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hatpins she’d made for Amalie, who was to start her new school term on Monday. Sending the girl away tore out part of Isa’s soul every time, but Edinburgh had no schools for girls, and she was determined to see Amalie well educated. Now she rejoiced that her daughter would soon be back in Carlisle, safe from her blackguard of a father.
    Victor could never have Amalie!
    Stay calm. He doesn’t know about her, and nobody else may even know about those imitation diamonds. They could still be sitting undetected in the palace in Amsterdam. And if Lady Lochlaw knew who you really were, she would have done this with Rupert present.
    She relaxed. His mother had some wild notion that Isa was after her son’s fortune. So the fact that the baroness hadn’t done this in front of Rupert meant she didn’t know about Isa’s past at all.
    “Mrs. Franke?” Lady Lochlaw asked, a note of bewilderment in her voice. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m sorry, my lady,” she said swiftly. “I’m just surprised. Your son never mentioned that he had a cousin coming to visit.”
    “It was rather sudden,” Lady Lochlaw said smoothly. “And Mr. Cale is a very distant cousin; I’m not sure Rupert even knows him.”
    “Well,” Isa choked out, “any cousin of yours is a welcome addition to our society. I’m delighted to meet you, Mr. Cale.”
    Would he reveal their past connection? Her blood beat a fierce tattoo in her veins.
    A second passed, then two. Then Victor gave an abbreviated bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs. . . . Franke, is it?”
    He was taunting her, but she didn’t find that nearly as unsettling as hearing his voice for the first time in ten years. Especially since he was speaking English flawlessly, with no trace of an accent. As if he were English.
    Perhaps he really was Lady Lochlaw’s cousin.Wouldn’t that be a cruel twist of fate? She let out a breath. “Yes, Sofie Franke.”
    “My mother’s maiden name was Franke,” he said in a sharp tone.
    That was why she’d chosen the name in the first place—so he might find her through it. But she’d never guessed it would take him nearly ten years to do so. Or that she would no longer wish to have him find her. Or that when he did, he would look at her with such anger.
    What did he have to be angry about? Clearly he’d engineered this . . . this farce of a meeting. He had come here for some purpose, but what could it possibly be?
    A horrible thought occurred to her. What if he’d decided to hunt her down and get her to make more imitation jewels? She wouldn’t put it past him. The sale of those diamond earrings wouldn’t have plumped up his pockets forever, especially if he’d lived extravagantly. Which he obviously had, judging from his fine attire.
    Outrage seared her. She had to get him alone, figure out what he was up to. And if another thieving scheme was his purpose, she would threaten to expose him—even if it meant exposing her own part in the previous theft.
    She swallowed. Surely it wouldn’t come to that. It couldn’t. She had Amalie to think of.
    A servant appeared in the doorway carrying a tray, and Lady Lochlaw smiled. “Ah, there’s our tea. Come, sit. We can all get better acquainted.”
    The last thing Isa wanted was to make small talk with her rogue of a husband, but she had no choice.Her ladyship would be watching for unusual behavior.
    Besides, for Rupert’s sake, she should be polite. The poor man was her friend, and he had enough conflicts with his mother as it was. Lady Lochlaw’s flagrant flirtations perplexed him, and her dislike of his focus on scholarly interests wounded him. The woman simply refused to accept that he would never be the dashing man about town that she kept pushing him to be.
    Isa took a seat and Victor followed suit. As her ladyship poured the tea, Isa seized the opportunity to look Victor over.
    He kept his hair shorter these days, and his clothes were the height of fashion. Gone was the