Revealed by Ella Ardent

it.
    When his coffee was gone, she was hoarse from her entreaties. “Very good,” he said and kissed her forehead. “Now go and tell Rick that he has permission to use you as he sees fit until Athena returns.”
    She looked at him with surprise.
    “Hurry or I’ll make it longer.”
    Rex watched her butt as she hurried across the floor, liking very much that he’d found the perfect way to motivate the delicious Amy. He reached for her laptop, thinking he’d review those believed-lost pictures of Joanna, then caught himself. Instead, he turned on his camera and reviewed the pictures he’d taken of Amy in the past couple of days.
    There was no doubt in his mind—that audacity meant she’d easily be able to obliterate her sister from his memory.
    If he let her.
    Instead, he needed to concentrate on his relationship with Michelle. He checked the time and decided to call her.
    * * *
    The limo stopped at the small terminal at the heliport and Athena spotted him immediately. Of course, there was no one else in the small terminal other than the man stocking the vending machine. He wore a hat pulled down low and had his back toward her. He stood then spared the slightest glance over his shoulder at the idling car, before returning to his work.
    Athena would have recognized that butt anywhere.
    It took her only a second to make a plan. The simple truth was that the best and easiest way to find the Count was to befriend the hunters he had set upon her.
    She had, after all, never had any use for subtlety.
    Her chauffeur opened the door and she shivered a little at the bite of the wind. “Please take my luggage for me, Rafe. I’ll be there in just a moment.” Athena didn’t wait for his reply, but swept out of the vehicle and strode toward the man she had already come to call the Lone Wolf.
    He made no indication that he was aware of her, but Athena could feel the prickle of his attention. The small room could have been filled with an electrical charge. She stood behind him, as if considering the chocolate bars offered for sale. He didn’t turn around, continuing to organize inventory in his carrying case. She dropped a pound coin deliberately so that it fell right in front of him.
    “Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said softly.
    He showed the tiniest moment of hesitation. Athena found that deliciously revealing. Then he picked up the coin and offered it to her, the brim of his hat keeping his eyes hidden from her.
    He had a wonderful mouth, though. Firm lips. Sensuous. Possibly a dimple if and when he smiled.
    And a subtle vertical cleft in his chin.
    “Thank you,” she said, accepting the coin, then grasped his hand with her gloved fingers. He looked up, only a glimpse, and she smiled into those eyes.
    So pale a blue that they were almost silver. Again, she was reminded of a wolf.
    He dropped his gaze and turned back to his work.
    “Budget cuts?” she asked mildly, then let the silence hang between them. “It must be budget cuts,” she repeated, then sighed.
    “Are you speaking to me, madam?” he asked, as if unable to imagine it were so. His Irish accent was feigned, but not badly done. Someone less observant than Athena—or less focused—might not have noticed the slight inconsistency in his vowels.
    The Midwest was there, lingering like a shadow behind his words.
    “Well, I’m not speaking to the machine,” she said with humor in her tone. “If I was, I should say something entirely different. I should ask it why every single confection offered for sale is so very sweet. It’s foolish, you know, to fixate one’s taste upon a single possibility. If one only tastes sweet, then sweet loses its appeal.”
    “Really?” he said, the word almost an exhalation.
    “Really. My partner likes to wax eloquent about contrast and nuance, and while I don’t share his enthusiasm for intellectualizing sensation, he has a point. Sweet becomes less pleasurable if there’s no bitter or tart to contrast against it. A good