Page 48 of When the Rogue Returns
“So ye’re back, are you?” Mr. Gordon’s accent thickened as his voice rose. “Ye’re nay welcome here. I willna have you bothering Mrs. Franke!”
She shot up and hurried through the door into the shop. “It’s all right, Mr. Gordon. I don’t mind speaking with Mr. Cale.”
“You see?” Victor said to her partner, though his unreadable gaze was on her. “Mrs. Franke knows I’m no threat to her.”
Mr. Gordon snorted, and Isa nearly did, too.
“I’m in the middle of a complicated task,” she lied for the benefit of Mr. Gordon. “Why don’t you join me in the workshop, Mr. Cale? We can talk while I work.”
Victor lifted an eyebrow but gave her a terse nod and walked toward her.
“Are you sure about this, Mrs. Franke?” Mr. Gordon asked as he followed Victor. “I dinna like this fellow troubling you.”
“It’s no trouble. I have a few things to say to him, that’s all.”
Her crisp tone must have conveyed to Mr. Gordon that she wanted privacy for the conversation, for the man halted. He glanced from her to Victor, then nodded. “If you need me—”
“I’m not going to ravish the woman, for God’s sake,” Victor muttered, making Mr. Gordon bristle and start forward again.
“Of course not,” she said with a warning look for her partner. “This way, Mr. Cale. You might find it interesting to watch me work.”
“I might indeed,” he drawled and followed her into the workshop, closing the door behind him. They had only gone a few steps when he added in a low voice, “You have a bad habit of vanishing in the middle of the night, Isa.”
As heat rose in her cheeks, she drew him to the very back of the workshop. “You were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Liar,” he murmured. Then he dragged her into his arms and began kissing her with a hard passion that sent her senses spinning.
For a few moments, she indulged herself in the sweet, hot pleasure and wanting that swirled between them. Then she forced her mouth from his. “Not here.” She pushed him away. “Anyone might see us.”
His eyes glittered darkly. “I woke to find you gone, and even Jenkins couldn’t tell me where. I thought... I was sure...”
“That I had fled town?” She ventured a smile. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”
Hunger flared in his eyes, and he reached for her again, but she darted away. “Not. Here,” she repeated as she put a table between them.
“Fine,” he said with a sigh, then glanced about. “So this is where the straw is turned into gold, is it?”
She chuckled. “How I wishthatwould work. I would never have to deal with the gold merchants again.” Seating herself at the worktable nearest the back, where they couldn’t easily be overheard, she began to insert a small imitation topaz into the last setting of a ring she was designing.
Victor came up to stand before the table, and she slanted a glance at him. Today he wore a velvet frock coat and trousers of Egyptian brown, along with a waistcoat of white figured silk, and she wondered yet again how he could afford such costly attire. What had he been doing all these years?
But before she could ask, he said, “Tell the truth. Why did you leave me last night?”
“You know why. Because we both needed time to think about what we’re going to do.”
“I know what I’m going to do,” he said softly. “I’m going to take back my wife.”
Ignoring the thrill that his words sent coursing through her, she fought to concentrate on her task. “Beyond that. We both need to decide how we mean to go on.”And how far we can trust each other with our lives after so many years apart.
He gestured to the table. “And this helps you to decide? Playing with gems in some musty workroom?”
She dared to tease him. “It’s better than playing with you in your bed.” Staring up at him, she smiled coyly. “You make it very hard for a woman to think.”
His eyes gleamed at her. “Good. I don’t want you thinking your way out of our marriage. I want you accepting that we belong together.” He reached across to chuck her under the chin. “Fate threw us back into each other’s laps for a reason,lieveke.”
“Fate?” she said with a lift of one brow. “Or something else you refuse to tell me about?”
He stiffened, then stared down at the table once more. “Are those gems real?”
