"Elizabeth Moon - Serrano 3 - Winning Colors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

thought if I could do something to prove myself . . . and maybe you would let me come along. . . ."
"No!" Cecelia said, even before her mind caught up with what he had actually said. Then more mildly: "No,
Ronnie, though you are my favorite nephew and I owe you my life. This is not the place for you."
"But I thought if Raffa's parents knew I was with you, it would change their mindsтАФ"
"No, dear." The dear slipped out and shocked her. She never called any of her relatives dear; had the
Guernesi done something to her mind during rejuvenation? The memory of those lawsuits reassured her: she
hadn't softened. Not really. "It won't work because you'd still be seen as a boy with a patron. You need them
to see you as a man, an independent man with his own property, his own assets." He looked at her as if he
had never thought of that. Perhaps he hadn't. He was, after all, some sixty years younger.
"Then what can I do?" he asked. Cecelia wished for a moment she had been a more conventional aunt. He
would not have consulted a more conventional aunt; he would have found someone outrageous, someone who
had never been married, or wanted to be, and she could have clucked from the sidelines. She felt like
clucking now. Grow up, she wanted to say. Just do something, she wanted to say. But there he was, born
charming and even more so with this new and genuine worry upon him. She wanted to smack him, and she
wanted to cuddle him, and neither would do any good.
When in doubt, call in the experts. "You might go talk to Captain Serrano," she said. She didn't expect him
to agree, but his face lit up.
"Great idea," he said. "ThanksтАФI will." And he bounced up, suddenly vibrant and eager again. She watched
him stride out, with the spring in his step and the sparkle in his eye, and wondered at herself. Rejuvenation
was supposed to rejuvenate everything; she had herself made the usual jokes about those of her friends who
suddenly acquired young companions. But Ronnie did nothing for her, and she knew it wasn't because he
was her nephew. She just didn't feel like it.
"Not that I was ever ridden by that torment much," she muttered, as she ran over the shopping lists on her
deskcomp again. She had been too busy, and too aware of the power such a passion would have over her
schedule, if nothing else.

Heris saw not the spoiled brat she'd once despised but the handsome, bright young man who had become
what she thought of as officer material. "Aunt Cecelia said you might be able to help me," he said.
"If I can, of course," she said, wondering if this was Cecelia's obscure vengeance for Arash's favor.
"It's about Raffaele," he began, and outlined his problem.
Heris recognized the implications as Cecelia had, but unlike her saw no reason not to tell Ronnie about them.
She still thought of him as "young officer material," which put her in the teaching role. She led him through
the relevant financial bits, and watched his dismay growing.
"ButтАФbut Raffa isn't that greedy," Ronnie said at the end.
"I don't know that I'd call it greedy." Heris steepled her hands. "But you're both Registered Embryos,
remember? Smart, educated, trained from birth to consider the welfare of the family as a whole. I don't think it
has anything to do with wanting more things than you could give her; I think it has to do with conflicting
loyalties."
"But if she lovesтАФ"
Hormones, thought Heris. "Ronnie, think: would you have married that opera singer?"
She could see "What opera singer?" forming on his forehead, until his memory caught up. "OhтАФher. No, of
course not. She was nothing like Raffa."
"Why not? You were besotted with her at the time, I gather. Loved her, didn't you?"
"Oh, but that wasтАФit was different. She'd never have done for a wife."
"And why? Was she personally disgusting in some way? Lacking manners? Stupid?"
"No . . . no, it wasn't anything like that. ButтАФshe wouldn't have been a good match . . . for the family. . . ."
Finally, he was catching on.
"Whether you really loved her or notтАФyou can imagine someone you did really love, that wouldn't be right
because it would hurt the family. Right?"
"Right." Now he sounded glum and sulky.