obvious

smiled crookedly.

smiled crookedly. "Of course you do. It ought to be blindingly obvious by now."
She frowned with puzzlement, for a moment. Then, when his meaning penetrated, gasped. Partly with shock, partly from outrage.
"You can't be serious! Cachat?"
Trajan's smile remained on his face. And his gaze remained level. "Yes, Eloise. The 'demon' himself. Again—start with the key point. He's loyal. Whatever else about him irritates you, I know you don't have any doubts about that. And he is a wizard at this work."
"He's a maniac!"
Ginny shot to her feet. "He is not!" Then, as if realizing who she was talking to, she flushed a little. "Okay, maybe a little. But he's not a 'maniac.' That just isn't fair." She plopped back into her chair. "It isn't," she insisted.
"I'm not proposing to replace me with Cachat immediately, Madam President," Trajan said softly. "I agree with Ms. Usher that he's not a 'maniac,' but . . . ah . . . there's no question he could use some . . . ah . . ."
"Civilization?" Eloise demanded sarcastically. "Massive anti-testosterone treatments?"
Hearing a suspicious choking sound from Usher, she moved her eyes to him. "What are you trying not to laugh about?"
Usher waved a large hand. "Ah, never mind. Someday, after you've calmed down, Ginny can fill you in on some of the more private details of Cachat's, ah, operation on Erewhon."
Pritchart rolled her eyes. "Oh, marvelous. I had a hunch there was more to that renegade Solarian Marine officer than the reports said."
"She's not a renegade," Ginny growled.
Kevin sat up, discarding any traces of his previous—and very atypical—abashment.