"David Drake - RCN 04 - Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

murmuring endearments. "Because you are quite a trophy, you know."

"Ah, mistress--" Daniel said.

"Christine, please," she said. "And you needn't worry that I'll embarrass you later. I know quite a

lot about your tastes, including the sort of young friends you prefer for recreation. I'd offer to help you

there, but I'm sure a handsome hero like yourself is capable of making his own arrangements."

"That's generally been the case in the past, ah, Christine," Daniel said. "And I do appreciate you,

ah, helping me out of an awkwardness."

Daniel didn't like to talk about his father for a number of reasons, not least that he didn't have

anything to say about Corder Leary. They'd had little contact even before the break--which was over

Corder's remarriage, not Daniel's career. He'd joined the RCN in reaction to that blazing row, not as the

cause of it.

Daniel had spent his childhood on the family estate of Bantry, learning a little about decorum from

his mother--a saint, as everybody agreed--and a great deal about hunting, fishing and manhood from

Hogg, a family retainer. There'd been Hoggs poaching on Bantry from the days of the first human

settlement, long before the Hiatus in star travel drew a thousand-year line through history.

In the eight years since the row, Daniel and Corder Leary'd had no contact whatever. Words

had been said that would've meant pistols at dawn if those speaking hadn't been father and son, but even

beyond that....

Corder Leary was a stiff-necked, stubborn man who'd never backed down in a fight. Daniel

wasn't his father and wouldn't have wanted to be him; but much as Daniel revered his late mother, he

knew very well that his temper and his backbone hadn't come from her side of the family.

There was a crush at the refreshments table. Daniel hadn't really been thirsty, just uncomfortable

at the direction Mawhire had taken the conversation, and Christine Jacopus simply wanted to be seen
with the lion of the evening. Instead of forcing his way through, he paused to look around again.

By the etiquette of upper-class Xenos, the only regular servants on the floor were those behind

the refreshments table. The guests' personal attendants were in the balcony above. They could be