"What?" His senses were slowly swimming back, the roar in his ears subsiding like the tide.
She caught herself, appalled, mortified. Had she actually said that aloud? she wondered. Was she insane? "Nothing. I was…" She took several deep breaths to level her system. "I was just saying I only wanted to bite your ass."
"You wanted to bite my ass." He shook his head clear. "Why?"
"Because it's there." Relieved, spent, satisfied, she grinned at him. "And it's a pretty great ass all in all."
"I'm glad you—" He blinked, narrowed his eyes. "Did you say I was beautiful?"
"Give me a break." She snorted, then quickly wiggled off him. "You must be hallucinating. Now, fun's fun." She picked up her robe, pulled it on. "But I have to get back to work."
"Mmm-hmm. I'll get us some coffee."
"There's no use both of us going without sleep."
He smiled, ran a finger over her wedding band. "Want some pie?"
"I guess I could choke some down."
• • •
Within an hour Eve had moved the investigation into Roarke's private office. The lists she would run now couldn't be viewed by the all-seeing eye of CompuGuard.
"Six men," she muttered. "The six who killed Marlena generate over fifty in family alone. What's with you Irish, haven't you ever heard of Zero Population?"
"We prefer the go forth and multiply rule." Roarke pondered the list that took up two screens. "I recognize a dozen or so. I might do better with faces."
"Well, we'll eliminate the females, for now. The barmaid at the Shamrock said Shawn was talking to a man, the kid on the West Side—"
"His name's Kevin."
"Yeah, the kid said a man. And the creep who's been calling me—even if he's using voice alteration to sound like a man—has a male rhythm to his speech. And typical male responses to insults and sarcasm."
"It's illuminating for me," Roarke said dryly, "to discover your fascinating opinion on my gender."
"When push comes, men are different, that's all. Computer, delete female names from screen." Eve paced in front of it, nodding. "That's a little more manageable. Best place to start is at the top. O'Malley's group, father, two brothers."
"On screen three." Commanding manually now, Roarke shifted the three names onto the next screen. "Full data, with image. Ah, Shamus O'Malley, the patriarch, I do remember him. He and my father had some dealings together."
"Looks like a violent tendency," Eve commented. "You can see it in the eyes. Major scar on the left cheek, a nose that's been broken more than once by the look of it. This makes him seventy-six, and he's currently a guest of the Irish government for first degree assault with a deadly."
"A prince of a man."
Eve hooked her thumbs in her robe pockets. "I'm going to eliminate anyone doing time. It's impossible to say if our guy's acting alone, but we'll concentrate on him."
"All right." Roarke tapped a few keys and ten more names disappeared.
"That wipes the smiling O'Malleys."
"They were always a bad lot, and not bright with it."
"Go to the next."
"Calhouns. Father, one brother, one son. Liam Calhoun," Roarke mused. "He ran a little food shop. He was a decent sort. The brother and the boy I don't remember at all."
"The brother, James, no criminal record. Guy's a doctor, attached to the National Health Services. Forty-seven, one marriage, three children. Reads like pillar of the community."
"I don't recall him. Obviously he didn't run in my circles."