, you were really being very
sweet. Just playing the game in good old Anvharian style. Waiting
for a sign from me. We'd still be playing by different rules if you
hadn't had more sense than I, and finally realized that somewhere
along the line we must have got our signals mixed. And I thought you
were some kind of frosty offworld celibate." She let her hand go out
and her fingers rustled through his hair. Something she had been
wanting to do for a long time.

"I had to," he said, trying to ignore the light touch of her
fingers. "Because I thought so much of you, I couldn't have done
anything to insult you. Such as forcing my attentions on you. Until
I began to worry where the insult would lie, since I knew nothing
about your planet's mores."

"Well, you know now," she said very softly. "The men aggress. Now
that I understand, I think I like your way better. But I'm still not
sure of all the rules. Do I explain that yes, Brion, I like you so
very much? You are more man, in one great big wide-shouldered lump,
than I have ever met before. It's not quite the time or the place
to discuss marriage, but I would certainly like--"

His arms were around her, holding her to him. Her hands clasped him
and their lips sought each other's in the darkness.

"Gently ..." she whispered. "I bruise easily...."

XIII

"He wouldn't come in, sir. Just hammered on the door and said,
'_I'm here, tell Brandd._'"

"Good enough," Brion said, fitting his gun in the holster and
sliding the extra clips into his pocket. "I'm going out now, and I
should return before dawn. Get one of the wheeled stretchers down
here from the hospital. I'll want it waiting when I get back."

Outside, the street was darker than he remembered. Brion frowned
and his hand moved towards his gun. Someone had put all the nearby
lights out of commission. There was just enough illumination from
the stars to enable him to make out the dark bulk of a sand car.

"Brion Brandd?" a voice spoke harshly from the car. "Get in."

The motor roared as soon as he had closed the door. Without lights
the sand car churned a path through the city and out into the
desert. Though the speed picked up, the driver still drove in the
dark, feeling his way with a light touch on the controls. The ground
rose, and when they reached the top of a mesa he killed the engine.
Neither the driver nor Brion had spoken a word since they left.

A switch snapped and the instrument lights came