“I don’t need your help to get out. Step aside, if you please.”
His sigh was loud enough to be heard inside the inn.
“I have no wish for you to fall on your face and injure yourself further,” he said, his calm, unfeeling facade firmly back in place.
Liberty had glimpsed a flash of pain in his brown eyes, in the carriage. It had gone so fast she’d thought she’d imagined it. This man cared for no one.
“Now, my lady. I will carry you in my arms again if you do not take my hand.” He beckoned her with his fingers.
This was her absolute nightmare. Being this close to a man who had hurt her, like Tobias had. Yes, it had been years ago, but Liberty remembered it as if it were yesterday. At the time, it had broken her, and then made her strong, and with strength, she’d vowed never to forgive him.
“Come, you are tired and hurting. Inside is warmth and food, Lady Liberty.”
She took his hand as there was no other option and allowed him to help her down. She then dropped it as if it were a burning coal. Liberty started walking to the inn and the welcoming lights and warmth it would provide.
A large hand settled on her back. She didn’t have the energy to tell him to remove it, plus she couldn’t discount completely that she wouldn’t fall on her face like he’d suggested. For now, Liberty would tolerate his presence, but soon he would be gone again.
Once inside, they were ushered into a small parlor. She nearly wept when she saw the large comfortable chair before the fire. He nudged her toward it and then she was sinking onto the blissfully soft cushion.
“Excuse me while I see to refreshments,” she heard Lord Corbyn say, and then the door closed behind him.
Liberty worked hard on unclenching her muscles, as that was not helping the pain in her body. This nightmare would be over soon, and he would once again be a stranger in her life.
“It is kind of Lord Corbyn to come to your aid, my lady,” Helen said from behind her.
“Helen, would you find a cool cloth for my head, please?” Liberty said instead of addressing what she’d just said.
“Of course, my lady.”
Liberty had told no one exactly what happened that day on Tobias’s doorstep many years ago, but they knew something had, no matter how hard she’d fought not to show her pain.
Resting her head on the side of the chair after her maid left, she closed her eyes and tried to shut out thoughts of the man who had once been her best friend. Her head hurt, and her body ached. She just wanted to reach London and sleep for two days, not deal with him when she felt unarmed to do so.
“I have tea and brandy,” a deep voice said.
“Brandy, please,” Liberty said, opening her eyes. Exhaustion rolled over her, but she’d experienced that, and pain so fierce you wondered if it would kill you, before. So this was nothing by comparison.
She’d always considered herself brave, but two life events had truly tested that belief. The day Tobias told her he no longer wanted to be her friend, and when she’d fallen from her horse and broken parts of her that had never really healed.
Tobias held out a glass, and she took it. He then dragged a chair closer, so he was soon sitting in her line of sight. Liberty closed her eyes again, cradling the glass in her hands, having no wish to look at him.
“I need to discuss something with you, Lady Liberty. I would be grateful if you could put aside anything that lay between us until I have done so.”
“You say that like it is my fault.” This man had hurt her, and she’d never forgive him for that.
“I know where the fault lies, my lady.” His eyes held hers, but she could read nothing in their dark depths.
She nodded for him to continue.
“Something is not right in Bidham.”
“In what way?” She’d felt the same but wanted to hear his thoughts on the matter before acknowledging that.
“My butler told me there was something sinister afoot in Bidham. I then talked to Harry when I arrived in the village, and she too said, ‘there’s evil about, have a care.’”
“I have heard rumors,” Liberty said. “Helen also.”
“I could get no information when I was there today—”
