forget everything she had been taught before her abduction, all the graces, mannerisms and expectations of her station?
She had pride enough, true, but it wasn’t the sort the Reniers displayed. There was no arrogance, no pompous expectation of fealty from lesser beings, human or loup-garou.
How could she have lost so much? Where could she have been all this time?
She doesn’t remember. If she had been alone on the streets for any length of time, she would have had to fight for survival. It could have changed her beyond all recognition.
And yet …
“She was only a cousin, of course, not one of the central line,” Yuri said, “but she was regarded as a daughter by Xavier Renier.”
“What of her real parents?”
“I presume they were dead, though nothing was ever said of them. Regardless of her relationship to the New Orleans clan, they would have spared no expense in searching for her.” Yuri paced from one end of the hall to the other, his breathing sharp with excitement. “You spoke of finding the girl’s family and claiming a reward. This could not be more perfect! Of course we must make careful preparations. We will—”
“What if you’re wrong?” Cort interrupted.
Yuri stopped as if he had walked into a wall. “I cannot be. I would know if she—”
“Memories can deceive.”
A calculating look replaced the exultation on Yuri’s face. “Not only my memories. The Reniers remember her as she was. They will not expect to see what she is now—a wild, unschooled guttersnipe fought over by gamesters. You and I, however … we can make her into what they do expect.”
Cort rose and gathered up the boxes. He understood Yuri completely. The Russian recognized that he might be wrong, that the girl might only be a fluke of nature, a perfect duplicate no more real than the reflection of a face in a pond.
But it didn’t really matter. Yuri’s plan could work. The Reniers could be persuaded to accept her if they wanted her badly enough. So many, human and werewolf alike, lived in a world of dreams, blind to what they didn’t wish to see.
Just as he had lived, once upon a time.
“You must see that it’s worth the gamble,” Yuri said. “Their gratitude would be immeasurable if they were convinced of her identity. She—”
“You forget one thing, Yuri,” Cort said. “She may refuse. If she regains her memory …”
“Her memory will prove us right. You will see.” Yuri smiled, sly as a fox. “And what a coup for you. They may not even recognize you as Beau Renier, at least not at first. And when they do.” He rubbed his hands together. “The swamp wolf will have the pleasure of restoring a child of the noble Reniers to those who spurned him.”
After all their years together, Yuri knew exactly where Cort was most vulnerable to persuasion. Cort hadn’t forgotten a single humiliation, a single curse, a single blow he had suffered at the hands of the New Orleans Reniers. He’d been no more than a temporary amusement for a bored girl in search of adventure, briefly titillated by the prospect of rebellion against her autocratic father.
Because of her—because of all of them—he had transformed himself into the very image of the gentleman Madeleine might have accepted. When he made his fortune and could look her father and brothers in the eye, equal in every way, then he would go back and show Madeleine what she had cast aside.
His fortunes had proven more fickle than he had anticipated, and he had almost given up on the idea of returning. Now he had the opportunity that had eluded him.
And what if she has another family searching for her? He would be robbing her of a life she might have forgotten, but it would still exist, waiting for her return.
There was no earthly reason why he couldn’t make other inquiries, as he’d promised the girl. Such an investigation might take weeks, if not longer. But he could set it in motion immediately, and in the meantime make whatever preparations were necessary to groom her for her role as Lucienne Renier.
Oh, she might resist at first. She certainly had a mind of her own. But more than once he’d seen yearning and sorrow in her eyes, especially when he’d spoken of other loups-garous in San Francisco or speculated about her family. She wanted to belong to someone.
Perhaps he could win that sense of belonging for her as he had never been able to do for himself. And profit in the winning.
“It is a reasonable plan,” he said to Yuri. “But you must contain your eagerness, mon ami. She is like a wild animal who must be coaxed into the cage little by little. We must begin by discovering what she does know. With rest, safety and careful cultivation, whatever she was before may emerge on its own.”
“We can’t keep such a girl hidden long,” Yuri said, “even if Cochrane makes no attempt to steal her back.”
“Then we’ll keep her confined until such time as we can find a safer place to put her.”
Yuri fingered his short beard. “A safer place,” he murmured. “It should be outside the city. Leave it to me.” He nodded to himself. “She will need a complete transformation, and you and I cannot do it alone. I have thought of someone who would be ideal to teach her subjects on which you and I are not qualified to speak.”
“Is that not somewhat premature?” Cort asked.
“Not if we wish to move quickly.”
“Who is this person?”
“An old acquaintance from New Orleans, from a time before you and I met. She is well educated, has excellent taste and is familiar with New Orleans Society.”
“How familiar?”
“She is not loup-garou, but she has had frequent dealings with the leading families in the city. She knows your kind exist.”
“And you trust her?”
“As much as I have ever trusted anyone.”
“How do you expect to pay her? Until I’ve won a few more games, we’ll have barely enough funds to cover the girl’s basic necessities.”
“Babette has fallen on hard times. She is widowed and currently resides in Denver in a state of near poverty. I am certain she will settle for a modest salary and a cut of the reward.”
“How much do you suggest we tell her?” Cort asked.
“She can’t do her job unless she knows as much as possible,” Yuri replied.
“Say nothing of my previous association with Lucienne’s family.”
“Naturally.”
“How long will it take to get Babette here?” he asked.
“I can telegraph her immediately. She could be here in a few days.”
“Then do it.”
“At once.” Yuri examined Cort from under half-closed lids. “You’ll have plenty of time alone with the girl while I’m gone. Are you certain you have no. personal interest in her?”
“My tastes hardly run in that direction,” Cort said with a cynical lift of his brow. “And even if they did, I would not act on them. The girl claims that no one touched her. She may or may not be a virgin, but she must be guarded from anyone’s amorous intentions from now on.”
With a curt nod, Yuri removed a silver case from inside his coat, tapped out a cigarette and left the boardinghouse. Cort felt the uncomfortable weight of the half-truths he’d told Yuri, pretending he’d never felt any physical attraction to the girl.
But the fact that he had felt such attraction in the past hardly meant he couldn’t ignore it in the future. He shifted the packages, returned