“Do you mean you’d challenge me?” I scoffed. “Just imagine yourself in front of your peers under those circumstances. They’d laugh themselves silly.”
I turned away from him with a headshake, deciding I’d accomplished what I’d set out to do. His air of superiority had been nicely punctured, and was rapidly being replaced with annoyance and frustration. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving fellow.
The sled traffic was rather heavy, and we rode along in silence for a few minutes. There was no doubt Garth was unhappy and dissatisfied with something, but all I cared about was the fact that he no longer throbbed with desire when he looked at me. Garth had wanted me since the first time we’d met, but the desire was an automatic one, something combined out of his position and mine. The fact that I’d refused him and continued to refuse him fed his desire, but I had no interest in soothing his longings and satisfying his curiosity. His interest in women wasn’t particularly unusual; I just didn’t care to have that interest directed toward me.
“You certainly must feel secure in your position,” he said at last, making a great effort to recapture his former attitudes. “It would scarcely be proper for me to challenge you, but Kabras have been known to be severe with women who offend them. Are you trying to force me to be severe with you?”
I turned to study him again. He was making good progress in throwing off the frustration I’d produced, even going so far as to try returning the annoyance.
“Are you trying to pretend to be so uncivilized as to threaten a Prime?” I asked in turn, arching my eyebrows in disbelief. “No one, on any world in the Amalgamation, would so much as slap my wrist and we both know it. Are you trying to impress me with your virility?”
“If I am, it isn’t working very well,” he laughed, the amusement real. “You seem to have no trouble resisting me. Why won’t you even consider the idea of spending a night with me?”
“What, directness?” I gasped, pretending to be shocked.
“After I’d decided Kabran men didn’t know the meaning of the word?”
“When all else fails,” he shrugged, keeping his light gaze directly on me. “Has the stratagem succeeded?”
“Not in the least,” I came back. “Did you really expect it to?”
“You should know the answer to that as well as I do,” he observed, still staring at me. “Do you care to explain why I haven’t succeeded?”
“No, I don’t care to explain it,” I smiled, a stiff, inflexible smile. “I have no need of explaining my actions to anyone, least of all you.”
“I see.” He nodded, keeping his eyes on me. “I’m too far beneath you to bother with.”
“Exactly.” I nodded, turning away from his smoldering anger. I much preferred having Garth R’Hem Solohr angry and distant rather than amused and near. I had sensed a boldness and restrained strength in him the moment we had first met, convincing me how much safer it would be to keep him at arm’s length. It would be foolish to say I feared him—fear is such a strong emotion—but uneasiness is uncomfortable enough to make one avoid it. Perhaps I had now managed to avoid Garth as well.
A few moments later, Garth stirred and touched my arm.
“Your lodging at last,” he announced, and I looked around to see the sled pulling into the circular drive that led to the best visitor’s Residence in Nidah. It was so new I’d only stayed there once before, and I was pleased to see it again. The suites were large and well furnished, and the food was of better quality than anywhere else on Alderan. When we pulled up at its front entrance, a garishly costumed servant stepped forward to open the sled’s door, saving the Kabra who had been driving from having to lower himself again. Garth stepped out, turned to offer me his hand, then directed the servant to see to the luggage in the compartment beneath the sled. The heat was wilting after the coolness of the sled, but directly behind the entrance’s air curtain lay more cool air, supplied, so it was said, only for the comfort of off-planet visitors. Those Alderaneans standing and walking about the immense entrance foyer were far too good to notice bow comfortable they were.
Garth made inquiries as to which suite had been reserved for me, all the while pretending not to see the marble and mirror surfaces all around us, the plush white carpeting, the silver fixtures. As soon as records had been checked and identities verified, we were led by a servant carrying my luggage to a lift which swept us eighteen stories in the air, then to a cream-colored door which opened on a green and blue suite. My luggage was left in a far room to be seen to by the Residence’s maid staff, then the servant bowed and left us alone. Garth had stood himself to one side of the room, and once the servant was gone he bowed to me.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I have several personal matters to attend to,” he said, his voice overly neutral. “I will, of course, return for you in the morning.”
“Of course,” I nodded, turning away from him to glance around the room. “Do have a pleasant evening without me.”
“I wish you the same,” he said, and then suddenly he was behind me, his hands on my arms forcing me to turn back to him. “You are an insolent, unbearably overweening woman. One day—”
He let the words trail off as he looked down at me, his emotions mixed, and then he showed a grin.
“One day you may learn that I truly am a Kabra,” he murmured. He let me go, took my arm, slapped me hard on the wrist, then turned, strode to the door and was gone. I gasped at the sting of the slap, furious that he would dare to strike me, but he was already out of reach of any words I cared to say. I stood and stared at the door for a moment, rubbing my wrist, then went to the call to arrange for immediate maid service. I wasn’t sure what Garth’s gesture meant, but I knew I didn’t want to be alone in case he came back. His mind pattern had very briefly become stranger than I had ever known it to be, but I had no interest in finding out why it had happened.
The next morning, when Garth came to call for me, he found me already in the entrance foyer, waiting for him. I wore a fresh leisure suit, completely different from the one of the day before, but the only thing different about him was the ceremonial sword he had added to the rest of his accouterments. He came up to me where I sat and bowed very slightly, his left hand resting on the sword hilt.
“Such exemplary promptness,” he greeted me with amusement. “I thought it would be necessary to come to your suite before my duties as your protector might be begun.”
“Yesterday a guide, today a protector,” I remarked, getting to my feet. “Your career seems to be progressing in leaps and bounds. At this rate, by tomorrow you might even be a clerk in Central’s Mediation department.”
“Now, now, none of that,” he scolded, adopting a fierce and dedicated look. “Your protector mustn’t be distracted with attempts at insult. You wouldn’t care to have him forget his duty at the wrong time.”
“I’ve never been told what it is you’re supposed to be protecting me from,” I said, folding my arms. “Which of the two parties of the dissension is supposed to be the dangerous one?”
“Both parties of a dissension are dangerous.” He grinned, taking my arm to lead me out. “My presence may be pure tradition and formality these days, but at one time it wouldn’t have been. You can never tell who will decide you’re biased.”
“A Prime Xenomediator being biased!” I snorted, flinching at the heat as we passed through the entrance curtain. “There couldn’t possibly be anyone foolish enough to believe that.”
“You’d be surprised,” he answered, opening the door to the sled at the curb. “Most people don’t know how mediation works, and when you deal with ignorance, you also deal with fear and mistrust.”