Redeeming Her Viking Warrior

Doing so, however, was another matter. His offer to work for her hadn’t been received very well and she didn’t look as though she’d care much about coin, but surely there was something he could offer? If only she would come out of her roundhouse and talk it would make negotiating with her a lot easier. Then he could explain that he meant her no harm and maybe come to some kind of arrangement. She’d looked as if she’d been on the verge of saying something earlier, her body actually trembling with the effort it had cost her to keep silent, but she’d stopped herself. Why? Why wouldn’t she speak to him? He didn’t want to upset her any further, but he had the feeling that if he left her to calm down, she’d simply go back to ignoring him again. Maybe provoking her was the only way to begin a conversation...

‘The fish is ready,’ he called out in the direction of the roundhouse. It was a curious design, he noticed, ancient-looking and constructed from wood and turf in a style he’d never seen before. He presumed it was Gael, or even Pict, even if she herself looked Norse. ‘I hope you’re hungry?’

There was no answer, so he sat down on the ground, leaning against a tree stump and allowing himself to relax. He could wait. She couldn’t stay in there for ever and he was the one with the food. All things considered, he felt surprisingly comfortable.

‘You know, there are other things I could do for you besides hunting.’ He decided to test how much Norse she understood. ‘I’m very good with my hands. Ask any woman who’s ever met me. They’d all agree, my hands are practically famous in Maerr.’ He fixed his gaze on the leather curtain over the entrance, watching for any hint of a reaction. ‘My mouth, too. That’s probably more famous. I can do things with my tongue you can’t even imagine.’

There. A small unmistakable twitch of the curtain followed by...stillness again. He sighed and tipped his head back, his mind filled with a startling array of erotic images all of a sudden. Of course, images would be all he would have until he fulfilled his oath, but even if he couldn’t actually lie with a woman, there were other things he could do to her, for her... Despite his rescuer’s spectral appearance, the idea was curiously tempting.

‘You know, if you let me, I could think of a hundred different ways to repay you,’ he carried on, his body heating at the idea. ‘I like exploring a woman’s body. I’d start with your breasts.’ He closed his eyes, feeling a tightening sensation in his trousers as he imagined the budded peaks of her nipples. ‘Then I’d kiss my way down your stomach and over your hips. I’d get to know every part of your body. In detail. Then I’d move down between your legs. I’d taste you there—’

‘Stop it!’

He opened his eyes with a jolt, surprised as much by the sound of her voice as the vehemence behind it. He’d been so engrossed in his daydream that it actually took him several seconds to come back to reality, to focus on her livid-looking face as she glared at him from the doorway of her roundhouse.

‘You speak Norse!’ He felt elated by his success.

‘I understand Norse,’ she corrected, storming wrathfully towards him. ‘I don’t speak anything!’

‘But you are now.’

‘Only because you won’t stop!’

Too late he caught sight of the dagger in her hand, lifting his good arm to block her just as she dropped to a crouching position and held the blade to his throat. The look in her eyes was deadly serious, a raging swirl of storm clouds ready to unleash thunder and lightning.

‘I’m sorry.’ He lowered his arm again, finally aware he’d gone too far. ‘I needed to know if you could understand me.’

‘Why?’ She seemed to be speaking through clenched teeth, as if it truly cost her to wrench the words out. ‘Why did you need to? I saved your life! Why come to my home and offer insults in return!’

‘I didn’t mean it that way.’ He glanced down at the dagger and then back up again. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said thos

e things. Forgive me.’

‘No.’ Her expression was implacable. ‘I want you to leave!’

‘It’s not so easy.’

‘Go!’

‘Won’t you at least tell me your name?’

The question only seemed to make her angrier still. Before he could react, she flipped the dagger around, ramming the hilt hard against his injured arm.

‘Go!’ She repeated the word more forcefully, ignoring his cry of pain.

‘I’m sorry...’

‘Do you think just saying so is enough?’ She stood up, looming over him the way she had when he’d first seen her, only this time everything about her body was clenched—her jaw, her fists, her muscles—all rigid with tension...

‘I don’t...’ It was becoming harder and harder to speak as his teeth started to chatter. There were white spots dancing before his eyes and he could dimly see a fresh stain of blood spreading through the linen around his arm. ‘Please...help me.’

‘Save yourself this time.’ Her eyes flashed one last time before she turned her back on him. ‘You’re on your own now, Norseman.’

Chapter Five

Sissa hurled the dagger to the ground and stalked back towards the roundhouse, her throat taut with anger as she wrenched the leather curtain aside and flung herself face-down on to the pile of furs that served as a bed. To her horror, there were tears welling in her eyes.

How could he? After everything that she’d done for him, sheltering and feeding and nursing him when he’d been so close to death, was this really how he repaid her? With the kind of talk that made her blood run hot and cold at the same time? There were so many conflicting emotions swirling in her chest that she didn’t know which was dominant. Anger, confusion, want, need... She felt strung tight, vibrating with all of them at once. She didn’t want to think about all the things he’d said he could do to her body either, but when she did... There was an ache in the pit of her stomach and between her thighs that made her insides feel as if they were turning to liquid.