loth to drop the subject. She decided to bluff her way since Nye was determined to remain a closed book. “Did he say he used to be friends with your father?” she mused as though trying to recall.
His eyelids dropped down, veiling his eyes. “I don’t know,” he grunted. “You tell me.”
It was like trying to draw blood from a stone, she thought ruefully. Perhaps he did let down his guard when with friends and acquaintances, but she was clearly not one of their number, nor like to be. “Do you wish Sir Matthew had offered me a post?” she asked, with a small wobble in her voice. How funny, just two weeks ago, the prospect of such a post would have filled her with quite a different emotion.
“No,” he said, surprising them both. Their eyes met fleetingly, then they both looked away. They drove on a few moments in silence, before Nye cleared his throat. “You haven’t asked me what I wanted in return,” he said abruptly.
“No, I haven’t,” Mina admitted. She glanced at him in sudden suspicion. “Is it about my remaining in the parlor at all times?”
He snorted at that. “Much good that would do me.”
She turned in her seat to face him. “I’m not used to being idle, you see,” she said deciding to go for open and honest. “And there’s so much to be done about the place. It’s not as though—”
“I understand that,” he cut across her.
Mina sat a moment, waiting for more, but nothing came. “So… you’re agreeable to my helping Edna about the place?” she persisted.
He remained silent a moment. “What I want to know is this,” he said at last. “Are you just another pair of hands about the place or do you mean to take up the role in earnest?”
“Role?” Mina repeated.
“Aye.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Mina asked, sensing there was a deeper significance to his words.
“That of publican’s wife,” he said, though his eyes avoided hers.
Whatever she had thought he was going to say, it wasn’t that. She paused. “I am a publican’s wife, am I not?”
“Are you, though?” His gaze bored into hers. Mina had to struggle not to drop her own. Swallowing, for her throat was suddenly dry, she nodded her head. “That’s what you want?” he persisted.
Was it? If she said no, she thought, then she would be doomed forever to this confined life of parlor and attic bedroom. Whereas, if she said yes… A strange and slightly terrifying prospect lay before her. Being a wife to Will Nye in both fact and deed.
A narrow, dull life or the unknown. For some reason, an image flashed into Mina’s brain. The cliff edge where she had hovered for one thrilling and horrifying moment, right on the brink.
“Yes,” she croaked.
This time, she would plunge right over the edge.
On reaching The Merry Harlot, Nye drove the carriage straight into the courtyard and pulled on the reins. Turning in his seat, he yanked her roughly into his arms. Mina blinked up at him a moment, hot and breathless despite the bite of cold in the air. Nye did not speak, and she was ridiculously aware of the fact they were both breathing hard in each other’s faces. Suddenly, his lips were crushed to hers and she was clinging onto his jacket for dear life.
The firm press of his lips suddenly relented and Mina gasped. She would have slid off the bench if he hadn’t maintained his ruthless grip of her. She opened her eyes, staring up at him. When had she closed them? How long had she been pressed to his chest like this?
“You’ve got to breathe through your nose,” he murmured and for a moment she felt indignant, but then she noticed his own breathing was just as uneven as her own and his eyes still fixed on her lips.
“Oh,” she said lamely.
“And give me a taste of your tongue.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” she asked in bewilderment. “I can hardly talk at the same time.”
His eyes gleamed and for one horrible moment, she thought he would laugh at her. If he had, she wasn’t sure what she would have done, but instead he raised one hand to scratch the stubble on the side of his jaw. “I mean let my tongue taste yours,” he said gruffly.
Mina gaped at him. “What?” she faltered. She surely had not heard him correctly. One of the horses tossed back its head and Nye was forced to release her