When Abbey arrived home just before 3, Joe told her that he had invited some friends for a few drinks, and he told her that she would have to serve th...em. As Abbey worked as a waitress, this did not seem to be anything special – that is, until Joe told her to go into her bedroom and put on the special outfit he had bought for her to wear as she served.Intrigued, Abbey went to her room and looked for the outfit. Immediately, she saw a box placed on her bed, and she was eager to see what Joe had. The man stopped, only a few paces away from her and looked up at the sky, his shoulders going slack. He turned his head, just a little, to watch Miranda struggle again with her possessions, eyes still hidden by shades. He took a long drag from his cigarette, exhaled hard through his nose, then turned and stalked towards her. ‘For fuck’s sake!’ he snarled, ‘Up!’ He took her uninjured arm and yanked the startled woman to her feet. Stooping down, he grabbed her things. ‘You keep the sodding. She began hyperventilating. "You...arrogant, selfish, presumptuous, stupid—!"He burst into laughter. She'd never heard him laugh this way. He sounded like he'd lost his mind. Maybe he has, she realized. After all, he did tell her that the mummy got up and walked away.The mummy!"Quit fooling around," she said. “We need to check on the condition of that artifact.”"Don't go out there," Marcus said, giggling under his breath but more or less regaining his composure. "I really think it's. I can imagine it doesn’t. You’re a decent man, Reg Smith. Suppose I tell you that one of the trainees would be helped by some individual attention from you? That she would happily clean your apartment, and be delighted to share your bed? That doing so would really raise her self-esteem? That she would love to be your concubine? In fact, I suspect she would marry you, if you asked.”She would never have imagined that big, tough, Regimental Sergeant Major Reg Smith could go as pale as he did.