Page 89 of When the Rogue Returns
He kissed her lips then, and she took solace from the sweetness of it. When he drew back, his eyes burned into hers. “Believe in me,lieveke.Believe in yourself. And wewillget through this.”
He released her hands. “Now, let’s make a plan to save our daughter.” Striding to the door, he opened it. “Come in, gentlemen. We must figure out what to do.”
As the men filed back in, Isa could tell that they’d been discussing matters in the hall. It reassured her that they radiated the same bold confidence as Victor. Mr. Manton and Mr. Bonnaud were used to dealing with the likes of Gerhart and Jacoba. She only hoped they were as successful in getting her daughter back as they’d been in finding Victor.
Mr. Manton faced Victor. “It seems to me that if the baron is willing to offer the diamonds—”
“No,” Victor said firmly. “Gerhart is setting a trap, just as he did last time. If we play the game his way, he’ll win and we’ll be left with nothing.”
“So we don’t play the game his way,” Mr. Bonnaud said. “We play it ours. We have a few advantages. He doesn’t know that more Duke’s Men are here, or that the baron is in on the scheme.” He nodded at Isa. “And he vastly underestimates the determination of a lioness to protect her cub.”
Victor smiled warmly at her. “Very true. Gerhart also expects Isa to be a mouse—one more advantage we have.” He glanced at Rupert. “I know what Gerhart said about not following her, but is there any chance we can do so from off the road?”
“It’s heavily wooded,” Rupert said. “I fear that if you stayed close enough to keep sight of her, you’d be heard by him. Strathridge Road isn’t traveled very much.”
“Which is probably why he chose it,” Dom said. “Still, with three more men involved than Gerhart expects, we can lie in wait at intervals alongside the road.”
“I could charge the servants with helping—” Rupert began.
“No,” Victor said sharply. “The moment we involve the servants—or the other guests—there are too many people to control. Someone will spook him.”
“All right,” Rupert said. “Most of the road runs along the river, so he’s likely to come from the side away from that. I can also tell you the best places to hide. I know every inch of those woods from gathering plants for my experiments.”
“That’s something else Gerhart won’t expect,” Tristan pointed out. “He’ll assume that Victor knows the terrain as little as he.”
“So if his lordship can show us a couple of hours beforehand where to station ourselves along it,” Dom said, “we can divide the road up among the five of us, so we can search for Gerhart after the exchange is made. We might even get lucky and see where he enters it from the woods.”
“True, but you’re missing the point,” Victor said. “All of this presumes that we let Isa meet him and give him the diamonds. But even if we caught him with them, he’d just claim that he had no idea they were stolen. He’ll say that his loving sister-in-law brought them to him as a gift. He’ll say that Isa did ask him and Jacoba to fetch Amalie, and that they were coming to bring her to Isa when Isa decided to meet them on the road.”
Dragging his fingers through his hair, Victor began to pace. “It’s not as if Isa can deny that they’re her family. And the authorities won’t want to believe that Amalie’s own aunt and uncle kidnapped her. There’s no note, no evidence to prove Isa’s story other than those bruises on her neck, and she could have made those herself. It’s her word against his that he kidnapped Amalie.”
Rupert’s gaze shot to her in alarm. “What bruises on your neck?”
“Never mind,” Isa murmured.
At that, Dr. Worth inexplicably narrowed his gaze on her.
“Gerhart will invent some story to save his own skin and make sure Isa gets blamed for it,” Victor went on. “If pressed, he’ll drag out the theft from years ago and blame that on her, too.”
“And you, if he can manage it.” Isa glanced to the other men. “That’s how Gerhart works.” When she saw them exchange veiled glances, her heart sank. “I know you gentlemen have no reason to believe me anything but a schemer and a thief. I’m not sureIwould believe me. But—”
“Actually,” Dr. Worth interrupted, “I do believe you.” He gestured to the scarf around her neck. “A schemer would be making the most of those bruises you’re covering up, using them to whip us into a frenzy so she could get what she wanted. But a woman with a heart and a conscience wouldn’t want to distress her admirers—or her husband—any further.”
“What bruises?” Rupert cried. “Did your brother-in-lawhurtyou, Mrs. Cale?”
“See what I mean?” Dr. Worth said with a smile.
Tears stung Isa’s eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Whatever you can do to regain my daughter will be much appreciated. But I don’t see any way around giving Gerhart the diamonds. Believe me, I wish I did.”
Mr. Bonnaud rubbed his chin. “It’s a pity we can’t get him to steal them himself. It would be hard for him to deny being caught in the act of theft.”
“Thatwouldbe convenient,” Victor said, “because then every claim Gerhart made after that would be deemed untrustworthy. The preponderance of old evidence he might bring to bear against Isa would work against him instead.”
“Unfortunately, Gerhart is too much a coward to do his own stealing,” Isa said bitterly. “Even in Amsterdam, he sent my sister to the shop rather than going himself. He prefers to throw the blame for crimes on other people.”
“Exactly,” Victor said, but he sounded distracted as he wandered over to the fireplace.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he didn’t even take part in opening the strongbox beyond making the false keys,” Isa went on. “He always—”
