"Yes, indeed."
"What?"
"About one hundred seventy-five centimeters tall, yellow hair, blue eyes, and some of the smoothest fourth-order curves I ever—"
"Mike, stop that!" Avis sounded appalled. "This is serious."
"I agree. She'll be leaving in a few more watches."
The girl bit her lip. "You're too old for that mooncalf rot and you know it."
"Agreed again. I feel more like a bull." Blades made pawing motions on the desktop.
"There's a lady present," Chung said.
Blades saw that Avis had gone quite pale. "I'm sorry," he blurted. "I never thought ... I mean, you've always seemed like—"
"One of the boys," she finished for him in a brittle tone. "Sure. Forget it. What's the problem, Jimmy?"