Before Joanna opened the door to greet her guests, she had already put a face to the name of Addison Kane. Courtesy of the rather limited amount of pictures she had found on the World Wide Web, all of which having once graced the covers of business magazines, Joanna knew the woman wore her dark brown hair short, and if the pictures were any indication, not a strand would be out of place. She also seemed to have a penchant for black three-piece suits and darkly tinted sunglasses, and since Addison Kane hadn’t smiled in any of the photos, Joanna wasn’t expecting to see one…and she didn’t.

For a fraction of a second, Joanna thought the figure standing behind Francesca was a man, but only for a second. Taller than Fran by a few inches, Joanna guessed that Addison Kane was five foot seven or better, and while she was indeed wearing a black three-piece suit, the slim-fitted worsted wool could not hide her femininity. It announced it. With the suit jacket gaping at the chest and the tailored trousers flaring a tad too much at the hips, there was no doubt in Joanna’s mind she was looking at her future wife. And while it was easy to see that Addison Kane was displaying a totally menacing scowl, the intensity of her expression was trumped by her beauty.

Although unimpressed by the way the woman’s hair seemed to be plastered to her head with something tantamount to coal tar, Joanna was impressed with just about everything else. Kane’s complexion was darker than most, appearing almost bronze in the late afternoon sun and her cheekbones were high and prominent. Her nose was classically Greek, narrow and straight, but when Addison removed her Tom Ford aviators, Joanna’s breath caught in her throat. Behind the darkly tinted lenses were possibly the palest blue eyes Joanna had ever seen.

They seemed almost arctic in their color, made even more striking by the faint black edges that surrounded them, and it was all Joanna could do not to stare. Temporarily mesmerized by the woman’s eyes, it took a few rapid heartbeats for Joanna to regroup, and that’s when she noticed something else. By the way Addison Kane’s jaw was set, Joanna knew in an instant the woman was angry...or perhaps livid was a better word.

Joanna displayed a friendly smile as she held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Addison moved back slightly, her posture stiffening as she glared at Joanna’s gesture of friendship. “That makes one of us,” Addison said, storming past Fran. “Now, let’s get this over with.”

Stomping into the house, Addison quickly surveyed her surroundings, instantly rolling her eyes when the run-down lounge came into view. She stopped for a split-second to grimace at the sight of the threadbare sofa before striding into the kitchen and throwing herself into a chair.