A Bride for the Prizefighter - Alice Coldbreath Page 0,32
murmured as they turned into the inn. “The stained glass looked very fine.”
“Lord Faris paid for it,” Edna sniffed. “You may have observed the Vance family box pew up the front? Decorated with the family coat of arms?” Edna prompted.
Mina admitted she had noticed it. She recognized the crest from Jeremy’s carriage.
“Precious little they ever sits in it!” Edna said darkly. “His lady wife,” she spoke the words with vicious disdain. “Has visited The Harlot more times than she has St Werburgh’s!”
“Viscountess Faris has been to the inn?” Mina was frankly shocked to hear this. Her impression of The Merry Harlot was that the place was rough and ready and entirely unfit for polite company. “In search of her husband I suppose, for I cannot imagine any other reason.”
“Least said about it the better,” Edna enounced with disgust.
Mina frowned. Though her husband might be related to Lord Faris, it was on the wrong side of the blanket and would not be acknowledged by polite society. “Is Lady Faris from a local family?” she asked, feeling some curiosity toward her half-brother’s wife. She remembered Jeremy had made some disparaging comment about her during their journey but could not what recall for the moment what it had been.
“Met her in London he did and bought her back here a bride,” Edna’s expression was disapproving. “Nasty fast bit of goods she is too! For all the fact her father was an earl!”
“They have a child I think?”
“Young Master Vance been sent away to school, poor mite. Probably for the best. Precious little moral guidance he’d receive at home and that’s a fact!”
Mina felt a flicker of interest. She supposed young master Vance was a nephew of hers of sorts. Not that the connection was likely to be recognized now she was a publican’s wife. “I see,” she murmured placatingly. They had reached the kitchen door by now and reaching for it, Mina was surprised to find it wrenched open for her.
Nye stood looming in the doorway. “About time,” he said with a frown, taking her arm and leading her through to the passage beyond. “What kept you?”
“It was only a short sermon,” she pointed out mildly. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” To her surprise, he led her straight to the parlor bar. A good deal of the wooden chairs had been cleared out of the room along with most of the small circular tables. Instead, two plush armchairs and a sofa had been set next to the fireplace, upholstered in a matching peach colored brocade. To her astonishment, she saw her own silver teapot sat on one of the tables that remained along with a very pretty tea set of cobalt and gold. A rosewood workbox was sat next to the sofa on which a beautiful Chinese shawl was spread out and against the opposite wall, an elegant lady’s writing desk stood complete with little drawers, a penholder, and a matching chair.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” Mina blurted after staring in astonishment at the room’s transformation. “Really, I don’t.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Nye shrugged. “It’s for you to use.”
“Me?” she turned to him blankly. “But whose are these things?” she said, pointing to the workbox and shawl and giving a sweeping gesture to incorporate the china service.
“Yours now,” he replied shortly.
“Mine? But—”
“I’ll send Edna to fetch your tea.”
“Wait- “
The door shut behind him. Mina wondered why every word he spoke to her seemed to take monumental effort. Was it all women he did not like, or just her? She remembered how Edna also seemed to avoid him. Maybe she shouldn’t take it personally. Maybe he just loathed all women. For some reason, she thought suddenly of Ivy and wondered if he was also averse to the blonde barmaid.
Mina turned in a circle, taking in the mostly empty expanse of the parlor bar now. Her new seating area only took up about a third of the space. She walked over to the large handsome mantlepiece over the fire. It had been quite bare the other day when she had polished its every carved nook and cranny, but now it had two very pretty candelabra set on it which were dripping with crystal droplets designed to catch the light.
A decorative box of gold enamel sat between them which had a coral cameo in the center of the lid, bearing the profile of a classical maiden. When Mina lifted the lid, it started to play a tinkling tune, so she quickly slammed it