‘I haven’t thought about a trousseau. I’ve got clothes.’

‘Lieutenant Dallas has clothes,’ he corrected. ‘Roarke’s partner in marriage will need others.’

‘Maybe we can make a deal.’ She wanted that damn dress, she realized. She could feel it on her.

‘Wonderful. Take off your clothes.’

She snapped back like a spring. ‘Okay, asshole—’

‘For the measurements,’ Leonardo said quickly. The look in her eye had him rising, stepping back. He was a man who adored women, and understood their wrath. In other words, he feared them. ‘You must consider me as you would your health provider. I can’t design the dress properly until I know your body. I’m an artist, and a gentleman,’ he said with dignity. ‘But Mavis can stay if you feel uneasy.’

Eve tilted her head. ‘I can handle you, pal. If you get out of line, even think about it, you’ll find out for yourself.’

‘I’m sure of it.’ Cautiously he picked up a device. ‘My scanner,’ he explained. ‘It will measure you very accurately. But you have to be naked for a true reading.’

‘Stop snickering, Mavis. Go get us some more of that tea.’

‘Sure. I’ve already seen you naked, anyway.’ Blowing kisses to Leonardo, she headed off.

‘I have other ideas . . . about clothes,’ Leonardo said when Eve narrowed her eyes. ‘The underfoundation for the dress, of course. Evening and daywear, the formal, the casual. Your honeymoon is where?’

‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.’ Resigned, she took off her shoes, unhitched her jeans.

‘Roarke will surprise you then. Computer, create file, Dallas, first doc, measurements, coloring, height, and weight.’ After she’d tossed her shirt aside, he stepped forward with the scanner. ‘Feet together please. Height, five foot nine inches, weight, one hundred and twenty.’

‘How long have you been sleeping with Mavis?’

He rattled off more data. ‘About two weeks. She’s very dear to me. Waist twenty-six point two inches.’

‘Did you start sleeping with her before or after she told you her best friend was marrying Roarke?’

He stopped cold, and his brilliant gold eyes glittered with temper. ‘I am not using Mavis for a commission, and you insult her by thinking it.’

‘Just checking. She’s very dear to me, too. If we’re going to deal on this, I want to make sure all the cards are faceup, that’s all. So—’

The interruption came in fast, and came in furious. A woman in skintight, unadorned black burst in like a comet, perfect teeth bared, lethal red nails curled into talons.

‘You two-timing, back-stabbing, mother-fucking son of a bitch.’ She made her leap, rather like a gorgeous mortar locked on target, and with a speed and grace brought on by pure fear, Leonardo evaded. ‘Pandora, I can explain—’

‘Explain this.’ Turning her wrath on Eve, she swiped out, barely missing scooping Eve’s eyes out of their sockets.

There was only one thing to do. Eve decked her.

‘Oh Jesus, oh Jesus.’ Leonardo hunched his huge shoulders and wrung his ham-size hands.

Chapter Two

‘Did you have to hit her?’

Eve watched the woman’s eyes roll back, then roll forward. ‘Yeah.’

Leonardo set down his scanner and sighed. ‘She’s going to make my life a living hell.’

‘My face, my face.’ As she teetered back into full consciousness, Pandora scrambled up, patting her jaw. ‘Is it bruised? Does it show? I’ve got a session in an hour.’

Eve shrugged. ‘Tough luck.’

Jumping from mood to mood like a crazed gazelle, Pandora hissed through her teeth, ‘I’ll ruin you, bitch. You’ll never work on screen, on disc, and you sure as hell won’t get a runway job. Do you know who I am?’

Tags: J.D. Robb In Death Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net