Excerpt: Earthways

Dawn at the marketplace was the best time for cooks and housewives to find the ripest fruit, the freshest vegetables and the choicest cuts of meat. Farmers and merchants woke up well before moonset to bring their wares to town, and though the prices were high, the harvest was best while still sparkling with morning dew.
Seeing as no one in their right mind would be looking for a hired guard at dawn, though, Virgil was still in bed when the bells at the church down the way rang for noon service. He propped himself up on his elbow, grumbling, and looked over a head of tangled brown hair at the cheerful yellow sunlight peeking in through the curtains. After a moment, he sank down among the sheets again. "Damn bells. Who's up this early?"
"Hmm?" The tangled knot of brown hair turned over, revealing the face of a woman who looked significantly less like a goddess now that all the alcohol he'd drunk was leaving his system. "Wha'ssa matter?"
Virgil grimaced and sat up again, twisting his body around so his bare feet touched the floor. "Time to get up," he grunted, stooping to hook a finger through his pants, which were laying discarded in a heap along with his shirt and leather vest, a pair of stockings and a garter belt.
He laced up his pants and stretched, hearing his back pop. He looked over his shoulder at the woman, who was still lounging in bed. "I've got to get to work. You should go."
"But—"
"I'm going to hire out today, if I'm lucky. The road is no place for a woman, and I couldn't bear for you to get hurt." It was a speech Virgil used often, and it seemed to work, especially if he refused to make eye contact and lowered his head as if his heart ached.
Most of it was true, anyway. And if his heart didn't ache, the rest of his body made up for it.
The woman in his bed wasn't placated. "You have to hire out?"
"Yes."
"You said you were on the City Watch."
"Uh…"