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

"Nothing but a couple of mild surprise reactions, is that it?" he asked, ignoring my smile as he settled
himself on the neighboring couch, stretching his big body out in a relaxed sprawl. "Are you sure that's
all it was?"

"What else could it have been?" I asked with mildly curious and very innocent reason, at the same time
wondering if he could have found out about the double-check run. "It's embarrassing to admit, but I'm
afraid I forgot you were here. "

I showed my embarrassment in my smile, but he still wasn't paying any attention to it. His dark black
eyes continued to stare at me out of an expressionless face under dark black hair, and he didn't seem to
be as relaxed as his sprawl might suggest. He was still wearing his cobalt blue base uniform, but that
wasn't a likely reason for what seemed like discomfort.

"Are you sure you forgot I was here?" he asked very quietly, keeping those eyes on me. "Are you sure it
wasn't more a matter of remembering all too well? Didn't you see that I took the other cabin?"

"I don't understand," I told him. "Why would I say I forgot when I remembered? And what has cabins
got to do with, anything?"

"I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to worry about my being here," he said very gently. "Whatever
happened between us at the base doesn't have to happen here, not if you don't want it to. Our being alone
together doesn't mean you have to think about defending yourself from me. I won't be doing anything
that needs to be defended against."

He was still staring at me, but now there was a very definite expression on his face: a sincere entreaty for
belief and trust. To say I was stunned would be putting it mildly; Val thought I was afraid to be alone
with him!

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I leaned back against my own couch still more wide-eyed and open-mouthed than I'd been in a long
time, but the reason for what he'd just said wasn't hard to figure out. Val was a man in whom the ancient
male hunter could be seen by any woman he turned those eyes on, the sort of man who traditionally took
whatever he wanted, most especially the use of females. Women in ancient times feared men like that,
but they were also used to them; whole cities were pillaged, and rape was a natural concomitant. Modern
times brought about the advent of civilization, and women weren't expected to put up with that sort of
nonsense any longer-but every once in a while a hunter turned up anyway. Val had been raised to be
considerate of the feelings of women, to understand how fragile and helpless they were, but the hunter
still looked out of his eyes. He'd been taught to feel like hell---' every time a woman cringed back from
his appraisal, and he'd learned to make very sure of full agreement before letting his basic nature take
over. He bent over backwards to reassure the females around him, most especially at the first sign of
nervousness at his presence. I didn't know if he'd been brooding over the point since he first came
aboard, or if my aborted attack in self-defense had triggered the thought, but most likely a combination
of the two had produced the statement of intended chastity. That he hadn't learned to know me better
over the last few days was annoying, but not nearly as annoying as being lumped in the "fragile,
helpless" category. I'd thought I'd taught Val the hard way just how well I liked gentlemanly