Page 15 of Hot & Heavy

She could swear she heard laughter coming from his appendage.

He exhaled with exasperation, just like her father used to do when she nagged him endlessly. "You escaped from nine different Arabs who tried to make you their harem girl, and you were passed from one to the other because you can make their cocks wilt."

"Precisely." She smiled at him before she caught herself, then frowned some more.

"How did you wind up with the first… sultan?"

"Ah, that is a long and painful story."

He glanced at his bound legs. "It doesn't appear as if I'm going anywhere soon."

"I am a noblewoman in my own country."

"You're not Arab?"

"Nay." Why he was surprised she could not say. Surely she did not resemble Arab women, not with her light hair and fair skin. Mayhap her complexion had darkened during her sojourn in this land.

"Where do you come from?"

Once again, she cautioned herself not to disclose too much information. She thought a moment and then said, "The Rus lands."

"You're Russian?" Shock showed on his face, and he muttered something about the Pent-dragon going to be interested in that information.

One thing stood out in his mutterings. The word dragon. Yea, he must indeed be a troll who lived in the land of dragons.

Just then, there appeared to be a lot of chatter coming from his appendage.

"Lower the volume on my headset," he ordered her.

"Huh? Who are you to give me orders?"

"My headset—turn it down, dammit."

"Why do you want me to turn down the set of your head? Does it hurt?"

"Adjust the frickin' volume, here, near my ear." He jerked his head, indicating the part of the appendage that came out of his ear.

Peering closer, she decided it might not be a part of his body, but a part of that thing in his ear. But she was taking no chances. "Nay. It might bite me."

"Bite you? I have landed in a loony bin. No, bite me!" he said with chagrin. If his hands were free, he would probably be tearing at his hair as her father had been wont to do on occasion when exasperated with her. She guessed she knew what his expression meant. 'Twas like Askil the Angry, who used to say "Eat my nose!" when he was especially angry.

"Bite me? Is that another of your ridiculous sayings?" She raised her chin haughtily and said something she never in her old life would have dared say. "Nay, I will not bite you. Bite me!" She felt herself blush like a young maid.

His brown eyes—and, yes, she could see in the dim light from the cave's opening that they were brown as clover honey—almost bulged with astonishment. She was astonished herself and wished she could take the words back, especially since she belatedly suspected a different meaning to those words. But she was ne'er one to back down once she'd taken a stand.

"You are priceless, sweetheart," he said and began to laugh… and laugh… and laugh.

"Mayhap I will kill you after all," she said.

The brute continued to laugh.

Caving in…

Ian took one last look at the screwball in front of him, then turned his attention back to his headset, which was staticky for a couple seconds more. That was why he'd wanted her to lower the volume.

"Cat One here. I say, Cat One. Do you read me?"

"Damn, where've you been?" asked Pretty Boy, who carried the satellite radio equipment. From his hushed voice it was obvious he was in a position where stealth was required. In fact, Ian could hear gunfire in the background.