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

pulling my leg--or else saw my point. Which raised another issue. "Do you look?"
    "Of course I look."
    "At other men?"
    "A woman looks at other men the way a man looks at other women."
    "She does?"
    "Of course she does."
    I had never considered that. It was new territory. Negotiating carefully, I said, "You mean women who aren't married."
    "I mean any woman, Tiger. If she sees a man she considers attractive--or thinks he might be attractive, but needs additional study--she looks."
    "Even if she's married." I paused. "Or sharing another man's bed. For three years."
    Del smiled. "Yes," she said gently, "I look."
    "How often?"
    She was laughing at me. "Ask yourself the same question."
    "That often?"
    She crossed to the coil of rope, sat down beside me. Leaned her shoulder into mine.
    "You look. I look. Looking is not leaping."
    "And is there any man here you might look at? Without leaping?"
    "Oh, I might look at the first mate."
    "Him? He's bald!"
    "He shaves his head; I've seen the shadow. And the shape of his skull is good."
    "He's got those blue tattoos all over it!"
    "They are beautiful designs, too, so intricate and fluid."
    "He has rings in his eyebrows!" And, for all I knew, elsewhere.
    "That, I admit, is not so attractive. But--different." She shrugged. "He's interesting looking."
    "Anything else?"
    Del nodded, then tipped her head into mine. Softly she said, "He has your eyes."
    "My eyes?"
    "Green," she said. "And while one can see the competence in them, the confidence and willingness to risk himself, one can also see the laughter."
    I digested that. "I don't see that there's much to laugh about, in our present situation."
    "He does."
    "He should!"
    "Then it's up to us to find a way to stop the laughter in his eyes, and put it back in yours."
    I twisted my mouth. "Which brings us around to the captain again."
    "So it does."
    "And if she's as smart as you believe she is, it might take a while. This--seduction."
    "It might."
    I scowled into sea spray. "You don't sound all that upset about it, bascha."
    "Because I will have my own task to do."
    "What's that?" I asked suspiciously.
    "Seducing the first mate."
    "De-li-lah!"
    "Think with your head," she admonished, "not with--something else. If you should succeed in winning the captain's favors enough that it gains you a knife or sword so you may take her hostage against our safety, her crew will come for me."
    So they would. I'd never believed otherwise.
    "And so," she continued, "I should arm myself as well so they can't take me to force the issue, and then they will have no choice but to let us assume command. And have our captain freed, so he can sail this boat."
    "Ship," I corrected. "And this is about the silliest plan I ever heard."
    "Men who want something have seduced women throughout the centuries, Tiger. You yourself admitted it."
    "I hope you're going to point out that women have used seduction to gain things, too."
    "Of course they have. Men are ridiculously easy to manipulate from between the blankets."
    I glared at her.
    She shrugged. "You only think it's silly because we'll both be doing the same thing at the same time for the same reason."
    "This is your revenge," I accused.
    "You have no problem with me going into the circle, Tiger. Or killing to save our lives."
    "Of course not." Now. Once I had, on both counts.
    "And you were suggesting that I might seduce the captain, were he a man."
    "I said it was an option--"
    "But now that I'm so willing to seduce this first mate even as you are seducing the captain, the plan makes you uncomfortable." She paused. "Why is that?"
    My head hurt. "I don't know!"
    Del sighed. "Small steps," she murmured, "But enough of them lead to the same destination."
    She was being cryptic again. I hate that. "What in hoolies are you talking about now?"
    "I can fight enemies with you, kill with you, sleep with you. But not seduce someone else even as you are engaged in the same activity." She arched pale brows. "You do not--yet--care