Seducing powerful men into telling her all of their secrets is Scarlett Ambrose's specialty. Ace Hardwood is probably no exception.
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The gorgeous, confident and charismatic Scarlett Ambrose is perfect candidate to help Terrence Burke take down the...
"She was ragged at the edges. She'd seen much better days. But beauty isn't surface deep; there are so many other ways."
~ Ms. Moem
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Scarlett shut the door to Cassie's room behind her and stood there for a few silent moments, her hand still gripping the doorknob.
She thought of the intensity she had seen in Ace's gaze when he had stood at the door a few minutes ago. She chalked it up to his love for Cassie and instead of cowering like someone else might have, she confidently made her way downstairs, oozing the charisma that she always did.
She found Ace in the kitchen, cracking eggs into a mixing bowl.
Quietly, she wandered over to him to watch.
Ace glanced at her, but went on doing what he was doing.
Scarlett raised herself on to the counter next to him and sat, watching Ace work. "What are you making?" she asked.
"Brownies," Ace said, "Cassie loves brownies."
Scarlett moved her legs back and forth. "You really love her, don't you?" She nudged Ace's side with her foot.
He looked down at her foot, her toenails painted a light pink shade that you wouldn't even notice was there. He lifted his gaze to her eyes. "As you said, what's not to love?"
"It's kind of cute," Scarlett remarked, "Big, bad Ace Hardwood's heart bleeds for his niece. He abandons all façades for her. What would happen if that information got out?"
Scarlett raised her eyebrows.
"It won't, now will it, Ambrose?" Ace asked, mixing cocoa powder into the batter.
"Or the fact that big, bad Ace Hardwood wants to make sure his niece eats all her greens and doesn't eat much sugar?" she asked.
Ace regarded her with that look of his, which was neither a frown, nor a smile, but an expression of amused good humour.
"What about the fact that big, bad Ace Hardwood knows all the words to every song in Tangled?" she asked, her eyes gleaming.
"That's not the only movie," he told her with a fiendish grin.
Scarlett's eyebrows raised. "Oh? Which other movies?"
Ace chuckled softly and shook his head.
They were quiet for a while.
Scarlett leaned back a little and began absent-mindedly humming that same tune from the morning.
Ace walked to the microwave and pulled out a bowl of melted chocolate. He set it on the counter next to Scarlett, who immediately dipped a finger into it and put it into her mouth.
