“Why don’t you wear your glasses if you need them?” he asked her suddenly. “You’re always squinting, spilling drinks, or walking into people, Lady Liberty.”
“I do not walk into people,” she protested.
He held her gaze for long seconds, and Liberty felt the need to squirm, but as she was an adult, she simply kept her expression blank.
“You were the least clumsy person I knew and yet I have witnessed with my own eyes the times you’ve thrown champagne over people, and wondered why. Now I know it is because—”
“Thank you, I have no wish to hear your words,” Liberty interrupted him.
“When did you start wearing them?”
“That is none of your business,” she said and thankfully the music chose that moment to stop. He escorted her back to Alice, who was smiling prettily, a particular talent she’d learned and Liberty had yet to master.
“Ladies,” Tobias said bowing. He then walked away, and Liberty drew her first deep breath.
“Come along, we shall enter the supper room and load our plates. Then, I want the entire story as it unfolded between you and Lord Corbyn,” Alice said.
She would not tell all of it, but some. The bits that had cut her deeply would stay with just two people. Him and her.
Chapter Fifteen
It was anodd thing to suddenly have Liberty back in his life, Toby thought as he joined his friend. Just as it was odd he was now guardian to a small child and her dog. Odd and unsettling, and yet when he thought of Liberty and Florence, a small kernel of warmth flared to life inside him. One had every reason to hate him, the other didn’t.
“Come, I am hungry. We shall go to the supper room and eat,” Jamie said. “And you can tell me about that dance you just had with Lady Liberty.”
“No, I can’t,” Toby added, looking for her, but she was not where he’d left her. Was she dancing with someone else?
They walked down the hall to the supper room to find other guests already there. The table was groaning with the weight of food on top of it. Jamie grabbed two plates and passed one to Toby. He was soon loading it with patties and cakes.
“Lord Corbyn.”
Turning from the table, Toby found Liberty’s father behind him. A man he’d once known well. They’d shared meals together, and he’d spent hours in his house with his daughter. With him was his wife, another whom he’d once been close to.
“Duke, Duchess,” Jamie said, bowing. They’d not spoken a great deal in the years since he’d turned from Liberty, and he’d wondered if she’d told them of that day, but dismissed that thought because theDuke of Talbot would never have talked to Toby again if she had.
“Will you attend the Bidham fair this year, Lord Corbyn?” the duke asked.
“I will, yes,” Toby said.I hope,he added silently, thinking of Florence. Surely his friends were right, and she’d love to attend.
The man’s smile was wide, as was his wife’s. “Well now, that does make me happy,” he said. “As it will the village.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Toby said honestly.
“They will soon forgive you, but the hurt runs deep. The Corbyn family has been important to the village of Bidham for many years.”
Toby nodded. “I know, and I’m sorry for my absence for so long, Duke.”
“I’m sure you had your reasons.” He held out his hand and Toby shook it. “On behalf of Bidham, welcome home, Lord Corbyn.”
The words made his throat tighten. They were standing in a supper room in London, and Liberty’s father had just welcomed him home to a village many miles away. Why did that make him want to weep like a babe?
“Enjoy your food, and we will look forward to seeing you at the fair,” the duke said, then he and the duchess left.
“There,” Jamie said coming back to his side with a laden plate. He was pointing to two chairs. “Quick, before we have to offer them to anyone.”
“You are a gentleman,” Toby said. “Should a lady require one, we are duty bound to offer.”
“Eat fast then, and I have several questions for you while you do.”
