channel his grief and frustration at the loss of his beloved wife into something positive. It had given him something to live for, just as planning the heists had sustained Luc during his long convalescence.
Emmy settled the tin box on her knees and lifted the lid. The jewels gleamed softly within.
“We did it,” she whispered. “We got them back.” Tears tightened her throat as she tilted the box toward the unresponsive stones. “I wish you could both have been here to see it, but I know you’d be so proud of us. We miss you so much.”
A tear spilled over and trailed down her cheek. She brushed it away. “You know how you always said you wanted us to be happy? Well, I’m not. I thought I would be, once we had the jewels, but to tell you the truth, I’m miserable.”
She glared down at the fortune in her lap, then over at her father’s headstone. “This was your dream, not mine. It was a good dream,” she added hastily. “A noble dream. I don’t blame you for pursuing it. But it wasn’t mine.”
She closed the lid of the box.
“Do you know what my dream was? It was to meet someone who loved me right down to my toes, the way you loved Maman. And do you know the worst thing? I found him. He’s worth more than any treasure I could steal, but I found him too late.”
Emmy wiped the corner of her eye on her sleeve.
Too late.
The French had a word: dépaysement. It described the feeling of not being in your home country. It was similar to homesickness, except with the added disorientation of being strange and foreign, like a fish out of water. That was how she felt now, without Harland. He was her country. The place she most wanted to be. She wanted him with a fierce, soul-deep yearning.
What on earth was she going to do now?
With a cry of anguish, she pushed the box aside and buried her face on her bent knees. Why had she even taken the jewels from the coach? She hadn’t been thinking. It had been a reflex action—steal the gems, escape. It was what she always did.
But to what end? Even with Danton in custody and implicated in the Italian’s death, she couldn’t avoid being punished for the rest of the Nightjar’s crimes. Having the jewels was of no use to her. Alex would simply persecute her family until she returned them. She should have just left them next to Danton and accepted her fate. Now, she’d ruined everything.
The click of the gate and quiet footsteps on the path made her lift her head in panic. But instead of Alex coming to arrest her, it was Camille walking between the rows of neatly tended stones. She was wearing a straw hat with a blue silk ribbon and carrying another equally fetching bonnet in her hands. She smiled fondly when she reached Emmy.
“I thought I’d find you here, darling. I’m glad to see you safe and sound.”
“Have you seen Luc? Harland?”
Camille nodded. “Both of them. Lord Melton escorted your brother home last night. Luc told me what happened with Danton, and Lord Melton seemed under the impression that you might have preceded them to the house. He was most put out when I disabused him of that idea.” She sent Emmy a dry look of understanding. “I assume you followed our contingency plan and went to Sally’s actress friend instead?”
Emmy nodded. “Yes. Are you sure you weren’t followed? I can’t believe Harland didn’t set a watch on the house.”
Camille’s gray eyes twinkled with mischief. “Oh, I’m sure he did. A scruffy-looking lad was lounging around on the corner when I left. The poor thing must have been there all night. But I took a very circuitous route, changed carriages twice on the way here, and swapped hats too, just for good measure.” She flapped the bonnet she held in her hand. “I lost him somewhere around Piccadilly. I must say, Lord Melton does seem rather keen to speak with you. I assume it’s because of that?” She tilted her head toward the box on the grass.
Emmy flipped open the lid to expose the contents, and Camille sighed in rapture.
“Ahh! The Hortensia! And Marie Antoinette’s pearls. How lovely to see them all together again, just as your father wanted. But they have been the cause of much heartache, n’est-ce pas?”
“What are we going to do with them? I don’t even know why