sun as she scanned the grounds, “that they’ve just opened the Reptile House to the public. Shall I go and check rather than force you to make a pointless journey?”
