The Daughter of Doctor Moreau(24)

“People speak tall tales, sometimes, I’ll admit that,” Eduardo said with a frown. “But I must be careful when it comes to my lands and I don’t really know you or the inhabitants of Yaxaktun.”

“Not that we’d have much interest in knowing you, sir, with the way you push your point, making veiled aspersions,” Montgomery said.

“If I’d even heard Cumux was nearby, I think I might have died of fright,” Carlota said, which was not quite true, but she didn’t want Montgomery and Eduardo to begin pecking at each other again, like the roosters Montgomery bet on when he went into the city.

She looked at the young man with a timid flutter of eyelashes, hoping to distract him.

“My lady, that would be tragic,” Eduardo said, a smile quickly appearing on his face, chasing away his frown and he turned to her father. “Pardon me once more. As far as I’m concerned there is no need to disturb you any more than we already have. We should head back.”

“I’m glad the matter is cleared,” her father said, standing up and extending his hand, which Eduardo shook.

“I lament we had to meet like this. I wish I would have sent a letter introducing myself when I arrived. Now, you’ll all think we are terribly rude.”

“No, of course not. But you must come back another time. Perhaps stay for a few days. Living in the city, you must be used to going on visits, and this isolation might be jarring.”

“We have been rather confined, that is true,” Isidro said. He wasn’t as good-looking as his cousin, but he did have a pleasant smile, which he now turned toward her. “We’ve greatly missed the sound of music. Do you play the piano, Miss Moreau?”

He gestured toward the upright piano and she nodded. “A little. My father has taught me.”

“She sings, too,” her father said.

“Then we must return,” Eduardo said. “It would be lovely to hear a lady singing.”

There was more shaking of hands, and Carlota rose from her seat. The parrot in its cage had finally grown bored and ceased laughing and making noises. “May I guide you back to the entrance?” she asked. When she moved, Montgomery followed, a fourth party, her shadow, walking three paces behind her and the gentlemen.

Isidro walked to her left and Eduardo to her right, and she moved with leisurely steps to better look at them. They didn’t belong in Yaxaktun, in her world, and therefore the novelty was exciting, and there was also something about the way Eduardo’s eyes swept over her that made her press her palm tight against her middle for a second, feeling the soft fabric of her dress beneath her fingers. When she was a child she’d been afraid of gentlemen, afraid they might gobble people whole. But she’d lost her fear of Montgomery quickly, and she’d never thought he’d peck at her.

Eduardo, though, she thought he looked like a hungry man, and when they reached the entrance he took her hand and kissed it again, and she blushed.

“I’m sorry we disturbed you. It really was audacious of us. But I’m glad we met, and had I known Dr. Moreau’s daughter was as pretty as she is, I’d have come sooner. If I hadn’t been hotheaded, perhaps this might have been a more pleasant introduction,” Eduardo said, releasing her hand. “You won’t think poorly of us, will you?”

“No, sir. It was a misunderstanding.”

“You are kind; it eases my embarrassment,” he said, his voice low, his smile sweet and only for her, then he raised his head and looked toward Montgomery. “Mr. Laughton, I apologize to you once more. Have a good day.”

The men mounted their horses again, and soon they were riding away. She watched them disappear in the distance.

“I wonder if we’ll ever see them again,” she said.

“You best be sure we will, although I would hope their horses would trip and break their backs.”

She turned around in surprise. “Montgomery! What a thing to say!”

“They’re sniveling, rude men. What do you expect me to do? Sing about them in verse?”

“They apologized to you, and I heard you loud and clear when you were barking at them like a mad dog.”

“A mad dog. My, my, well, they’ve certainly made a good impression for you to defend them like that. Which one do you like best? The green-eyed lad with the pretty hair? Or the one with the brown eyes and the lovely set of teeth?”

She didn’t say a thing, aware she was wading near quicksand, but still Montgomery smiled slyly, leaning down against the doorway to look at her. “The green-eyed one, then. Have I guessed right?”

She elbowed him as she walked back inside, but still she said nothing.

“Take it from one dog who knows other dogs: that one has teeth.”

“You are impossible! Stop it!” she yelled at last.

His boisterous laugh was a slap to the face, and she crossed the courtyard quickly, her cheeks aflame. Once inside, she sat on a leather chair by an open window, looking outside at the plants in their clay pots and the bubbling fountain until her face wasn’t burning and she could breathe calmly. Five, six, seven. Count to ten and wait. Strong emotions were no good, her father said. Keep calm. Her childhood affliction did not manifest anymore, but in the past she’d had dizzy spells and her heart had beat wildly out of tune. Her first years had been misery and the sickbed.