Ripples in the Pool — Richard C. White

For the female of the species is more deadly . . .

My life just keeps getting better.

I'm back in a country I swore I never would return to, I'm broke again, and I'm on the run from Imperial guardsmen who've been set on my trail. How did I wind up here? All compliments of my old lover, who had the audacity to dance back into my life. She ruined my life ten years ago and the one I swore I'd take vengeance if I ever met her again. She knows I'm on her trail and she's fleeing back into the Empire, knowing I've got a price on my head and no one to turn to for help.

And, if that wasn't bad enough, I'm caught in the middle of two family disputes. A snow maiden and her mother expect me to referee a family dispute and a mysterious woman wants me to pick up her wayward husband and return him to her.

Now, I have four women demanding my attention for different reasons. But all of them have something in common. If I screw up, any one of them will kill me.