Page 58 of When the Rogue Returns
“Yes. He said he had business to attend to.”
Following the deliveryman, no doubt. Of course, it wouldn’t occur to Rupert that anyone would be so devious.
She forced a smile. “Well, thank you for the information you discovered. You’re a dear.” She headed into the livery. “I have to go.”
Most Edinburgh florists made deliveries in the evenings. If she left now, she might beat the deliveryman to the cottage and be waiting for Victor, so he couldn’t question her neighbors or Betsy and find out about Amalie before she could tell him.
It was time to tell him—shehadto tell him—but first she had to know what he was up to.
Rupert followed her into the livery. “Wait, what are we to do about Mother?”
“Nothing.” She cast him a thin smile as the groom went to fetch her horse. “Rupert,youare in charge of your own life. And that means you can do as you please, no matter what your mother says. Leave her to her machinations; they will do her no good. I will deal with Mr. Cale. You just take care of yourself, and everything will be fine.”
Rupert sighed. “I really thought he was my cousin. I asked him for advice. Itrustedhim.”
“I know. And I truly believe your trust wasn’t misplaced.” She prayed that it wasn’t. “He thinks kindly of you. Of that I’m certain.”
The groom came up with her horse, and she allowed Rupert to help her mount. “I would love to talk to you more about this, but I must go. It’s important.” When his face fell, she said, “And you have to make plans for the house party, don’t you? It’s the day after tomorrow.”
“You’re still going to come?” he asked anxiously.
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.”
As she took up the reins, he said, “And... er... Mr. Gordon and Miss Gordon? Will they come?”
She stifled a smile. “Mr. Gordon said that although he couldn’t leave the shop for that long himself, he would speak to Mary Grace’s father about it. But he saw no reason why she couldn’t go, as long as I was there to chaperone.”
A brilliant smile lit Rupert’s face. “Wonderful.” As she rode out of the stables, he called after her, “I hope you like the flowers! And that you tell everyone about them!Everyone!”
With a shake of her head, she waved and prodded the horse into a trot. She would have thought Rupert was trying to play her and Mary Grace off of each other, if she hadn’t known he was incapable of such a game.
She frowned as she sent the horse racing out of Edinburgh toward her cottage. Victor, however, was excellent at playing games. And at manipulating poor Rupert. She would give him a piece of her mind about that as soon as she saw him.
There was more traffic than usual along the road to her cottage, but she kept an eye out for the florist’s deliveryman. When she never saw him, she breathed a sigh of relief. That gave her a little time to prepare Betsy for Victor’s arrival.
So it was with surprise that she rode up to the cottage to find Victor waiting out front for her. He was leaning against the wall and watching her with that devouring gaze of his, and despite everything, she caught her breath to see him looking so stalwart and handsome.
She leapt down from the horse and handed it off to Rob. Waiting until the fellow disappeared into the barn, she approached Victor warily. “Well, aren’t you the clever one, tricking poor Rupert into revealing where I live?”
That seemed to startle him. “You talked to Lochlaw?”
“Yes. It seems he found aDebrett’safter all and learned that you’re not his cousin.” When Victor tensed, she added, “But that wasn’t the real surprise. That came when he discovered that you’re the Duke of Lyons’s cousin.”
As alarm rose in Victor’s face, she added, “So tell me, Victor, are you here on behalf of yourself, Lady Lochlaw, Manton’s Investigations, or your cousin the duke?”
A curse escaped him. Then he shoved away from the wall. “All but the last. My cousin doesn’t even know you exist. Yet.”
She swallowed hard. “So Rupert was right. His mother hired you.”
“His mother hired Manton’s Investigations. And I was in their office when they showed me your file.” He thrust his hands into his coat pockets. “It didn’t take much for me to figure out that Sofie Franke and you were one and the same.”
She struggled to breathe. He’d come here for her from the very beginning. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You know why—I thought you were a criminal at first. I was hoping to find evidence of that.”
Rubbing her clammy hands on her skirts, she said, “And after you knew how we had been tricked? Why not tell me then?”
“For the same reason you wouldn’t tell me where you lived—because I was still trying to figure out what to do. How we were to go on, now that our lives are so different.”
