Gryph hesitated and then growled, "You easterners have the same problem, I believe." "I suppose we do." She smiled her most brilliant smile.

Gryph glared at her. "Well?"

"Well what?" she countered.

He shot to his feet and paced to the bow of the sled. He was still wearing his trousers. "Are you going to take me up on my offer to let you go back to Rendezvous?"

"Are you sure you mean it? I recall you once threatened to track me down and drag me back no matter how far I ran or where I hid. There's not much point of my accepting your generous offer if you're just going to chase after me."

Gryph sat down on a small storage locker, his palms spread wide on his thighs. He was tense and alert, a piece ofprisma waiting to be detonated. "If I give you my word I won't chase after you - "

"Are you giving me your word?" Sariana asked with great interest.

"We'll get to that after you tell me what you want to do."

"Well, going home might be interesting. When I bring this cutter back to the Avylyns, it's going to put the seal on my success in the west. And if I can use that success to convince the academy to accept me, I could complete my education and take my rightful place in my clan's firm. It's certainly an interesting proposition."

Gryph lost the slender thread of his patience. "Stop throwing words at me! Just tell me what you want."

"And if I tell you, will you give it to me?" she asked softly. "I'll try."

"Why?" she persisted.

"Because I love you," he roared. The words echoed between the canyon walls, filling the night. "Damn it, Sariana, I love you more than anything else on this planet. I finally realized that. The bond I feel with you isn't just based on physical passion. I know that now. I want you to be happy."

Lucky, curied in a cloak pocket, stuck its head out and hissed inquiringly.

Sariana smiled at Gryph as she got to her feet and walked over to him. "That's all I need to make me stay."

His hands caressed her shoulders. "Sariana, do you mean that?"

"I think I've been living in the west too long," she said with loving amusement. "I've fallen in love and I've developed the most illogical, unreasonable, unbusinesslike desire to be loved by you in return. I was fairly certain you did love me, but I'm glad to hear the words. Even with the mental link between us some things still need to be said in the old-fashioned way."

Gryph's relieved chuckle became a hoarse nimble of desire as Sariana rested her head against his bare shoulder. He slid his hands down Sariana's chemise to her waist, gripped her hard and lifted her high above him. He looked up at her, starlight in his eyes.

"I've lived in the west all my life, Sariana, but I didn't know what love was until I met you. My main concern was ensuring the future of my clan. Nothing was as important as that until I met you. I didn't even realize I was in love until I started thinking about doing the right thing and allowing you to choose your future, regardless of what that choice did to my own. You teach a rough lesson, lady."

"You see?" Sariana murmured as he let her slide sensually down the length of his hard body. "You westerneis don't know everything, not even about love. You just think you do."

A long time later they lay together, saying nothing, just drifting in and out of each other's satisfaction. The intimacy of their link faded slowly to be replaced by the old-fashioned intimacy of lovers enjoying the sweet aftermath of joining.

Gryph reluctantly stirred to reach down and pull up the quilt. "About that prisma," Sariana murmured sleepily, "I have an idea."

She never got the chance to finish. There was a faint movement on the shore and a soft hiss from Lucky. Sariana recoiled as Gryph rose to his feet, his hand reaching for an object in his trousers.

Sariana knew the intruder had to be the third bandit. Old business, she suddenly realized, should never be left unfinished.

Chapter 20

IT was over before Sariana could kick herself free of the quilt. She heard a choked yell from the attacker soon after Gryph's hand sliced through the air in a short, lethal motion. Something connected with the other man's throat.

The bandit crumpled and fell over the low railing into the water. Silence descended. Gryph walked to the edge of the sled and glanced over the side.

"He'll drown," Sariana said weakly.

"Probably." Gryph didn't seem overly interested in the matter. He reached over to unlock a storage locker and remove a small vapor lamp.

Sariana felt a chill go through her. She peered over the edge of the craft. "I think we ought to pull him out of the water, Gryph. It isn't right to just leave him there."

Gryph switched on the lamp and scanned the shoreline. He was obviously preoccupied. "He was

trying to kill us in case you didn't notice."

"I noticed!" Irritated, Sariana started to climb over the edge of the railing. "What did you use on him?" "The belt buckle you gave me. It was the closest thing available."

"Is everything you touch a potential weapon?" she demanded, seriously incensed. Reaction, she told herself. She was suffering from reaction.

"Not quite." He spoke absently, his attention still on the shoreline.

"Name one thing that isn't a weapon for you!"

"You." He turned to glance at her, frowning as he realized she was almost over the side. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to pull that bandit out of the water." She landed knee-deep in the black water and began fumbling for something that felt like a body. Her hand connected with a boot. She started hauling it toward the shore. "And don't tell me you can't turn me into a weapon just like you do everything else. What about the way you used me to neutralize that prisma ship?"

"Storm and light, Sariana, you really take things to extremes at times, don't you?" Gryph set down the lamp and vaulted over the side. Impatiently he jerked the half-conscious bandit from her grasp. "Here, give him to me. I don't know what the point of saving him is, but if it will make you happier - "

"That's one of the things I love about you, Gryph," she said in dulcet tones. "My happiness always comes first with you."

He glanced at her sharply and then shook his head with a rueful grin. "Mouthy wench." "You love it. Tell me something, Gryph. Would you really have let me go home to Rendezvous?"

His teeth flashed in the shadows. "What do you think?"

She grinned back. "I think we're both very lucky we won't have to test the limits of your loving generosity."