Free Gateway To Xanadu by Sharon Green Page A

would have been smarter changing her sense of humor rather than her face,” Ringer observed, flexing his hand surreptitiously as he took it back. Val’s grip tended to be somewhat on the firm side, and I was sure he’d toned it down more in practice with me than he had a moment earlier with Ringer. They were examining each other in a sizing-up sort of way that seemed to satisfy both of them; there was an easy, tension-free air between them that grew to the point of friendliness almost instantaneously, the way it sometimes does between two strong men who recognize each other for what they are. Being female I found the process fascinating, but I wasn’t given the opportunity of studying it for very long.
    “That so-called sense of humor of hers has gotten her into more hot water than you could possibly believe,” Ringer went on to Val in a chummier tone than I cared for. “Some day it’ll get her in so deep she’ll end up boiled for supper.”
    “I’m surprised it hasn’t already,” Val answered, also chummy, while Ringer sent me a disapproving stare.
    “You should have seen the things she did to me on Tildor, not to mention the trip here. I think something ought to be done about it.”
    “If you can think of something and make it stick, you have my blessing,” Ringer told him with a wolfish grin for me. “And I can probably also guarantee the Council’s blessing, providing you don’t leave too many visible marks on her. Some of them are squeamish.”
    “I think you just blew it, Ringer,” I said with a grin I couldn’t hold back on, seeing the sudden surprise that Val was registering.
    “Blew what?” Ringer asked, and then he turned his head to see Val’s expression. “Is something bothering you, Valdon?”
    “You might say so,” Val answered with a slow nod, turning those eyes on Ringer instead of me for a change. “Just what exactly did you mean about not leaving too many marks on her’? What do you think I am, that I would do something like that to a woman?”
    “I thought you were somebody who had gotten to know her,” Ringer came back with a calculating look in his eyes. “As big as you are you might have an. even chance against her, but not unless you’re willing to use everything you’ve got. You don’t seem to understand that it’s a Special Agent we’re discussing, not a woman; getting her to change her ways will take more than waving a finger in her face and lecturing her. Believe me, it’s been tried before, and by experts.” ”
    “And what sort of marks did they leave on her?” Val asked in a too-soft voice, still looking at Ringer.
    “Ones they were careful not to let show?”
    “They didn’t get a chance to leave any marks on her,” Ringer answered with the same unconcern he’d been showing all along, somehow missing the way Val was looking at him. “She was the one who left the marks on them, visible or otherwise. And I think I understand now; you thought I was throwing her to the wolves.”
    “Weren’t you?” Val said without hesitation, unimpressed by Ringer’s calm. “You’ve never seen me before, know nothing about what I’m like, and yet the first thing you do is give me a free hand with her, on the provision I don’t leave any marks that can be seen. What would you call it?”

    “I expected to call it sharing an inside joke,” Ringer said with a sigh, on the verge of shaking his head.
    “Right now I think the joke’s on me. Apparently you don’t understand how much I do know about you.”
    Val opened his mouth to demand an explanation of that statement, but that wasn’t the place to have a private conversation. There were no more than about a hundred people trying unsuccessfully to fill the immense docking area, but some of them had started drifting closer, attracted by the apparent argument between the two men. Waiting for a liner shuttle is boring business; a good fight livens it up any day. In view of this, I interrupted before Val could get