Chapter Three
Liberty kept walking with her head high, eyes focused on the road ahead.
Beside her, her maid did the same. To anyone watching, they were just two women strolling.
Not that anyone was watching. Something felt wrong here.
Usually it was a bustling hub of activity.
Even for a small village there was someone waving or calling out, but not today.
Liberty held two pieces of gingerbread in a gloved hand, but the thought of eating them now made her feel ill.
Damn you, Tobias Corbyn. She hated when he suddenly appeared like that.
Usually, she could walk the other way, or at least force a fake smile onto her lips, which was expected in society.
But the shock of seeing him here had reduced her to a mute statue for long seconds.
Why was he in Bidham after all this time?
Lord Corbyn was a rake who seemed to relish in shocking people. He’d also once been her best friend.
“Lady Liberty, how wonderful to see you, and here of all places.”
“Lord Michael,” Liberty said surprised to find this man at the entrance to the village of Bidham. “My father’s estate is nearby, my lord, and what is your reason for being here?”
His smile was genuine. They’d had many conversations on a variety of topics while dancing. The man was always interesting to chat with, and unlike other men, actually thought she was capable of intelligent conversation.
“Of course, I had quite forgotten you live nearby. I am here visiting Mr. Landon. We hoped to see the Great Comet through his telescope.”
“I’m sure it was spectacular,” Liberty said, and meant it. She’d always wanted to see the night sky through a telescope.
“Unfortunately, we could not see it due to cloud cover. But I have not given up hope and will be returning until I do.”
Not overly tall, the man had a smile that reached all corners of his face, and made his eyes twinkle. Unassuming, he was not flamboyant in his dress like many.
“Well, good day to you, my lord. We are to return to London now.”
“Good day, and I will look forward to our next dance. But right now, I shall get a slice of the gingerbread you are carrying, as it smells delicious.”
“Indeed it is, and I highly recommend it.”
He raised a hand and walked toward the village.
Thankfully, there were no further sightings of the perfidious Lord Corbyn as Liberty and Helen made their way to the carriage. She was not looking forward to the hours cooped up inside, and yet her family insisted she return to London today.
They had left two days ago as her parents had an important dinner they had to attend, and as she’d been suffering from a stomach upset, it was decided that Liberty recover completely first. So, today, accompanied by Helen, a footman, and driver, she would start the day long return journey to London.
Liberty, however, had no wish to reenter the horrid and treacherous waters of society, which she passionately disliked, and had for the three years she’d been forced to endure them.
At eighteen, just before she was to enter society, Liberty had a horse-riding accident.
It had taken her three years before she was ready to contemplate society.
By then she’d been twenty-one, and too old to be a debutante.
Her mother had, of course, insisted, never giving up hope that one day her daughter would wed, and wed well. That, plus by some odd anomaly, become a diamond in society at age twenty-one. What Liberty had been was uncomfortable and a failure. She’d coped by being scrupulously polite and aloof.
“He’s a very handsome man,” Helen, her maid, said dragging her from her thoughts.
Seated across from Liberty, she sat, as she would for the entire journey.
Upright, hands folded neatly in her lap, looking immaculate.
Unlike Liberty, who hated sitting still for long periods because the muscles in her bad leg seized up.
“Lord Michael?”
“Lord Corbyn,” her childhood friend said. “He’s a handsome man, my lady.”
“I do wish you would call me Liberty in private.”
“Absolutely not. If I started that I may slip up while we are in public.” Helen shook her head. She was more of a stickler for society rules than Liberty.
“It was lovely to see him back in Bidham,” Helen said with a tenacity Liberty usually admired.
“I’m not sure why. The man is no longer a friend.”
Helen frowned. “I still believe there was more to what he did, turning from you. Something wasn’t right about that.”
Liberty dismissed the words. She’s spent far too many hours wondering what she’d done to turn Tobias from her.
“I don’t want to discuss him, as he no longer plays any part in our lives. But I do want to discuss Bidham. Mrs. Dibby was right in what she said to me, Helen. All is not well, and we both felt it. Have your family said anything?”
“They live just outside, but my youngest sister Betty did say that one of her friends who lives in the village is not allowing her children out after dark anymore.”
“That’s odd, because Bidham has always been a happy safe place for children.” Liberty looked out the window as the carriage drew close to the cliffs. Gulls swooped and squawked, and she had walked every inch of those paths as a girl, and usually with Lord Tobias Corbyn. Don’t think about him.
Seeing him here had dredged up all the hurt again, because the last time they’d been together outside Potter’s bakery, they’d been friends.
“I felt it, Helen. Bidham locals are some of the happiest people I know, but they weren’t today. If I had to give one word for what I felt, it would be fear. But no one is talking.”
Helen added, “Because I saw old Mr. Toms, and he loves a good gossip, but he wouldn’t stop and speak to me. Something isn’t right I tell you.”
“We need to find out what. I’m going to have a talk to my father about it and see if he will do some investigating,” Liberty said.
They chatted a while longer, and then Helen fell asleep, as she was wont to do when in a carriage.
It was the only time she wasn’t immaculate.
Her mouth fell open, and she snored. It was at these moments that Liberty wished she could draw.
But she soon felt her own eyes closing. She’d not slept well last night because she knew today she must return to London.
Liberty woke as she fell sideways. Pushing herself upright, she could feel the carriage gaining speed.
“What’s going on?” Helen asked, her voice thick with sleep.
“I don’t know.” Wrestling the window down, Liberty looked out and quickly pulled her head back in as a bullet whistled past her ear.
“I believe we are about to be robbed, Helen,” Liberty said with a calm she was far from feeling.
“Oh dear,” was her maid’s response.
As the carriage slowed, Liberty felt about under the seat for her father’s rifle, that he always kept there.
“You’ll make matters worse with that,” Helen said.
“Or, I’ll shoot one of them and scare them away.”
Liberty went to the window just as a rider pulled alongside. She pointed the rifle at him and fired. The man yelled, clutching his arm.
Another shot rang out, and the carriage slowed, and then lurched sideways suddenly.
Liberty fell into the door. It flew open and her out of it.
She hit the ground hard, her head connecting with something.
Stunned and breathless, she lay there as mayhem broke out around her.
She heard the thunder of hooves, and then Helen arriving, turning the air blue with her curses.
“My lady!”
“Th-the men?” Liberty wheezed out.
“Gone. Jasper shot one of them, and you the other. They fled. Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she rasped, not feeling all right at all, but not wanting to scare her maid. “Can you see my glasses.”
Helen dropped to a crouch and searched. “Here.” She handed them to Liberty.
“My lady, are you well?” Jasper, their footman, appeared to look down at her. “We scared those rogues away.”
“Excellent. I just need to sit up now,” Liberty said not liking the idea of moving, but knowing she had to do so, as she could not sleep here for the remainder of her life, no matter how appealing that thought was right now.
Hands eased her upright, and her vision blurred.
“She’s bleeding!”
“I’d be excessively grateful to you if you stopped shrieking, Helen,” Liberty gritted out. “I am alive and well, as you see. There is no need for hysterics.”
“No need! You could have been killed falling from the carriage like that,” her maid said. “And there’s your body still not right from your accident.”
“My body is right,” Liberty said, and then hissed when she moved.
“What if she’s broken a limb!”
Helen was usually the epitome of calm and no nonsense, unless someone was hurt; then she fell apart completely. Edward, Liberty’s brother, had once fallen down some stairs and broken his arm. Helen had fainted.
“Blood,” Helen whispered.
Lifting her hand, Liberty’s white glove came away red after touching the side of her head. “It is a scratch and nothing more. Go to the carriage and find something to blot it with,” she said with far more strength than she was feeling.
“Are you really all right, my lady?” Jasper asked when Helen had gone.
“Hurts like the devil, Jasper, but I will live. I would, however, like to lean against the trunk of that tree for a bit until I no longer see two of you.”
Between them, they got her to the tree.
“I have a blanket, and the flask your father always keeps in the carriage,” Helen said returning.
Liberty tugged off her gloves and took the flask.
“How is the carriage?” Liberty asked.
“Dudley didn’t see the large rock, and unfortunately one wheel rolled over it, so we’ll need to get it fixed before we go anywhere,” Jasper said.
“What will we do?” Helen whispered, sounding like the heroine in a book.
“I’ll unhitch a horse and ride to the Thorny Thistle, which is not far. I’ll get help and back here as soon as I can, my lady.”
“Wait. I hear a carriage,” Helen said clutching her hands to her chest. “They could be coming back!”
“They were on horseback. It is a carriage that approaches; calm down,” Liberty gritted out.
“Get me upright at once.” Her head felt light and her body odd, but she was a duke’s daughter, and she would be damned if whoever approached found her seated on the ground.
There was also the fact that after the pain she’d suffered already in her lifetime, this was manageable.
“My lady, you should—”
“Now, Jasper.”
She knew all sorts of silent signals were firing back and forth between her maid and footman, but she didn’t care. Grabbing the hands Jasper held out, she let him pull her up, and bit back the moan of pain that felt like an axe blow to the back of her head.
“Steady,” Helen said as she listed sideways.
“I’m all right. Get my bonnet please, Helen.”
“Lady Liberty—”
“At once.”
“We’ve just been nearly robbed, and you are hurt. Please stay seated, my lady,” Jasper pleaded.
“I want to stand, thank you,” she said in a tight voice.
Her maid hurried to the carriage and returned with her bonnet. Liberty put it gently on her head, and with hands that she noted shook, tied the ribbons.
Relieved when a carriage appeared Liberty released the breath she’d been holding. When the vehicle had stopped, the door opened, and her relief turned to despair as the man stepped down.