Read Online Grudging by Michelle Hauck - Free Book Online

older than Salvador. What was she doing here? This was no place for a woman. She carried no weapons he could see. She was obviously unused to horses, and the way she stared at the caballos de guerra said she hadn’t encountered the breed up close before.
    She looked up from the gelding again, wobbling in the saddle. Her eyes danced with mirth as they had back in the cellar. “Your face is an open book. Ask. Ask before you burst, cousin.”
    â€œWe’re not cousins, cousin , unless we share a sangre kin relationship of which I’m unaware.” He didn’t believe they fit any of the blood kin laws. He’d certainly never seen her before, let alone saved her life. Nor had they gone through a traumatic battle together, or had relatives who’d drawn death blood in some vendetta–though the ludicrous idea of this tame woman in a blood feud made him smile.
    â€œNo sangre kinship.” She grinned wider as if to outshine his amusement. “But I’ll not be responsible for your death. Get your questions out.”
    â€œAre you really a scholar?”
    â€œIndeed I am,” she said. “A specialist in cultural anthropology at the university. Shall I explain that to you?”
    He snorted and leaned away from the hooked needles of a barrel cactus. The yellow fruit atop it had been hollowed out by pack rats. Did she think him an idiot just because he wore a sword? “You study other ­people. Their ways. A rather limited field. Until recently,” he corrected himself.
    â€œAs was a specialist in military exercises . . . until recently.”
    He warmed to her. “Aye. We’ve been busier of late. So you studied the Northerners and the witches? Father sent you as a source of information for us?”
    â€œAnd a diplomat,” Salvador called back. “She’s to handle the negotiation side of the mission.”
    Teresa nodded at him. “Correct. As this trip involves relations between two modern cultures—­ones that don’t get along—­the Alcalde decided it would be best to have an ambassador with experience in matters other than the military.” She turned her attention back to her horse, giving it a pat as if it were a dog. “I have studied the witches and what is known of the Northerners. Mostly, though, I researched the other ciudades-­estado . That’s where my true expertise lies, cousin. Truthfully, I’m almost as much in the dark on how the witches will react to our offer.”
    â€œSo how are you a help to us?”
    â€œBecause I understand ­people, cousin,” she said, not offended at all by his impertinent question. “Just as I understand that you question my place here because you question your own place.”
    And now it had been voiced aloud. If any of the others heard her say it, they said nothing. Embarrassed, Ramiro changed topics. “I’d heard little of the Northerners before they entered the territory of the ciudades-­estado ,” Ramiro said. “You can tell us more?”
    â€œAye,” she said. “The university has information on them. The Northerners rebuffed our offers of trade centuries ago, preferring to keep to themselves in their own land. They operate as a unit, identifying not by home city but by shared physical traits. In other words, they formed an interwoven community of cities operating together instead of separately, as we do. They worship statues of a golden god—­kept in their churches—­who dwells in some invisible land beyond the stars. Their women are merchants, while the husbands tend the home and do the fighting. Their god hands down proclamations through their priests. Proclamations such as ‘horses belong to god and not man. Man must rely on his own feet so that the toil of his travel makes a stronger vessel before their god.’ ”
    â€œThat’s idiotic,” Ramiro said.
    â€œDon’t be so quick to