DEDICATION
To A[rielle] Heather Wood
More widely known as The Heather Wood
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m afraid that I use machines and people very hard when I’m focused on a project. The machines tend to break; the people, my friends, do not. Sincere thanks to Dan Breen; Jim Baen and Toni Weisskopf; Mark L. Van Name and Allyn Vogel; Sandra and John Miesel;
and my wife Jo.
BOY MEETS GIRL …
Daniel closed the metal covers of the book, then looked directly at Adele. “I don’t mean to intrude in another citizen’s business, mistress,” he said, “but my manservant Hogg is very good at finding people who can change things. If you’d like him to locate some carpenters . . . ?”
Adele snorted. The library budget, if there was one, wasn’t under her control. “I appreciate the offer,” she said, “but I regret that I’m not in a position to take advantage of it. Unless your man could find the carpenters’ wages as well as the carpenters themselves.”
Leary grinned, but there was a serious undertone in his voice as he said, “I really don’t dare suggest that, mistress. While I don’t think Hogg would be caught, I’m afraid his methods would bring spiritual discredit on a Leary of Bantry. What Hogg does on his own account is his own business, but if I set him a task . . .”
The world had gone gray around Adele. “You said, ‘a Leary of Bantry,’ sir,” she said. Her voice too was without color. “You’d be related to Speaker Leary, then?”
Leary grimaced. “Oh, yes,” he said. “Corder Leary is my father, though we’d both be willing to deny it.”
“I see,” Adele said. Her voice came from another place, another time. She crossed her hands behind her back. “Lieutenant Leary,” she said, “I have a great deal of work to do. You’re a Cinnabar citizen and I will presume a gentleman. I therefore request that you cease to trouble me and my staff.
Daniel Leary reddened also. He made a stiff half-bow. “Good morning, mistress,” he said. “No doubt we’ll meet again.” He strode with a caged grace from the library.
Later, he sat on a bench in a garden. He’d walked until the adrenaline burned off and he needed to sit. He hadn’t been so angry since the afternoon he broke with his father.
He’d have to challenge her to a duel, of course. The insult had been too deliberate to ignore. . . .