Page 13 of Company of Thieves
“Oh, for god’s sake, you’re going to make me say it right out in the open, aren’t you?” She buffeted him on the arm. “Women are built differently than men, OK? That bit of the saddle there, the pokey-uppy bit, presses on parts that prefer gentler handling.”
He looked to the saddle horn, enlightenment dawning. “Ah. I didn’t realize ...” His gaze dropped to her crotch for a moment before he cleared his throat. “Just so. Very well.”
“I know it’s not your fault, but man alive, Alan! I’m probably chafed down there.” She turned, clearly about to walk on.
He mounted and held out his hand, turning his foot toward her. “Use my foot and swing yourself up behind me.”
“What? No, I can—”
“You have five seconds to decide,” he said, keeping his hand and voice steady. “Either you ride behind me, or I leave you to your own devices. My camp is still a few miles away. You have no water that I can see, and no one to guide you. Three seconds.”
“Gah!” she yelled, looking around her for a miracle, but just as he collected the reins, she said a very rude word and hopped a couple of times in order to get her foot onto his, clutching his arm and the back of the saddle before hauling herself up. Sampson took a side step at the unusual weight distribution, but Alan calmed him, feeling that he had endured all he was prepared to endure during the course of one single day.
“If I fall off and die, I’m going to come back and haunt you,” Hallie said, wrapping both arms tight around him, her face buried into the back of his neck. “Every night. Even if you’re with a woman. Or a man if you swing that way.”
“I don’t.”
“Good.”
“Eh?”
“I meant fine.” She cleared her throat. “Just so you know that if I die because you insist that I can’t walk to your camp, I will haunt you and make your life a living hell.”
“I would expect nothing less,” he answered.
There was silence for a few minutes before she said, in a much more hesitant voice, “Alan?”
“Yes?”
“I just wanted you to know ... I mean, despite making me touch the horse and letting it slobber all over me ... I wanted to say that I appreciate you not going all deranged warrior prince on me. I have a feeling that I may have annoyed you, which is why it’s surprising that you didn’t, you know, let your horse stomple me and go on your merry way. So ... thank you.”
“I don’t make a habit of allowing my horse to trample anyone, let alone a woman,” he said, warmed by her gratitude despite his annoyance.
“Still. My brother, Jack, is always telling me how annoying I can be when I get in what he calls a stubborn mood. Although he can be just as stubborn as me, but that’s neither here nor there. You’re not nearly so ruthless as Jack says you are.”
“On the contrary, I am known for my ruthlessness,” he corrected her, veering away from the subject of Octavia’s new husband.
“Oh, I understand the importance of PR,” she said, mystifying him.
He thought of asking her what she meant, but decided that there were only so many explanations Akbar would ask for, and instead sent up a little prayer for just a bit more patience while urging Sampson into a gallop to catch up with his men.
The usual ululating cries greeted them when they finally arrived at the camp.
“What the hell?” Hallie asked, her face having been tucked behind his head. “Are they going to attack? I thought they only did that when they attack? Don’t let them scare the horse! Oh my god, we’re going to die!”
“Not by my men, we aren’t,” he said, the urge to laugh at the outrageousness of the last half hour almost overwhelming. “Moghuls take their vocal expressions of greeting, sorrow, happiness, sadness, and assorted other emotions very seriously, and my men are no exception to that.” He thought for a moment. “Although I have had to lay down a law about their habit of greeting the dawn in such a manner.”
“That’s the first reasonable thing you’ve said all day.” She sounded mildly disgruntled, but at least she wasn’t distraught any longer.
Men came running at their arrival, most of whom stared unabashedly at Hallie. That annoyed him, but he controlled the emotion just as he controlled the sense of frustration that he had further been delayed. “We leave immediately,” he announced, swinging his leg over Sampson’s neck in order to slide off the saddle, before helping Hallie down. A groom took the reins and led the horse off.
Alan eyed the lathered flanks and flecks of spittle on Sampson’s muzzle, and told the groom, “Be sure to cool him down. He’s worked hard today.”
The groom nodded, and Alan called for water before turning Hallie toward his tent and escorting her into it.
“What are we doing here?” she asked, stopping just inside the tent to look around, suspicion on her face. “Is that a bedroom? It is! Oh my god, you’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you? What iswithyou? I do not want to have sex!”
“Thank you for bellowing that. You might want to repeat it a little bit louder, though, since I don’t believe the people in town heard it,” he said drily, gesturing when two servants entered with buckets of water, another holding some clean linens.
