Page 40 of Summer of the Viking

She collided with his hard chest as his arms tightened about her, deepening the kiss still further. She sank into the warm, deep taste of him. Her memory of his mouth did not do it justice. This time she knew he was kissing her, not some ghost of a woman who had broken his heart.

His mouth trailed from her lips to the sensitive part of her neck and back again. A moan emerged. From her throat? From his? She didn’t know which. But the sound was enough to give that tiny sane part of her freedom.

She stiffened and pulled away, making a show of straightening her dress.

What did she think she was doing? Kissing in this room of all places? Anyone could walk in on them.

‘You are supposed to be my steward, not...’

‘Not what?’ He reached out a hand and trailed her cheek. ‘Your lover? What would be the harm in that? If it is something we both want?’

His words flowed over her like honey.

She resisted the temptation to turn her lips into his gentle touch. Theodbald’s touch had never been gentle, not even in the days when he had been courting her. Then she had been too young to understand anything. Her head had been turned by a warrior actually paying attention to her and she had never thought to question why.

‘Don’t touch me, please,’ she whispered instead.

His hand fell to his side. ‘Is there some reason? Tell me you feel this as I do. I dream about you.’

‘A kiss. Nothing more.’ Her mouth pulsed as she said the words.

‘Look me in the eyes and say it is nothing.’

She lifted her chin and stared directly into his dark gaze. She wanted to drown in his eyes. It was worse now, knowing precisely how his mouth had moved against hers. But someone had to stop this madness.

All the vile abuse Theodbald had flung at her echoed around her brain. The last thing she wanted was for Valdar to see her the same way, to learn of her barrenness and her failures as a wife.

‘I am looking and my answer remains the same.’

‘Can you tell me why?’

‘What you ask is impossible. I need you as my steward. I’ve no need of a lover, despite what Gode might have told you.’

He tilted his head to one side and his eyes became unfathomable. ‘Is that what she spoke to you about?’

She blinked twice. ‘Did she put you up to this? Ask you to be kind to me? Pity the poor lonely widow? It is the sort of thing she might do. Well, I don’t need your pity or anyone else’s! I can manage just fine on my own.’

A muscle jumped in his jaw. And she knew she had hit a raw nerve. His entire face changed. From lover to warrior in the space of a breath.

‘I do my own courting,’ he ground out. ‘Always have done. I have never had any need to ask anyone for advice. And I’ve kissed women for many reasons, but never out of pity.’

‘I’m sorry if I offended you.’

‘You’re a beautiful woman, Lady Alwynn. I refuse to lie about that.’

‘Thank you for saying that, but I know I’m not.’

He watched her for a long heartbeat. ‘Some day, my lady, you will tell me who hurt you and who made you afraid. Know that if it is within my power, I will keep you safe.’

She turned her face away from him. ‘That day will never come. You may go now.’

He inclined his head. ‘Forgive me if I acted inappropriately. I am your steward. I was given to understand you might be receptive...’

‘From Gode?’

‘I know little of your customs. Women in my country are free to act as they please provided they are not pledged to another.’

She closed her eyes. He was a stranger here. And she had acted wrongly.

‘It isn’t you. It is me. I should have confronted Gode and I didn’t. I regret that she put any ideas into your head.’ She gave a half-smile. ‘My only need from you is for a steward who will help me run this estate.’

‘Is that what you truly desire?’

Her heart beat rapidly and she was certain he must know the lie. But it was either that or risk everything she had worked so hard to protect for a few moments of passion with this stranger. ‘Yes.’

She heard his footsteps as he left the room and released a long trembling breath. Her fingers touched her aching lips. She’d done the right thing sending him away.

* * *

Alwynn woke from her sleep with a dull ache thrumming in the apex of her thighs, making her long for a warm muscular body to curl up next to. Not just any body, only Valdar’s.

Her brain clung to the final remnants of the dream. The raw, wild images in her mind, the memories of how Valdar touched her in her dream and where his lips had kissed her, shocked her. She’d woken to find her hands at the apex of her thighs and her undergown tangled about her body.

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