“He’s still a little young for me, but I see your point . . . and I don’t tumble for just anybody.”
“Since when?” I said, but I said it very quietly.
Tananda gave me a hard look, and for a moment I thought she had heard me.
“To hear you talk,” she frowned, “I’d almost think you were in favor of a Bunny/Skeeve match-up.”
“Her or somebody like her. Face it, little sister, the lad isn’t likely to tie onto some nice, polite, ‘girl-nextdoor’ sort with his current life-style . .. and if he managed to, the rest of us would eat her alive in crackerjack time.”
Tananda’s pace slowed to almost a standstill.
“You mean that hanging around with us is ruining Skeeve’s social life? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
I wanted to take her by her shoulders and shake her, but even my gentlest shakes can be rather violent and I didn’t want to get arrested for an attempted mugging. Instead, I settled for facing her with my sternest expression.
“Now, don’t go all maudlin on me. What I’m trying to say is that Skeeve is used to associating with heavy hitters, so it’s going to take a tougher-than-average lady fair to be comfortable around him, and vice versa. He’d be miserable with someone like that Luanna person.”
“What’s wrong with Luanna?”
I shrugged and resumed our stroll, forcing Tananda to keep up.
“Oh, she’s pretty enough, I suppose. But she’s a smalltime swindler who’s so shortsighted she’d sell him out at the first hint of trouble. In short, she’d be an anchor around his neck who would keep him from climbing and potentially drag him down. If we’re going to fix the lad up with a swindler, she should at least be a big-league swindler . . . like, say, a certain someone we know who has the Mob for a dowry.”