Sword Born-Sword Dancer 5 by Jennifer Roberson Read Free Book Online Page A

also isn't so stupid as to be taken in by false advances."
    "How do you know?"
    "A woman who captains her own ship--and a crew of eight males--is likely immune to such blandishments as a man might devise, who hopes to win her favor merely to serve himself." Del caught her balance against the rail. "She is a killer, Tiger. She would not have survived to captain a ship--and this crew of eight males--if she lacked wisdom or ability."
    "But she might be taken unawares," I countered, "with just the right man. Command gets lonely after awhile."
    "She might," Del conceded eventually, "and you do have a full complement of what some women call charm--"
    "You certainly seem to."
    "--so it's likely worth a try."
    I contemplated her expression. Inscrutable. "Well?"
    Del's mouth twisted briefly. "I saw you looking at her. I think you would not be opposed to undertaking this option."
    I opened my mouth, shut it. Began again. "If she were ugly, she wouldn't believe it."
    "An attractive woman is more accustomed to such things, and therefore is prepared for unwanted advances. And defeats them."
    I knew a little about that myself. "But if the woman carries a sword, knife, and whatever else she might have hidden on that body, a lot of men wouldn't consider making any advances at all." Not if he wanted to keep his gehetties.
    "Which means it is left to the woman," Del said. "As it was left to me."
    I jerked upright. "What?"
    "It was."
    Bruises, stiff muscles, and various scrapes protested my too-hasty motion. "Gods of valhail, woman, you were cold as a Northern lake when we met!"
    "When we met, I wanted only a guide."
    "That's what I mean. Ice cold. That was you."
    "Arrogant," she said. "A braggart. A man who believed women belonged only in his bed."
    I relaxed again, leaned against elbows propped on rope and stretched out reef-scoured legs. "All I ever claimed was to be the best sword-dancer in the South. Being honest isn't arrogant, and mentioning it from time to time serves a purpose in the right company. As for believing women belong only in my bed, well ..." I cleared my throat. "I think it's fair to say there are indeed times when a woman in my bed is a worthwhile, um, goal." I waggled eyebrows at her suggestively. "Wouldn't you agree?"
    "Which is why it was I who had to convince you to get into mine."
    "You did not--"
    "Oh, you put on a good show, all that bragging you did about being the infamous Sandtiger, feared by men and beloved by women--"
    "Hey!"
    "--but when it came right down to it, when it came to the doing, you were reluctant."
    "Was not."
    "Were so."
    I considered mentioning ten or twenty names I could rattle off without stopping to think about it, just from the year before Del showed up, but decided even as I opened my mouth that names of women were not truly the issue, and if I named them, I might get myself in trouble. "If I was reluctant--and that's not an admission I was, mind you--it was because you'd been very clear about wanting only a guide." I sniffed. "For a woman who rarely explains anything, you were definitely clear on that point."
    "That is my point," she said. "When I let you know there could be more between us, you ran the other way."
    "Did not."
    "Did so."
    Impasse. Finally I asked, "What does any of this have to do with getting off this boat? In one piece?"
    "Your plan seems to entail seduction."
    "I said it was an option, yes. And it is. One of the oldest in whatever book you care to read." Which meant it might not work; then again, it had been used with success enough times to end up in the book.
    Del's turn to sniff. "You were quick enough to volunteer me for the option--except the captain isn't a man, so that won't work."
    "It was you who said I was looking at her!"
    "You were."
    "So were you."
    "Tiger, I do have some acquaintance with the look in a man's eyes when he notes an attractive woman."
    She would. "It doesn't hurt anything to look."
    "Of course not."
    That sounded suspiciously like she was