Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [25]
Forget the bed, he told himself and realized that all that was left to think about was either Victoria or the plan for that night. Easy choice.
“I have two main concerns about tonight,” he said, staring past her shoulder when they were sitting at the desk in the corner of the room.
“Only two?” Victoria said.
She was impossible. “Concentrate,” Harry said. “The first is entrapment. You have to let this guy come to you. Let him make all the suggestions. Don’t make any moves yourself. And don’t agree right away. Make him work for it.”
Victoria put her chin in her hand and smiled at him. “You know my mother gave me this same advice when I started dating.”
“Well, pay more attention to me than you did to your mother.” Harry scowled at her, so annoyed, he forgot to avoid her. “If it looks like you encouraged him to swindle you, he can yell ‘entrapment’ and the case gets thrown out of court.”
“All right,” Victoria said. “I’m skeptical, right?”
Harry thought about it. Victoria was so sharp, she might actually scare Bond off. “You might get further being dizzy. You know, one of those women who can’t concentrate long enough to make up their minds.”
Victoria scowled at him. “No, I don’t know one of those women who can’t concentrate long enough to make up their minds.”
Harry rolled his eyes. This was no time for her to be deliberately difficult. “Look, the longer we can string him along, the more time we have to gather evidence. If you’re skeptical, he may get cold feet and think that you’re having him investigated. And if he gets even a whiff that we’re closing in on him, he’ll be gone. If he just thinks you’re too damn dumb to make a decision, he’ll hang in there.”
Victoria sighed. “All right. I’ll play dumb.”
“Thank you,” Harry said, glaring at her.
“My pleasure,” Victoria said, glaring back. “What’s the second concern?”
Harry lost his train of thought again. Those soft brown eyes really sparkled when she glared. There was a lot of fire in Victoria. How the hell was she ever going to play dumb enough to fool Bond?
“Harry,” Victoria repeated. “What’s the second concern?”
“What?”
“You said you had two concerns,” Victoria said, speaking slowly and clearly. “What … is … the … second … concern?”
“Oh,” Harry said. “Bond finds out you’re a setup and gets rid of you.”
Victoria swallowed. “What exactly do you mean by ‘gets rid of’?”
Harry’s uneasiness solidified into frank doubt; he must have been out of his mind to think about involving Victoria in this. She could get hurt. The whole plan was out of the question. “Bond’s never hurt anyone before, but we’ve got a hell of a lot on him. If we get him now, he won’t see the outside again for some time. And even con men have been known to get violent when facing a lot of prison time—”
“Oh,” Victoria said.
“—which is why I think this is a dumb idea,” Harry went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “I don’t think this will work. I think we’d better count you out.” He got up to go, relieved.
Victoria stayed seated. “Wait a minute. If I don’t do it, who will? You?”
“No.” Harry shook his head. “Nobody’d believe I’m a college professor. Alec can carry it by himself. He and that Banks woman are going to dinner with you anyway. Just let him handle it.”
“But then Alec might get hurt,” Victoria said.
“Well, it is his job,” Harry pointed out. “It wouldn’t be the first time he’s taken a risk.”
“It wouldn’t?” Victoria said, visibly appalled. “I thought all he did was investigate fraud, like some sort of accountant-avenger. I thought the worst that could happen in his job was a paper cut.”
“Uh, no,” Harry said.
Victoria bit her lip. “I’ll do it. I can’t let Alec take all the risk.”
Harry’s heart