Page 36 of When the Rogue Returns
Anger sparked in her eyes. “I would never have—”
“You were upset when I left you at Jacoba’s that night, if you’ll recall.” He stared down at her. “You were worried about my not having a position.”
She jumped to her feet. “I was worried about trying to get you out of there before you told Jacoba that the jewels were going to the palace the next day!”
That threw him off guard. “Why?”
“Because I knew what they were planning, and I was trying to prevent it.”
Now he reallywasall at sea. “By insulting me?”
“No!” She muttered a Dutch oath. “Of course not. I had a great deal on my mind. They’d been pressing me to switch the imitations for the real ones, and I’d been stalling. I didn’t want to do it.” Her gaze swept him and softened. “I was so happy with you. I wanted no part of stealing any jewels. But they just kept badgering me and badgering me—”
“So you gave in.”
“Verdomme,no! I played sick. I knew it was the last day for the diamonds to be in the shop, but I was fairly sure Gerhart and Jacoba didn’t know. They must have found out somehow. My sister said that you told her, but most of what she said was lies, so—”
“I did tell her,” he said ruefully. “We were in the hall, and I was concerned about you. I assured her that she wouldn’t have to worry about taking care of you beyond that night, because the jewels were leaving the shop, and the jeweler had already said that I could have a night off after the royal commission was done.”
Isa let out a long breath. “Oh, Lord, and I was trying so hard to keep it from them. I thought if I could just put them off until the next morning, it would all be over and they couldn’t do anything about it.” Her voice grew taut. “I never dreamed they would take matters into their own hands.”
He stared her down. “You’re saying you had nothing to do with it. That you didn’t help them get me out of the way so that the diamonds could be stolen.”
“No!” She wrapped her arms about her waist. “I was asleep while all that was happening.”
Something horrible occurred to Victor. “So you were still at their house when I went to our lodgings to find that note. You never left.”
She shook her head. “I slept until long after your shift ended.”
“But after I went home, I went to their house next, praying that you might be there. I pounded on the door. No one answered.”
“I never heard you. Jacoba had given me something for my supposed sore throat,” Isa said, her expression wrought with betrayal. “It must have had laudanum in it.”
A dark hum began in his ears. “They planned it,” he bit out. “They planned the theft, they planned to separate us.”
Her face went ashen.
“They had to have guessed you wouldn’t switch out the parure.” He went up to her as she shook her head in denial. “Come now, Isa, theymusthave planned it. How else did the forged note get into our apartment?”
“Our apartment was hardly secure. And if they’d asked the landlord, he would probably have—”
“They didn’t—I questioned him a number of times. But let’s say they got in through the window or something, and planted the note. That still doesn’t explain how they breached the strongbox at the shop. Jacoba must have had a copy of the key, which meant they got hold of my keys somehow before that night.” The hum in his ears rose to a roar. “Unlessyougave them my keys.”
“Blast you, no! I told you, I wanted no part of it!”
“Then why did you make the imitation parure?”
She blinked. Then she seemed to collapse into herself. Pressing her fingers to her eyes, she turned to wander the room. “It didn’t start out as a scheme to steal anything, I swear. Jacoba had read about how popular fine paste gems were becoming, how people liked to own jewels that looked identical to those of their betters for a fraction of the cost. So when the jeweler gained the commission to create the royal jewels for the prince’s new bride, Jacoba figured that if I could copy part of them, we could sell the copies for very good money.”
“I didn’t even know you had that particular talent,” he bit out.
“Yes, I realize that,” she said with an edge to her voice. “You always thought me a quiet little mou—”
“Don’t say it,” he snapped. “If I’d had any idea that you hated me calling youMausi,I never would have.” He stepped toward her, fighting the urge to touch her. “And don’t put words in my mouth about what I thought of you, either. I was in love with you then, too.”
The words hung between them, making him regret he’d said them. Except that they were true, and she needed to hear that he had neverusedher. Not the way she’d implied.
“Meanwhile,” he went on, his tone sharpening, “your sister and brother-in-law were developing a plan to steal diamonds, and you were designing fake royal jewelry, and apparently you saw no reason whatsoever to let me in on the secret. Your own husband. Whom you’d promised to love and obey.”
