A Bride for the Prizefighter: A Victorian Romance

by Alice Coldbreath

  “I daresay,” Mina answered. “But you are not hampered by stiffened petticoats.”

  “You could lie flat on your tummy,” he suggested helpfully.

  “I most certainly could not!” Mina informed him tartly. “What objection pray; do you have to this perfectly civilized little table?” In truth, the chairs were a little small for grown-ups, but Mina lowered herself gingerly onto one and watched Teddy extend the six little horses and jockeys away from the box mechanism on their strings.

  “What are their names?” Mina asked with interest as Teddy lined the little lead horses up on the starting line.

  “Bucephalus, Trojan, Incitatus, Bombast, Braggadocio and Vainglory,” recited Jeremy entering the room. “They are named after the horses in my own stables,” he explained, taking a seat beside them at the table.

  Mina frowned. “So then, all your steeds are named after historical horses or undesirable characteristics found in man?”

  Jeremy looked surprised. “I thought generally the history taught at young lady’s schools was a good deal watered down for a young maiden’s ears.”

  “Did you? Perhaps you are unaware of the effect it has on a young woman, to be told certain books are not fit for her consumption.”

  Jeremy laughed. “So, it was not your good father the schoolmaster who taught you about Caligula, sister?”

  Teddy looked up with a frown. “None of the horses are called that,” he protested.

  “Incitatus,” Mina explained to her nephew. “Was the name of the Emperor Caligula’s horse.”

  “Much like Bucephalus was the name of Alexander the Great’s,” his father added.

  Teddy’s frown cleared. “Oh.” He cast a look at Mina that seemed to weigh her up anew.

  “Now, how do we play this game?” Mina asked. “Is it a winding mechanism that is employed?”

  “First you must pick which horse you want to back,” Teddy explained. “Mine’s Pukey-Bucey,” he added quickly.

  “Then I pick Incitatus,” Mina said decisively. “For I believe it means ‘swift’ in Latin.” She turned to Jeremy for confirmation.

  “Or at full gallop,” he agreed.

  “Does it?” Teddy looked much impressed. “Rather a good name for a horse. What does Bucephalus mean, aunt?”

  Mina opened her mouth to explain she did not know any Greek, but her brother forestalled her.

  “It means Ox-head,” he drawled. “As Alexander’s Thessalian stallion was so monstrous in size. He was also said to have had a black coat with a white star at his brow.”

  “Like our Pukey-Bucey,” Teddy crowed.

  “Exactly.”

  “And does your Bucephalus have eyes of midnight blue?” Mina enquired.

  “We call it wall-eyed in the racing world,” Jeremy corrected her.

  “He does have blue eyes!” Teddy said triumphantly. “You named him very well, Papa.”

  “I’m glad you agree,” Jeremy replied gravely. “I choose Vainglory,” he said, pointing to the little white horse.

  “You always pick Vainglory,” Teddy said with a roll of his eyes.

  “Not true, sometimes I choose Bombast. Besides,” his father added. “You always pick Bucephalus.”

  They spent the next twenty minutes taking it in turns to wind the handle that drew the little lead horses over the finish line. Mina found Incitatus to be a most lucky horse and in all, had the most overall wins from the three of them.

  “I believe,” Teddy said at the conclusion. “That Incitatus is my second favorite horse,” he said stroking the little brown horse’s back with his finger.

  “Have you met your Papa’s Incitatus?”

  Teddy nodded. “He’s a chestnut, like this one.” He carefully started placing the horses back inside the box.

  “You must meet my horses sometime, Mina,” Jeremy said on impulse, jumping up. “But first, you must come and view our mother’s portrait.” Mina rose and to her surprise, Teddy also accompanied them downstairs.

  “It’s this way,” said Teddy, dancing ahead. “In the Blue Drawing room.”

  “You go ahead,” Jeremy directed her, stopping next to a footman who was not Colfax. “I’ll ask for some refreshment to be served to us there.”

  Mina followed Teddy into a very elegant room with decorated blue silk panels hanging on the walls. “Oh, this is a lovely room,” she exclaimed with pleasure as Teddy walked to the opposite end and stood in front of a large portrait of a young woman in a ballgown of foamy pink. “Here!” he said, flinging up an arm.

  “Mama,” Mina sighed, coming to a halt beside him.

  She felt Teddy’s gaze on her face as she beheld her mother’s pink and white complexion, her gleaming blonde ringlets, and the ropes of pearls at her throat. It was quite a feat to look that demure, Mina thought, considering how much of her bare white shoulders was on display. She could of course see it was Mama, but far younger than she remembered her and certainly decked out much more splendidly.

  Had she been so very unhappy here, Mina wondered? She remembered Jeremy’s words from earlier, about the old Viscount only respecting her after she had left him. If he had been anything like Will Nye in temperament as well as looks, she could not imagine her mother would have fared at all well with such a man. Her own Nye would have made a milk jelly of her. Her thoughts made her start. Her own Nye… when had she started thinking of him as such?

  “Mama wanted it moved,” Teddy commented. “And her own portrait hung here, but Papa had hers put on the opposite wall instead.”

  Mina turned about to look at the opposite wall, where another blonde lolled, this time against a Grecian urn full of blooms in a dress of blue satin with an extremely low neckline. Her expression could not have been more different to Mina’s mother’s if she had tried. Despite her careless pose, her gray eyes were bold and knowing and the hand that held a blooming white rose to her bosom, seemed less to symbolize purity, than to deliberately draw attention to her charms.

  “Your Mama is very beautiful,” she said, unable to think of anything more original. Funnily enough, it was the first time that day she had even remembered Vance Park had a current mistress.

  “She’s lying abed with a sore head this morning,” Teddy said impassively. “She never gets up till noon. Last night, she threw a crystal vase at Papa and then spent all evening dancing in the music room with Colfax.”

  Mina started. Dancing with Colfax? For a moment she wondered if she had heard him correctly. “Is your Mama fond of music?” she asked, with an attempt to steer things into safer waters.

  “She likes dancing,” Teddy answered with a shrug.

  “What do you think?” Jeremy came into the room and Mina hurriedly turned back around to looking at her late mother.

  “I think it’s a very beautiful portrait,” she said. “And you were quite right, far superior to my own miniature.”

  Her brother was silent a moment, gazing up at the pretty painted face. Then he too, looked across at Mina before turning back to it in silent contemplation.

  “Are you still sorry I don’t resemble her?” she asked lightly, though she did not really know what prompted the question.

  “No,” Jeremy said after a long pause. “No, I rather think it’s for the best all told.”

  “You don’t look like a bit like her,” Teddy said frankly. “She wouldn’t know about Incitatus, would she, Papa? Or Alexander the Great. I can tell,” he added darkly. “She’d like dancing and sleeping in bed late.”

  “Not when I knew her,” Mina answered truthfully. “She liked embroidery and sentimental tales about self-sacrifice. Oh, and pictures of kittens and babies in frilly dresses.”

  Teddy looked, if anything, even more disgusted. Jeremy grimaced. “You almost make me pity my poor father,” he said with a laugh. “More and more I appreciate their basic incompatibility.”

  The way his mouth twisted over these last two words made her wonder if he was thinking of his own marriage. Then a footfall annou
nced their lunchtime refreshments had arrived, via the unknown footman. Jeremy dismissed him with a nod and then gestured for Mina to be seated.

  The silver tray bore a selection of thinly sliced sandwiches, chicken and cress flavored with celery salt, egg salad with mayonnaise, and roast beef and tomato. This was accompanied by crackers and thinly sliced ham, a plate full of individual glazed fruit tarts, a glistening jelly, and a cream custard. There was a small pot of tea in a fine bone china teapot with one cup which Mina guessed was for her and a jug of lemonade for Teddy. Jeremy wandered over to a side table and poured himself something to drink from a decanter.

  “You must have a sandwich first, Teddy,” Mina chastised when the boy went straight to the fruit tarts.

  “You sound like Nanny,” Teddy complained, but reached for a sandwich all the same.

  “I can see you need a firm hand,” she told him reprovingly but the boy just grinned. “Have you some plan for my nephew’s education, now you have withdrawn him from school?” she asked Jeremy forthrightly.

  He lowered his glass, blinking. “I haven’t really given it much thought,” he admitted.

  Mina’s sharply indrawn breath let him know what she thought of that! “Perhaps a tutor?” she suggested.

  Jeremy grimaced, lowering himself into the seat opposite her. “I suppose I shall have to look into it,” he answered without much enthusiasm. “Though the last time I engaged a tutor, it did not go well.”

  “Mama did not like Mr. Edwards very much,” Teddy confided.

  “Is that the impression you gained, my son?” Jeremy said, enigmatically meeting Mina’s eye. “Funny, I had almost the opposite conviction.”

  Mina thought it could only be a good thing that Teddy was too occupied spooning a custard cream into his bowl to pay much attention to his father’s words.

  “What a pity I did not think to engage you, sister dear, in the capacity of governess,” Jeremy continued.

  She glanced across at him quellingly. It was a little too late for that, she thought, though a couple of weeks ago she would have snatched his hand off at the suggestion.

  “I shouldn’t want Aunt Minerva for a governess,” Teddy interrupted. “She’s too strict. Besides, you can’t have an aunt for a governess. Even I know that.”

  Jeremy laughed. “She would be strict, would she not? But quite apart from that, your aunt is lately married, and I doubt her husband can spare her.”

  Mina’s hand shook slightly as she poured her tea, but she made no reply to this and the probing look he gave her.

  “I have an uncle too then?” Teddy said with his mouth full of sandwich.

  Mina’s startled gaze met Jeremy’s. “I suppose you do, my boy,” Jeremy answered languidly and crossed one leg over the other. “Your Uncle Nye.”

  “That’s a funny name,” Teddy said, swallowing the last of his sandwich and reaching for a fruit tart.

  A low, husky laugh in the doorway, had them all looking up to see Lady Faris, who looked to Mina to still be in a state of dishabille. A frilly white wrapper was drawn over a gown Mina was not entirely sure was meant to be seen by light of day. “Surely you do not expect your son and heir to acknowledge such an acquaintance?” she asked, coming into the room and addressing her husband directly.

  “Why not?” Jeremy replied coolly. “Mina allow me to introduce you to my good lady wife. Amanda, this is my sister Mina.”

  Seeing that Amanda threw her only the most cursory of glances, Mina did not raise from her seat, but instead poured herself a second cup of tea which she could just squeeze from the dainty pot. “How do you do?” she said perfunctorily and without any expectation of reply.

  Amanda rounded the table and helped herself to a couple of grapes from the fruit bowl. She pulled a face. “Everything tastes foul from that hot house,” she said. “You should fire that head gardener and get a younger man on the job.”

  “Hudgins has been here for thirty years, man and boy,” Jeremy replied without heat. “Nothing tastes good if you’ve ruined your palate the night before.”

  “Ruined my palate—how dramatic,” his wife responded, her eyes glittering. “Don’t you think your master is ridiculously dramatic sometimes, Colfax?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder and Mina saw that the blonde footman had entered the room in her wake.

  “I couldn’t possibly comment, my lady,” he said without expression and she laughed.

  “My, we are proper this morning,” she commented dryly, turning back to her husband. “Is that due to your schoolmistress of a sister’s presence?” She shot a mocking look at Mina. “Next you will be inviting orphans and foundlings to dinner.”

  “My dear,” said Jeremy blandly. “You must not squander your precious company on us like this if our little party is not to your liking.” Amanda flushed. “I’m sure you have a myriad of things you would rather be doing than entertaining my guest with your antics.”

  “You—!” His wife bit back her words with effort and Mina saw Jeremy’s cold answering smile with something of a shiver. Clearly there was no love lost between the two of them. She took a deep breath to collect herself. “Oh Teddy,” Amanda said, as if she had only just caught sight of her son. “You still here? Isn’t it time you went back to school yet?”

  “As a matter of fact,” Jeremy said before Teddy could answer. “I am not sending him back. There were two cases of consumption last term among the pupils.”

  “Good God,” she scoffed. “He has the constitution of an ox. You’re not imagining him some delicate young sprig—”

  “Nevertheless,” Jeremy interrupted her. “As you did not supply with me a spare along with my heir, I must take all necessary precautions with the one I’ve got.”

  Mina darted a look at Teddy, who was now cleaning his plate of jelly.

  “Colfax,” Jeremy said with a charming smile. “After our meal, would you kindly take my son and Mrs. Nye along to the stables?” Teddy caught an ecstatic breath. “He is most desirous to show Bucephalus to his aunt.”

  “Of course, my lord.”

  “You’ll see now, Aunt Minerva,” Teddy said enthusiastically. “The white star on his brow.”

  “I look forward to it,” she assured him.

  Mina spent a pleasant hour being shown around the stables by Teddy and once Colfax had a word with one of the stable hands, the head groom also. She admired Bucephalus and told Teddy she did not wonder that the handsome steed was his firm favorite. If it had not been for an ill-judged dart into one of the stalls by the boy, it would have been entirely without incident. Luckily for him, Colfax showed himself to be very quick on his feet indeed, snatching out of harm’s way in an instant.

  “And that’s why his lordship don’t let you come down here on your own, you little bleeder,” Colfax told him tightly, setting him back on his feet. Mina looked up quickly, for under the strain, his pronunciation had slipped, betraying a London accent she had not picked up before.

  Teddy tugged his velvet jacket back into place and adjusted his lace collar. “I daresay I could have ducked his legs,” he said quite unabashed.

  “You would have had your brains dashed out in an instant, Teddy,” Mina scolded him. “Now thank Colfax for saving you from a very nasty injury.”

  Teddy scraped a foot along the grown. “Thank you, Colfax,” he mumbled, avoiding the servant’s gaze. Colfax grunted and the Head Groom shot a look of appreciation Mina’s way. The rest of the tour went off without any further mishaps and Teddy bade her a fond farewell on the front steps of the house. “I daresay Colfax will tell Papa I nearly got squashed,” he grumbled. “And I won’t see Bucephalus for a fortnight!”

  “You should be grateful you escaped without any longer lasting repercussions,” Mina told him briskly, before bending down to accept his kiss to her cheek. “He may not tell him,” she found herself adding, in spite of herself.

  “Colfax tells Papa everything,” Teddy complained darkly. “Mama says they are hand in glove.”

/>   Mina was surprised to hear that, all things considered. “Well, if he does tell, I’m sure it is only out of concern for your well-being,” she said reprovingly. “You need to learn to be a good deal less impetuous Teddy, where your safety is concerned.”

  He nodded dolefully and cast woebegone eyes up at her. “Will you come and visit me again, Auntie?”

  “Should you like that?” Mina asked, to mask her surprise and uncertainty how to answer.

  “Yes,” he nodded. “I don’t have any other aunts,” he gave by way of explanation. “Perhaps you recall my saying?”

  “I do,” she admitted. “Well, I too should like to further our acquaintance, so we shall have to see what can be arranged, shan’t we?”

  Teddy flashed her a smile, seemingly satisfied with this. Mina turned and descended back down the steps to the waiting carriage. Colfax extended a white-gloved hand to help her inside and then he swung up on top. Mina leaned out of the carriage and waved to Teddy who was stood next to one of the large stone lions, waving madly. “Goodbye Aunt Minerva!” he shouted.

  Mina sank back against the cushions with a sigh. She was not sorry to leave Vance Park with its strange tensions and underlying currents, but she had to confess that Teddy had wriggled into her affections already. Dreadful boy that he was!

  12

  Mina raised a hand in farewell as the coach swept back out of the courtyard of The Merry Harlot. She heard the door of the inn open and shut behind her and had just started to turn toward it when she heard Nye’s growl.

  “Who bought you back?” he asked abruptly, coming to stand beside her.

  Mina did a double take at his surly expression. Had he not urged her to go? Why was he now looking so incensed, she wondered? “Colfax accompanied the groom, though I hardly needed an attendant to hand me up and down,” she commented aloud, remembering how Jeremy had failed to assist her on her previous arrival at the inn.

  Nye’s eyes narrowed. “Not the likes of him, in any case.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Nye gave her a sidelong look. “There’s some that say Colfax has been Lady Faris’s lover for years,” he said bluntly.