AN UNEASY PARTNERSHIP
By-the-book FBI agent Josie Gilbert has no business falling for her confidential informant, but she can’t walk away. She needs this case—her career needs this case. And suave thief turned FBI asset Connor Randall is too deep in the mob syndicate to pull out now. But when the crime boss they are trying to take down becomes a target himself, Josie is forced to take Connor into hiding without blowing his cover. Now, dodging hit men and fighting a perilous attraction, she has to make a life-and-death decision. Can she trust the man who has stolen her heart…or is he working one last con?
“You are a mystery. Are you a bad guy turned good? Or still a con man? I can’t be sure.”
Connor reached up to touch Josie’s hair. “We’ve been together for days and you still don’t trust me?”
“I trust you. I just don’t know what to do about you.”
“What’s there to do?” he asked. “Except your job.”
“I’m not talking about my job,” she said on a husky whipser.
“Then you must be talking about this.” He kissed her, tugging her closer, the feel of her in his arms too strong to resist.
Josie tugged away. “We shouldn’t be doing this. I’m supposed to watch you, make sure you don’t walk away from your obligations.”
“I’ve stopped running. You need to understand that.”
“And you need to understand I won’t be a conquest. I can’t—” A noise stopped her, stopped them both in their tracks.
She grabbed her weapon. “We need to understand that we’re still on somebody’s hit list.”
LENORA WORTH
has written more than forty books for three different publishers. Her career with Love Inspired Books spans close to fifteen years. In February 2011 her Love Inspired Suspense novel Body of Evidence made the New York Times bestseller list. Her very first Love Inspired title, The Wedding Quilt, won Affaire de Coeur’s Best Inspirational for 1997, and Logan’s Child won an RT Book Reviews Best Love Inspired for 1998. With millions of books in print, Lenora continues to write for the Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense lines. Lenora also wrote a weekly opinion column for the local paper and worked freelance for years with a local magazine. She has now turned to full-time fiction writing and enjoying adventures with her retired husband, Don. Married for thirty-six years, they have two grown children. Lenora enjoys writing, reading and shopping…especially shoe shopping.
Forced Alliance
Lenora Worth
MILLS & BOON
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To Shiny—with many thanks :)
Contents
ONE
A glint of light pushed through the skyscraper-gray dusk, allowing the sun to offer one more ray of hope to the city of New Orleans before the hungry, humid night engulfed it in shadows. Just as that sun slipped behind the tall buildings up and down Canal Street, a muffled shot hissed downward through the air and made contact with human flesh.
At about the same time, Connor Randall adjusted his formal bow tie and stepped out of a still-purring black sports car. Holding the car door away from the sweating valet, Connor looked up and around, old habits dying hard.
And he spotted none other than Louis Armond standing a few yards away, the unmoving body of a beautiful blonde lying still by his feet. The Mafia king’s shocked gaze zigzagged up in a jagged path. He drew a weapon and pivoted in a nervous circle before he fell down on his knees and pulled the unconscious woman into his arms. His olive-skinned face twisted in