"There." Trals unclenched his teeth, removed the wrist-thick braid from his mouth, and tied the front to the back to make a ring. "That's the last one."

"Good," said Njrea, "Now put that thing down and come do some more husbandly duty."

"Face of God, woman, aren't you satisfied yet?" The seduction had not proceeded as Trals had planned.

"Not by a long shot." Njrea coiled toward him in the neat little caravan tent they'd pitched, a vision of love and peril in ...