Page 59 of When the Rogue Returns
“You mean, now that you are cousin to a duke who might not approve of a wife like me.”
“I don’t care if he approves,” he said fiercely. “He has nothing to do with it.”
“But Manton’s Investigations does. I knew there was something suspicious about how you found me, but I never guessed that you’d been sent here by the English authorities. If you’ve told them about me already, then you will have to give me over to them.”
A scowl knit his brows. “They’re not the authorities, devil take it! They work for themselves, and I didn’t tell them a damned thing. They only know that Sofie Franke is being courted by the Baron Lochlaw. They don’t know about you and me. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure that Mrs. Franke was you.”
“But you’ll have to tell them eventually,” she pointed out, “when you give them your report. And then they will learn about the theft and I’ll be hauled off to gaol.”
“Damnation, Isa, no one’s hauling you anywhere!” He came up to her and lowered his voice. “Surely you can’t think that after all we have shared, I would let you be arrested.”
“I don’t knowwhatyou would do anymore. You hid your purpose from me even after we shared everything. Tell me the truth, Victor. Did you come here for vengeance?”
A muscle flexed in his jaw as his gaze caught hers. He stared at her a long moment, then released a hard breath. “I did. But that’s in the past.”
“Is it?” she asked tremulously. “What are you going to tell your employer?”
He tipped up her chin with one finger. “That I found the wife I thought I’d lost. Which makes Lady Lochlaw’s reason for having you investigated rather pointless. We’ll work out the rest, I swear. I refuse to lose you again.”
When he bent his head as if to kiss her, she pulled away. “Not out here, where anyone can see us.”
Though he muttered a curse at that, he followed her as she hurried into the house. But she didn’t get far, struck dumb by the sight that greeted her just inside the door.
Her foyer was filled with purple dahlias. There were seemingly hundreds of them—arranged in vases with baby’s breath, done up as nosegays, laid casually in bunches upon her front table. She had never seen so many dahlias in all her life.
Tears sprang to her eyes. She couldn’t believe that Victor still remembered her favorite flower after all these years. Or that he’d told Rupert about them.
With her heart quavering, she turned to cast Victor a questioning glance.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Though I encouraged young Lochlaw to order them, I returned to the florist after the baron left to ask that the bill be sent to me at the villa. And that I be allowed to deliver them myself.” A faint smile touched his lips. “One advantage to being a duke’s cousin is that florists are willing to bend the rules for me. Thank God. Because no man but me is going to send my wife flowers.”
His eyes bore into hers, full of heat and yearning, making her throat constrict. And that was when she knew for certain: He meant it when he said he wasn’t here for vengeance anymore. He was here for her, onlyher.
She cast him a blazing smile that he returned easily. But before he could pull her into his arms, Betsy came hurrying up the hallway.
“You’re home!” Betsy cried. “Isn’t it marvelous? I know the baron must have sent them, but the brash fellow who delivered them insisted on waiting until you arrived. I wouldn’t let him in here, mind you, but—” She came to a halt in the foyer, her eyes going wide as she caught sight of Victor. “Oh. I see thatyoulet himin.”
Victor stared at Isa with one eyebrow raised, and she hesitated. But though she could trust Betsy, she needed to tell Victor about Amalie before she presented him as her husband. And she had to do that now, privately.
“Betsy, this is Mr. Victor Cale,” she said. “We are well acquainted from when I lived on the Continent. It’s a long story, and I promise to tell you all of it later, but first I need to speak to him privately. Afterward we will want some dinner, but for now we’ll be in the parlor, and we don’t wish to be disturbed.”
Though Betsy looked bewildered, she nodded.“Whatever you wish, madam. I’ll just go make sure there’s enough dinner for two.”
As soon as Betsy left, Isa drew Victor into the parlor.
“Still not ready to claim me as your husband?” he said tightly as she closed the door.
“It’s not that. But before we can go any further, I have to tell you something.”
She paced, wondering where to start. How would he feel to know that he had a daughter? And how angry would he be to learn that she’d kept it from him?
“The thing is—” she began. The sound of voices in the hall made her pause.
Then a knock came at the door to the parlor. She bit back an oath as she strode to open it.
Betsy stood there wide-eyed. “There’s a lady here to see you, madam.”
“Just get rid of her,” Isa said irritably. “I told you, we do not wish to be—”
