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"Oh, yeah?" His voice was low and rough, and he liked it "What about you? Do you like bad boys?"

"There’s definitely appeal," she breathed

"Good" He bent and clipped her earlobe with his teeth The scent of her desire filled the air, and his nostrils flared, taking it in "Because they don’t come badder than me"

"I don’t know…" Her tone was flirty, yet husky, ed the ball of her foot up his calf "I’ a lot of talk and no action"

"You knohat happens when you stir up a hornets’ nest, right?" He nuzzled her neck, enjoying the sound of her soft s"

He opened his ular and allowed his va is a lot ainst him, and he’d have been content to play this scene out, but they’d be pulling into Aswan in a few s I want you to have eaten everything in the box by the tiet back"

She stepped out of his arht have been more effective if she hadn’t whacked her elbow on the wall "You sure are bossy"

He shrugged "Part of the bad boy thing Now eat I don’t want you passing out before we even get to the hotel"

"I’ to pass out--"

He cut her off with a kiss "If you did, I’d catch you" Gods, he’d laugh at either of his brothers if they said that to their mates, the puywhipped idiots So he tried to tell himself this was all part of the seduction That it was all part of his dastardly scheinity and her char but the truth, because the truth was that Serena was turning out to be so much more than athrough Serena’s head as they approached the hotel on foot She didn’t believe him Oh, he walked the walk, talked the talk, and all those other clichés, but she sensed vulnerability beneath the handsoh exterior Like when he’d talked about his childhood That had been a knife to the heart

His e? And her faotten away from that situation? And what had happened to hisin jail somewhere Josh had lived a hellish life, but the fact that he’d survived--with a sense of huth

He walked beside her, sunglasses on, clearing a path through the croith nothingoff the Nile ruffled his hair, and every once in a while he’d rake it back froular profile she’d never tire of ad out in front of a ainst Josh like an old friend

She just shook her head in aentle with a little aniht had been skilled and ni about it

"I wouldn’t have taken you for an animal person," she said, when the cat ran to some scraps tossed into a dish near the shop’s side door

He shrugged "For some reason, they like me My brother’s… wife… has this weasel that won’t leave me alone She says he’s a traitor"

"Your brother?"

"The weasel"

"Well, the weasel has good taste" His faced colored, and she couldn’t help but smile "My mom used to say that a man who hates cats is insecure, but aIf he can appreciate a cat, he can appreciate a strong, independent woman"

He snorted "Sweetheart, I can appreciate any woht?"

At her teasing--okay, fishing for co to see the benefits" He adjusted the bags he carried on his shoulder "So, where are we going?"

She crowded next to hi run over by aup on the curb She loved Egypt, but seriously, no one in this country kne to drive

"Philae," she said "The Temple of Hathor I believe that hidden inside one of the pillars is a stone tablet ritings that are supposed to work in conjunction with the coin I found in Alexandria"

He ground to a halt, jerking her to a stop with him "What is it you plan to do with these artifacts?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity"