Mary McBride – Romancing the Crown: Nina & Dominic: A Royal Murder (страница 8)

And then she would see inside his home. She nodded with self-satisfaction, recalling how stealthily she had checked the French doors at the back of the place and noticed that someone had left them unlocked. Didn’t leaving the crime scene vulnerable that way indicate McDonough was not taking his job seriously enough?

She couldn’t figure the man out. She’d only known him for a day and during that short span, he’d exuded charm and exhibited annoyance, very nearly simultaneously. He’d declared his dedication to the job and talked a good game, but had done remarkably little in the way of investigating, as far as she could tell.

He had offered her compassion when they’d gone to see Desmond’s body, but had broken out in a sweat himself. He hadn’t even asked the doctor many pertinent questions.

She picked up a hint of humor occasionally, yet he certainly could be brusque.

What a mass of contradictions the man was. She wasn’t at all sure she wanted to know him any better than she already did. He made her nervous, and she wasn’t certain why.

But leaving the back entrance to the victim’s guesthouse open was definitely careless on the part of the investigator in charge of the murder case. If he gave her any grief when he found out what she had done tonight, she’d be quick to point that out to him.

The best defense was a good offense, and that was a fact.

Nina called a cab. When the doorbell chimed a few minutes later, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door, remarking to herself how prompt the taxi service was here.

She probably should have rented a car on her arrival, but she hadn’t had time to go online and see if there were any peculiar driving rules in Montebello. Or if an international license would be required to drive here. Besides, she absolutely hated driving unfamiliar vehicles. With her luck, she’d have to accept one without an automatic transmission and with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Montebello wasn’t that large. Wherever she couldn’t walk, she’d take a cab.

When she opened the door, her heart sank. “McDonough!”

He smiled, his eyes focused on her shoulder bag. “Going somewhere?”

“Uh, out to eat.” Nina couldn’t meet his eyes. He seemed to divine her every thought, and she was no good at lying. Would he guess what she was planning?

“I’ll join you,” he said.

Ryan had no clue where she’d been planning to go. If he’d been using his brain at the time, he would have pretended not to notice she was holding that purse and how she was dressed when she answered the door. He would have asked how she was doing, wished her good-night, then waited out of sight and followed her. But she could be telling the truth about going out to eat, in which case, he was only doing the hospitable thing, escorting her to a nice restaurant and buying her evening meal.

He knew he was bending too far backward, giving her too much benefit of the doubt because he didn’t want her to be involved in this murder. And to be honest, he really didn’t believe she was. Given how attracted he was to her, however, Ryan wasn’t sure he could trust his instincts right now.

“We’ll go somewhere close by,” he said, determined to give her the chance later to do whatever she intended. And he would follow. It was his job, after all. “It would be best if we make an early evening of it so you can rest.”

“Yes, that would be good,” she agreed, still not looking directly at him. Guilt was written all over her.

Either she was up to no good or his presence made her uncomfortable. She sure as hell had that effect on him.

“I’m expecting a cab,” she told him.

He smiled cordially. “We’ll wait for it then.” His own car was less than thirty feet away, but she didn’t know what he drove and he wanted to keep it that way, at least for tonight.

It was no chore to keep up a running patter about the local sights she should see while she was in Montebello. She didn’t seem to be paying much attention anyway, preoccupied as she was.

“Ah, here we go,” he announced as the white Audi pulled up to the entrance to the building. He took her arm and led her out to the vehicle where the driver was already opening the door for them. “Hey, Luigi. How’s the wife?” he asked the man.

“She is good, sir. We have another son since last I saw you.”

“Congratulations, Mano! That makes five, right?” Ryan asked as he got in.

“Four, sir. Our second was a daughter,” the driver said, beaming.

Ryan noted Nina’s consternation. He smiled again. “Our world is small here. Tourists and visiting businesspeople are the only strangers.”

She made no comment on that, but he could see that it upset her. Another mistake on his part, giving her that information. Now she would be leery of hiring another cab for fear he’d find out where she was going. If she planned on going anywhere she didn’t want him to know about, of course.

Ryan felt a little better about his lack of objectivity now. He was back on the job as he should be. Everyone was a suspect, even the woman who had temporarily thrown him for a loop.

“You like Thai cuisine?” he asked hopefully. Ryan hadn’t been crazy about the time he’d spent bumming around in that country, but the food had been good. He had regained a few of the pounds he’d lost and begun his recovery there.

“No, nothing oriental,” she said, looking rather glum.

“Please tell me you eat something besides hot cereal or we’re out of luck.”

To her credit, she managed a grin. “I love Italian food.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” He nodded and instructed Luigi, “Take us to Pirandello’s.”

“They have a new chef there,” he informed Ryan. “You must try his tortellini.”

“Will do.” He turned again to Nina. “I hope you have a good appetite. Picky eaters annoy me.”

She pursed her lips for a second. “Well, I surely wouldn’t want to annoy you.”

Ryan laughed full out, thinking about how annoyed he’d been for most of the day because of her. Right now he was feeling pretty damned confident again, since he was on top of the whole situation.

So she was beautiful, he thought as he looked at her without even trying to conceal his interest. So she rang his chimes a little. Okay, a lot. He had faced the worst nightmare included in this job with that trip to the morgue today and had managed to handle it much better than usual. Maybe his heart had hardened enough now that nothing could affect him to the point where he couldn’t function.

Even if he discovered Nina Caruso had paid someone to cap Desmond, Ryan could do what had to be done. He’d feel disappointed, sure, but he would be able to carry through and process her as he would anyone else.

Feelings did pass, he knew now, if you shoved them aside enough times and replaced them with a purpose. Giving in to them could wreck your life in nothing flat. He’d found that out the hard way.

“What is it? What’s the matter?” she asked. Demanded.

Ryan forced a smile. “Nothing. Just hungry.” And he was. “I skipped lunch,” he said.

And he would skip feeding this hunger for her, too, he thought as he tried not to devour her with his eyes. “Sometimes I get busy and forget,” he admitted.

But he wouldn’t forget what he was supposed to do with respect to Nina Caruso, he promised himself. Or what he was not supposed to do.

Nina had hardly been able to do justice to the meal. McDonough’s arrival had thrown her plans off-kilter. Now she wouldn’t arrive at the palace in time to interview anyone about Desmond. But she could still go to the guesthouse, if the guards would let her onto the grounds. There had been no problem that morning when she had identified herself, so she didn’t anticipate any tonight.

As soon as McDonough said good-night and left, she hurried to the phone and called a different cab company. Thankfully, there were three to choose from. Hopefully, this driver wouldn’t be one of the detective’s friends.

Perhaps she had lucked out, Nina thought, as she entered the taxi a quarter hour later. This guy was obviously Middle Eastern and both his English and Italian were nearly nonexistent. He did understand where she wanted to go, however, and took her straight to the palace.

Nina paid the cabbie at the gates and then identified herself to the smartly uniformed guard who stood there holding a wicked-looking machine gun. He examined the pass she’d been given that morning when she had first arrived, compared it to her passport, gave both back to her. He required her to open her purse, which he gave a cursory examination. “Shall I phone for a cart to transport you to the palace?” he asked politely. “It is some distance.”

She smiled up at him. “No, thank you. It is such a beautiful night, I prefer to stroll. That is allowed, isn’t it?”

“If you wish. May I ask the purpose of your visit this evening, the better to give you direction?”

Nina knew he was not asking out of politeness, but that he was required to know. “My half brother was the king’s nephew. The one who was recently killed. A couple of the maids who knew him invited me by to talk.”

“Ah yes, such a tragedy that was. Please approach through the main entrance. I will ring up and have someone meet you at the door. Have a pleasant visit, signorina.”