The Outlaw Prince's Captive - Holly Rayner Page 0,26

to cook for me,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting anything.”

He laughed. “I know that,” he said. “You came here to arrest me. I don’t feel inclined to do you any special kindnesses.”

“Then why…”

“You can consider it my way of apologizing to you for last night,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “What about last night?”

“I frightened you when I first came into the house,” he said. “Whatever you might think, I don’t enjoy scaring people.”

“You didn’t frighten me,” she said.

To her consternation, he laughed. “Okay,” he said. “You weren’t scared.”

“I wasn’t,” she said. “I’m a federal agent, Mr. Lindström. Do you think you’re the first person who’s ever come up behind me in the field?”

“I told you to call me Viggo.”

“And I told you that I wanted to keep things professional.”

“I could tell you were scared because you pulled your gun on me,” Lindström explained. “I’m not a fool, Agent Bellucci. I know that you people are trained not to use your weapons when you’re not facing a threat. You thought that I was a threat.”

“I didn’t know what you were,” Francesca said. “All I knew about you was that you had fled the country after being implicated in a hit-and-run. That’s still all I know about you.”

“Of course it isn’t,” he said dismissively. “I tell you that I’m not a fool, yet you still take me for a fool. You must have done your research. I’m sure that you know several things about me.”

“Nothing that would make me frightened of you,” Francesca shot back.

“You were frightened because I snuck up on you,” Lindström said. “It’s as simple as that.” He tilted her omelet out of the skillet and onto a plate, picked up a fork, and handed them to her. “And now we’re even,” he said.

“Fine,” she said, frustrated that he had seen through her so well.

Lindström took a seat at the kitchen island and gestured to another stool. “Sit down,” he suggested. “You can’t eat that standing up.”

He was right, so she took a seat, leaving an empty one between the two of them.

“The storm was severe,” Lindström said. “It looks as though you might be here for a while.”

Francesca’s heart sank, though she was careful not to let any expression show on her face. “That means a reprieve for you, then,” she said.

He rolled his eyes. “Let us discuss the rules while you’re staying in my home, shall we?”

“I’m not sure you’re in any position to be enforcing rules,” she said.

He set down his fork. “Agent Bellucci, does it aid your investigation in some way to antagonize me?”

“It helps us both if you remember who’s in charge here,” she said. “When the snow melts, I’ll be taking you back to the United States to stand trial.”

“Have you already forgotten that you can’t extradite?”

“Lucky for me, then, that I have all this spare time to figure out how I’m going to get around that.”

“The first rule,” Lindström said, “is that I would like you, please, to call me Viggo.”

“I’ve told you that I’m not going to do that.”

“I understand your desire to keep things formal,” he said. “But we are going to be together for days, perhaps weeks, and we may as well get used to that. This is my home, and as long as I am here, I am going to relax. I am going to wear my pajamas in the kitchen if I want to.”

“I can’t stop you from doing that,” Francesca said, noting that he was, in fact, wearing flannel pants and a V-neck T-shirt at that very moment.

“Then you’ll understand that I don’t wish to be addressed as if I’m standing trial already,” Lindström said. “It’s a little thing. I’m sure you can accommodate me.”

Francesca sighed. It was a foolish hill to die on, she supposed. “All right,” she said. “Viggo it is, then.”

“Thank you,” he said. “Now, you may go anywhere in the house while you’re here. I have nothing to hide. And I hope you will help yourself to anything you want from the kitchen as well.”

Francesca wasn’t sure she would feel comfortable doing that, but she appreciated his generosity. “Thank you.”

“My only other rule is this,” Viggo said. “I don’t wish to discuss the charges against me at all. For as long as you’re stuck here, until the snow melts, I will only engage in small talk.”

“You don’t want to defend yourself?” Francesca asked him skeptically.

“I imagine I will have plenty of opportunities to face the accusations against me in