said coldly. Her dark eyes, oddly like her brother's,
traversed his hard body like twin scanners.

He returned her appraising stare with one of his own. "I'm not your
employee," he said bluntly. "I was hired by your brother, and there's
a full peeper rider on my contract." His eyes traveled slowly over her
carefully arranged hair, her make-up, her jewelry at throat and
arms, her painted finger- and toenails, and then across the slim
small-breasted lines of her body half revealed under her thin
ankle-length tunic of Lyranian silk.

"Satisfied?" she asked.

"On Beta," he said bluntly, "your appearance would qualify you for a
parasite camp. Six months of hard labor would do you no end of good.
You're soft, lazy, and undisciplined."

Eloise gasped. "Why, you--" she sputtered.

"And perhaps next time you'll learn to be polite," Kennon continued
imperturbably. "After all, the superficial attributes of good breeding
are not too hard to counterfeit."

To his surprise, Eloise giggled. "You bite, don't you?" she asked.
"Remind me to remember that."

"I shall."

"Of course, your actions weren't good breeding either."

"Admitted--but I've never pretended to be what I'm not. I'm the son of a
spaceship skipper, and I'm a veterinarian. That's all."

"That's not all. You are also a man." Her face was sober, "It's been
some time since I've met one. I'd almost forgotten they existed."

"There's your brother."

"Alex?--he's a money making machine. Come--sit beside me and let's
talk."

"About what?"

"You--me--your job, your life--anything you wish?"

"That line isn't exactly new," Kennon grinned.

"I know," she admitted, "but it usually works."

"I'm immune."

"That's what you think." Eloise's eyes were frankly appraising. "I think
I could become interested in you."

"I have a job here. I don't think I would have time to give you the
attention you'd demand."

"I get bored easily. It probably wouldn't be long before I would be
tired of you."

"Perhaps--and perhaps not, I can't afford to take the chance."

"You seem confident."

"You forget. I was a sailor."

"And spacemen have a reputation, eh?" Eloise chuckled.

"At that, you might be right. I remember the first officer of--" she let
the thought die. "But I became tired of him," she finished.

Kennon smiled. "I've never had that complaint."

"Perhaps you'd like to make the acid test?" she asked.

"Perhaps," he said. "But not tonight."

"Tomorrow th