“As no one would speak to you?” Liberty cut him off. She wanted to hurt him. To strike out and inflict pain as he had on her.
It was years ago, Liberty. You should have moved on by now.
“Yes.” His eyes held hers steady.
When the pain and anger over what Tobias said to her had eased, Liberty wondered why he’d said what he had. What prompted the boy, her friend, who loved the village of Bidham, to cut her and them from his life? She’d never found the courage to ask him, and then it was too late, so she’d held onto her anger instead.
“What have you heard?” he asked her.
Liberty watched him sip his brandy, the muscles in the throat working as he swallowed it down. Many women of society believed him handsome. They twittered and spoke about him behind their hands. She knew their words for the truth.
Tobias had grown into a man that drew eyes. Tall, broad shouldered, with thick brown hair. His face was usually impassive, but when he smiled, he changed completely. Softened, and seemed almost like the boy she’d once known. Liberty had spent far too many hours watching him in ballrooms. Flirting, dancing, and being the man she’d never believed he would be.
“Please, my lady. If there is trouble in Bidham, I want to know.”
“I’m not sure why you would now, but as I too believe something is not right, I will tell you what I have learned,” Liberty said.
He nodded, his dark intense gaze locked on her.
“Mrs. Dibby came to my father’s house last night and said her brother, who lives in Bidham, is behaving oddly. That while she was visiting him, a man knocked at the door. Mrs. Dibby did not overhear everything that was said, but she heard the words, ‘you know what will happen if you don’t do as we tell you.’”
“Did she get a look at the man?”
“No. When I asked her, she said the conversation felt threatening,so she stayed hidden until he and her brother had left,” Liberty said. “When she questioned her sister-in-law about who the man was, the woman had seemed terrified, but she wouldn’t speak on the matter.”
He sipped from his glass again before speaking.
“I saw Liam in the Gill, and while I understand he had no wish to speak with me, I felt as if he was nervous because of two men who were seated at a table,” Tobias said. “When I asked him if everything was all right in Bidham, he said of course, but shot the men another look, as if he’d not wanted them to overhear our conversation.”
“I have some water to wash your head,” Helen said, returning.
“That can wait until we reach London,” Liberty said. “Come and listen to what Lord Corbyn and I are discussing please, Helen.”
“I can do both. I won’t be cleaning your head with my ears.”
Lord Corbyn snorted at Helen’s words, and Liberty ignored him. She wanted to feel no familiarity with this man.
Her maid draped a drying cloth over her shoulder as he began to tell Helen what he’d just told Liberty.
“You’re a great deal braver than you once were,” he said watching.
“She’s had reason to be,” Helen said.
“What reason?”
“It matters not. The question is: What is to be done to find out what is going on in Bidham?” Liberty said. She wasn’t about to discuss her accident with this man.
“I will send someone to ask questions,” Lord Corbyn said.
“Strangers will get nothing out of the residents in Bidham,” Liberty added.
“I have a man who is excellent at blending in, and also at striking up conversations with strangers. He has ferreted out a lot for me over the years.”
She did not ask why he would need such a man, because Liberty told herself she didn’t care.
“I would be grateful if you hear anything that you let me know,Lady Liberty.”
“As would I,” she added.
