“If she’d been a relation of mine, she would never have been accepted. But I needed her to go to that academy because it was a great school and close enough for me to keep an eye on her while I was on assignments.” She shrugged. “That meant I had to forge her application under the name of Sasha Lawrence and create an appropriate pedigree and background for both of us before the administration would take my money.” She grimaced. “I like to think we’re sisters under the skin. But sometimes I wasn’t able to decide which one of us was the kid sister and who was taking care of whom. It doesn’t seem to matter. We’re both orphans, street kids, and survivors. Once we became used to each other, we were just the family neither one of us had ever had. When I found her at that circus in Naples, we were very wary of each other. She worked with the horses; the first time I saw her, she was only ten years old and standing on the back of a white Arabian stallion dressed in a frilly blue tutu. She was wonderful. I went back every day for weeks to let her get used to me.” She paused. “And she did get used to me. We were still wary of each other. Yet there was also a kind of…recognition.”

“I do believe you’re glowing,” he said softly, his gaze on her face. “Careful, you’re letting your guard down. I’m sure that’s dangerous for you.”

“If I have to tell you about her, I can’t lie about how I feel. And it’s not dangerous, because you can’t touch that part of me.”

“So you ran across a kindred soul, adopted her, and sent her to school. And now you’re blaming yourself for putting her in harm’s way?”

“It wasn’t exactly that uncomplicated. And you have to realize that she was more a kindred soul to Margaret than to me. It was Margaret who sent me to that circus tent in Naples. That’s how I came to find Sasha.” She lifted her cup to her lips. “You wanted to know the entire story? Listen to it. Lord knows I’d rather lie, but I promised I wouldn’t. So I’ll be as brief as I can, and hope I have a remote chance of convincing you. Though I probably don’t have a chance in hell.”

“I’m listening.”