Captain Vorpatril's Alliance Read Free Page A

Vorpatril, in unconscious echo of her thought. “But I’m stuck here for a while. Say, can I buy you a drink?”
    “No, thank you.”
    “Dinner?”
    “No.”
    He waggled his eyebrows, cheerfully. “Ice cream? All women like ice cream, in my experience.”
    “No!”
    “Walk you home? Or in the park. Or somewhere. I think they have rowboats to rent in that lake park I passed. That’d make a nice place to talk.”
    “Certainly not!” Ought she to invent a waiting spouse or lover? She linked arms with Dotte, pinching her in silent warning. “Let’s go to the bubble car stop now, Dotte.”
    Dotte gave her a surprised look, knowing perfectly well that Tej—Nanja, as she knew her—always walked home to her nearby flat. But she obediently turned away and led off. Vorpatril followed, not giving up. He slipped around in front, grinned some more, and tried, “What about a puppy?”
    Dotte snorted a laugh, which didn’t help.
    “A kitten?”
    They were far enough from Swift Shipping now that customer politeness rules no longer applied, Tej decided. She snarled at him, “Go away. Or I’ll find a street patroller.”
    He opened his hands in apparent surrender, watching with a doleful expression as they marched past. “A pony…?” he called after them, as if in one last spasm of hope.
    Dotte looked back over her shoulder as they approached the bubble-car station. Tej looked straight ahead.
    “I think you’re crazy, Nanja,” said Dotte, trudging with her up the pedestrian ramp. “I’d have taken him up on that drink in a heartbeat. Or any of the rest of the menu, though I supposed I’d have to draw the line at the pony. It wouldn’t fit in my flat.”
    “I thought you were married.”
    “Yes, but I’m not blind .”
    “Dotte, customers try to pick me up at least twice a week.”
    “But they aren’t usually that incredibly cute. Or taller than you.”
    “What’s that have to do with anything?” said Tej, irritated. “My mother was a head taller than my father, and they did fine.” She clamped her jaw shut. Not so fine now .
    She parted company with Dotte at the platform, but did board a bubble car. She rode to a random destination about ten minutes away, then disembarked and took another car back to a different stop on the other side of her neighborhood, just in case the man was still lingering out there, stalker-like, at the first one. She strode off briskly.
    Almost home, she started to relax, until she look up and spotted Vorpatril lounging on the steps to her building entrance.
    She slowed her steps to a dawdle, pretending not to have noticed him yet, raised her wristcom to her lips, and spoke a keyword. Rish’s voice answered at once.
    “Tej? You’re late. I was getting worried.”
    “I’m fine, I’m right outside, but I’m being followed.”
    The voice went sharp. “Can you go roundabout and shake him off?”
    “Already tried that. He got ahead of me somehow.”
    “Oh. Not good.”
    “Especially as I never gave him my address.”
    A brief silence. “Very not good. Can you stall him a minute, then get him to follow you into the foyer?”
    “Probably.”
    “I’ll take care of him there. Don’t panic, sweetling.”
    “I’m not.” She left the channel open on send-only, so that Rish could follow the play. She took her time closing the last few dozen meters, and came to a wary halt at the bottom of her steps.
    “Hi, Nanja!” Vorpatril waved amiably, without getting up, looming, or lunging for her.
    “How did you find this place?” she asked, not amiably.
    “Would you believe dumb luck?”
    “No.”
    “Ah. Pity.” He scratched his chin in apparent thought. “We could go somewhere and talk about it. You can pick where, if you like.”
    She simulated a long hesitation, while calculating the time needed for Rish to get downstairs. Just about…now. “All right. Let’s go inside.”
    His brows shot up, but then his smile widened. “Sounds great. Sure!”
    He rose and politely