Shield's Lady

danger involved in getting it back. You’re a man who is supposedly trained and equipped to handle danger. I’m a businesswoman, not a skilled fighter. I need your particular talents in this search and you have implied you are willing to help me retrieve the cutter, although I do not as yet understand your sudden insistence on completing the task.”
    “I think I’m beginning to see where your logic has led you, Sariana. You’re an amazing creature.”
    “Therefore,” Sariana pressed on vigorously, “as we share a common goal and are both committed to it, I see no reason why we shouldn’t work together as two rational human beings.”
    “This is what you mean by a truce?” Gryph asked thoughtfully.
    She turned to face him squarely, her eyes more mysterious than ever in the shadow of the hood. “Yes.”
    “What about my claim on you?” he asked bluntly.
    She drew a deep breath, as if she were preparing to throw herself into the sea for a late night swim. “We will discuss that when we return to Serendipity with the cutter.”
    Gryph laughed. “It’s all clear to me now. We will sidestep that issue while we’re searching for the cutter. You’ll pretend you aren’t married to me and I will be gentlemanly enough not to bring up the subject. Once we’re back in Serendipity with the cutter, you figure you’ll be able to hop a rigger and return to the eastern provinces covered in glory. There you think you will be safe from western laws and customs, right?”
    “As I said,” Sariana stated demurely, “we can discuss the final resolution to our personal business when the cutter is safely back in Avylyn hands.”
    Gryph shook his head, still grinning. “And just what do you propose we do in the meantime?”
    She tilted her head questioningly. “About what?”
    The last of his amusement faded. “About that single bunk in our cabin. About the fact that I want you more than I want my next breath. About your curiosity to find out if there really is more to passion than a thousand screaming nerve endings.”
    “I am no longer particularly curious about such matters!”
    “Sure you are. You’re intelligent and you’re educated and you know damn well that there must be more to sex than what you found the other night.”
    She looked up at him, not trying to deny such an obvious truth. “I think it would be better if I satisfied my curiosity with another man,” she said seriously.
    Gryph was so astonished he nearly dropped the mug. “Another man? After we have already lain together?” It took him an instant to recover himself. He could tell by the curious expression on her face that she had no real notion of the effort it took to master the wave of possessive rage her words had unleashed within him. He finished off the last of the ale in one long gulp.
    “Gryph? Are you all right?”
    “Do us both a favor, Sariana.” His voice was strained with the tension of containing his anger. “Don’t ever talk to me of going to another man’s bed.”
    “I’m sorry, Gryph,” she said very earnestly. “I can see it upsets you.”
    He lifted his eyes beseechingly toward the stars. “You have a talent for driving me to the edge. Be careful that you don’t succeed in pushing me over one of these days.”
    “I said I’m sorry, but you must try to understand this situation from my point of view. I don’t consider myself married. You cannot, in all good conscience, expect me to submit to the rules and customs established by western First Generation tales. I don’t believe in all your legends.”
    “I could make you believe in them.”
    It was a warning and a declaration, but Sariana did not seem aware of either. For all her logic and her ability with words, his Shieldmate could be amazingly obtuse at times. Gryph was sure that obtuseness was deliberate. She used it when it served her purposes.
    “As I said earlier, Gryph, it would be better if we don’t discuss our personal situation until our mission is accomplished. I urge you to consider my offer of a working truce.”
    Gryph set down the mug, no longer able to resist putting his hands on her. He clasped her shoulders, wondering if she would flinch away from him and oddly pleased when she did not. “If I am to accept a truce, then it will be in all things, not just in the matter of retrieving the cutter.”
    She gazed up at him with dawning relief and satisfaction. “You’ll accept my offer to work together as a team?”
    “As usual, Sariana,