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.Someone to be depended upon.Al was very thankful Bob was here, as he pulled away from the pit area, heading for the nearby campground.Cindy clenched her hands in her lap, as tense as an over-wound dock-spring.Al's senses told him that her anxiety attack had yet to run its course.She was not paying much attention to things outside of herself, which was all to the good for him, but that wasn't a healthy state of mind for a human.She was surely running on pure adrenalin by now.Her hands shook slightly, and she still had trouble catching her breath, and that also concerned him.He wasn't a Healer, except maybe of metals.If she were to become ill, he wouldn't know what to do with her.How am 1 to calm her down? She can't have been eating•well, lately - and the heat hasn't done her any good, either.I have to get her settled and balanced, or she won't be of any use ataU.Alinor frowned as he considered her distress.From the moment they began talking he had been forced to put up an array of shields usually reserved for the most intense of emotional moments.There was no doubt that she was in dire need of some kind of release, and out of consideration for her state of mind, he allowed a small amount of her anxiety to seep through.She wouldn't know what he was doing - not consdously -but even though she was only marginally psychic, her subconsdous would know that someone was "listening" to her, and cared enough to pay attention and not 80 Mercedes Lackey 6f Mark Shepherdblock her out.It was simply common manners among elves not to shut someone out completely, unless absolutely necessary; what he had done so far was enough to keep Cindy from pulling him in with her.Later, when he could concentrate on the task, he would see what he could do to apply some emotional balm to her misery.On the other hand - so far as keeping his "cover"intact was concerned - in her present state she probably wouldn't notice that the Miata had no ignition, or that it was driving itself.Al rested his hands on the steering wheel, to make it look as if he was in control, but the elvensteed knew where they were going."1 think I left the air-conditioning on in the RV," Al said conversationally, reaching forward with a tiny touch of magic and activating the air-conditioning switch.With any luck, it would be cool by the dme they got there.Let's see.Gatorade in the fridge? Yeah, plenty of that.And ice.We should be in good shape when we arrive."It has a shower," he added, hesitating.Al realized what this might sound like, and he glanced over at Cindy for a reaction.She offered none, gazing blankly forward, apparently unaware she was tying the edge other blouse in a knot.At least she didn't take exception to that suggestion.That is, if she even heard it.It wasn't as if he was trying to seduce her in any way -Even though shewas attracted tome, I could feel that.But he wasn't demanding sex - he wasn't even expecting it.It was just-Damn.lam trying to seduce her.Am I flying to prove to her that I'm attractive, or to myself? This is something that a good session of sweat cannot fix.I should know better.But she was very vulnerable at this point, and in obvious need of comfort.Comfort which could bephysical or otherwise - and if physical, could take any number of forms.And he was skilled at offering that 81WHEELS OF FIREkind of comfort.He'd had lots of time to practice, after all-Stop it! he scolded himself.He was tempted to reflect on the last dme he'd had any kind ofreladonship, but he knew it would only heighten his desire.In his childhood, so many years ago, the maxim had been drilled into him by his father: never get involved emotionally with a human, except on the most casual of terms.There was a good reason for this guideline, as evidenced by centuries ofelvenkind's experience.First of all, going by most definitions of a "reladonship," the human involved would eventually become aware of the existence of the Folk and want to know what was going on.With the exception of humans like Bob, the foster children who were brought up Underbill, this was seldom a good idea.Word could get out, and if enough humans became convinced that elves were "real," the elves in quesdon would have to go into strictest hiding [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]