He had offered to accompany her wherever she might wish, but she had declined. She could hardly take him along as she searched for his boat.
And she thought it best to keep as much distance between them as possible.
She turned away from the window, suddenly awash in memories of last night.
His hands in her hair. His mouth, hot and ravishing on hers. The way she had trembled with wanting, parted her lips, reveled in the fierce strength of his arms around her. She had lost herself in all of it—in him—for one wild moment... and then another, and another...
She shut her eyes, unable to stop herself from remembering every vivid detail. The velvet thrust of his tongue along hers. The roughness of his beard against her chin, her throat... her breasts. The heat of his mouth on her naked skin.
She wrapped her arms around herself. God’s breath, her body still felt fevered even now. Last night, Hauk had ignited something within her that she had believed long vanished. Forgotten. Something passionate and reckless that had nearly made her surrender to the husky promises he whispered.
Shaking her head, she struggled to right her thoughts. She had been too exhausted to think clearly last night. Exhausted and vulnerable. And confused by their conversation—by the way he kept surprising her with unexpected compassion and thoughtfulness. And caring.
For a few scorching moments, she had forgotten everything else. A few moments of madness. Weakness. But she could not allow herself to be weak.
Not if she wanted to get home.
Since their moonlit encounter on the beach, they had barely spoken more than a few, tense words to each other—and she meant to keep it that way. She could not let herself view Hauk Valbrand as aught but her abductor. An obstacle to be overcome on her way back to Giselle.
No matter how his touch and his words and his kisses made her melt.
“Saint’s breath,” she whispered miserably. “How am I to ignore the man when I cannot stop thinking about him?”
Floyel, ever at her heels, snuffled at her hand as if in sympathy, before ambling off to plop down on his bed in one corner.
“Thank you,” she said with a reluctant grin as she wiped her moist palm on her skirt. “At least reindeer kisses do not cause me to take leave of my senses.”
Releasing a frustrated sigh, she returned to the chair she had occupied for the past hour and picked up a book. She had dug out the Norse texts again, hoping she might notice something helpful that she had missed before. Thumbing through the pages, she tried to think of a way to sneak out without Hauk seeing her.
It would be difficult, since he had been working outside all day, hammering away at some kind of repairs to Ildfast’s stall. No doubt he suspected she was making plans to escape. He might not even allow her to attend the celebration tonight—and then how would she meet with her fellow captives?
Whispering an oath, she shut the book. This was maddening. She was accustomed to going and doing as she pleased. Having a man restrict her every movement was intolerable. It made her blood simmer, made her feel like doing something rash and—
The door opened and Hauk strode in, his face and chest streaked with sweat, dirt, sawdust. Avril lowered her gaze, partly to conceal her unruly mood... and partly because a different kind of heat shimmered through her blood and curled in her belly.
Curse the man, how could the merest glimpse of him affect her this way?
“Where did you get those?” he asked with a growl. She looked up. He was frowning at the books stacked beside her chair.
“I meant no harm,” she said defensively. “Since you will not allow me to venture out, I must pass the time in some way, and I enjoy reading—”
“I never said you could not venture out.”
“I meant alone.” Lifting the book in her hands, she placed it atop the stack. “I am sorry, I should not have gone through your books without permission.” He had every right to be angry with her. “I will put them back.”
“Nay, it matters not,” he said more evenly. Brushing sawdust from his dark-gold hair, he walked over to the rain barrel against the nearby wall. “What is mine is yours now. You are my wife.”
Avril bit her tongue. It was pointless to keep correcting him about that.
He reached for a wooden pipe above the rain barrel, releasing a spigot that let fresh water flow in from outside, where it collected in troughs below the eaves. “If you are bored, milady,” he said above the splashing of the water as it filled the half-empty barrel, “I am willing to entertain you.”
Heat flooded her as she imagined what sort of entertainment he had in mind. “I would prefer to be alone, thank you,” she said coolly.
He slanted her a glance. “I only meant that we might go for a walk. Or mayhap play a game. Chess, draughts—”
“Darts?” she suggested innocently. “It has always been my favorite.”
He arched one brow. “I am not sure it would be wise of me to supply you with small, pointy objects in my vicinity.”
“I might miss the target,” she admitted, unable to suppress a sly grin. “But probably only once or twice.”
A smile dimpled his unshaven cheek. “Why is darts your favorite?” He twisted the spigot again to shut the water off. “It is usually played only by men, by archers.”
“Aye, but it is also one of the few games of skill in which women can compete. And win. Even against men.”
“Most women do not like to compete against men.” Hauk splashed his face and chest, and washed the back of his neck.
“Only because the men get so churlish when a woman wins.” Avril felt her mouth go dry as she watched the play of muscle and sinew across his back and shoulders, the water gliding down his tanned skin. “But I am not like most women.”
“Nay.” He sighed, and she was not sure whether it was admiration or chagrin she heard in his voice. “You are not.” He dunked his head under the surface, quickly, then straightened and ran his hands through his wet hair. “Gods, but the water is cold today.”
Avril could not reply, unable to stop staring at the glistening rivulets cascading down his bearded face, his chest, over the rippling muscles of his stomach. Fire bloomed in her at the too-vivid reminder of how he had looked last night—when he strode ashore like an untamed, golden god risen from the sea.
She glanced away, vexed that she was once again blushing like a maiden.
Mayhap he would believe the constant color in her cheeks had been put there by Asgard’s hot sun.
Keeping her eyes averted, she quickly sought a safe topic of conversation. “You have a great many books,” she said lightly, running her hand over one leather-bound volume. “I have been in the castles of lords and barons who did not have so many. They must have cost a great deal.”
“They did not cost a single coin.”
“You stole them?” She glanced at him in surprise.
He frowned. “I wrote them.” Turning his back, he reached for a length of folded linen on a shelf next to the rain barrel.
“Nay, you jest.” She shook her head in disbelief. “You wrote these books? These, with the sketches of European cities, castles and cathedrals and sailing ships—”
“Aye.”
“But how could that be? You said that no one left Asgard for more than six days.”
“True.”
“Then if you wrote these,” she said dubiously, “you must have barely had time to glimpse these places.”
He did not answer for a moment, rubbing his face and hair with the linen. “Most of them are from journeys made in my youth.” He paused. “Brief journeys.”
His voice was quiet, and he seemed entirely serious. Avril felt stunned, remembering what she had thought when she first found the books: that whoever had written them possessed an artist’s eye and a poet’s spirit.
Never had she guessed that the powerful, hard-muscled Viking warrior who had abducted her could be that man.
Glancing down, she studied the weathered volumes with their
yellowed pages, and her brow furrowed. “But you could not have written these,” she said softly. “They are all so old.”
He tossed the damp cloth aside. “Salt air and sea winds take a merciless toll on paper.”
She had not thought of that. “And the other books?” she asked curiously. “The texts on hunting and astronomy, the discussion of Aristotle’s philosophies in Greek, the retelling of the Arthurian legends in French—”
“Mine as well.”
She blinked at him in astonishment. Not only did he have the eye of an artist and the spirit of a poet, but the mind of a scholar. “But how—when—have you managed to pursue so many different subjects? I thought you said your duties as vokter occupied your time.”
Shrugging, he rested one lean hip against a table beside the rain barrel. “As I told you before, time is something we have in abundance on Asgard. Illness is unknown here, food is plentiful, poverty unknown among us. So we do not have to spend our lives struggling to eke out an existence, or battling our neighbors.” He picked up a small stone sculpture from the table, turning it in his fingers. “We each have time for many interests and pursuits. And every man—or woman—is free to choose a trade according to his talents and skills, whether as shopkeeper or storyteller, merchant or farmer—”
“Or warrior and artist.”
He looked up, his gaze and voice gentle. “Avril, do you begin yet to see that Asgard has much to offer? Do you still think your homeland so much better?”
She lowered her lashes, realized her hands were clenched tightly in her lap. He was being kind to her again. Trying to make her feel at home here.
He simply did not understand that this could never possibly be her home.
“My home is with Giselle,” she said softly.
He was silent a moment.
Then he set the sculpture down on the table and changed the subject. “It is time to prepare for this evening’s celebration, milady. Let us not be late this time.”
Avril held back an exclamation of relief. She had been prepared to argue or cajole or sneak away for her rendezvous with her fellow captives.
He hunted through the piles of wedding gifts still heaped on the room’s tables and chairs, digging out a gown of pale gold edged with shimmering embroidery. Walking over to her, he held it out. “Wear the gold.”
She stood, about to protest that she was not going to allow him to choose her clothes. It was too personal, too intimate—
Then his fingers brushed hers as he handed her the gown, and she could not speak at all.
“The color will be most becoming on you,” he added.
The husky depth of his voice made her heart flutter. She suddenly had to fight an urge to reach up and touch those dimples, to run her fingertips over the whiskers that darkened his strong, square jaw.
A muscle flexed in his cheek, as if he felt her touch there, though she had not moved. She felt his body tense. His sky-colored gaze settled on her mouth and her breath caught. He leaned closer, angling his head.
A voice at the door calling in Norse made them both freeze.
Hauk looked toward the entrance and Avril darted out of his reach, the gown clutched in her shaking fingers. Their visitor was Marta—and from her tone, the little girl seemed impatient about something.
Hauk spoke quietly to the child and sent her on her way before turning to translate to Avril. “Marta reminds me that I have kept her waiting rather a long time. I am supposed to be fetching her troublesome pet.”
Her heart beating too hard, Avril nodded and turned away, not trusting herself to speak.
He walked over and scooped up Floyel, who bleated in alarm at being lifted so high above the floor.
“I will leave you to dress, milady,” Hauk said as he headed for the door.
Watching him cradle the small bundle of gray fluff in his massive, muscular arms, Avril felt an unexpected knot in her stomach. Curious to know where he was taking the animal—and half afraid he intended to make sweet little Marta take the creature back—she followed him.
Peeking out the door, Avril covered her mouth to stifle a sound of surprise.
He had not spent the day repairing Ildfast’s stall; he had been adding a small shelter for Floyel.
Despite all of Hauk’s cursing and bluster about the animal last night, especially as they had cleaned up the mess Floyel made, he was naught but gentle as he carried the bawling reindeer out to its new home. He set Floyel down in the shelter, and Marta looked delighted, hugging her pet.
Then she turned and hugged Hauk with equal enthusiasm.
Avril could only see him from the back, but she noticed him flinch... then he bent down and hugged the little girl close.
Avril’s vision suddenly blurred, her heart beating unsteadily.
He was not at all what she had once believed him to be. He was not a ruthless, harsh Viking warrior but a man of gentleness and soft heart. She wondered why he tried to keep that side of himself hidden, like the books he kept shut away in the trunks.
Turning, she pulled the door closed and forced the perplexing question aside. She had to get ready for the celebration, for her rendezvous with the other captives. Hauk would have to remain a mystery to her, forever.
Because she and Josette and the others would be leaving at the first opportunity.
Chapter 12
“I cannot believe three more of our fellow captives would abandon our cause,” Avril said mournfully. Walking beside Josette, she struggled to keep her voice low, despite the music of pipes and harps and drums that filled the night, and the noise of men, women, and children all around them, laughing and singing and conversing. Torches brightly lit the clearing on the outskirts of town. “Three more, Josette. That leaves only... God’s breath, it may leave only you and I to make the voyage.”
Josette was apparently as troubled as she, for she offered no comment, her attention on the orange she was eating for dessert.
The three women Avril had just referred to moved to the center of the clearing—with their captors—joining a group that had gathered to dance, now that supper was finished and the trestle tables carried away.
“Look at them,” Avril lamented. “When I spoke to those women but two days ago, they were all eager to escape—and tonight they tell me they do not wish to leave. All they can do is stare at their husbands with absurd grins on their faces, acting like... like...”
“Happy new brides?” Josette offered meekly.
Avril muttered an oath. “By the suffering saints,” she sighed in exasperation. “I never expected all of them to be so quickly bewitched.”
A hearty male cheer went up behind them, and Avril glanced over her shoulder. In addition to dancing and music, the townspeople were being entertained by jugglers and ballad singers and storytellers, and some of the men had formed a group off to one side, challenging each other to tests of strength. They were currently lifting and throwing boulders, huffing and grunting and roaring with the effort.
Hauk stood among those watching the sport, talking to his friend Keldan and to others who came over to bow or shake his hand or slap him on the back, all smiling broadly. People had been greeting him happily all night. From everyone’s reactions, it seemed as if many had not seen him in some time.
Avril felt grateful to have finally gained a bit of distance from him. Sitting next to Hauk at supper, she had barely managed to say a word or eat a bite, too aware of the husky sound of his voice, the tangy pine scent of the soap he had used for shaving, the way her stomach knotted every time he leaned near to refill her cup. And every time he looked at her—
Just as the thought entered her mind, Hauk happened to glance her way. He had been keeping a close eye on her since she left his side. Their eyes met across the crowd, and the air around her seemed to shimmer with warmth, as if there were no distance between them at all.
Her heart fluttering, she dropped her gaze to her sapphire-blue skirts. She had refused to wear the gown he had chosen for her. Nor
had she donned the silver wedding brooch he had given her the night of the althing, the one Josette and all the other new brides were wearing.
Avril feared that if she allowed herself to give in to such requests, to please him in such small ways, she would be unable to keep herself from giving in to him, and pleasing him, in far more meaningful ways.
She clasped her hands tightly, until her wedding band left an imprint on her palm. She had to return home to Giselle.
Even if she and Josette were the only two left to make the voyage.
“What of the Italian girl?” Josette asked as they stopped to watch a juggler and his dog perform tricks. “If you could find her, I am certain she would help.”
“I already found her,” Avril said ruefully, “and I am afraid she will not be joining us. I also managed to speak to the English lady before supper was served, and you will not believe what she said. It seems she was traveling through Antwerp on her way to join a convent. She feels it is God’s will that brought her here, so she wishes to stay and try to convert these people to Christianity.”
“Oh?” Josette nibbled at the last bite of her orange. “That seems... noble. But... but there are still the other two captives, are there not? The other two who said they wished to escape—”
“The ones who did not even attend the feast tonight? They have not been seen all day.” Avril sighed. “And unfortunately, I think I know what may be keeping them busy elsewhere. I am afraid we can no longer count on them either.” She frowned as they walked on. “It seems rather foolish to hold a celebration to welcome the new brides when a third of the new brides do not even attend.”
“One of the townspeople told me that this celebration is normally held the night of the althing,” Josette said, “but it was postponed out of respect for two men who died during the voyage to Antwerp.”
Avril shook her head. “So they risk even death to kidnap a wife,” she said under her breath. “I still do not understand it.”
She glanced over to where Hauk stood watching the other men enjoy their competitions, remembering how tense and curt he had been that first night. She wondered if the loss of the two men had grieved him, if that could account for his ill humor that night.
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