When the Rogue Returns Read Online Free PDF

hell.
    Only then had he looked back to see the little signs he’d missed. Yes, she’d been an innocent on their wedding night, but that had been the only truthful thing about her. And perhaps she’d lied about that, too, sprinkling pig’s blood on the sheets or something. He’d been so stupidly in love that he would have believed anything she told him.
    Not anymore. After her desertion—and his weeks of “interrogation”—his heart had grown hard as stone. He’d taught himself to be cold and thorough and unmoved by feminine wiles. So this time he would be prepared. He would turn the tables on her .
    Perhaps then he could purge her from his mind once and for all.
    ♦  ♦  ♦
    A FEW DAYS later, Victor arrived in Edinburgh. He hadn’t been surprised to learn that Max owned a house here, but he’d been touched when Max offered to let him stay in it as long as necessary.
    He’d almost refused the offer, in case his quarry found out his connection, but it was hard to say no tothe cousin he was just getting to know, and even harder to say no to the man’s meddling wife.
    Fortunately, the house wasn’t a large, imposing palace in the center of town, but a villa outside the city proper. He should be able to stay there relatively anonymously, especially after he made it clear to the servants that his presence in Edinburgh needed to be discreet.
    As soon as he got himself situated, he headed off to Charlotte Square to meet his new client, driving a phaeton from his cousin’s stables. But Lady Lochlaw proved to be not at all what Victor had expected, and not because of her relatively young age, either. Though the term dowager baroness might have led some to expect a doddering old lady, he’d known better. She was newly widowed, barely out of her mourning period, and with a twenty-two-year-old son; it made sense that she be in her forties.
    He had , however, expected a woman very aware of her consequence and wealth. It was why she was hiring him to investigate her son’s “friend,” after all. And since describing another female as a “siren” generally showed a woman to be secretly envious, he’d also assumed she was unattractive.
    Nothing could have been further from the truth. The moment he was shown into the drawing room of her fashionable town house, he was taken aback to find Lady Lochlaw tall and handsome, with honeyed curls, crystal-blue eyes, and a smile that would make any man feel at ease. Or the opposite, if the man happened not to be interested in what she was selling.
    Which was why, when she ran her gaze down him familiarly while he was being announced, he had to grit his teeth. “My lady,” he said with a little bow.
    “Please, Mr. Cale, do not stand on ceremony with me,” she purred as she approached to take him by the arm and guide him to a settee. “This isn’t stuffy old London, you know.”
    When she sat down and patted the place next to her, he picked a spot at the other end of the settee and said firmly, “Ah, but you are still my employer, my lady. I wouldn’t dare to presume.”
    It was a phrase he’d picked up at those London parties, though he’d never had to use it before.
    “How very decent of you.” She cast him a dazzling smile. “Still, if I’d had any idea that dear Mr. Manton would send me such a braw fellow, as we Scots say, I would have insisted that you stay here at the town house.” With a fluttering of her lashes, she leaned forward to run a finger down his arm. “His letter of introduction said you fought at Waterloo. You must have been quite a sight on the battlefield.”
    Trying not to stiffen visibly, Victor managed a bland smile. “Since I was only seventeen at the time and wet behind the ears, I imagine I was.” He made his tone crisp and professional. “Now, perhaps we should discuss the situation regarding your son.”
    She stared at him, then sat back with an exaggerated sigh. “I only mentioned the war because my husband and I toured Waterloo