Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

down, she saw that she had twelve minutes. Declan had hacked into the security cameras and put them on a circular repeating pattern or something equally complex and brilliant, but he’d warned her a dozen times that she had exactly fifteen minutes and not a second more.
    She raised the tranq gun and used her best frosty, lady-of-the-manor voice. “I repeat, who the bloody hell are you?”
    “You’re Scottish,” he said, quite unnecessarily.
    “Give the man a gold ring. You have ten seconds to tell me who you are and why you’re here before I shoot you.” She raised the gun, hoping the first time she had to shoot a man while looking him in the eyes wouldn’t haunt her dreams for months to come. But needs must and, well, the Siren was waiting, no matter how mouthwateringly delicious this man might be.
    “The Scarlet Ninja is a woman. A Scottish woman,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her from head to toe, blistering every inch of skin under her garments, as if the heat in his eyes were a palpable touch.
    Of course, the negative here was that he appeared to be a blithering idiot.
    “Yes. Ninja. Woman. Scottish. Do you have something against Scotland?”
    Her watch beeped. Eleven minutes.
    “Ninja,” he repeated, taking a step toward her. “Nin. Ja. Have you ever cracked a history book? Scotland.
    Ninjas. No.”
    Fiona’s watch crackled. Declan checking in, and he was going to go mad if she didn’t respond soon. She raised her wrist and spoke softly. “Bit of a problem. Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”
    The luscious bit of man candy had the nerve to flash a devilish grin at her. “You can handle me anytime. I like to play dress-up games, too. You can be the ninja, and I’ll be the pirate.”
    “Lovely. A thief and a boorish lout,” she snapped. Declan squawked from her wrist, but she lowered her hand and ignored her overprotective brother for the moment.
    Ten minutes.
    “Thief, huh. Pot, kettle? I guess we all know why you’re here, but a better question is what kind of magic were you throwing around out there?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied, careful not to let her shock show in her eyes.
    “Fine. Another question, then.” He took another step toward her, all leashed power and hard-bodied male. She felt like a particularly scrumptious piece of catnip caught in the path of a tiger. “Scarlet Ninja.
    Today’s answer to Robin Hood. What are you here for? Not that it matters.” He waved an arm at the glass boxes filled with crowns, scepters, swords, and sundry. “Luckily, there’s plenty for both of us.”
    It was her turn to blink, but she was out of time for small talk. “You’ll never succeed. But I’m only here for one thing, so feel free to look around.”
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
    Page 18 of 188
    He smiled, and she wondered dizzily if the devil himself had a smile as seductive. “I think I’ll stick with you. I’d like to see under that mask. That lovely skin and those blue eyes are making me wonder what the rest of you looks like, not that those scarlet silks are hiding much. A man would give much to get his hands on those curves.”
    The blunt words packed a sensual punch, maybe due to the sheer honesty of the admiration on his face and in his tone. She had to clench her thighs together against the heat.
    “No time for this,” she said, inexplicably both glad she wore the mask and regretting it. “Step closer and I’ll shoot you.”
    He bowed, a study in grace and elegance, and she had the oddest feeling that the courtly gesture came naturally to him, as if he’d done it many times before.
    Her watch ticked over again. Nine minutes.
    Still keeping one wary eye on him, she turned toward the shatterproof glass case on the far wall, crossing the electronic walkway to view the sword in its solitary state.
    “Vanquish stands apart, doesn’t it?” he murmured next to her ear. He was too close; he was suddenly right next to her. She couldn’t contain the startled gasp. Nobody but vampires could move that fast. He clearly wasn’t that, though; her senses could recognize a vampire at twenty paces. But what? She backed away, aiming the tranq gun carefully, although he didn’t seem the least bit afraid of it. He also didn’t seem to be trying to scare her.
    Not that he could. She was tough and brave, right?
    Mostly?
    “Isolated from the rest of the room, and even from the remainder of the sword collection,” he