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the estate. It terrified me."
Odd. Most beautiful women don't have much trouble coping because they've had
attention all their lives.
"I know my future. And it frightens me, too."
I looked at her, thinking she meantWayne . I'd be disturbed, too, if I were
the object of such plans.
"I'll stay here, in the heart of my fortress, and turn into a crazy old woman
while the house crumbles around me and Cook. I'll never find nerve enough to
hire the workmen to put it right. Strangers scare me."
"It doesn't have to be that way."
"It has to. My destiny was laid down the week I was born. If my mother had
survived . . . But she probably wouldn't have changed things. She was a
strange woman herself, from what I hear. Daughter of afirelord and
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astormwarden , raised in an environment almost as cold as mine, betrothed to
my father by arrangement between his parents and hers. They never met before
their wedding day. My father loved her, though. What happened really hurt him.
He never mentions her. He won't talk about her. But he has her picture in his
bedroom. Sometimes he just lies there and stares at it for hours."
What do you say when somebody tells you something like that? You can't kiss
it and make it better. Not much you can do. Or say. I said, "I'm going to take
a walk. Why don't you get a wrap and come along?"
"How cold is it?"
"Not too bad." Winter was just blustering and fussing, bluffing, too cowardly
to jump in there and bully the world. Which was fine with me. Winter isn't my
favorite season.
"All right." She pushed away from the rail and walked to the stairs, down,
headed for her own suite. I tagged along, which was fine till we neared her
door. Then she got nervous. She didn't want me inside.
Fine. For now her fortress would remain inviolate. I retreated halfway down
the hall.
If I'd had doubts about her lack of social skills, they disappeared when she
returned in less than a minute. I've never known a woman who didn't spend half
an hour changing her shoes. She'd done that and had donned a very sensible,
military-type winter coat that, surprisingly, was flattering because it
centered attention on her face. And that face made me wince because such
beauty was shut up here, wasted. Such beauty, like a great painting, should be
out for all to appreciate.
We went downstairs and through that hall between theStantnor forebears, all
of whom noted our passing with grave disapproval. So did Wayne, who maybe
thought I was trying to beat his time.
It wasn't as mild as I'd promised. The wind had picked up sinceSaucerhead's
departure. It had a good bite but Jennifer didn't notice. We descended the
steps. I set course along the path that Chain, Peters, Tyler and I had taken
last night.
I asked, "Would you like to see the city? If you could do it without too much
discomfort?" I had in mind turningSaucerhead loose on her. He has a knack for
making women comfortable though his taste runs to gals about five feet short.
"It's too late. If you're trying to save me."
I didn't say anything to that. My attention was on last night's trail.
"I saw something strange today," Jennifer said, shifting subject radically.
"A man I don't know. I went up where you found me looking for him, but he
wasn't there anymore."
Morley. Had to be. "Maybe my blonde's boyfriend."
She glanced at me sharply, the first time she'd looked up since we'd left the
house. "Are you making fun of me?"
"No. Of a situation, maybe. I see a woman, over and over. Nobody else sees
her. At least, nobody admits she's there. But now you're seeing ghosts, too."
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"I saw him, Garrett."
"I didn't say you didn't."
"But you don't believe me."
"I don't believe or disbelieve. The first rule of my business is keep an open
mind." The second is remember that everybody lies to you.
That seemed to satisfy her. She didn't speak again for a while.
We came to the place whereTyler died.Tyler wasn't there. Neither was thedraug
. I walked around trying to discover what had happened. I couldn't. I hoped
Peters and the others had collected them. I'd have to find out.
The wind was biting, the grass was brown, the sky was gray, and the
broodingStantnor place loomed like a thunderhead of despair. I glanced at the
orchard, all those bare arms reaching for the sky. Spring would come for the
trees but not for theStantnors .
"Do you dance?" I asked. Maybe we could force gaiety into the place at
swords' points.
She managed a joke. "I don't know. I've never tried."
"Hey! We're making headway. Next thing you'll be smiling."
She didn't respond for half a minute, then bushwhacked me again. "I'm a
virgin, Garrett."
Not exactly a surprise. It figured. But why tell me?
"The other day when you caught me in your stuff, I thought you were the man
who would change that. But you aren't, are you?"
"I don't think so."
"Peters warned me "
"That I have a reputation? Maybe. But the way this is, it wouldn't be right.
It has to be right, Jennifer." Carefully, carefully, Garrett. Hell hath no
fury, and all that. "You shouldn't want to do it just because you don't want
to be a virgin. You should do it because that's what you want to do. Because
you're with someone special and you want to share something special."
"I can get preached at by Cook."
"Sorry. Just trying to tell you how I think. You're a lovely woman. One of
the most beautiful I've ever met. The kind men like me only dream about. I'd
take you up on it in a second, if I was a guy who could just use a woman and
discard her like a gnawed bone, and not care how much she hurts."
That seemed to help.
Believe me, all that analysis and nimble-footing had me real nervous,
prancing around a lot of mixed feelings.
"I think I understand. It's actually kind of nice."
"That's me. Mr. Nice Guy. Talk myself out of the winner's circle every time."
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She gave me a look.
"Sorry. You're not used to my brand of wit."
I was following thebacktrails of thedraugs slowly now, climbing a gentle
slope toward the family cemetery. Jennifer seemed too preoccupied to notice.
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