The Pagan's Prize

by Miriam Minger

"But—"

  Within the blink of an eye he had taken her in his arms and swept her from her feet, startling Zora so completely that she could find no voice to protest as he carried her into the bedchamber. But when he lay her down upon the soft furs and covered her with his massive body, she came alive and began to struggle beneath him, striking his broad back with her balled fists.

  "No, damn you! Stop! I don't want you! I don't want . . . this!"

  "I think that you do." He caught her wrists easily with one hand and drew her arms over her head. Touching his lips to hers, his warm breath scented with ale, he whispered, "Probably as much as I."

  "No, you're wrong!" Zora jerked her head to one side, even as she shivered at the ticklish pressure of his mouth upon her throat. When he turned her chin back to face him, his fingers caressing the stubborn line of her jaw, she cried, "You may not have attacked me in Chernigov, but tonight that is what it will surely—"

  His lips came down upon hers before she could finish, not a feather-light kiss this time but not rough, either . . . somewhere all too disconcertingly in between. His mouth seemed to mold to hers, and as he kissed her like he had all the time in the world, not rushing to force her lips open, Zora felt herself responding despite herself, the tension melting from her body.

  It felt so wonderful . . . she could not deny it, and she soon found herself craving more. She heard him chuckle from deep in his throat when she parted her lips beneath his, but to her amazement, she didn't care. All she wanted was an answer to the yearning that was building in some mysterious place inside her, and he gave it to her when his tongue delved into her mouth, his kiss growing possessive and increasingly demanding as if he could not get enough of the taste of her.

  How long she was lost to the wet swirling wonder of his kiss she could not say, but when Rurik lifted his mouth from hers, she felt flushed all over and light-headed and grateful that she was lying down. Surely if she had been standing her legs would have collapsed beneath her! She sighed, awash in delicious chills as he first nibbled gently upon her bottom lip, then laved it with his tongue.

  "You see, Zora?" he teased in a half whisper, not taunting or holding triumph but in a playful tone that secretly thrilled her. "It's no terrible thing to surrender to desire. I promise that before I take you tonight, you will want me a hundred, no, a thousand times more. You will beg me to end your torment."

  "And you, Rurik," Zora said softly when he lifted his head to stare into her eyes, his gaze darkened with passion in the golden lamplight. She did not understand why it was suddenly so important for her to know but she felt that she must ask. "Is that what you are doing tonight, surrendering at last to a desire that has caused you to send three concubines untouched from your bed?"

  The change in him was lightning swift.

  "Who told you that I sent them away?" he demanded, releasing her wrists to rest his weight on his forearms. "Semirah?"

  Seeing the ire in Rurik's eyes, Zora sensed he had wanted to hide this from her. But why? Could it really be as simple as what Nellwyn had said . . . that Rurik thought only of her? Perhaps she meant something to him after all. It could explain so much

  "Answer me, Zora!"

  "I . . . I chanced to overhear some slaves talking about Semirah and two other concubines during my walk this afternoon," she lied, not wanting to bring any trouble down upon Nellwyn's head. "But when they saw me, they grew quiet and hastened away."

  Rurik studied her face for what seemed the longest moment before muttering more to himself than her, "It doesn't matter what you heard." Then he rose from the bed and grabbing her by the forearms, he pulled her up so roughly to stand in front of him that Zora gasped.

  "If you believe that you hold some sway over me, Princess, think again." His voice was harsh as he wrenched the cloak from her shoulders and tossed it away. "Lust can blind a man for a time but once it is satisfied, everything will return to what it was before."

  Zora was easily convinced of his words for next he ripped the sleeping gown from her body with such force that it fell in gossamer shreds to the floor. Before she could cover herself, he yanked her hard against him, his hands almost cruel in their caress, but when he forced her chin up to face him, she saw in his eyes the same haunting turmoil she had glimpsed there only moments ago. Like a jolt it struck her that if anything, he was trying to convince himself.

  His mouth found hers before she could draw another breath, his kiss savage and punishing as if he wanted to hurt her. His powerful arms held her so tightly that she feared he might crush her ribs . . . until she heard him groan raggedly and his embrace became not brutal but undeniably possessive.

  His kiss changed, too, his lips still hard upon hers but no longer bruising, and soon she was completely lost in the wild passion of it, her arms winding around his neck to hold him tight. Time no longer held meaning, and when he tore his mouth from hers and knelt before her, she was so dazed she scarcely knew that he had done so until she felt him bury his face between her breasts, his breath a scorching flame over her heart.

  "Woman . . . woman!" Rurik whispered fiercely, his fury at his weakness over Zora, at her for taunting him, vanished in the blazing heat of his desire.

  Holding her like this, the woman he wanted above all others in his arms, he could not fight the feelings crashing in upon him and he wasn't going to try. Afterward, Odin help him, he would regain his resolve, but for now, let him pretend that she hadn't been taunting him. That she might care . . .

  As Rurik groaned again and pulled her even closer, his hands worshiping in their caress, Zora felt her skin growing warmer beneath his wide, callused palms. Yet no sensation could have been sweeter or more exciting than his mouth seizing upon a nipple. Inhaling brokenly, she clutched his immense shoulders when he circled the swollen nub with his tongue.

  "I told you I would make you want me," she heard him say above her soft moans, his mouth first playing at one nipple, then hungrily searching out the other.

  Nor did he neglect the scented valley between her breasts, his tongue tracing molten trails down one full curve and up another until she was trembling. Her moans grew louder when he began to suckle in earnest, his splayed hands gripping her bare bottom to hold her close, and she gasped in pleasure when he nipped her lightly.

  "You like that?" came his pleased whisper.

  "Yes . . ." Zora entwined her fingers in his hair as Rurik renewed his sensual onslaught, but this time he did so with a heart-stopping difference. With each slow twirl of his tongue at her breast, one of his hands slipped higher along the sensitive inside of her thigh . . . higher . . . higher . . . until at last he found what he was seeking.

  Her breath snagging, Zora thought her knees were going to buckle as he slid his fingers gently inside her, and easily for the wetness he found there. Then he withdrew them only to repeat the exquisite torture again and again until she was shaking uncontrollably.

  "I . . . I think I should lie down—"

  Within an instant she was, for Rurik had pushed her back upon the furs before her words were barely spoken. Yet he didn't join her on the bed. Instead, he remained kneeling beside the mattress and after pulling her hips toward him and spreading her legs, he lifted one of her feet and kissed the delicately raised arch.

  "Now, my beautiful wife, do you know what I'm going to do?"

  Shivering at the warm huskiness of his voice, Zora could only shake her head. He was so beautiful himself, so broad-shouldered, so bronzed, so handsome, so overwhelmingly masculine, that she could not stop staring at him.

  "Fulfill my promise."

  With a roguish smile that set her heart to pounding, Rurik slipped his hands beneath her bottom and lifting her to him, he blew softly upon her woman's hair, a deliciously erotic sensation unlike anything she had ever known. But it was nothing compared to when his mouth came down upon her, his tongue slipping into her where his fingers had been only moments before.

  "Rurik . . . oh, no!"

  She struggled at on
ce, the sensation so intense that she was certain that she had had enough before he really began. But he held her tightly and if she had hoped to sway him by her outcry, she was mistaken for it seemed only to spur him on. If she had trembled before, now she was quaking, her body arching against him, against the hot wetness of his mouth and the sensual weapon that his darting tongue had become even as she cried out for him to stop.

  "Please . . . Rurik, no more!"

  Again his response was only to heighten his carnal assault, his focus now upon one point so achingly sensitive that Zora no longer thought to protest for the wondrous pressure that was mounting inside her. Where it had come from she didn't know, but it took over her completely and she found she had no voice left but to whimper.

  "Rurik . . . oh, please . . ."

  "Tell me, Zora," came Rurik's taunting whisper. "Tell me what you want!"

  "I want . . . I want . . . oh!"

  The bright burst of ecstasy came upon her so suddenly that Zora grew rigid, her head falling back and her hands clawing at the furs as a pulse of red-hot fire shot through her, radiating to the ends of her toes and the tips of her fingers. She could not say how long she was lost in that searing flush of delirium, but when it had passed she collapsed onto the mattress like a limp doll.

  "Sometimes we get what we wish for," Rurik said as from a great distance, lifting her although she could give him no help at all. When she finally opened her eyes, her senses somewhat regained, she was lying on top of him, his flesh, rock hard and insistent, pressing against that still tingling place between her thighs.

  "And sometimes, little one," he added, his gaze burning like darkened coals into hers, "it comes to us twice."

  Rurik pulled her to him and captured her lips before she could reply, his mouth tasting of rose musk and her sex, his impassioned kiss more possessive than any that had gone before. As his tongue swept into her mouth, she felt him lift her hips and then settle her upon that thick, silken part of him that stood rigid and ready, impaling her when he thrust upward as if he could no longer contain himself.

  Zora cried out, not in pain but in surprise, for he was so huge that she could not believe she had accommodated the full-grown length of him. Then he was moving within her, faster and deeper, and so fiercely that she marveled at the fury of his passion. Soon she found herself bearing down upon him to meet his powerful thrusts, and to her amazement, she felt that pressure flaring up inside her like a wildfire sparked once again to flames.

  "Rurik . . ." she moaned, their mouths meeting and parting with each lunging motion of their bodies until he plunged his fingers through her hair, fusing his lips with hers.

  She didn't have to hear his groans to know that rapture had suddenly found him, for his body throbbed like a thing alive inside her, the hard, rhythmic pulsing keeping time with the waves of ecstasy spreading through her.

  For one blinding, eternal moment his panting breath was hers, her ragged breath was his, their heartbeats clamoring together in unison. Then she fell in utter exhaustion upon him as his arms came around to hug her tightly.

  It was Rurik who finally spoke moments later, his labored breathing back to normal as if their lovemaking had scarcely taxed him. That alone should have given Zora a clue that the night for them was not over.

  "You cannot go to sleep yet, little one," he whispered, sliding his hand along the side of her body until he found the soft curve of a breast.

  Zora shivered at the sensation of his fingernails lightly grazing her flesh. "No?"

  Her answer came when he rolled onto his side, taking her with him. As he hitched her leg over his hip, she realized to her astonishment that he had grown hard again inside her.

  "Rurik . . . ! How—"

  He silenced her with a finger to her lips, a rogue's smile spreading over his face as he teased her with a slow, tantalizing thrust. "Sometimes it comes to us twice. Remember?" He lowered his head and barely touching his lips to hers, his whisper thrilled her. "And sometimes, Princess, even that is not enough . . ."

  Chapter 20

  Muddled from sleep, Zora opened her eyes to bright sunlight streaming through the high, narrow windows. How odd. The bedchamber in her longhouse had only one window . . .

  It only took her a quick look around the richly furnished room to remember exactly where she was, and her head fell back upon the pillow as a blush fired her cheeks.

  She and Rurik had spent the night together in this huge bed. Holy Mother Mary, she would never have imagined there were so many ways for a man and a woman to—

  "Isn't it enough that you've done all those things without thinking about them, too?" she chided herself, trying without success to force the passionate images from her mind. Glancing at the empty space beside her, she wondered how long ago Rurik might have risen. She guessed it was already well into the morning, perhaps even midday, but then they hadn't gone to sleep until almost dawn . . .

  "Stop," Zora muttered in exasperation, besieged not only with rousing memories of their lovemaking but by words that had passed between them. Words Rurik had hurled at her earlier in the night that she could not forget . . .

  "Lust can blind a man for a time but once it is satisfied, everything will return to what it was before."

  Sighing, Zora rolled onto her side and folded her arm beneath her head.

  After last night, she wasn't so sure that Rurik merely lusted for her. She had seen the torment in his eyes. Was it possible he might have some feelings for her that went so much deeper, feelings he was fighting because of the deceit he had suffered at another woman's hands'? Could he be falling in love with her?

  Oh, what did it matter? she fumed, becoming angered by a sudden rush of butterflies in her stomach. If she hadn't asked Rurik about his spurning his concubines in the first place, now she wouldn't be concerning herself with whether or not he cared about her. And even if he did, it wouldn't change anything!

  She and Rurik were enemies. All she wanted was to be free of him and home in Chernigov with her father and Ivan, and where she could repay her half sister for the misery she had suffered. It was as simple as that.

  Nothing's that simple, came a niggling inner voice but Zora stubbornly ignored it and shifted onto her back in frustration.

  What was she supposed to do now? she wondered, staring at the timbered ceiling. Her last escape attempt had failed miserably and until she managed to find some other way to leave, she was stuck here. She would have to be married to a man whose estate was so remote that wild beasts lurked just outside the gates!

  Her open defiance of Rurik had also gotten her nowhere; in fact, he seemed to enjoy it. No, there had to be another way. . .

  A nervous warmth sluiced through her body at the sudden idea that came to her, one that would perhaps have never occurred to her if not for what had passed between them last night.

  Rurik had to know that he had pleased her. She shivered to think of how much. Why not take it further by leading him to believe that she was beginning to accept her marriage? That had been his toast to her after all at their wedding feast. It was what he wanted. Why not make it appear as if she were finding contentment as his wife? Surely then he would let down his guard around her, which could open up any number of opportunities . . .

  Seized by tense excitement, Zora drew the heavy fur spread with her as she raised herself to a sitting position.

  It was so perfect, made all the more so by the possibility that she meant more to Rurik than he wanted her to believe. Perhaps she could further seduce him into trusting her if she seemed to care for him as well—

  "I was hoping I'd find you awake."

  Zora's heart leapt into her throat, those same butterflies fluttering like mad inside her stomach as her gaze darted to the doorway where Rurik stood watching her. How could she have been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him enter? Then again, what had she just been thinking about? All of a sudden, she felt so scattered . . .

  "G-good morning," she stammered. Her
cheeks grew warm as he took in every aspect of her appearance, her pulse pounding at the air of intimacy that now charged the room.

  "Good afternoon, you mean," he corrected her. "It's well past midday."

  "Oh." The hard edge to Rurik's voice broke the befuddled spell. Why did he look so grim? Surely there was no crime in sleeping late, especially after what they . . . Remembering all too well the arousing sensation of his hands upon her, she added distractedly, "I didn't hear you leave this morning. When did you—"

  "Not long after sunrise." Rurik moved farther into the room but stopped several feet from the bed as if he did not want to come too close. "A journey was required to an estate east of Novgorod . . . that's why I've come to speak with you. I didn't want you to hear the news from any slaves and perhaps create false stories."

  Zora was stung by his sarcasm. His present mood contrasted sharply with how he had earlier tenderly kissed the tip of her nose and her eyelids and then bade her in a whisper to go to sleep. Yet she supposed if he was trying to fight his feelings for her—

  "News?" she said with feigned lightness, thinking again of her plan. Zora was surprised by the strong sense of guilt that accompanied it.

  "About Semirah. I've given her to Lord Boris and he seemed quite pleased with her. She'll trouble you no more."

  Zora could not have been more shocked. For a moment she didn't know what to say. She had thought Rurik might somehow punish the concubine, especially after his hard words in the forest about not being able to forgive her, but to rid himself of her by giving her to another man?

  "The same Lord Boris who my uncle . . . ?"

  Zora was answered with a brusque nod. She stared at Rurik, incredulous.

  "Did . . . did Semirah go willingly? I can only believe that what she did to me was because she held feelings for you—"

  "Affection had nothing to do with her treachery," he broke in coldly, although his gaze held a piercing warmth that belied the harshness of his voice. "Would you rather I had allowed her to remain here, Princess, where she would be a threat to the mother of my heirs? Aside from endangering your life, the crime of setting fire to my property was enough to warrant my selling her back into slavery, but I spared her that horror by giving her to Boris. He has the coarse manners of a pig, but he's unmarried and rich enough to satisfy Semirah's ambition. I have no doubt she'll have better luck with him."