Page 51 of When the Rogue Returns
A rueful smile crossed her face. “Do you really think me that vain?”
“No. Just that lonely.” He understood loneliness very well. It was one reason he’d been willing to go along with Tristan when the man had suggested coming to England to look for Victor’s family.
She released a long breath. “Lonely. Yes. I enjoyed talking to someone close to my age who regards me well.” She gazed steadily at him. “But for me, Rupert has always been just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. No matterwhatMr. Gordon says about it.”
“I believe you.” The rational part of him did, anyway. The irrational part of him still growled every time the young baron began sniffing around her. “I believe that you consider him only a friend.”
“Good.” Then her expression turned mischievous. “So you thought I planned to steal the Lochlaw diamonds at the house party, did you?”
Beginning to wish he’d never brought it up, he muttered, “I told you, that was before I realized—”
“That I wasnota master criminal?”
“I never said you were a master criminal.”
“No, indeed,” she said, eyes gleaming. “You merely said you thought me capable of making false keys and breaking into strongboxes and creeping intoLadyLochlaw’sbedchamber in the dark of night to unearth her diamonds.”
It sounded ludicrous when she put it like that. “You have to admit I had good reason to be suspicious.”
She conceded the point with a smile. “I suppose. Though you’ve developed quite the wild imagination in the years since I knew you. You see thievery everywhere you look.” Her voice turned mockingly dramatic. “And you seem to seemeas some sly enchantress setting out to seduce young Rupert so I can get close to the Lochlaw diamonds.”
“Don’t even use the wordseduceandRupertin the same sentence,” he countered, only half joking. Especially with her looking so fetching in that flouncy green-striped thing she was wearing, which nipped in at her slender waist and showed her new, more ample bosom to good effect.
She chuckled. “Don’t be such a jealous fool. If I tried to seduce Rupert, he’d probably scream and run the other way.”
“I doubt that. He wants to marry you. He told me so himself.”
That seemed to startle her. “Really?” Her brow knit in a frown. “But he’s never said... He never even hinted...”
“He says he’s not good with women. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want one. That he doesn’t wantyou.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “His mother would never allow it.”
“How well I know.” When her gaze shot to him, he added quickly, “In any case, you should discourage him. This may seem a tad old-fashioned to you, but I take umbrage at having other men court my wife.”
Though laughter glinted in her eyes, she nodded. “I’ll have a talk with him.”
“Soon, Isa,” Victor said firmly. “Otherwise,I’lltalk to him, and he might end up rather the worse for wear.”
She snorted. “You know perfectly well you wouldn’t harm a hair on that boy’s head. You like him. Admit it.”
He did like him, damn it. That’s what made the whole thing more difficult.
“Besides,” she said with a calculating glance, “you wouldn’t harm your own cousin, would you?”
He groaned. Perhaps itwastime he told her the truth about how he’d come to be here.
He was saved from having to answer when the door between the shop and the workshop opened and Gordon came in. “You have another visitor, Mrs. Franke,” he said in jovial tones. “His lordship is here.”
“Speak of the devil,” Victor ground out, ignoring Isa’s exasperated look.
Lochlaw entered behind Gordon, then stopped short when he spotted Victor. “Cousin! What the blazes are you doing here?”
Victor forced a smile. “After witnessing the beauty of Mrs. Franke’s imitation jewels at the theater, I thought I’d come see if I could get her to share her secrets. I’ve never seen such impressive paste jewels.”
His explanation seemed to satisfy Lochlaw. “I know—aren’t they magnificent?” As Gordon returned to the shop, Lochlaw headed their way. “But no matter how much you watch her, you’ll never catch the hang of it. Mrs. Franke is an artist.”
“So I gather,” Victor said blandly. He glanced to where Lochlaw held a box wrapped up with pretty pink paper and a purple ribbon. “And so, apparently, are you.”
