Page 77 of Hot & Heavy

"I have two younger brothers. Clay, who is in his last year at Annapolis and will probably become a ring knocker in the SEALs. My other brother, Ross, is an Air Force pilot; you can imagine what my father thinks of that. Then there's my sister Alison. She's a doctor, got married three years ago to a guy who had considered joining the SEALs, but instead turned out to be a real computer genius."

"Like Geek?"

"Yep."

"It sounds to me like each member of your family has chosen his own life path. Your father should be proud of you all."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

"Was it always this bad?"

"Actually, no. He was a little bit autocratic when we were kids, but it's gotten out of hand now. Probably because it's looking less and less likely that one of us will follow in his footsteps."

"If you ask me—"

"I didn't."

She smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "I believe you should reconcile with your father."

"Not that I care, but why would you say that?"

She shrugged. "He is your father. The last words I said to my father were, 'You are the dumbest dolt in all the world to take this voyage. And you risk the lives of all my brothers and sisters you take with you.'

I couldn't imagine how Ragnor and I were to take care of all his holdings in his absence. I called him irresponsible, too."

He could picture her laying into her father in just that way. But what was that about Ragnor? His sister was married to a guy named Ragnor. It wasn't a common name, but there had to be more than one man named Ragnor.

"They all died on that voyage, and Ragnor's death followed more than ten years later, leaving me to hold it all together."

"I'm sorry." I don't believe one word she said. Well, some of it has to be true. That's the technique of a good liar. They take a kernel or two of truth and weave it into a world-class lie.

"Imagine how you would feel if your father died tomorrow."

Uh-oh! Sucker punched by her again! I should have seen it coming. "I would be sad, but—"

"I think you would be devastated."

He ignored her interruption. She always interrupted. "I repeat, I would be sad, very sad, but your argument goes both ways. How would my father feel if I were to die suddenly, which is a more likely scenario in my line of work?"

"He would be devastated, of course. You bullheaded men need to bend at some point."

"You're an expert on bullheaded men?" He was trying to change and lighten the conversation.

"That I am. Let me tell you…"

She went on and on and on then about her experience with bullheaded men, in particular, her father, her brothers, her ex-husband, pretty much the entire male gender. He just let her ramble on. He was actually starting to like her tart personality. Besides, while she rambled on, he was able to concentrate on her legs.

He'd already finished shaving both legs from knee to ankle while they talked, being extra careful around those scars on her ankles… the ones that matched her wrist scars. Sometime in her past, Maddie's legs and hands had been shackled with an abrasive rope, either for a long time or so tightly the skin had been rubbed off.

He started working on her thighs now. Under normal circumstances, he would have considered this a highly erotic activity. He had to remember that he needed to keep his hands to himself if he wanted an annulment. But, man oh man, as he stroked and stroked her with the razor, he was for damn sure thinking about another kind of stroking. Good thing he'd pulled a pair of sweatpants on. The towel wouldn't have hidden a damn thing.

"You have nice hands," Maddie said, interrupting his fantasy.

He held his hands out. Nothing out of the ordinary in his opinion.

"They're big but long-fingered and capable-looking. Also, they are not hairy."

Lady, the things I could do to you with these capable hands! "So, you like my ass and my hands, eh?" he teased. "What else do you like about me?"