The bartender, who also managed the place, sighed as though she was the bane of his existence, probably because she was. “I’ve told you before, you can’t be dumping beer over heads.”

It was the third time she’d done it since she started working here ten days earlier. She considered defending her actions but had done so twice before already and received no sympathy whatsoever from him, just a stare that hardened with each word spoken, so she merely nodded in acknowledgment of the undeserved scolding. Until recently, an admonishment had never been directed her way. She didn’t much like being treated with so little consideration or having her opinion carry no weight, but then there was a good bit about her new life that she didn’t favor. As a matter of fact, there was nothing at all about it that she did.

“I’ll have to take this pint out of your weekly earnings.”

Striving to reflect contrition so she wouldn’t find herself dismissed, she nodded again. At this rate, she was going to have no weekly earnings.

“Jimmy pinched her bum, Mac,” Polly, another one of the serving girls, said. “I saw it.”

“How could you have seen it, Polly? You were standing right there.”

“I’ve got good eyes.”

“Not that good.” He turned away and began filling the tankard.

Polly looked at her sympathetically. “They was just having a bit o’ fun.”

“But it’s not any fun at all, is it?” She was certain Polly of the ample cleavage had endured her share of being dragged onto laps. Although she might not have minded. She was forever laughing and flirting with the chaps, seeming to have a grand time doing something that Althea disliked with every fiber of her being.

She was disappointed to see the large fellow she’d only just served leaning down to say something to the cackling Jimmy. Probably wanted to ask what her bottom felt like. But then Jimmy abruptly stopped laughing. She’d heard of people turning as white as a ghost but had never seen anyone actually do it. Until now. Jimmy looked as though the man had effectively and quickly leeched all the blood from his veins.

“Jimmy won’t be touching you no more,” Polly said with a bit of triumph, “now that Beast has had a quiet word with him.”

“Beast?”

Polly looked surprised but nodded. “Yeah. The big bloke.”

The big bloke who didn’t even look back as he strode out through the door. She wondered how he’d come to have that moniker because to her eye he was anything but beastly. Devil would have served him better as he was devilishly handsome, his features strong and bold.

“Who is he when he’s at home?” Althea asked.

Polly gave her a pointed look. “Someone you don’t want to cross if you know what’s good for you.”