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He embodied the qualities she had come to cherish about these up-timers every bit as much as Lady Julie
Mackay. Jabe, shy as he was, had acted with confidence when he interacted with the emperor. He was
properly respectful and obedient to protocol at all times, but there was something he had that the Swedes
surrounding Gustavus lacked. An indefinable sense of self-worth that told Jabe McDougal that, while the
emperor was his leader, elder and monarch and therefore deserving of great respect Gustavus was
not an inherently better human being than he was. Svetlana, who'd fought against feelings of inferiority all
her life, loved that.
She looked at herself in the full-length mirror that stood near the fireplace in her room. It didn't match the
rest of the furniture, being in rather shabby condition. Probably a purchase from Grantville, she thought.
She returned her attention to the reflection staring back at her. She was lean and muscular, skinny by
down-time standards, but Svetlana knew she seemed to fit the standard of beauty many up-time men
had.
Perhaps, Svetlana thought, she could bind Jabe to her with her body. If it had been anyone but Jabe, she
would have thought it not worth the risk. Svetlana was not a virgin, though she was not greatly
experienced, and knew what could happen if a man got a woman with child and then didn't marry her.
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Jabe, though, was far too honorable to abandon her if that happened. He'd probably stay with her even if
she didn't get pregnant.
Most of Svetlana's clothes were drying in front of the fire, but she found a shift that was dry enough.
Making sure the hallway was clear, she went to Jabe's room and knocked on the door.
* * *
"Sveta, what are you doing? Is anything wrong?" Jabe asked. He was more than a little flustered. The
shift she was wearing did little to conceal her trim body.
"Nothing's wrong," she said, as she walked over to the bed. She sat down, facing him.
"I'm not sure this is a good idea. I mean, I'm your superior; there's probably rules against "
She shut him up with a scorching kiss, and at first Jabe couldn't help but respond. He liked Svetlana, and
no one could deny she looked good. With a supreme effort of will he broke away.
"This isn't right."
"Why not?"
"It just isn't, that's all."
Svetlana looked at him with those blue, blue eyes of hers. "Please don't send me away. Please?" She
took off her shift.
Jabe swallowed hard twice. A thought from some reptilian part of his brain surfaced: Why not?
Prudentia wouldn't have to know. He forced the thought away. It wasn't that he was a prude about sex
or even that he had a religious reason for waiting until marriage. But Jabe didn't want to remember his
first time with shame and regret, which he surely would if things went any further with Svetlana right now.
"Sveta, put your clothes on. Please."
"But why? If it was Prudentia, not me, you wouldn't be holding yourself back!"
"No," said Jabe truthfully, "I probably wouldn't be."
"I would be a good wife for you."
"But you're not the one for me, Sveta. It wouldn't be fair to either of us."
"Why her and not me? We have so much more in common."
"I don't know. I don't know if I can put it into words. Prudentia just makes me feel . . . well, she makes
me feel like I can do things I wouldn't have thought I was able to do. It's like she fills in a part of me that I
need."
"And I don't." The note of finality in Sveta's voice didn't really need a response. She knew what his
answer would have to be. She put her shift back on.
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"Look, Sveta, we don't have to tell anyone else about this, okay?"
She said nothing, only nodded.
Grantville, Late winter, 1634
Prudentia felt numb inside. She kept trying to tell herself she was happy. Between what she herself knew
of Morris Roth and the events in Bohemia over the last few months and what Karel Novotny had told her
of the new University of Prague, every instinct she had told her that accepting his offer would be
career-making. And yet . . .
And yet she was utterly miserable. She hadn't eaten well in days; Tino and Vivian Nobili were worried [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]