“What is your name?” Lara asked her.
The woman hesitated. “Thora.”
Lara nodded. Thora moved to the table at the head of the house, near the door to Eirick’s quarters. Lara continued to ladle stew into bowls until everyone was eating, including the slaves. Reece came into the room and rowdy chorus of cheers erupted from the congregated Viking warriors. Thora motioned her son over to her and pushed an extra bowl of stew in his direction. He signaled Lara to join them before sitting down. Lara retrieved a bowl, filled it with stew and sat next to Reece on the bench. His leg brushed against hers and rather than move away, he nudged her knee. When she looked up at him, he nodded at his empty goblet.
She bit her lip. Was he serious? She was starving. Thora was watching her, probably deciding how hard she’d beat her when she got the opportunity. Lara stifled a sigh and went to the bucket-like container of mead. She ladled mead into the goblet and filled a glass for herself while she was there.
She returned to the table and Reece took both glasses, handing one to Thora. “Don’t forget to get one for yourself.”
Thora seemed very pleased by this. The corner of Lara’s eye twitched. Reece’s eyes widened and he quickly turned his attention to his stew. So he was familiar with her pissed-off-beyond-belief look. She wondered if he knew what to expect when she got him alone again. She returned to the bucket and ended up ladling mead for five other people before she was finally able to return to her yet untouched meal.
“More bread,” Reece said as soon as she sat down.
“Get it yourself,” she growled.
He squeezed her knee under the table. “Never make me repeat myself, Helga,” he warned.
She wondered how many Norsewomen took Axe Junior to their husband’s skull in the middle of the night. “I apologize,” she gritted between clenched teeth. She got up again and went to a side table that held a pile of flat breads and a collection of soft cheeses. She took some cheese back with her too. She didn’t want to have to get up again.
She sat down and lifted her spoon, glancing at Reece who was grinning at her. He was enjoying every minute of this.
“Can I eat, now?” she asked.
“What’s stopping you?”
The corner of her eye twitched before she glanced down at her meal. A crust of grease was solidifying around the edge of the stew. Her stomach turned. Would she really be able to keep this fatty concoction down? Her arteries were clogging just looking at the stuff. She avoided the grease along the edge and took a bite of something beige. It wasn’t as bad as she’d anticipated, but it was far from good. The meat was mealy, the vegetables either hard or mushy, the broth tasted like old lard. Reece tore his bread in half and handed a piece to her. He then surprised her by stroking her lower back soothingly.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he whispered into her ear. “Eirick is trying to stay on his mother’s good side, is all. So he can keep you. ”
His warm breath teased her ear, sending a thrill of excitement down the side of her neck. She bit into the bread. It was tough and chewy, but satisfying. She finished the bread before tackling the stew again. Concentrating on her meal, she ignored the warmth of Reece’s body beside her, the touch of his thigh against hers, the scent of his body, the husky timber of his voice as he answered his mother’s questions in monosyllables. This man had no effect on her. Nope. No effect. None. Nadda. So why, oh why, did she jump when his hand touched her back at the base of her spine? “Are you ready for bed?” he asked quietly.
Bed?
She swallowed hard, hoping it would make her tongue start working again. Before she could answer, one of the men shouted, “Eirick, tell us a story of your conquests.”
“I’ll have to pass this night, friends. I’m anxious to get to know this one,” he said, his voice thick with lust. He nuzzled Lara’s neck and covered her breast with his hand, kneading it gently with his palm.
She jerked away from him and lifted her hand to smack him. He caught her wrist and laughed. “You are going to be a delight to tame,” he growled, climbing from the bench and dragging Lara to her feet.
He buried his fingers in the mass of her hair and tugged her head back. Her eyes closed as he covered her mouth with his. She stiffened as a jolt of pure lust shot through her body. He kissed her deeply, suckling upper lip, nibbling on the lower, touching his tongue tentatively to hers. She was scarcely aware of the boisterous cheering going on around them. He kissed a trail towards her ear.
“You’re supposed to be fighting me, remember?” he whispered.
Her hand lifted suddenly as if controlled by a reflex and connected with his chin. Stunned, he staggered backwards. She bit her lip to bite back the apology on the tip of her tongue. His eyes narrowed dangerously. He scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder, heading for the door just to their left.
“Put me down!” she demanded, struggling against him.
“Don’t wait up,” he said to the people in the lodge.
“I said put me down!”
Reece carried her into his chambers and closed the door. He set her to her feet.
“I didn’t mean to hit you,” she said at once.
He drew her against his chest. “Where were we?”
Chapter 5
Lara’s blue eyes were as wide as saucers as she stared up at him. The candlelight threw strange shadows across her face. Reece took her chin in his hand and brushed his thumb over her lower lip as he stared down at her. She relaxed against him and lust slammed into his gut, stealing his breath. Memories of her face when lost in the throes of passion flitted through his mind. Unruly curls sticking to the perspiration moistened skin of her face and neck, heavy-lidded eyes locked with his, mouth open as she breathed his name in ecstasy. And then the vision changed. Eyes open yet unfocused, pupils dilated, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth as she lie in a contorted position on the parking garage floor beside her car. Her skin ice-cold beneath his searching fingers. No pulse. No breath. No Lara.
No Lara.
A vice clenched Reece’s heart and he cradled the back of her head, tugging her against his chest as he fought tears. She was here. She was breathing. He could save her. He could. Carl didn’t know what he was talking about. It was possible. Reece would make it possible. He refused to live without her. She was everything to him. True, she didn’t know him, but as much as it broke his heart, there was nothing he could do about that besides get to know her again. Slowly. Though everything inside him wanted things to be as they had been immediately, he needed to take things more slowly.
“Reece?”
Her soft voice, muffled against his chest, spiraled feelings of tenderness through him. He bit his lip, holding in the words he longed to say. Don’t leave me again. I love you, Lara. I love you. He’d already said ‘I love you’ once. It was too soon for her to hear it again. He had to be patient. Take his time. Slow down.
“Yes?” His voice sounded thick with emotion, even to him. Damn.
“Where did you get that amulet?”
Surprised by her question, he chuckled. Apparently, she wasn’t as lost in romantic feelings as he was.
“I was on an expedition in Cairo.”
She pulled out of his grasp and stepped away. He fisted his hands to prevent himself from drawing her back against him. He wanted her, true, but more than the great sex they shared, he wanted her love. And if he pushed her, he might never attain it again. She wasn’t an easy woman.
“It was unearthed in a dig,” he said. “The two pieces were found together, but it was cracked down the middle. I bought it for a great price because it was broken.”
“So you have both pieces?”
Reece shook his head. “Carl has the other half. That’s how he keeps following me. His half of the amulet is drawn to mine. Apparently, he leaps a few moments after me, but there is some sort of delay seen on the other end. It usually takes him a few days to appear. I leapt more than seventy times before I returned to the m
odern era. What’s been a few hours for him, has been eight months for me. When I arrived in your time, I trekked halfway across the world to see you. I almost missed finding you again before Carl arrived.”
“Is this really a good idea, Reece? I mean if I am meant to die, then maybe—”
He stepped closer to her, gripping both of her arms in his hands. “Don’t say it, Lara. Don’t even think it. You are not meant to die. I won’t let it happen.”
He kissed her heatedly, the taste of her lips intoxicating. All too soon she pulled away. She held a hand up between them and refused to look at him. “Don’t.”