Page 117 of Hot & Heavy

"Because I love the loathsome lout."

"Spoken like a true Norsewoman," her father proclaimed.

She made him an offer he couldn't refuse …

Ian's nerves were shot by the time his meetings ended three hours later. He was worried about Maddie.

"I'm worried about you," his commander told him as they walked across the O-course.

It's not me you should be worried about. Ian's eyebrows arched.

"You haven't been to counseling since your Iraq mission ended. The other guys have, but not you."

All SEALs were required to meet with the base psychologist after every field op, the theory being that killing people can affect the mind. Like anyone who's ever killed another human being doesn't know that! The Navy did not want its men going bonkers from lack of proper mental care.

"I'll make an appointment for next week," he promised.

"We need to talk about this so-called marriage of yours, too."

There's nothing "so-called" about it in my mind. "I will not discuss my personal life with you or anyone else."

"Your personal life is the Navy's business, whether you like it or not."

Ian bit his tongue to stop himself from saying more. He didn't give a rat's ass what the commander, or the Navy, or the whole freakin' world thought about his marriage. It was real, or it would be as soon as he could make it legal.

He said good-bye to the commander, then turned away. As he started driving his car across the Silver Strand, his cell phone rang. Recognizing his home phone number on the caller i.d., he groaned. Please, God, not someone asking me if I know what my wife is doing.

"Ian?"

"Maddie?"

He was surprised, never having known Maddie to use a telephone before.

"I'm calling you on the tell-off-own," she told him.

"I know." He smiled. "I love you." Why he felt the need to say that, he didn't know. Well, yes, he did.

JAM's news had put the fear of God in him.

"I love you, too," she whispered.

"Where are you?"

"In the closet?"

The closet? "Why?"

"Torolf showed me how to dial the tell-off-own, but I wanted privacy."

"Are you all right?"

"Nay, I am not all right."

He sat up straighter as he drove. "What's happened? Maybe you should go to the hospital for a checkup, just in case. I thought you'd be okay with your family. I thought you would want this extra time with them."

"I am fine, physically, but I must tell you, Ian, an hour with my family and I begin to feel suffocated Three hours and I am ready to go back to the harems."

"Same thing when I'm around my father. Not the harems, but the suffocation."