As the servant put Liam’s arms over his shoulder and boosted him to his feet, Thea opened the door for him as he half carried, and half dragged, Liam inside the chamber. She helped him get Liam onto the bed by taking his legs and swinging them up onto it. “Excellent,” she said dragging a chair to sit beside Liam. “Now, the housekeeper is his mother. Go find her and escort her here. Tell her that her son is hurt, but make sure you remind her that he will be all right. Otherwise, she will fret. Go.”
“Yes, Miss Miller.”
The footman bowed and departed the room quickly, but left the door open as was proper for an unmarried woman alone with a man. Thea brushed Liam’s hair from his brow with her fingers, taking a moment while they were alone to show him a little of how much she cared. Liam offered her a twisted smile.
“I am sorry,” he said, his voice thick. “I worried you.”
“Between you and my brother, it is a miracle I will survive the stress.”
His smile faded. “Did something else happen?”
“Someone shot Freddie,” she said, her own throat closing with unshed tears. “He will be all right. So will you.”
Liam’s eyes trailed upward to the ceiling. “He tried to kill me.”
Thea stiffened. “What?”
“After he hit me,” Liam said slowly, “I was unconscious. But I woke when he was stuffing me down an old well shaft under the house.”
“Lord have mercy,” Thea whispered, horrified. “Had you gone down it, no one would ever have found you.”
“I went down part way,” Liam said, his hands rising to show her the dirt and dried black blood on them. “But our spy had no way to know the well had caved in. It was dark. I went down only a couple of yards, then hit the ground.”
“And you climbed out?”
“It took a long time,” he replied, his voice low. “I was weak and hurting. I climbed straight up the old stones after he left. It took me several tries, I would slide back down before I made it out of there.”
“So now he thinks you are dead.”
Liam smiled, and this time it held a very feral quality to it. “He thinks I am dead. I had to make him believe he killed me. If I did not, he would be fleeing right now and we would never catch him.”
Thea slowly nodded, comprehending. “So he is still hiding like a rat in the walls, believing himself safe.”
“Thea, I may not be able to return to my duties,” he said. “If he sees me still alive . . .”
“We will worry about that later,” she said, her tone firm. “Right now, I want Mr. Noonan to have a look at you.”
Just then, Mary Carter rushed into the room, her narrow face a mask of worry. “Liam.”
Thea rose to make room for her to bend over Liam on the bed, seeing the footman who went to get her standing by the doorway. Mary stroked aside Liam’s red-gold hair that had tumbled down over his brow. “Whet happened tae ye, son? Who did this tae ye?”
Liam took her hand, offering her a warm grin. “I will be all right, Mum. Just got a knock on the head.”
“It be a guid thing it be a hard one,” she said, sitting in the chair Thea vacated. “Me poor lad.”
The room filled as Mr. Noonan and a few other servants arrived until even Mary was forced from Liam’s side by the bustling steward. The two of them stood side by side at the foot of the bed as Mr. Noonan opened Liam’s eyelids, listened to his breathing and his heart. He asked Liam to sit up while he examined the bloody wound on the back of his head, and asked for a basin of hot water and a cloth.
“Will he be all right, Mr. Noonan?” Thea asked, gnawing her lip. Though she believed he would be, having confirmation from an expert might halt the roiling in her stomach.
“Yes, Miss Miller,” Mr. Noonan said, permitting Liam to lie back down until the water and cloth arrived. “Like Lord Willowdale, he is young and healthy. I see no permanent injury, though he cannot have laudanum. He will just have to suffer through it.”
“Why can my brother have it and Mr. Carter cannot?” she asked, her indignation rising.
He glanced at her under his lowered brows. “Laudanum should never be given to patients with head injuries. They may never wake up.”
“Oh,” she said in a small voice, feeling chastened.
Liam grinned at her. “I can take it, Miss Miller.”
