Page 85 of Hot & Heavy

"Let me guess. You brought some babe into your house while Maddie was asleep and did the deed on the couch." They stood waiting in the food line, and Pretty Boy was having a great time tapping his chin in exaggerated contemplation. "No, that doesn't seem right. It must be… could it be?… our boss nailed the decoy."

Ian tried to punch Pretty Boy in the arm, but he ducked away. Luckily, Ian was spared any further discussion on the subject. His cell phone rang.

"Yo, Mac," Cage said. He could hear the laughter in his voice.

Uh-oh!

"Guess what your wife is doing, bless her heart?"

Uh-oh! "Stop playing games. What the hell is up?"

"Well, me, I am pretty sure… but I better check with my binoculars again… yep, I'm pretty sure that's your wife out there swimming in the surf."

"I'll kill her," he muttered.

"Oh, did I forget to mention skinny dipping? Yep, your wife is N-U-D-E," he spelled out.

"Fuck!"

"Seems to me you already did that, by the looks of her when she came outside. Mon Dieu! She had whisker burns up one side and down the other. And her lips—whooee, they—"

"Shut up!"

"A little testy today, are you, mon coeur?"

"Don't give me that 'my friend' crap. Where's Geek? He's supposed to be watching her."

"He was in the head when she slipped out."

Shit! Cage and Geek both looking at my wife's nude body. Aaarrgh! She's not really my wife. But I still don't want other men ogling her. "How long has she been out there?"

"About ten minutes."

"You have been standing there watching her for ten minutes?" he asked in an icy voice.

"Yep!"

"I'll be right home."

"Do you want me to go in and get her?"

" No! Is that clear?"

"How could it not be? You about melted the wax in my ears."

He hung up then on Cage, who was laughing like a hyena.

Ian was so angry he was shaking. He didn't care how good Maddie was in the sack, he was going to kill her. Well, he did care, but he was still going to kill her.

He slammed his cell phone shut and noticed everyone was looking at him. And every single one of them was smiling.

A far journey was obviously in her future…

Madrene was learning to read.

If she had known she would get such joy from the simple task of practicing letters on a piece of parchment, she would have taken time when she was a child to study along with her brothers and their monk teachers. She had started her lessons early this morning until she'd taken a break for a quick swim … something she had learned to do as a toddler in the cold waters of a Norseland fjord. Vikings, who were most comfortable in the seas riding their longships, considered swimming a necessary skill.

Geek said she was a quick learner and he gave her homework to do on the days when he was not there.