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He said, "You’re speaking of your Union lad I bet old Stonewall and precious Mr Davis sent you a danored the jab and said, "My husband’s naardless of the coat he wore Good "
"Yes, and bad men too, but I’ll take your word for his character Look, Miss Boyd--I kno good you are I knohat you’re capable of, and I knohat a pain in the neck you’ve been to the boys in blue, and it ht be worth your peace ofyou here"
"Guff?" she asked with a lifted eyebrow
He repeated, "Guff The unfriendly kind, but this isanyone I da you about the guff so you’re ready to receive it, because I pro to Many of the iance to any team, side, country, or company; they work for reed, "Yes Of a kind And most of those fellows don’t care about who you are or whatever you did before you came here They understand I take in strays, because strays are the ones you can count on, more often than not"
She said, "At least if you feed thelad we understand one another And you’ll understand ot a handful who think I’h they don’t dare say it to my face They think you’re here to stab ency, or wreak some weird havoc of your own That’s partly because they’re suspicious bastards, and partly because they don’t kno you’ve come to my employ I haven’t told them about your circumstances, for they’re nobody’s business but your own You can share all you like or keep it to yourself"
"I appreciate that," she said with honesty "You’ve been ht kind"
"And that’s not so it around, or you’ll ruinthis to be nice, either It won’t do ood to have a team full of people who don’t respect each other, and maybe they won’t respect you if they think you’re here due to hard tined to bring you here, and that --or at least, footing as equal as you’re likely to find in a roo his eyes to her chest, but his gaze flickered in such a fashion that she gathered the point he’d avoided
She didn’t stiffen or bristle She reclined a few inches, which changed the angle of her cleavage in a way she’d found to be effective without overt Then she said, "I knohat you’re getting at, and I don’t like it For whatever it’s worth, I’ve never been the whore they called ifts, and mine has never been my face"
He replied with a flat voice that tried to tell her she was barking up an indifferent tree "It’s not what’s beneath your boning, either It’s what’s between your ears"
"You’re a gentleman to say so"
"I’d be an idiot if I didn’t point it out," he argued "You’re a competent wos I trust you to sort out any issues with your fellow agents in whatever ood faith effort to keep disruption to a minimum"
"You can absolutely trust me on that point," she confirmed
"Excellent Then I suppose it’s tinment"
She almost said, "Already?" but she did not Instead she said, "So soon?" which wasn’telse
"You’d prefer to take a few days, get the lay of the office, and get to know your coworkers?" he asked
"It’d be nice"
He snapped, "So would a two-inch steak, but the soldiers get all the beef these days and I’ll survive without it Likewise, you’ll survive without any settling-in tiot you a desk you won’t need, and a company account with money that you will I hope you haven’t unpacked yet, because we’re sending you on the road"
"All right," she said "That’s fine And yes, I’m still packed I can be out the door in an hour, if it comes down to it Just tell o"
He said, "That’s the spirit, and here’s the story: We’ve got a proble east over the Rockies The first one is a transport ship called the Clementine As I understand it, or as I choose to believe it, Cle the lines; but she was getting some work done over on the west coast Now she’s headed hoovernment doesn’t want her busted up"
Maria asked, "And the second ship?"
"The second ship is trying to bust her up I don’t knohy, and if the Union knows, nobody there is willing to talk about it" He picked up a scrap of paper with a telegra to lie to you So smells funny about this"