He drew back to the bed. “You mean in ahumanstate?”
She glanced at him, her look suddenly close to anger, he perceived. For being usually so calm and in control Steers sometimes could be. . .mercurial, he thought.
“I think you know exactly what I mean.”
He sat down in a chair and studied her. “In my mind at least admitting or showing weakness is not actually a weakness.”
“Perhaps inyourworld that may be true,” she retorted.
“It could be in your world, too, Victoria.”
“How is that remotely possible?” she snapped.
“Well, that might be up to you.”
She rubbed at her temples. “You speak in platitudes that sound quite nice and perhaps convincing on the surface, but have no meaningful connection toreality, at leastmyreality.”
“Again, much of that depends on you.”
She hiked her eyebrows and said, “You actually believe I have any control overthis?” She fanned her hands in front of her.
“I don’t know, do you?”
She swept away the covers, swung her long legs to the edge of the bed, and her bare feet touched the floor. When she rose Nash rose, too.
Her features were fixed for battle. They faced off right there.
CHAPTER
75
YOU ARE THE MOST INFURIATINGperson of my acquaintance,” she snapped.
“Not my intent,” he replied calmly.
“You were sent to spy on me, and you no doubt have fed your masters everything they need to put me in prison for the rest of my life. Is that not so?”
He just watched her, warily, since he now knew of her formidable fighting skills.
She didn’t step forward, she stepped back, which instantly put Nash more on his guard.
“Is that not so?” she said again.
“Perhaps.”
“So why have I not been arrested then?” she demanded.
“That’s a funny question coming from you. I thought you wouldn’t bring it up for fear of what I might say.”
“None of what you just said makes any sense,” she barked.
“I think it does. If you ruminate for a bit you might agree.”
She drew a deep, filling breath and stood as tall as possible in her bare feet. Still, he towered over her. She seemed to take offense at this because Steers lunged forward and pushed him. However, he outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds, so her thrusts barely budged him; indeed, the collision resulted in her falling backward against the bed. This apparently incensed her even more because she then struck him with a hard roundabout kick that landed solidly against his shoulder.
Nash grimaced and absorbed the blow, but he held his ground, staring at her with a calmness that further infuriated her.
She screamed and kicked at him again, but he was ready and caught her by the ankle. He lifted her leg up even higher and then pushed her backward. Steers toppled onto the bed, but she was up in an instant, and she launched herself against him. She threw fists and elbows and knees and legs; her breathing was labored, not really by her physical efforts, Nash knew, having seen her training before, but seemingly from raw emotion.