The mug missed, which was a good thing, since he never saw it coming. He heard it slam into the sink and shatter, though. Warm fluid was running down the side of his face and obscuring his vision. He took a stumbling step forward, trying to preempt future missiles. He nearly fell over the coffee table, which movement, fortuitously for him, caused her to miss his head with the big red Webster's Unabridged. It hit his right shoulder instead.

"Shit!"

"What's with all the noise?" Dandy Mike said, peeking in the door, and ducked back just in time to avoid the poker. It missed Jim, striking the wall next to the door instead and landing at his feet with a clang. "Never mind, none of my business, just checking in. I'll be leaving now," said Dandy Mike, his voice barely audible over the sound of feet rapidly retreating down the stairs.

She'd snatched up an Aladdin lamp, the reservoir still half-filled with oil, when he tackled her and wrestled her onto the couch. The chimney fell off the lamp and miraculously did not break as it rolled beneath the table.

"Stop it, Kate," he said, breathing hard. "Damn it, I said stop it!"

This as she dropped the lamp and he got an elbow to the jaw that made his teeth snap together painfully. He caught her hands and pushed them into the small of her back. She head-butted him. "Ouch! Jesus!" The only way to immobilize her was to lie on her full length, which he did. It wasn't even funny how long he'd been waiting to get her horizontal and this was the only way he could get it done.

"Get off me!"

"What the hell is the matter with you!"

She tried to knee him in the groin. He shifted at the last possible minute. "Kate," he said. He was angry now. "Knock it off."

She heaved beneath him, trying to throw him off, and they both rolled to the floor, Kate on the bottom. She inhaled sharply. "Get off me!" He'd lost his grip on her hands in the fall, and she tried to hit him. He grabbed her hands again and held them over her head.

"Jesus!" he said. "What the hell is the matter with you!"

"Get off me, you son of a bitch! Get off!”

Their eyes met, hers narrow and furious, his widening as realization struck.

"You're jealous," he said.

She erupted in a fury of denial, kicking, butting, hitting, elbows, knees, feet, everything in action. "Let me go!"

He felt as if he were trying to hold on to an earthquake. "Christ! Stop it, Kate! Ouch!" This when she kicked him in the shin. "Kate!" She tried to head-butt him again. She was strong and agile, but he was bigger and getting angrier. After another attempt on his balls, he kneed her legs apart and pressed her down.