The Outlaw Prince's Captive - Holly Rayner Page 0,40

the restrictions will be lifted.”

“Will we be able to fly out?”

“Yes,” he said. “But as soon as we touch down in the States, I’ll be arrested.”

“No, you won’t,” she said. “Not if nobody knows we’re coming.”

“How do you plan to make that happen?”

“I haven’t quite worked out all the logistics yet,” she admitted. “But the first step will be getting my partner to cover for us. He’ll stay here and continue reporting to our supervisor. No one will know that I’ve secretly flown you home.”

“Will your partner do that?” Viggo asked.

“I think he might,” she said. “He said he would back my play. He’s not any happier than I am about the situation the FBI has put us in.”

“What good will it do us to be in New York?” Viggo asked her.

“We’ll be able to access the crime scene,” she said. “We’ll be able to talk to people—patrons and employees of the club you were at that night, for example. We’ll be able to continue the investigation in ways we couldn’t do from here.”

He nodded. “That makes sense,” he agreed. “But we’ll have to take my charter plane. We can’t fly commercial, or we will be caught.”

She felt immediately relieved that one aspect of the plan had resolved itself. “I didn’t know you had a charter plane,” she said. “That solves that, then.”

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Viggo said. “Won’t we be putting ourselves at a pretty serious risk of being caught?”

“I’m FBI,” she reminded him. “I know how to disguise myself. And how to disguise you. I can keep us from being recognized.”

He looked uneasy, and she didn’t really blame him. Of course, he was used to being spotted in New York. He was used to being photographed.

“Do you trust me?” she asked him. “That’s what this really comes down to.”

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” he mused. “This could absolutely all be a trick to lure me back to the States so that you can arrest me.”

“It isn’t,” she said.

“I know,” he said. “At least, I think I know. I do trust you. I’m probably out of my mind. I’ve only known you for a little more than a day, and the most significant thing I know about you is that you’re an agent investigating my case. I definitely shouldn’t trust you. And yet… I do.”

“I shouldn’t trust you either,” she said. “You could get me on your charter plane and fly us off to some island in the middle of nowhere. It would be a great way to avoid arrest. And I’d never be heard from again.”

“But you don’t really think I’m going to do that,” he said.

“No,” she said. “I don’t.”

“Why do you want to do this?” he asked. “What difference does it make to you if we clear my name or not? It doesn’t have anything to do with you one way or another.”

“I took this case in part because I wanted to prove myself. Now they’re taking me off the case, and I won’t get that opportunity. But I still want to make the most of it,” she said. “I still want to prove that I can take something like this on and be successful. And if we prove that you’re innocent, my supervisor won’t be able to do anything to me. The royal family won’t be justified in any outrage they might have, because I’ll have defended you. And everyone will have to accept that I’m good at my job.”

“I see,” Viggo said. “So your motives are selfish.”

“Completely selfish,” she said.

But internally, she wondered.

Everything she had said to him was true. She did want to prove herself. She did want to show Voles that he had been wrong to dismiss her as expendable.

But she also wanted to clear Viggo’s name for his own sake.

She had seen how much he was suffering. How torn apart he was over the thought of what he might have done. It was destroying him.

Perhaps she could ease that burden for him.

I don’t know why I care.

But she couldn’t deny that she did.

“Just promise me one thing,” Viggo said. “Promise you won’t turn me over to the authorities until we’ve definitively established my guilt or innocence. One way or the other. I want to know the truth of what happened before I face the consequences.”

“All right,” Francesca said. “I can do that.”

Chapter 14

Laird’s help had been far from a sure thing. Francesca had hoped he would agree to her plan, but she had also been aware of