Shields Lady (43 page)

            He was silent for a few seconds and then he stopped for a moment, wrapped his hand around her neck and tugged her close for a hard, possessive kiss. When he released her Sariana's lips felt slightly bruised. She looked up into his glittering eyes.

            "I know why," Gryph admitted so softly Sariana could hardly hear the words. "You and I, we share something very special, don't we?"

"I've come to the conclusion that we do." Sariana smiled tremulously.

            They found the sled a short time later. Gryph hauled it out of the water and proceeded to survey the damage. He grumbled a lot about inexperienced river sled pilots and made several comments on the nature of luck and women and then he got the craft running.

            "You westerners are so clever," Sariana said with amused admiration as they floated into the middle of the river.

            "I'm glad to see you're finally able to acknowledge a little of the local talent," Gryph muttered as he expertly set the sled skipping downstream.

            When the late afternoon shadows descended, Gryph chose a small, protected cove in which to set up camp. He had become quieter and quieter as the day wore on. Sariana knew he was anxious to get back to Little Chance to see if Delek had returned with the other Shields.

            The storage lockers of the small sled had survived the encounter with the rapids. The food supplies were intact, and as she set about fixing dinner over the fire Gryph had built, Sariana realized she was very hungry. She served the simple meal in silence.

            Gryph accepted his plate with moody concentration. Sariana watched as he methodically ate his food. There was no flicker of awareness in her head. Whatever he was thinking, Gryph was obviously determined to keep it to himself.

            A short time later, Sariana undressed down to her chemise and slid under the travel quilt Gryph had spread out on the deck. Gryph was already under it, his arms folded behind his head, his gaze fixed on the narrow patch of stars overhead. She reached out to touch him gently.

"Gryph? Is something wrong?"

"I've been thinking."

            "Yes, I know," Sariana said gently. "But I don't know what you're thinking. I've been trying to read your mind all evening. It looks like you're right. The link doesn't work unless one of us is trying to project. It's very frustrating at times."

He continued to gaze resolutely at the stars. "I was thinking about us. You and me. Our marriage."

            "Oh."

            "You've been right all along." There was a note of grudging respect in his voice. "I've been very arrogant. It probably wasn't fair to marry you the way I did."

            "An interesting admission for a Shield," Sariana said dryly. "What brought you to that conclusion?" "I'm not sure," he said honestly. "But I've been thinking about it this afternoon and I've decided there's

only one honorable thing for me to do."

Sariana held her breath. "What's that?'

            He sat up without any warning. The quilt fell to his waist and faint starlight played on his broad shoulders. The same light also highlighted the proud planes of his face. "You have a right to choose, Sariana," he declared. "If you really want to go home to Rendezvous and become an executive in your clan's firm, I have no right to stop you."

            Sariana probed silently for an accompanying mental image that would tell her he meant what he was saying. But it was useless. Gryph was definitely not projecting. It occurred to her that as they had both become more proficient at communicating, they also seemed to have learned some skills that guarded their privacy.

            "I see," said Sariana, "that's certainly very noble and generous of you. I know how you westerners tend to assume that your ways are the only acceptable ways."

            Gryph hesitated and then growled, "You easterners have the same problem, I believe." "I suppose we do." She smiled her most brilliant smile.

Gryph glared at her. "Well?"

"Well what?" she countered.

            He shot to his feet and paced to the bow of the sled. He was still wearing his trousers. "Are you going to take me up on my offer to let you go back to Rendezvous?"

            "Are you sure you mean it? I recall you once threatened to track me down and drag me back no matter how far I ran or where I hid. There's not much point of my accepting your generous offer if you're just going to chase after me."

            Gryph sat down on a small storage locker, his palms spread wide on his thighs. He was tense and alert, a piece ofprisma waiting to be detonated. "If I give you my word I won't chase after you - "

            "Are you giving me your word?" Sariana asked with great interest.

"We'll get to that after you tell me what you want to do."

            "Well, going home might be interesting. When I bring this cutter back to the Avylyns, it's going to put the seal on my success in the west. And if I can use that success to convince the academy to accept me, I could complete my education and take my rightful place in my clan's firm. It's certainly an interesting proposition."

            Gryph lost the slender thread of his patience. "Stop throwing words at me! Just tell me what you want."

            "And if I tell you, will you give it to me?" she asked softly. "I'll try."

"Why?" she persisted.

            "Because I love you," he roared. The words echoed between the canyon walls, filling the night. "Damn it, Sariana, I love you more than anything else on this planet. I finally realized that. The bond I feel with you isn't just based on physical passion. I know that now. I want you to be happy."

            Lucky, curied in a cloak pocket, stuck its head out and hissed inquiringly.

            Sariana smiled at Gryph as she got to her feet and walked over to him. "That's all I need to make me stay."

His hands caressed her shoulders. "Sariana, do you mean that?"

            "I think I've been living in the west too long," she said with loving amusement. "I've fallen in love and I've developed the most illogical, unreasonable, unbusinesslike desire to be loved by you in return. I was fairly certain you did love me, but I'm glad to hear the words. Even with the mental link between us some things still need to be said in the old-fashioned way."

            Gryph's relieved chuckle became a hoarse nimble of desire as Sariana rested her head against his bare shoulder. He slid his hands down Sariana's chemise to her waist, gripped her hard and lifted her high above him. He looked up at her, starlight in his eyes.

            "I've lived in the west all my life, Sariana, but I didn't know what love was until I met you. My main concern was ensuring the future of my clan. Nothing was as important as that until I met you. I didn't even realize I was in love until I started thinking about doing the right thing and allowing you to choose your future, regardless of what that choice did to my own. You teach a rough lesson, lady."

            "You see?" Sariana murmured as he let her slide sensually down the length of his hard body. "You westerneis don't know everything, not even about love. You just think you do."

            A long time later they lay together, saying nothing, just drifting in and out of each other's satisfaction. The intimacy of their link faded slowly to be replaced by the old-fashioned intimacy of lovers enjoying the sweet aftermath of joining.

            Gryph reluctantly stirred to reach down and pull up the quilt. "About that prisma," Sariana murmured sleepily, "I have an idea."

            She never got the chance to finish. There was a faint movement on the shore and a soft hiss from Lucky. Sariana recoiled as Gryph rose to his feet, his hand reaching for an object in his trousers.

            Sariana knew the intruder had to be the third bandit. Old business, she suddenly realized, should never be left unfinished.

Chapter 20

            IT was over before Sariana could kick herself free of the quilt. She heard a choked yell from the attacker soon after Gryph's hand sliced through the air in a short, lethal motion. Something connected with the other man's throat.

            The bandit crumpled and fell over the low railing into the water. Silence descended. Gryph walked to the edge of the sled and glanced over the side.

"He'll drown," Sariana said weakly.

            "Probably." Gryph didn't seem overly interested in the matter. He reached over to unlock a storage locker and remove a small vapor lamp.

            Sariana felt a chill go through her. She peered over the edge of the craft. "I think we ought to pull him out of the water, Gryph. It isn't right to just leave him there."

Gryph switched on the lamp and scanned the shoreline. He was obviously preoccupied. "He was

trying to kill us in case you didn't notice."

            "I noticed!" Irritated, Sariana started to climb over the edge of the railing. "What did you use on him?" "The belt buckle you gave me. It was the closest thing available."

            "Is everything you touch a potential weapon?" she demanded, seriously incensed. Reaction, she told herself. She was suffering from reaction.

"Not quite." He spoke absently, his attention still on the shoreline.

            "Name one thing that isn't a weapon for you!"

            "You." He turned to glance at her, frowning as he realized she was almost over the side. "Where do you think you're going?"

            "I'm going to pull that bandit out of the water." She landed knee-deep in the black water and began fumbling for something that felt like a body. Her hand connected with a boot. She started hauling it toward the shore. "And don't tell me you can't turn me into a weapon just like you do everything else. What about the way you used me to neutralize that prisma ship?"

            "Storm and light, Sariana, you really take things to extremes at times, don't you?" Gryph set down the lamp and vaulted over the side. Impatiently he jerked the half-conscious bandit from her grasp. "Here, give him to me. I don't know what the point of saving him is, but if it will make you happier - "

            "That's one of the things I love about you, Gryph," she said in dulcet tones. "My happiness always comes first with you."

            He glanced at her sharply and then shook his head with a rueful grin. "Mouthy wench." "You love it. Tell me something, Gryph. Would you really have let me go home to Rendezvous?"

            His teeth flashed in the shadows. "What do you think?"

            She grinned back. "I think we're both very lucky we won't have to test the limits of your loving generosity."

            "I think you're right. How could I have let you go, Sariana? You're part of me now. But don't I get some credit for at least trying to do the noble thing?"

"Of course, my love."

            She watched him drag his victim to shore. The bandit sputtered and coughed and then proceeded to lose the contents of his stomach.

            "Keenshee guano," Gryph muttered, yanking his bare foot out of the way. "This is my reward for humoring my wife. I'd like to know what you plan to do with this piece of garbage now that you've saved his neck."

            "He should be taken back to Little Chance to stand trial," Sariana said stoutly. Gryph just looked at her as if she weren't very bright. "We already know he's guilty of everything from

dealing with live prisma to attempted murder."

"That's for a jury to determine."

            "Sariana, have you gone mad? This man is Shield business. My business. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am his judge and his jury."

            "Well, you're not going to be his executioner," she told him forcefully. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I've decided that one of your problems is that Shields have kept to themselves too much. They operate too independently of the rest of society. They're too secretive. There are too many mysteries surrounding them. They deliberately do things that keep people in awe of them. They take pride in their reputations as warriors. But the plain truth is they exist on the fringes of respectable society. That's a dangerous place to be in the long run. It not only makes you Shields vulnerable as a class, it also stunts your growth."

"What in the name of the Lightstonn are you talking about now?"

            Sariana clambered back on board the sled. "I told you I've been doing some thinking about this, Gryph. I'm convinced that you Shields aren't going to last much longer as an important, respectable class unless you take steps to modernize yourselves. The people of this world are moving fast on both continents. You have to move with the times. You have to stop living solely on the frontiers. What are you going to do when there are no more bandits to fight?"

"There will always be bandits of one kind or another," Gryph said with certainty.

            "Well, perhaps, but the people of the western provinces may decide they can form their own militia to control them, just as they've formed their own town guards."

            "Sariana, this isn't exactly the time or the place to discuss social philosophy." But Sariana was in full sail. She had some points to make and now seemed like an excellent time to

make them.

            "I'll tell you something else, Gryph. I bet it wouldn't be nearly as hard for Shields to find wives if they had easier access to the same society and opportunities the other classes have. Oh, sure, according to the Pact, you can look for a wife at any level of society, but as it stands, most respectable families keep their daughters quietly out of sight when they know there's a Shield in the vicinity. Who would want to lose a daughter to some stranger whose only job skills are throat cutting and working prisma? They know he'll sweep the poor girl away from home and family and society and take her to live in some remote frontier town. I'll tell you right now, most mothers will fight that tooth and nail. Most fathers probably will, too. No wonder you Shields have a hard time meeting potential Shield-mates. When was the last time anyone invited one of you to tea?"