Page 90 of Hot & Heavy

Cage, bless the rascal, had told her of Mercenary magazine, and read her notices of hired soldiers willing to go anywhere.

Geek worked endlessly when he was here, teaching her to read and write, as well as map out a path she might take back to Norstead.

She and Omar had become quite the cooking experts. She taught him some Norse dishes; he taught her about spicy Arab foods.

Despite all this—the tea-vee, the jewels, the hired warriors, her reading and writing, and the cooking—

Madrene was miserable. For one whole sennight, Ian had not spoken to her. Of course, she had not spoken to him, either, but that was not relevant, in her opinion.

He should have attempted to speak with her about their mutual decision to halt their lovemaking. Not that she would change her mind. Nay, regaining Norstead had to be her priority. She could not let sex with Ian distract her. He would try to change her mind, she knew he would.

Oh, my gods and goddesses! Look at that. Samantha is naked— Samantha, the naked woman, not the cat— and so is the young man. And he is swiving her in front of one and all. Loudly. And so hard the bed is moving. She put a hand to her flushed cheek and looked at Cage. He just winked at her.

Of course, Ian chose that moment to walk in.

His eyes went wide as he took in her and Cage sitting on the floor next to each other with their backs against the sofa, shook his head at Sam snoring on her shoulders, blinked several times at the program on the tea-vee— Honest to Odin! I never knew two people could do THAT?—and returned his attention to the two of them. He was wearing his brown uniform, and he looked so handsome Madrene could have swooned. Dropping his leather case to the floor, he addressed Cage. "This is how you guard her?

You're here to work, not play."

At the sound of Ian's voice, Sam raised her head, saw it was only her "father" and went back to sleep.

Despite Ian's vile tone, Cage responded brightly, "Hey, I've got my AK-47 on the end table and a pistol in my pocket. There are motion detectors on every door and window. Sly and JAM are outside. We've got everything covered, man."

Ian shook his head at Cage and said, "Come into the kitchen. I want to update you on the latest happenings."

He walked away from them then. Without even greeting Madrene at all. The boorish oaf!

"Guess you should come, too," Cage said to her.

She eased Sam off her shoulders and gave her a little kiss before standing. Ian hadn't specifically invited her, but if his news involved her, she had every right to be present.

She hoped he didn't yell at her.

She was very worried about that vein.

The two men poured themselves goblets of that bitter brew, cough-he, and she got herself a Pepsi. Ian sat at one end of the table, she at the other, and Cage in between.

Ian didn't even acknowledge she was there.

Well, that wasn't quite true. There was a tic going in his right jaw, and the vein emerged, too. He was aware of her, for a certainty. That gave her a strange sort of satisfaction.

She was aware of him, too. Excessively aware. She never should have made love with him. It made it that much harder to resist him now. Not that he was pursuing her.

At odd times, she noticed a sadness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Earth to Maddie. Earth to Maddie," Cage said.

She was jolted back to the present. "What?"

"Ian asked me if you were staying away from windows and doorways."

"Tell him yes. Tell him that message has been drilled into me. Tell him he is being childish and immature and a boor."

"Tell her she's a liar if she says I was boring with her."

"Tell the dolt I said boor… a rough clod… not boring."

Cage's head kept swinging back and forth between the two of them. He was grinning.