Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“Amaranthe explained what she was doing here and how she was trained,” Geno said. “Elie, you reiterated what the Archambaults had taught her. I had the benefit of working with that family for several years, certainly not as many as she did. She may look delicate, but I can assure you, she knows what she’s doing. I spent a great deal of time going over the report my investigators gave me on her background. Every place she danced. Those were the places she was undercover. I had them check and sure enough, a shadow rider died. She knows what she’s doing.”
“And you’re willing to take the chance that you might lose her?” Stefano’s hard features settled into a mask, his eyes twin sets of pure liquid steel.
“That’s not fair,” Amaranthe declared. “I’m a rider. Your sister is a rider and you send her out on rotations just as you do your brothers. I have different skill sets from most riders that make me even more suited to this kind of work. Why would you try to make Geno feel guilty for using every means possible to catch these murderers? They’re not only going after his people, but other territories as well.”
Stefano leaned toward her, his piercing gaze intense. “Because Geno had never had one good thing in his fucking life until you came along, and he deserves to be happy. You get murdered and he’s going to go on a rampage the likes of which no one has ever seen before. I won’t have the first chance of stopping him.”
Amaranthe turned her gaze back to Geno. He felt the heat of her sliding into his mind filling him with her brightness. Is that true?
There was no point in denying it. Yes. You can see what I’m like. Not the best of men.
You’re a shadow rider. A man of honor.
Not if someone took you from me. I would find those responsible. I would not turn my findings over to the riders from France.
A ghost of a smile touched her mind, but not her outside expression. How very strange. I would be the same way if someone took you from me.
You haven’t decided you’ll have me.
I know you’re meant to be mine. I can walk away, but no one gets to take you away from me.
He raised an eyebrow and gave her his famous Ferraro stare, the one that scared the crap out of everyone. You can try walking out on me, but that isn’t going to happen. Not ever, babe.
“Are you two having an argument?” Elie guessed.
Geno leveled the Ferraro shark’s gaze at Elie. “We’re just coming to an understanding. I’m being very polite and not adding more ties to our shadows since the two of you are in the room, but if she wants to keep up her nonsense, I’m going to ignore the fact that we aren’t alone.”
Technically that could be considered assault. You don’t have my permission.
Call it anything you want, la mia danzatrice ombra. And I have your permission. You could have leapt out of the chair the moment our shadows touched again, but you didn’t. You could have protested to Elie or Stefano, but you didn’t.
She rolled her eyes at him, but again that ghost of a smile was in his mind. She liked him calling her his shadow dancer. “Is he always so arrogant and sure of himself?” she asked Stefano.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Stefano said. “Clearly, neither one of you is going to listen to me. Have you thought this through, Geno? When she’s backstage changing costumes, she’s going to be vulnerable. Anytime she’s performing and she’s not with you, she’ll be vulnerable.”
“Not if Emmanuelle, Mariko or Nicoletta are in the shadows,” Geno pointed out, naming the female shadow riders in Stefano’s immediate family. “If Valentino is watching a performance, Emmanuelle will be here. He doesn’t go anywhere without her. We both know that. She’s head of his security whether he likes it or not. She most likely heads up Dario’s security, and there’s no way he likes that, but Emme isn’t going to listen to either one of them. Mariko is fast in the shadows. I would trust her to watch over Amara while she’s in her dressing room. If there’s more than one assassin coming at her, the three women easily could handle them.”
Amaranthe again smiled at his show of confidence in her and the unknown women.
“I believe we should announce the engagement immediately. Amara should move her things here, which would make it impossible for anyone to get to her, and we’ll come up with a plan of action. Public visits we can control, such as going to the restaurant. It would be natural for me to introduce her to my cousins. She will need to go to her rehearsals and to teach her classes. Those are the places she will be her most vulnerable.”