“No?”
“No, thank you,” she added.
Toby watched as she stumbled and was steadied by her maid.
“Liberty—” Before he finished his sentence she appeared to sway, and then was falling.
Her maid shrieked. Both the footman and Toby ran, but it was he who caught her just before she hit the ground. Toby cradled her limp body as he made his way to his carriage in long strides.
“What’s going on, Helen?” Toby demanded as ice sluiced through his veins, fear for someone he’d long since thought he’d stopped caring for.
“Men tried to rob us. Lady Liberty shot one, and Jasper another, but when the wheel broke, she fell into the door, and it opened and threw her out.”
He couldn’t remember when he last felt the panic that was gripping him. Liberty’s hands hung limp at her sides, and her head lay against his chest. The dark crescents of her lashes were a stark contrast against her pale cheeks.
Not dead.
“She hit her head but made me and Jasper help her upright when she heard your carriage. She’s a stubborn one, and even had me fetch her bonnet,” Helen added.
Toby remembered Liberty Talbot’s stubbornness all too well.
“My lord?”
“I will let you know when to move, Rory,” he told his driver, who was now standing looking worried. “For now, stay seated,” he said to his driver. “Be alert in case those who tried to rob Lady Liberty return.”
Climbing inside his carriage, he lowered Liberty onto the seat. Taking the blanket Helen handed him, he bundled it into a pillow and then eased her head onto it. He took off her eyeglasses next and slid them into his pocket. Toby then tugged the satin bow open and removed her bonnet.
“Liberty,” he rasped, bending over her. “Wake up now.” Toby hadn’t been this close to her in a long time. His eyes went to the ridge of a scar beneath her chin. How had she gotten that? It hadn’t been there when he knew her. Before he could stop himself, he ran a finger down one pale cheek. So soft.
“Open your eyes, Liberty.” Toby put more force into his words.
Her lashes fluttered open, and those pretty blue eyes looked up at him, dazed and confused.
“How do you feel?”
She clenched her eyes shut and opened them again.
“Liberty, how do you feel?” he persisted.
“What happened?” she rasped.
“You fainted.”
“I did not.” He wanted to snort at her words as they sounded more like the old Liberty he’d known.
“You certainly did, and I caught you,” Toby said.
She pushed at his shoulder, and he eased back slightly. Liberty then struggled to rise. Toby held her down with a hand.
“Release me,” she hissed.
“No, because if you faint again, then I’ll have to catch you.”
“I don’t faint,” she whispered.
“I beg to differ.”
Her lips clamped into a hard line.
