Page 57 of When the Rogue Returns
Which meant they might know about Amalie already!
No—surely Victor wasn’t so accomplished at deception that he could have hidden that from her.
Why not? He’s hidden half his life from you.
And she’d hidden Amalie from him. But she’d had good reason. What possible reason couldhehave for hiding his connections from her?
Might his duke cousin have something to do with it? Lyons might wish to see Victor married respectably and thus have wanted Victor to find her and divorce her.
No, that made no sense—Victor didn’t need her presence to get a divorce in Amsterdam, as he’d pointed out to her.
So perhaps the duke wanted something else—to have the man’s thieving wife dealt with? These great men never liked scandal besmirching their families. Though there was no way of knowing for sure until she spoke to Victor.
“Of course, I realized at once what was up,” Rupert went on, anger edging into his voice.
She tensed. Rupert had figured out the truth about her and Victor all on his own? “And what is that?”
“Mother hired Manton’s Investigations to find out all about you, so she could separate us. And the agency sent Victor.”
Relief coursed through her. Rupert hadn’t guessed the truth. “Nonsense. If he’s cousin to a duke, he doesn’t need to work as an investigator.”
“Then why is he friends with Mother? Why has he been asking questions about you around town? If he’s my cousin, that makes sense, but if he’s not...”
She caught her breath. Rupert had a point. If this had just been Victor hunting her down, either on his own behalf or the duke’s, then why involve Lady Lochlaw? Could the baroness have hired Manton’s Investigations? And then they had notified Victor that they’d stumbled across his wife?
Her mind raced. That would certainly explain how Victor had found her. He’d said that “fate” had thrown them together. Perhaps he’d really meant that.
But then, why was he still hiding his reason for being here if he meant her no harm?
“What did Mr. Cale say when you confronted him with this?” Isa asked.
Rupert stared at her blankly. “I didn’t confront him. I discovered all of this after he left me.”
“What do you mean?” She could have sworn that Victor had gone off with Rupert precisely to prevent the baron from digging into his own affairs. “Are you saying that you parted as soon as you left the cobbler’s?”
“We didn’t go to the cobbler’s. I figured I’d hold on to the shoes in case... well... some other lady might want them.”
She was too worried about Victor to care if he meant Mary Grace. “So you parted as soon as you left my shop?”
“No, first we went to—” He scowled. “It doesn’t matter.”
“If Mr. Cale went with you, it most assuredly matters to me. You have to tell me, Rupert.”
“I can’t.” A flush had risen in his cheeks. “It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t need any more surprises, believe me.” She searched his face, then softened her voice. “There are things you don’t know about me, things that Mr. Cale is probably here to uncover. I can’t figure out how to deal with him if I don’t know what he knows.”
“He doesn’t know anything from our visit to the flower shop!” Rupert protested. “I was very careful to hide your address when I gave it to the florist.” He scowled again. “Oh, blast, I wanted it to be a surprise.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach. “You’re saying that you arranged to have flowers delivered to me.”
He hesitated, then nodded.
“Whose idea was that? Yours? Or Mr. Cale’s?”
“Mine, of course.” Rupert screwed up his face in thought. “Well, it was his idea to have them delivered.” When she paled, he said, “I know what you’re thinking, but I was too clever for him. I didn’t let him see where I was sending the flowers.”
“And he left you directly after that?”
