"I want to go with you."
"You'll stay here."
"You're blaming me for their being in danger. Well, maybe I am to blame, but all this hatred seemed wrong. I didn't know this would happen-"
"I know you didn't." He wearily looked at her. "I don't blame you. Maybe Bradford is right and it's just fate." His jaw clenched. "But I won't have you running about Paris in danger, too. You'll stay here and take care of Kapu and Morgana. Cassie wouldn't thank you for leaving her horses to the stable boys, would she?"
"No, I guess not." A frown wrinkled her forehead. "But I don't like being left behind. I'll be frightened for you."
"Good-then maybe you won't act so hastily again."
"You're not being kind."
"I don't feel kind." His stride lengthened as they approached the stable. "If I wasn't more frightened than you ever dreamed of being, I'd have tanned your hide until you couldn't sit down for a month."
"You're frightened?" She gave up trying to match his stride and called after him, "I've never known you to be frightened of anything, Jared."
"Then enjoy the experience. I certainly don't." He disappeared into the stable.
"I'm sorry, mademoiselle." David gave Cassie an entirely winning smile. "I regret I've not had the opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with your father. It's not surprising, since we did not know each other well."
"But you did know Raoul Cambre very well," Lani said. "And we have reason to believe Charles will want to find Monsieur Cambre."
"Impossible." David sighed. "Alas, Raoul and I drifted apart after your father left for Tahiti. Raoul was always a solitary man."
"Then you have no idea where he is?" Cassie asked.
"Not the slightest." His gaze shifted quickly to Lani, and he changed the subject. "You're quite lovely. Did Charles ever paint you?"
"No, Charles was interested only in painting landscapes."
"A great mistake. I've done one landscape in my entire career. An artist has a duty to himself and history to mirror life. I have all the great men of France begging me to paint them."
"How fortunate for you," Lani said without expression.
"Not fortune, genius." He added quickly, "Or so I'm told. Even Napoleon praises my-"
"If my father has not contacted you yet, he will do so soon," Cassie interrupted. "You'll advise us when that happens."
"Please," Lani interjected, changing the demand to a plea. "It's very important, monsieur."
"He will not come to me," he said peevishly. "I told you he would not. I'm a very busy man. Why must you all bother-" He broke off and forced a smile. "You must understand my impatience if you reside with my friend Charles. Artists pay heed to the demands of the soul, not of the world."
"Except when Napoleon beckons you back to the world," Cassie said dryly. She rose to her feet and moved toward the door. "We'll be waiting for word from you."
Lani followed Cassie to the door. "Thank you for your time, monsieur."
"It's very valuable time," he said pointedly. "I have no desire to waste it."
Lani gave him another dazzling smile. "We'll try not to trouble you."
He grunted and had turned away before she shut the door.
"I think from now on I'll do the talking," Lani told Cassie. "You were less than courteous."
"He was lying." Cassie strode toward the hired carriage. "I know it."
"You wouldn't have to be a seer," Lani said. "He does not lie well."
"I think Papa was here."
Lani nodded as she seated herself in the carriage. "Which means that David was lying either at Charles's request… or that of someone else."
Cassie absently motioned for the driver to go. "You mean Raoul Cambre."
"Possibly."
Fear iced through Cassie. "Dear God, I hope not." She stuck her head out the window and called to the coachman, "Pull around the corner and stop."
"What are you doing?" Lani asked.
"David may go to Papa to warn him we're inquiring after him." She didn't want to voice the other alternative. "We'll wait here and see if he does."
"And then follow him?"
Cassie hopped out of the carriage. "I'll go to the café across the street from David's residence and watch the front door. You stay here in the carriage. When he comes out, I'll join you."
She didn't wait for an answer but moved quickly toward the corner.
"I'd forgotten what abominable taste Guillaume has in drinking establishments," Bradford said, looking around the crowded waterfront tavern. "There's so much smoke one can't even see the ceiling."
"Or the man at the next table," Jared said. "Which is the point when you don't want your presence noted." His gaze searched the room. "Where the devil is he? His note said he'd be here every evening until I contacted him."
"Then he'll be here. Guillaume may be a trifle crude, but he's very reliable."
"Crude? You call me crude?" Jared turned to see Guillaume a few feet away. The potbellied Frenchman belched with deliberate loudness. "I'm not crude- I'm merely too honest to comply with your fancy English manners."
"Where have you been?" Jared asked impatiently.
Guillaume glowered at Bradford. "Finding out information from my crude associates."
"What information?"
Guillaume waited, staring hard at Bradford.
"My abject apologies," Bradford said with a sigh.
Guillaume shrugged. "It's only what one would expect of the English."
"One also expects them to pay through the nose for information," Jared said. "What news of Cambre?"
"He had another visit from David today. According to my man, Valbain, he appeared very annoyed."
"David was his only visitor?"
Guillaume nodded. "And he stayed only a few minutes before returning to his home. Then Cambre left and visited a small pension on the rue de Lyon."
"Why?"
"He inquired after a Mademoiselle Deville."
Jared went tense. "And?"
"She was not there, so he left."
Jared's breath expelled explosively. "Thank God."
Guillaume chuckled. "But he could have retraced his steps two blocks and found her. Valbain said two ladies followed Cambre from his home to the pension. They waited until he left before dismissing their carriage and going to their chambers."
"Christ," Bradford said.
"You know these ladies?" Guillaume asked.
"We know them," Jared said. "Did Cambre return to the pension later?"
"Not before I came to meet you." He glanced resentfully at Bradford and belched again. "Of course, I stopped to have a bit of bread and cheese first. I knew you wouldn't want me to starve for want of a paltry meal."
Jared barely heard anything but the first sentence. "How long ago?"
"Two hours, perhaps."
He pushed back his chair. "Take me there."
"Now?" Guillaume shrugged. "I thought you'd want to go to Cambre. I think there's little doubt the man is your old enemy. He matches your description, and the friendship with David is-"
"Later." He had to make sure Cassie and Lani were out of danger before he moved on Cambre. During the entire journey from Morland he had been imagining Cassie hurt, even dead, and he would not take any chances.
Guillaume gave him a curious look. "After all these years of searching for him? I'd not believe- Oh, well, it's not my business." He pushed back his chair and stood up. "Come along. The pension's only a ten-minute carriage ride from here."
Cassie was a mere ten minutes away, and Guillaume had kept them waiting for two hours? Rage suddenly flared through Jared, and he was tempted to bang the Frenchman's head against the wall.