"Twenty-three. Please put me down on Iago Iago, Mr. Drake."
"You said you were prepared to pay. How much?"
She turned her back on him, did something to her coatblouse, and swung around a moment later with a money belt in her hands. She held it out to him. "It contains two thousand credits. Count them, if you like."
He shook his head. "Put it back on. I wouldn't risk losing my pilot's license for ten times that amount."
"But there isn't any risk. I'm certainly not going to tell anyone that you violated the code."
He regarded her speculatively. "Credits aren't the only form of negotiable cash," he said.
She did not even blush. "I am prepared to pay in that kind of cash too."
He was dumbfounded. Sex was not forbidden to Church of the Emancipation girls, but usually at the merest hint of it they ran away and hid somewhere. For a moment, remembering the sweep of her thighs when she had entered the room, he was tempted; but only for a moment. Recovering himself, he said, "I'm afraid that kind of cash won't suffice either. My pilot's license is my bread and butter, and I value my bread and butter highly." He stood up. "In my capacity as captain of this vessel I hereby place you under arrest and order you to return to your self-chosen quarters and to remain there for the duration of this voyage."
Disbelief darkened her wide-apart brown eyes. Then golden motes of anger came and chased the darkness away. She made a wild grab for the ion gun on the table. He thwarted her easily, seized her arm and, towering above her, escorted her out of the cabin and down the companionway to the starboard storeroom. The starboard storeroom adjoined the hull, and in common with all hull compartments, it was equipped with a lock instead of a door. After shoving Saint Annabelle Leigh inside, he adjusted the sealing mechanism so that the lock could be opened only from the outside, then he turned to go.
She ran forward and caught his arm. There was desperation in her brown eyes. "Please put me down on Iago Iago."