“What? Why not?” Jamie demanded.
“You want a list? I can give you mine.”
“No. But why am I not ready?” His frown was fierce now. “Mind you, after my dance with that vixen Miss Alice Hamner I am inclined to agree.
Miss Hamner was Liberty’s friend.
“Don’t tell me she didn’t swoon with joy to be dancing with you—”
“Yes, thank you,” Jamie cut him off. “The woman had far too much to say for herself.”
“Perhaps the aunts think you are too immature to have a wife?” Toby annoyed his friend.
Jamie’s frown eased. “There is that. I’m heading to supper. Do you want something sweet to ease your foul mood like me?”
“Very much so.”
They walked, passing guests as they did so, and stopping occasionally to talk. Lady Tabitha gave Toby a shy smile.Was she on the list?
Everyone was primped and pampered for the ball, and this was a setting as familiar to Toby as any in his life. He and his friends had entered society together, and each had done what they needed to survive and outrun their past.
Anthony had taken that to excess in his own way. Gambling, spending time with doxies, and other vices. Jamie had his exercise and enjoyed beating people with his boxing gloves when things got bad for him. Toby couldn’t confirm it completely, as his friend would not speak on the matter, but Anthony and Toby believed he also went to the streets late at night and participated in bare knuckle fighting. They’d seen the evidence on his face sometimes, and the way he winced when he moved.
Toby had once been a man who lost himself in women, but that changed after Bidham—after seeing Liberty again—and especially since Florence had moved into his townhouse. He suspected life would never return to what it had been, and to his surprise, he didn’t mind that nearly as much as he should.
Chapter Fourteen
“Liberty, smile.”
“I am, Alice.”
“Are you?” Her friend tilted her head to the side. “It looks to be more of a scowl.”
“Absolutely not.” Liberty angled her body so she was looking at her friend and the wall behind her, rather than searching through the guests for Tobias, which she’d found herself doing far too much lately.
She huffed out a breath and forced her lips up.
It had been seven days since she’d spoken with him in the chocolate shop. Unfortunately, she’d run into him everywhere. It was almost like now they’d become reacquainted, if that was what you could call it, they were being hurled constantly into each other’s paths.
There was the bookstore she loved, where she’d found him in the children’s section for some unknown reason. Did he have children in his life? She couldn’t imagine where from. She’d been there shopping for a gift for her mother to give a friend’s granddaughter. Their eyes had clashed, and Liberty had turned around and walked back out the door.
Then she had been out driving with Edward, and he’d seen a sweet shop. The carriage had stopped, and Liberty had dashed in to buy them something sugary. Toby had been there and the bags of sweets before him on the counter had been vast. Liberty hadn’t even greeted him. She’d simply raised a brow and walked deeper into the shophoping he’d leave. He had.
“Had there been small children present tonight, you would terrify them with that look, Liberty.”
“Yes, thank you, Alice, for your input.” Liberty stopped scowling.
Alice Hamner and Liberty had been friends since they both entered society. Three seasons on and both were still unwed. Liberty, because she wasn’t popular, and Alice, because she was being sponsored by her aunt and uncle, and did not have a large dowry, therefore unless a wealthy man fell madly in love with her, chances were she’d struggle to marry well.
Liberty thought that a travesty as Alice was beautiful inside and out, plus she had a wicked sense of humor that often had her swallowing down a bark of laughter.
“I am helping your family to rid themselves of you by making you an excellent prospect for some rich peer to wed,” Alice said.
She, like Liberty, knew how to play the society game with polite smiles and social chatter. Where her hair was red, Alice’s was black as a starless sky. Porcelain skin, and the perfect rosebud mouth. She had emerald eyes, and to Liberty looked like a doll, but not even her beauty had lured a suitor to offer for her.
“I have decided that one day soon I will leave London and return to my village, where I shall have ten cats, and take in knitting,” Alice said.
“You can’t knit,” Liberty added. “And who will you live with?”
