"Sharon Green - Diana Santee 2 - Gateway To Xanadu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

other commitments impractical, especially long-term ones. My body has certain needs, and I see to them
whenever I like the looks of available partners; if you're thinking about telling me that Val has kept
himself pure waiting for his one true lady love, you have a shock coming. No man ever got to his level
of expertise by abstaining, and please note that we're not discussing opinion. I've had to acquire a certain
level of expertise myself to satisfy certain of my job requirements, and I can assure you that I know what
I'm talking about."

"I don't doubt that," he answered, amused now. "And I didn't mean to imply that Valdon was a sheltered
innocent. The reactions of the field team girls he paired with made that clear enough."

"Then what were you implying?" I asked, genuinely curious. If there was a point to the conversation I'd
been a part of for the last few minutes, it would have been nice knowing what it was.

"What makes you think I was implying anything?" he countered, more amused, calmly folding his arms
again. "I just happened to be taking the opportunity to voice a couple of my own opinions. I didn't say
they had anything to do with Valdon. You'll see to it, then, that your people don't let him get in over his
head?"

"Cross my heart and hope to spit wooden nickels," I promised, holding up my free hand. "Was that all
you were looking for, a promise to protect your delicate little former second, and a true, unvarnished
declaration on my philosophy of life'? No sworn blood oaths that I return him as sweet and untarnished
as I'm getting him?"

"Your penchant for sarcasm must find you almost as much trouble as your line of work," Dameron
remarked, looking down at me with seeming annoyance, and then the twinkle came back. "No, I don't
need an oath like that from you about Valdon; I already have one from Valdon about you. Some of us
still believe in the basic premise that women are there to be looked after and protected."

I stared at him in a disbelieving way for a minute, then burst out laughing. His dark brows lowered over
his eyes in a frown that showed lack of understanding, causing me to laugh even harder, then shake my
head at him.

"That's a hell of a sentiment to be coming from the man who deliberately set me up to be attacked by
sword-swinging baddies," I pointed out when I could, still chuckling. "Not to mention the enslavement
part. Are you sure you're not talking about Val this time?"

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"Maybe I am," he agreed very quietly, with a small, sad smile, his dark eyes now unreadable. I cursed
myself for an idiot and for having such a big mouth, but, the damage was already done. I'd been well-
enough aware. of the guilt Dameron had felt over what had happened to me down on Tildor, but I'd
thought he'd managed to put it behind him. Telling him I didn't blame him would probably only have
made it worse, but I was about to try exactly that when he threw off the dark mood and straightened
again.

"At any rate," he said as if there had been no interruption, "Valdon has those papers Phalsyn told you
about, and the two of you can convert the time measurement in them to something your people will