When the Rogue Returns (34 page)

“What are you going to do to me?” she demanded.

Tristan dismounted. “I still say shooting her is the best course,” he drawled as he stalked her.

“Shut up,” Dom growled. “You’re only making it worse.”

“How can I make it worse? Now we have a witness we don’t need.”

Lady Zoe was shaking her head. “I won’t tell anyone, I swear. I only wanted to see the great Duke’s Men in action.” Her voice hardened. “I didn’t know you were all conspiring with this . . . this . . .”

“Tristan Bonnaud, at your service,” he said with a mock bow. “And I’m only occasionally a thief.”

Her eyes went wide. “
You’re
the famous Mr. Bonnaud?”

Tristan broke into a grin. “You’ve heard of me. How flattering.”

She snorted. “You’re ruder than I imagined.” She planted her hands on her hips. “And fatter.”

His grin vanished. “I’m in disguise.” He swept her with a rakish glance. “But I’d be happy to show you my true form later, after this is done and we—”

“Stop flirting, Tristan,” Victor snapped. “We don’t have time for this.” He approached the young woman warily. “Lady Zoe, we’re in the midst of a very secret, very important operation. There was no theft. We’re only making it
appear
that there was a theft in order to save my daughter.”

“Your daughter!” She narrowed her gaze on him. “Mrs. Cale said she was at school.”

“She was. Until someone kidnapped her from there. I don’t have time to explain it all right now. Just trust me when I say that his lordship knows all, and he’s part of it.” He bore down on her swiftly. “But it is absolutely essential that you not speak of this to anyone.”

A calculating expression crossed her face. “I see.”

“I mean it. When events unfold, you’ll understand why, but for now, I really need you to stay out of this and keep our secret. Do you think you could do that for me? The lives and futures of my wife and my little girl are at stake.”

She glanced from him to Dom and Tristan. “I suppose I could keep quiet.” Then she lifted her chin. “But I will expect something in exchange.”

That caught Victor by surprise.

“How much do you want for your silence?” Dom asked in a hard voice.

“Not money!” She eyed them all warily. “A favor.”

Victor blinked. “What kind of favor?”

“You’ll know when I come to claim it.”

As Dom muttered an oath under his breath, Tristan snorted. “I still say we should just shoot her and be done—”

“Shut up, Tristan!” Victor and Dom said in unison.

Then Victor thrust his hand out to Lady Zoe. “A favor. It’s a deal. You have my word.”

With a furtive glance at Tristan, she shook his hand.

“We need to go,” Dom told Victor. He glanced at Lady Zoe. “We have to be somewhere shortly, my lady. Can you get back to the house on your own?”

“She got here on her own, didn’t she?” Tristan said dryly.

Lady Zoe shot him a foul glance. “I’ll be fine.” She stalked off in the direction of where her horse was probably wandering, then paused at the edge of the clearing
to look back at them. “Don’t forget. The Duke’s Men owe me a favor.”

“Yes, my lady, we know,” Victor said.

As she disappeared into the woods, Dom sighed. “Something tells me that we are going to regret that bargain.”

“I won’t,” Victor said. “I’ll pay it in blood if I have to.” He headed for his horse. “Come on. We don’t have much time before Lochlaw is to meet us near Strathridge Road. And five o’clock will be here sooner than we think.”

A
T A QUARTER
to five, Isa slipped out by the garden door, where Mary Grace was waiting for her with a horse she’d requested for herself from the stables. Everyone had been told that Isa was frantic over her husband’s disappearance in pursuit of the thief, and had gone to her rooms to watch for him out of her window. If anyone tried to see her, Dr. Worth was to hold them at bay by saying she had fallen sick from worry and needed to be left alone, that he was tending her and she needed rest.

“Good luck,” Mary Grace whispered as she handed over the reins. “I’ll be waiting here for your return.” She blushed. “And his lordship’s.”

Rupert had told his guests that he was joining the search for the thief. Then he’d ridden off into the woods to meet with Victor and the others on the road.

Now she must do her part. Isa reached Strathridge Road in a few minutes, then rode down it with her pulse pounding madly. Gerhart was here somewhere.
She could feel him watching her, feel his eyes on her.

Her only consolation was that he had Amalie with him. That was all that mattered.

She listened for sounds of the men in the woods but heard nothing, which reassured her. If she couldn’t hear them, then Gerhart couldn’t, either.

As she rode along, she started to worry. How far down the road had the men positioned themselves? What if Gerhart made her go miles and miles? It would be dusk soon. Surely he didn’t mean to do all of this in the dark.

Then she heard the clopping of horse’s hooves, and she tensed. Before she could turn to look, a voice ordered in Dutch, “Keep your eyes ahead, Isa.”

Gerhart.

Her heart felt as if it would beat right out of her chest. She scanned the woods lining the road ahead of her, wondering where Victor and the others might be. Had they come this far? Were they watching her now? Or had she outstripped them?

Even if they were nearby, they’d agreed not to approach Gerhart as long as he had Amalie under his control, since it would be too easy for him to ride off with her before he could be caught. Too easy for him to hurt her.

Her hands tightened on the reins. Pray God he wasn’t
that
much a villain.

“Listen carefully,” Gerhart went on in a low voice. “I want you to hand the diamonds back to me.”

She frowned. “Not until I see Amalie.”

“You’ll see her soon enough,” he growled, “but only if I get the damned diamonds now! Hand them over, or I swear I’ll leave you here on the road, and you’ll never see her again!”

Did he think her a complete fool? Her temper rising, she turned in the saddle to see Gerhart riding just behind her. But there was no sign of Amalie.

Her blood ran cold. “Where’s my daughter?”

Gerhart scowled at her. “I know your husband has to be around here somewhere,” he clipped out as he spurred his horse to come up beside her. “I’m not fool enough to bring her with me.”

“You said for me not to tell him, so I didn’t,” she lied. “I kept my side of the bargain. Now keep yours, curse you!”

His gaze narrowed on her. “Not until you give me the diamonds. If you do it now, I’ll go fetch her and bring her back to you. If you don’t, I’ll assume you don’t have them and we’ll be done. And little Amalie will be ours to raise.”

Victor’s voice sounded in her ears:
Just remember, don’t give the diamonds to Gerhart until you have her in your hands. I don’t trust him.

Neither did she.

“That wasn’t our agreement,” she said, slowing her horse. “I’m not giving you
anything
until I see my daughter.”

“You try my patience, Isa.”

“And you try mine!” she spat. “How can I even be
sure you
have
her? You didn’t give me enough time to find out from the school if she was gone. It’s possible you and Jacoba got into the school to talk with her by telling them you were her relations. You could have got the hatpin from her then. For all I know, she’s
still
at school, and this is just another way you and my sister are trying to get money out of me!”

His face went cold. “Are you willing to risk it?” A snide look crossed his face. “Can you imagine what your husband will say when he learns that you bartered your daughter’s future for a handful of diamonds?”

That twisted the knife in her chest. But she dared not take the chance that he would keep the diamonds and Amalie, too. That necklace was the only thing she could rely on to get her what she wanted.

And she could rely on Victor. He was here somewhere; she knew it in her bones. He would never let Gerhart get away with this.

“Either you give me Amalie,” she said firmly, “or I ride off with the diamonds. The choice is yours.”

He blinked, clearly shocked that she was standing up to him. Then his face clouded over. “Fine,” he snapped. “Let your daughter’s future be on your head.”

He spurred his horse into a gallop and rode past her down the road. For half a second, she sat frozen. Did he really mean to end this now?

Perhaps she
should
agree to his terms. Wouldn’t it be better to take the chance that he would keep his word,
rather than risk the possibility of Amalie disappearing forever and Victor and his men never being able to find her?

Separately, we remember our weaknesses and our self-doubts and we falter . . . Gerhart said those things to make you doubt yourself . . . We have to hold firm to what we know, what we believe: that together we can save our daughter.

Believe in yourself.

She did. And her every instinct cried that Gerhart was bluffing—that if she gave up the diamonds now, she would never see her daughter again.

Turning her horse, she rode back in the opposite direction. Her heart was hammering in her chest; her blood ran like sludge through her veins.
Oh God oh God oh God,
she prayed
, please don’t let this be the end. Please let me be right about Gerhart.

After what seemed like an eternity, she heard hoofbeats behind her and Gerhart rode up alongside her. She’d won this round!

Gerhart glowered at her. “Follow me,” he ordered. “I’ll bring you to her. But if you don’t have those diamonds on you, I’ll make you both regret it.”

She had no doubt of that.

Whirling the horse back around, he set off at a gallop. She followed, fear gripping her chest. The men had their horses with them in the woods, but they couldn’t follow through the dense growth on horseback, and they dared not follow on the road unless they kept far enough behind for Gerhart not to see them. Which
meant they’d have to stay far enough behind not to see
her.

So how would they find her, especially if he left the road?

She squared her shoulders. She would simply have to lead them to her.

♦  ♦  ♦

V
ICTOR WAS FIT
to be tied. Isa had ridden past his spot what seemed like hours ago, though it had probably been a few minutes. She’d been alone. And just seeing her perched on the horse, back straight and face bloodless, roused his every protective instinct.

Where the devil was that bastard Gerhart? Would he show? Or had he figured out that they were up to something?

The longer he stood there, the more terror gripped him. For the first time, he understood what Max’s father must have felt when his son had disappeared. How fitting that Victor should suffer the same. Though it hardly seemed fair that he—or his innocent daughter—should be punished for his father’s sins.

He wouldn’t let that happen, damn it! He would hunt Gerhart to the ends of the earth first.

Several more minutes ticked past. Then he heard a vaguely birdlike cry. He thanked God for his training as a soldier; otherwise, he wouldn’t have recognized Lochlaw’s birdcall as the same signal they’d agreed
upon. He could only pray that Gerhart hadn’t noticed it.

Moving as swiftly through the woods as he could with his horse, he came upon Lochlaw pacing in his designated spot. “Thank God!” the young man cried when Victor reached him. “Your wife rode past with some fellow just a short while ago. He was in front of her, and she was following him.” He cast Victor an anxious look. “Neither of them had Amalie.”

Victor’s heart stopped. “Damn that bastard! I knew we couldn’t trust him.” Creeping up to the road, he gazed down it, but there was no sign of anyone.

Within moments, Tristan and Dom, who’d also heard the cry, were at his side. Lochlaw began telling them what he’d seen as Victor brought his horse onto the road.

When Victor mounted, Dom grabbed his reins. “You don’t want to be seen by him.”

“I know,” Victor said. “But I can’t let him get too far ahead of us either, or we’ll never find him. He has my wife and child, damn it!”

“You don’t know that for certain,” Tristan said quietly as he brought his own horse up onto the road. “Lochlaw saw no sign of a girl. Perhaps this really
was
all about the diamonds. Perhaps Amalie is still in school, and your wife is just joining her family with a fortune in stolen jewels.”

Victor cast him a hard stare. “I thought you believed her.”

Tristan’s expression was pitying. “Those diamonds are worth at least seventeen thousand pounds. You said that yourself.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Victor said. “She’s not stealing them. That much I know.” He snatched his reins from Dom. “So you two can help me, or you can sit here. But I’m going after my family.”

Lochlaw thrust out his chin and mounted his own horse. “So am I.”

“Either way,” Dom pointed out to Tristan, “we have to retrieve the jewels, old man.”

Leaving them to climb onto their mounts, Victor spurred his horse forward, but he’d only gone a few feet when he spotted something white fluttering in the growth beside the road. “Hold up,” he said. Halting his horse, he climbed down to find Isa’s fichu caught on a thistle.