Page 4 of Shameless

He’d been right about one thing. The cold didn’t seem so bad when she kept moving. And, although weak, the sunlight filtering through the pine branches lifted her spirits.

Coming from Earth, where the climate was always perfect, she’d had an especially hard time adjusting to life on Gadolinium. Its orbit was farthest from the twin suns Phalyx and Zalyx, plunging this world into the icy depths of winter for roughly half the twenty months in Earth time that it took for the planet to complete its orbit.

She wished for the thousandth time that she’d ended up on Neodyma instead of on the third in this trio of planets settled by human explorers over two millennia ago. It had a climate more like that of Earth. Warm sunshine, even tropical flowers blooming in the heart of the capital city.

But it didn’t have Haldor. A blond giant who lived by a code of honor as strong as his broad shoulders. He’d lay down his life for her. Already had. He’d spent his whole life surrounded by men just like him. Men…and women.

Her bottom still stung, but she understood why he’d been so firm with her. It was the custom on this planet. Wandering off alone outdoors, not dressing properly for the cold, letting a fire die out – any one of these could carry a death sentence. Gadolinian males took their responsibility as head of the household seriously. And an occasional bare-bottom session over the knee drove a point home. Spanked by their fathers, it was simply expected here that husbands and lovers would continue the practice when a woman left home.

It was a harsh world where laziness, carelessness, and willful disobedience couldn’t be tolerated. Selena never dreamed that falling in love with a Gadolinian warrior would include falling in love with his discipline. But to her surprise, it made her feel cared for. Even cherished. She’d learned it was one of the ways Viking males expressed the love they sometimes found hard to put into words. The women here accepted spankings – and other, naughtier forms of discipline that still made her blush – as part of life.

Later, when they’d unloaded the wagon and Haldor had split and stacked what looked to her like enough wood for a month, they sat by the fire, finishing off plates of venison stew. She’d learned to cook it reluctantly, unable to bear the thought at first of dining on the beautiful animals that had to be slaughtered to create it.

Back home, she’d eaten only synthetically produced protein and vegetables cloned from the few varieties that had managed to survive the destruction of the environment long enough for the domes to be erected. Now, she honored the Gadolinian rituals and offered thanks to the creature who gave its life to sustain theirs as she prepared the meal.

She’d taken her time. Chopped a pile of golden yellow carabagas, diced onions, crumbled in a handful of dried herbs. Appreciating the textures, the bursts of color, the aromas. Eating food cooked from its natural state was far more satisfying than tearing open a sealed packet containing a tasteless brown lump.

“That was delicious. You’ve become quite a cook.” Haldor set his plate aside and patted his knee. “Come here.”

When she hesitated, he gave her that sexy smile she couldn’t resist.

“I only want you to sit on my lap. I promise there’ll be no spanking involved – unless you beg me to do it.”

“Beg you to spank me? That’s never going to happen!”

His eyes darkened. “Is that a challenge?”

Chapter Two

Haldor bristled. His eyes narrowed. “Is that a challenge?”

“Not a challenge. Simply a fact,” Selena retorted.

“You think you’ve experienced all the kinds of spankings I can deliver? There’s none you’d beg for?”

“Well, let’s see.” She began ticking them off on her fingers. “You’ve spanked me with my clothes on, with my clothes off, over your knee, over a wooden chair, over the side of the bed. Oops, I ran out of fingers.”

She raised her other hand. “With your open palm, with that dreaded hairbrush. And, once, with a wooden spoon when you asked me to cook venison for the first time and I refused. I know some men spank with a leather belt, but, so far, you’ve never done that.”

“You’ve never been that naughty – yet.” He grinned. “So you’re convinced you know every kind of spanking there is?”

She shrugged. “If there’s another, I’d rather not know about it.”

“Then you won’t.” He paused and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Unless you beg me. Now, come here.”

She crossed the room and snuggled in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. Though average in height for an Earth woman, six foot one, being in Haldor’s arms made her feel like a little girl. He towered over her, and his body was pure muscle, from the broad shoulders and powerful chest to thighs as big around and hard as the tree trunks he’d been chopping.

She smiled up at him. Smoothing back his shoulder-length dark hair, she planted a kiss on his forehead. “Haldor. I asked Astrid about your name. She said it means ‘rock of Thor.’ That’s what you remind me of. A huge boulder. Strong enough to withstand the storms life brings without crumbling. But stubborn and hard-headed, too. Unyielding.”

His smile dimmed. “Is that what you think? That I have no soft side?”

“If you ever did have one, you rolled over on it and crushed it, rock of Thor.”

She regretted the words as soon as she saw the flash of pain in his eyes. This man hid his feelings so deeply, she sometimes forgot he had any. She gave a little laugh. “It was only a joke, my love.”

He stared into the fire for a long time without speaking.

“You may be right,” he sighed. “All my life I’ve put on a brave face for the world. Ever since I was a lad, when the Tabun invaded Gadolinium the first time and slaughtered my parents. King Sigrun and Queen Astra took me in. Sigrun was my hero. He tracked down the Tabun, drove them from Gadolinium with such fury they stayed away for over thirty years.

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