“What was all that about?”
“You know quite well what it was about.”
“I can guess. And it’s all naughty little Glenna’s fault, isn’t it? I bet you told Professor Lang that you had nothing to do with it.” A foot eased clear of the sheet, and bare toes wriggled along Hans’s leg.
“I didn’t tell her anything. She wouldn’t listen. Right now she hates my guts.” Hans frowned at Glenna as the toes crept higher on his thigh. “Quit that. What are you, some kind of animal?”
“Maybe. Try me and find out. But at least I understand men. And I’m not angry with you, not in the slightest. Come to bed.”
Hans stood up. Glenna’s expression changed from intimate to anxious. She pushed back the sheet as Hans headed for the livingroom. “Where are you going?”
“I have to make a call. Just a quick one.”
“To Darya Lang?”
“No. Not to Darya Lang. She wouldn’t talk to me if I did. Relax. This will only take a minute.”
“All right. One minute, and no more.” Glenna’s voice changed to a complacent purr, and she snuggled back down in the bed. “I do not know how such things are handled in the worlds of the Phemus Circle, but in our society it is not considered polite to leave a lady alone with her motor running.”
Hans had not lied about the need to make a call, but what he needed more than that was time to think — think without Glenna coiling herself around him and scrambling his brains.
How had he put himself into this situation? It wasn’t enough to say that Glenna was as sexy, luscious, and willing a woman as you could hope to meet. Before he left the Phemus Circle that would have been quite sufficient, but not any more.
Why hadn’t he waited around the institute, then, until Darya’s work with Quintus Bloom and Professor Merada was finished?
He had one explanation, but it wasn’t anything to make him happy. He had been feeling horny even before he met Glenna, undeniably. But that wasn’t the reason they had finished up in his bedroom. It was because he had also been peeved — at Darya.
He had been quite good enough for her while they were chasing around the wilds of the Phemus Circle or Serenity, or trying to escape from the Zardalu or the Torvil Anfract; but as soon as she got back to her homeworld of Sentinel Gate it was a different story. He had been pushed out of the way and ignored. She preferred her snobbish and intellectual friends — people he was apparently not civilized enough to be introduced to, still less to converse with.
During the seminar he had decided, even if unconsciously, that he would get his own back. He would show her. There were other women, sophisticated and attractive ones, who found him acceptable even by the upscale standards of a world like Sentinel Gate. He had known, from the first moment that he met Glenna Omar, that she found him intriguing. It was time that Darya learned it, too.
Unfortunately, she had done exactly that, but not at all in the circumstances of his choosing.
Had Glenna left the door open on purpose? Was she someone who was excited by the chance of discovery, just as danger always excited him?
Hans stared out through the still-open door at the teeming rain. He wanted to tell Darya what a fool he had been and how sorry he was, but in that dark cloudburst he had no idea how to find her. At least, though, he had to look. He would dress, and tell Glenna that she must leave.
He turned toward the bedroom, and found her standing silent in the doorway. She had taken a sheet from his bed and draped it modestly around her.
He sighed. He was angry, but it ought to be with himself and not with Glenna Omar. “How long have you been there?”
“Just a minute or two.” She glided forward to his side. “I didn’t want to disturb you. You looked so upset.”
“I am. I think you’d better put your clothes on and get out of here.”
“I know.” She held out her dress and shoes. “If you don’t mind, I’ll borrow the sheet and just carry these with me. They’ll get soaked anyway, even if I’m wearing them.”
Her voice was as dreary as the driving rain outside. A cold draft blew in through the open door, and she shivered. She stepped forward to the threshold and hesitated there.
“Are you all right?” Hans moved to her side. “That sheet won’t be enough. I think we ought to find you something waterproof. And I’ll look for an umbrella, too.”
“It’s not that. Not the cold, I mean, or the rain.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“It’s me. Hans, I’m really sorry. This is all my fault. When we met today I was feeling lonely and awful down, and you were kind to me. You’re a very attractive and sexy man, but what I wanted more than anything was company. I needed someone to talk to, someone to hold me and tell me that I haven’t made a total mess of my life…”
Hans was horrified to see tears filling Glenna’s eyes. He felt better equipped to handle an attacking Zardalu than a weeping woman. He tried to put his arm around her, tentatively, but she pulled away.
“No. I’ll go now. It’s not your problem, it’s mine.”
“You’ll freeze if you go out dressed like that. You’re already shivering.” He put his arm around her again, and tried to lead her away from the door. “At least have a hot drink, to warm you up before you go.”
“I don’t think I ought to. Professor Lang—”
“She won’t be coming back.” That was sure enough, he thought bitterly. “And even if she did, we’ll be doing nothing wrong.”
“We-e-ell.” Glenna allowed herself to be steered through the living room. “I don’t want a drink, though.”
“Something to eat?” Hans’s guilt toward Darya was mysteriously turning into guilt toward Glenna, too.
“No. What I’d really like is just to be held for a few minutes, until I don’t feel so chilled. Then I’ll go. Would you do that for me? I mean, you don’t have to, and I really have no right to ask you.”
“It’s all right. Let’s sit down until you feel better.”
Hans had in mind that they would sit in the livingroom, but Glenna walked him into the dimlit bedroom. She put her hand on his cheek, and then to his chest.
“But you’re freezing! And I’ve been the one complaining about feeling cold. Come on.” She threw back the bedclothes. “Lie down next to me. We’ll both warm up, and then I’ll leave.”
He was bare, sore, and muddy, and his hair was still wet. He ought to go and take a hot shower, but Glenna stood waiting by the bed.
“It’s quite all right,” she said. “All I want is a tiny hug. You’ll be quite safe.”
Hans was not so sure. He climbed into bed reluctantly, and heard Glenna squeak as his chilled bare foot touched her leg. She didn’t seem cold at all. He could feel the heat radiating from her body to his. She pulled the covers over them and moved closer.
“That’s better, isn’t it?” She sighed contentedly. “You know, I feel quite exhausted. But we’d better not nod off. Would you put your arms around me, just for a little while? Then I’ll get up and go.”
After another couple of minutes Hans did as she had asked. Somewhere in the process of getting into bed, the sheet had vanished from around Glenna’s body. He eased away from her, about to explain why he was doing it. Then he noticed that her eyes had closed, and her lips were slightly parted. She was breathing evenly and deeply.
After a moment of hesitation he reached out and turned off the little bedside light. It didn’t seem right to disturb her. A few minutes of rest, while both their chilled bodies became warmer, could do neither of them any harm. In a little while the rain would stop and Glenna could leave.