“Ofcourse.”
Alex ignored her sarcasm. “I expect to spend about three months there—”
“Three, are you insane?”
“Is it any more insane than taking a penknife to a stranger’s car?” he shot back.
Her teeth clamped down on her lower lip.
“I want to make it very clear: all I need is for you to accompany me to my hometown in France for the period of two months and to harness a modicum of acting skills by pretending to be my betrothed. I do not require any intimacy, other than the light gestures in public that are necessary to convince others of the veracity of my claim.”
“Gestures like?” She prompted him with a frown.
He shrugged eloquently. “Perhaps holding hands. A light peck on the cheek—on the lips.”
In seconds she had darted away, putting one of her cheap little worktables between them. “You are mad! If you think I’d go for that.”
He nailed her to the wall with his steady gaze. “Perhaps you would be more comfortable if I called the police? I’m sure that the penalty for malicious damage of that magnitude is far more than two months and that time will be spent in jail, rather than a luxurious house in southern France.”
The anguish on her face almost made him feel sorry for her, but desperate times,non?He knew that he had her.
She slumped, looking forlorn. “That’s blackmail,” she said in a small, low voice.
“Yes,” he agreed almost sympathetically. “It is. But I wasn’t the first one to commit a crime.”
When you are beating egg whites to make meringue, he remembered, you need to stop beating at just that perfect point. Keep going and it all goes flat. He knew by the look in Jacyn’s eyes that he had reached the perfect point, and so he stopped. He bowed, graciously and low, and then extended his simple, crisp white business card to her. “I will leave you to your oils and your lye now, mademoiselle. You have 24 hours to call me. After that, I will be taking it up with law enforcement.”
And then he walked out of her apartment.
CHAPTER 5
“I HOPE YOU REMEMBERED the tickets,” Jacyn joked nervously, although part of her hoped that, now they had arrived at the airport, the stranger beside her would slap his forehead and announce, “Zut alors!”—or whatever the hell French people said when they were pissed off — "I have forgotten our tickets! Now we have missed our flight!”
Instead, he gave her a puzzled look. “The what?”
“The tickets. You know,plane tickets?Our permission to embark?” She’d never flown before, but even so, she wasn’t an idiot. She’d watched enough movies and read enough books to know there was one simple rule: no tickets, no entry.
He chuckled with an almost insulting amount of mirth. “I can assure you: we need no tickets.”
What the hell did that mean?She wondered.
They were walking into the main entrance of the terminal, accompanied by a uniformed valet who dragged a small cart behind him, upon which were two small cases. It was easy to tell which one was his and which was hers. His was a rich burgundy overnight case, with brass trim on the edges, and looked so luxurious she had the sneaky feeling that it could contain some ancient and valuable scrolls. Hers was just a plain old gym duffel, ironically, branded with the logo of Gregg’s gym. She would have tossed it away, but there hadn’t been much time to get a new one. Within three days of her calling up Mr. Blackmail here, they were already good to go.
All Jacyn had in her possession was her yet-unused passport, her purse, and enough clothing to last two days, as per his instructions. She hadn’t a clue what he expected her to wear over the course of the next two months, but she was too afraid to ask.
They kept walking, past most of the gates that were almost obscured by travelers crowded around the entrances, preparing to board their flights. Past the Duty-Free kiosks laden with enticingly staged perfumes, chocolates, and liqueurs. On to a small set of gates, at which two uniformed officials stood, but when they got there, they appeared to be alone.
Jacyn was puzzled. Had everyone else already boarded? How nice it must be to be rich enough to make an entire planeload of passengers wait on you!
She watched, dazed, as the man next to her shook hands with the two officials, who both beamed at him as if he was a minor deity. The valet kept going along the boarding ramp, probably to drop off their two meager bags.
When the formalities were over, Dubois turned to her and offered her his arm to take. “Ready?”
You got this,she reminded herself, even though she could hear the echoes of Sienna’s horrified warnings reverberating in her hear.Fly off with a stranger? To another country? Are you mad? We can pay him back! If I sell my car…
But as anxious as she was, she felt in her heart that this man was a man of honor, who would keep his word not to harm her. To bring her back home safely.
So, she nodded and, aware of the curious sets of eyes on her, slid her arm into his, winning her a pleased nod from the man who had become her captor.