Free Atlantis Betrayed by Alyssa Day Page A

crossing over to the painting to study it more closely. “You’re scary good.”
    He glanced over his shoulder at her, almost able to taste the delicious possibilities. “Oh, yes. We’re definitely partners.”
    “No,” she said flatly. “Not a chance.”
    “Are you going to kill me, then? Or have James Bond over there do it? Because I know who you are, and you know I know who you are. So as I see it, we have several different options. One, I’m your partner. Two, you shoot me to keep me from telling the police and the tabloids that you’re the Scarlet Ninja.”
    “And?” Her voice could have flash-frozen half of Atlantis.
    “And what?”
    “You said several options. You named two. What are the others?”
    “Oh. I guess I was wrong. Just those two.” He couldn’t seem to stop grinning for some reason. The situation cheered him up. Hugely.
    “I’ll be happy to shoot him, Lady Fiona. In fact, I’m quite anxious to do so,” Hopkins said.
    “She already shot me,” Christophe offered helpfully.
    The ninja glared at him. “That was a tranq gun. And nobody is shooting anyone. That’s . . . that’s my grandfather’s solution, Hopkins. You know I won’t go down that road. Not now, not ever.” The ice in her voice was gone, replaced with a white-hot rage that Christophe instinctively knew would sear anything it touched.
    So why did he wonder what it would feel like to burn in those flames?
    “I guess we have a partner, then,” Declan said, grinning.
    “I’d much rather shoot him, but if you insist.” Hopkins put the gun down but kept it within reach. “So, then, partner . Who are you and what exactly do you want?”

Chapter 9

    Fiona suddenly found it hard to breathe as her new partner stared into her eyes, a wicked grin slowly spreading across his face.
    “Who do I want? That’s between me and the ninja,” he said, his eyes darkening from a pale spring green to a dark leafy color as his gaze practically burned the clothes from her body. Definitely not human. Human eyes didn’t do that. Unless he had a kind of magic she’d never seen before hiding behind that bad-boy long hair. The waves brushing his collar looked silken soft. If only she could touch them, she could discover—
    Suddenly, the meaning of his words caught up to her fevered mind. “No! He said what do you want. What, not who .” She felt the flush rise up into her cheeks and had to grit her teeth against the embarrassment. “Stop that at once, or I’ll take my chances with the police.”
    “Hey, you kissed me ,” he said, still grinning.
    He dropped that long, lean body into one of her chairs, and the floral print of the upholstery didn’t do a thing to diminish his aggressive maleness. He was a predator, no matter where you put him, and she needed to be very, very cautious, in spite of the part of her that wanted to crawl into his lap and bite his neck.
    Hopkins cleared his throat. “You kissed him?”
    “I—”
    “Wow! Your first kiss in years and it’s a criminal? Sis, you’re going to have to watch out. You’ve got a thing for bad boys. Look at Sean.”
    Her face was on fire. Surely the house sprinkler system would activate itself at any moment. Christophe’s avid interest wasn’t helping any, nor was the way he kept checking out her body whenever she moved.
    “It was not my first kiss in years, not that it’s any of your business, and I—he—it was a distraction technique!”
    “It’s true. She distracted me, and then she shot me,” Christophe offered. Then he leaned forward, and those amazing green eyes narrowed. “Also, who’s Sean?”
    “Don’t help me,” she told him. “I don’t have a thing for Sean,” she said to her rotten brother.
    “You adopted him!” Declan sputtered. “That’s what I meant. Not that you have a romantic thing for him. That would be gross. You’re so old.”
    “I’m not old,” she gritted out.
    “Not compared to me,” Christophe said cheerfully, relaxing back