‘And now, you will know him for over a month before a decision is made in his favour,’ he said with a superior nod. ‘Perhaps he will write to you while he is gone to tell you of his travels. Or perhaps not.’
‘And what am I to do in the meantime?’ she said, wondering if he was going to propose again. Right now, she did not want to marry anyone.
‘Anything you like,’ he said. ‘You could visit the menagerie with me, if you wanted to. If your interest in nature extends to the larger animals, you must be looking forward to it. We are here already, and it is a shame to waste the opportunity.’
‘Even though you put a stranger on a boat to Jerusalem so that you could stalk me without interference?’
‘Jaffa,’ he corrected her. ‘Jerusalem has no port.’
She doubted he’d learned that fact while studying the Bible. It was just one small detail in some greater plan that seemed to involve her. ‘I am not going to swoon into your arms just because there is no other man present,’ she said, trying to read his response.
‘Neither will you rush to a decision in Blake’s favour, simply because he showed the minimum attention to you,’ he responded. ‘Your father would likely approve of such a match, as would your brother. Mr Blake is utterly toothless and no threat to you in any way.’ He looked at her again as if considering.
‘Because he is a good man.’
‘I never said he wasn’t. I’d rather thought that, when tempted he would choose something a little less pious. Filthy lucre perhaps. But he proved virtuous, right to the bone.’
‘And you mock him because of it,’ she said, annoyed.
‘Not at all. He wants to serve the Lord and help his people. I have no problem with that. It should be encouraged in others, so the rest of us don’t have to be bothered with it.’
‘You have no interest in performing good works?’
‘That is not precisely true either,’ he said, considering for a minute. ‘I contribute to the care of widows and orphans and have my favourite charities, as every man of means should. But I see no need to make a show of it. The Lord knows my character even better than thetondoes. If I have not done enough with my life, He will tell me when I pass.’ Then, he smiled, supremely confident in his answer, as he seemed to be in all things.
This was a surprise. She had thought him selfish and superficial. But there seemed to be depths to him that he refused to show to others. But that did not justify his being here. He wanted something from her. He simply hadn’t asked for it, yet.
‘I suppose now you will tell me that you are just as good a man as Mr Blake.’
‘Not a better man,’ he said. ‘Merely a different one.’
‘And with a sudden desire to see the animals in the menagerie?’ she said.
‘Not particularly. I have seen them before,’ he said.
‘Then, this will be quite dull for you.’
‘I have never seen you, seeing them,’ he said. ‘That will make the experience a novelty for me.’
She had no idea how to respond to this. With all the women he had known, she suspected she was the least novel of the bunch.
But he took her silence as acceptance and paid the shillings necessary for admittance. Then, the keeper led the three of them past the many cages, telling them of the origins of the animals and their feeding and care.
At first, it was a relief to think of something other than her own future. There were a great many lions, chewing on bones and staring listlessly back at her from behind the bars. The leopard was pacing nervously from one side of her cage to the other and seemed bothered by the screams of the eagle, that flapped its wings frantically but did not have the space to fly.
The keeper was particularly proud of a black leopardess named Miss Nancy, pointing out the spots still visible in her black-on-black velvety fur. As they stood watching her, she came to the bars and stared back at Cassie, slowly blinking her golden eyes which were filled with a deep sadness.
Probably because Miss Nancy did not want to end her life in a cage. At some point in the past, she’d been roaming free in the jungle where the air and the food were fresh, and every day was new and different. Her keeper might dote on her and extoll her virtues to each person that passed the cage which held her. But he was a jailer, nothing more than that.
Cassie felt a sudden rush of melancholy and a tightness in her chest, as if her ribs were the bars of a cage and her heart was pounding to get out. The tears blurred her vision until all she could see was the glow of those sad, gold eyes staring into hers as if begging for rescue.
Finally, she could stand no more and turned away.
The Duke noticed immediately and touched her arm, concerned.
She shook her head and whispered, ‘It is so sad.’
‘How so?’ he asked staring down at her.
