Page 43 of Hot & Heavy

I must be the blindest guy in the universe.

It was the hag… Yasmine.

Except she wasn't a hag.

His eyes went back to her breasts, which were clearly outlined by the drab Navy T-shirt. Yep, it's her.

And there's nothing common about her. Nosirree!

"Oh… my… God!" he said as all the implications hit him in the gut like a sucker punch. His squad members were exclaiming as well, all talking at once.

He stood and started to walk toward her, dazed. It was probably a testosterone trance. So obvious was his reaction to the woman that the guys behind him hooted with laughter. He couldn't care less what they thought.

"Yasmine?" he said.

She blinked several times, then said. "Nay. Mad-die."

Another name. He rolled his eyes.

She punched him in the stomach.

"Hey, why did you do that?"

"One, you abandoned me. Two, you did not tell me how bad I looked. Bloody hell, I almost scared myself when I looked in the mirror. Three, you are not a troll, but a real man. Four, you failed to inform me that you are handsome as all the gods under all that face paint. Five, your hair is rusty brown, not black. Six, I asked you to take me to Baghdad and you bring me to this military fortress. Seven, you put me in a flying bird and almost frightened me to death."

Slowly he grinned. "You think I'm handsome?"

"Pfff. As if you didn't know, you puffed-up son of a lout. Go get me some food. My stomach is screaming, and after arguing with those lackwits in the general's office, I have a megrim that would down a dragon. I will sit over here." She waved a hand airily and sat down at the next table. Her two guards sat, too… looking a bit poleaxed. He knew how they felt.

He still grinned, though. When had her nagging started to have an appeal? Shaking his head to clear it, he went over to get her a tray of food, like a bloomin' lackey.

When he came back, he sat down across from her. Amber and Dolores kept a constant eye on their

"prisoner" but went over to the next table. Immediately they began to talk with the guys on his squad, who were mouthing suggestions to him and making hand gestures, all of which were obscene.

He noticed that Yasmine was sniffing her arm. She even lifted her arm and smelled her armpit. Subtlety was not her strong point. "Yas… I mean, Maddie, what are you doing?"

"Smelling myself."

"Why?"

"Because I smell good, lackwit."

Considering how she'd stunk to high heaven before, anything would be an improvement.

"My skin smells like flowers and my hair smells like apples. If I run into a swarm of bees or a hungry horse, you may have to rescue me."

Was she actually making a joke? Wonders never ceased. Meanwhile, she continued to sniff herself.

"Can I come over there and smell you, too?" he teased.

She gave him a look that pretty much said, Do and die!

"Yasmine…" he started to say.

She glared at him.

He propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. "Maddie… I keep forgetting. You sure do lie a lot, don't you, Maddie?"