Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

give the question more serious consideration, given that he’d just followed a ninja home. “Not usually,” he amended.
    She narrowed those gorgeous blue eyes at him. “I work alone.”
    “Right. I can see that. You, James Bond over there, and the kid. What’s one more partner?”
    “I don’t even know who you are,” she said.
    “If you’re quite done, may I kill him now?” the old guy asked, still polite, but steel underlay those proper British manners.
    The ninja made a sound of frustration that made Christophe wonder what other sounds she might make. Like, for example, when he licked her neck. Or explored those lovely breasts with his hands and mouth. His cock twitched in his pants, and he forcibly yanked his mind away from visions of a very naked ninja.
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
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    “Look, I can’t keep calling you the ninja,” Christophe pointed out. “My name is Christophe. And you are?”
    “Christophe? Just one name? Like Madonna?” the kid said, grinning. He didn’t seem to have an ounce of self-preservation in his body. Christophe found himself grinning right back at him.
    “No, I can’t sing a note. And you are?”
    The kid took a step forward, hand extended as if to shake, years of breeding and manners clearly coming to the fore. “Declan Campbell, nice to meet—Oh.” Declan stopped dead and shot a red-faced glance at the ninja. “Crap. Sorry, Fee. Oh. Sorry again!”
    The ninja—Fee?—sighed and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Declan. If he’s in our house, it would be easy enough for him to figure out who we are.”
    She tilted her head and considered Christophe for a moment, then shrugged. “Fiona Campbell. My brother Declan. And the overprotective one is Hopkins.”
    Christophe grinned at Hopkins. “Just the one name? Like Madonna?”
    Hopkins never moved a single muscle, just stood there in a shooter’s stance with that damn gun still trained on the space between Christophe’s eyes. “This is a mistake, Lady Fiona,” he bit off. “You have put years and years’ worth of work in jeopardy in a single evening. Congratulations.”
    “Lady Fiona?” Christophe watched, fascinated, as a rosy flush swept up her neck and face. “You’re aristocracy and a cat burglar?”
    “I assure you, I never, ever steal cats,” she said, a glimmer of humor underneath the frost in her voice.
    “No, just dragons.” He flicked a glance at Raphael’s depiction of Saint George, then back at her. “That’s the original, isn’t it?”
    “I don’t know what you—”
    “You’re not just good,” he said, ignoring Hopkins and his gun and 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?”
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    “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