A Bride for the Prizefighter - Alice Coldbreath Page 0,55

to right his grip on the reins.

“Alright there, Nye?” called a voice, recalling Mina to her surroundings. Her bonnet had come loose and was hanging off her head. She made a grab for it and Nye swore under his breath.

“We’ll give it another go,” he said. “Later.”

“Er… yes,” Mina agreed, thankful for her reprieve. “Quite.”

She could see other figures milling round in the shadowy courtyard and felt horribly embarrassed they might have witnessed their awkward embrace.

“Reuben, hold her head!” Nye bellowed and Mina saw the man with the ginger beard spring forward to seize one of the horses as Nye clambered down. She had scarcely re-tied her bonnet, when Nye appeared at her side of the carriage and was holding a hand up for her to descend. Mina took it and precariously started to descend from the perch at the front. She only managed the first step and then found herself swung down with his hands at her waist.

“Get up to bed,” he said. “I’ll join you later.”

Mina’s face flamed as she turned away from him to scurry into the inn. He’d join her later? She hung up her cloak and bonnet and took a hurried wash in the scullery before hurrying up the staircase. She nearly spilled the wax from her candleholder when Ivy knocked on her door as she was setting it down on the bedside table. “Oh Ivy,” she said looking up with relief. “You did make me jump.”

“Just wanted to thank you for my gifts, Mrs. Nye,” Ivy said beaming. “Love a nice bottle of scent, I do, but you didn’t have to.”

“You’re most welcome,” Mina said, waving this aside. “And I wanted to. Do you think you’ll use the lotion? I wasn’t sure which type you favor...”

“Ooh yes, it’s ever such a nice one,” Ivy interrupted her. “Besides, I always has a different one each time!”

Mina sat on the bed and started efficiently braiding her hair. “Are you not serving at bar tonight, Ivy?” she asked.

“Not till after hours tonight,” she said with a wink, coming into the room and closing the door softly behind her.

“After hours?” Mina frowned, motioning to a chair. “How can you serve at bar when it closed?”

Ivy giggled. “You are a sheltered one and no mistake.” She sat in the chair and revealed a bottle she had been carrying under her arm. “Care to take a glass with me, Mrs. Nye?”

Mina changed her mind about her automatic refusal. After all, she was in dire need of some Dutch courage. Instead, she nodded. “Call me Mina,” she answered

Ivy’s eyes widened. “I couldn’t do that, Mrs. Nye. Wouldn’t be right.”

“Not even when no-one else is around?” Mina asked with a frown. First Edna and now Ivy. She sighed, feeling a little forlorn.

“Well, I dunno about that,” Ivy replied warily and produced two wine glasses out of her apron. She set them on the side and uncorked the bottle.

“How is it that you can serve an empty bar?” Mina persisted as Ivy poured. “Do you mean you are to do a stock-take?”

Ivy laughed merrily. “Lord bless you, he don’t let me do no stock-take,” she said, passing a brimming glass of red wine to Mina. “Very jealous Nye is about the state of his cellars. The one time I suggested it, you’d have thought I was a Customs and Excise man.” She picked up her own glass and held it aloft. “Here’s to a pair of shining eyes,” she toasted. Mina hastily held her own glass to chink with Ivy’s. She wasn’t sure whose eyes they were toasting, or if they were simply expressing a hope for their own. “Chin-chin,” Ivy added and took a liberal swig.

Mina took a tentative sip and found the wine to be very sharp yet simultaneously unpleasantly furry on her tongue. She plunked it down. “Very nice,” she lied.

“What it means,” Ivy said, leaning forward confidentially. “Is that there’s to be a lock-in tonight.”

“A lock-in?” Mina echoed, reaching for her bed socks.

“It’s when your regular patrons leave,” Ivy explained. “But a privileged few are permitted to remain after the doors is locked. And they’re permitted to carry on drinking till the early hours.”

“I see,” said Mina, drawing on her socks. “And what events determine its occurrence?”

“You what?” Ivy asked with a frown, knocking back the last of her wine and reaching for the bottle to pour another.

“I mean, is it a regular thing?” Mina asked, hastily rephrasing her question. She remembered Nye’s comment earlier about her being somewhat