“Tobias.”
“No, he does not.” Liberty refused to acknowledge the thought that her brother’s words could be the truth.
“Yes, he does.”
“He hurt me, and I’m not forgiving him, and I have no wish to speak on this matter again,” Liberty said.
“All I’m saying is, ask him why he did what he did, because it’s likely after all this time he will tell you.”
She looked at her brother lounging on the seat across from her. Long legs rested beside Liberty.
“Why are you so willing to forgive him for hurting me?”
“I hate he hurt you. Never doubt that, Liberty, but I also know he’s a good man, and if he is the right man for you, then you need to forgive him if you can.”
Shocked, she looked at her brother. “Right man for me? How can you say such a thing? We don’t like each other.”
He raised his hands at her shriek. “I have seen the way you look at him, Liberty, just as I have seen the way he looks at you. There is more than dislike there.”
Her heart was suddenly thudding hard inside her chest at his words. Her and Tobias? Surely it wasn’t possible, and yet hadn’t he kissed her, and hadn’t she wanted more? When she’d learned he was hurt, Liberty’s fear was genuine. There was also that odd feeling she got in her belly when she saw him.Did she, in fact, care for Tobias deeply?
“Very well, I will speak on it no more,” her brother said, mistaking her silence for anger and not what it actually was. Shock.
Liberty looked out the window, her mind whirling, until they reached the location where the other carriages would be. As they halted, someone threw open the door, and there he stood—Lord Corbyn, his imposing presence filling the space. The man she now realized she no longer disliked.
“Good morning. I trust your chest inflammation is not causing you too much distress, Edward?”
“I am coping, thank you, Tobias,” her brother said with a cheeky smile.
“You are well, Lady Liberty?”
She nodded. “Thank you, yes.”
“Excellent, then let us be on our way while Florence is content and Barnaby does not need to get out and sniff every blade of grass before finding the perfect one to do his business.”
They stopped for lunch at an inn, and all were ready to get out of the carriages. Edward was a hopeless traveling companion, as he spent all his time sleeping, which left Liberty with too much time to think.
Would whoever had written that note to Tobias really come after them if they did not walk away from the investigation? To threaten a peer like that terrified her. Whomever it was must not fear the ramifications.
“My back feels broken,” Edward said when he’d opened the door and climbed out.
“Seeing as you are so old and infirm, do you mean?” Liberty took the hand he held out to her. “We have only been traveling for a few hours. God forbid we journey to Scotland one day.”
Her brother shuddered at the thought. “I have a ferocious hunger, so make haste, sister.”
Liberty watched Tobias lift Florence into his arms out of the carriage and keep her there. He received a smile from the girl, then a kiss on the cheek.
“Hello, Barnaby,” Edward said as the dog bounded up to them.
Liberty bent to scratch his ears and received a lick on the cheek for her troubles.
“There can’t be much leg room in there with the dog, two adults, and a child,” Edward said to Tobias, who stood with Florence’s nanny.
“We are coping admirably, aren’t we, Florence?” He jiggled her in his arms, and she giggled.
Liberty remembered then how gentle he’d been with his brother, Mathew. Had losing him been the first step in changing Tobias? One day she would ask him, Liberty vowed, but not now. Now theyneeded to get everyone safely to Bidham and find out what was going on there.
“How are you today, my lady?”
