“I doubt it,” Elise said. It was most likely a lie, but Elise didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let Stina think that there was anything more between her and Moya than a friendship.
“Do you like him?” Stina asked as she joined Elise at the table.
Elise nodded. “He’s a nice man.”
“No, do you like him? Do you want him to be your suitor?”
“I don’t think so,” Elise said. Again, she lied. She liked Moya a lot, much more than Lars.
Stina gave Elise an exaggerated pout. “That’s too bad. You could have a wonderful husband if you did.”
Stunned, Elise stared at her roommate. “What are you saying? That I should tell Lars to leave and let Moya court me?”
“Why not? You seem to like Moya more than you do Lars, so it would make more sense.”
Shaking her head, Elise wandered to the living area and sat on the Victorian chair with blue velvet covering the cushions. “I can’t. I told Lars that I wanted to make my own living for at least a year. I need to keep to my word.”
Stina joined her and sat on the sofa. “Didn’t you come here to find a husband? And wasn’t that husband supposed to be Lars?”
“Like I told Lars, no, I didn’t come here for that. I came to see more of the country, to be an interpreter, and to teach English to Swedes.”
Stina sighed. “I wish I could find a nice man like the two you have. Back in Bishop Hill, I had several beaus, and you had one. Here, I don’t have any, but you have two. It isn’t fair. I did come here to find a husband, Elise, and I haven’t met a single one that I like. None of them seem to like me, either.”
“Would you like me to ask some of the men from my classes? We’ll be starting on Saturdays soon because it’s getting dark so much earlier. I could see if any of my students might be interested.”
Her blue eyes widening with excitement, Stina exclaimed, “I would love that. I just want to be a wife. If I could, I would take …” She stopped, and her face reddened in embarrassment. “Never mind. I’m just excited.”
“That’s okay,” Elise urged. “You can tell me.”
“I was just going to say that, if you ever get tired of one of your men, I would be happy to take him.” She paused again then added quickly, “They’re both very nice and quite handsome. I could be happy with them.”
Elise laughed. “I’m sure you could be. Either one of them would make a good spouse.”
Chapter 10
Elise prepared roast chicken with stuffing for the picnic. She also made a salad out of various types of apples for them. As he’d promised, Moya brought wine that he said he’d prepared from the last crop of concord grapes.
After spreading out a blanket that Moya had brought, they sat on the Eel River bank in a remote location so they could be away from prying eyes from the townspeople or the loggers.
The weather was balmy, with a few wispy, white clouds in the bright blue sky. Here on the bank, those big redwood trees the lumberjacks worked on only blocked part of the view.
“Have you ever seen such tall trees?” Elise asked as she lay back on the blanket after lunch.
“Never. Some of dem are enormous, too,” he said. “Ve have six saws dat are twelve-feet long—some longer. Dey are de only vons dat will cut through the trees.”
“Do you like being a lumberjack, Moya?”
“It’s a yob. I vould prefer vorking vit the wood dat’s already been cut, dough.”
“You mean you’d rather be a woodworker? You mean making furniture and the like?”
“Ja. Dat is really vat I like. But being a lumber yack …” Elise noticed that he pronounced it as two words. “… pays my bills.” He lay down beside her and propped his head up with his hand as he gazed down at her. “Do you like teaching?”
“Very much,” she replied as he twisted a lock of her hair around his finger.
“Your hair is very soft. I like touching it.”
Elise inhaled sharply, desperate to keep her emotions under control. “I like having you touch it.”
“Do you realize I didn’t get to kiss you good-bye last veek?”
This was it! He was going to kiss her while they were lying down. It would be the first time for her—ever. When she replied, her voice came out in a deep, shaky tone. “I do.”
“I must fix dat.”
His lips caught hers, his passion there from the moment they met. His hand slid across her clothed stomach, causing her to shudder with delight. He rolled toward her and put his leg between hers, his thigh resting at her covered womanhood.
Unable to resist, she wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him to her. Oh, how she wished she could feel his naked body against hers! To demonstrate it, she unbuttoned his blue plaid shirt. After doing so, she grasped each of his wrists gently and slid them up over his bare, hair-covered arms to the rolled up sleeves of his shirt. He had such muscular forearms that she could hardly contain the thrill they gave her.
Releasing a groan into his mouth, she slipped her hands into his open shirt and let her hands feel his hard, rippled stomach then wander up to his well-defined chest. The heat in his kiss increased, and he cupped her breast in return. He massaged it for several seconds before he undid the top button of her dress bodice.
When he pulled back from the kiss, she stared up at the manly lines of his torso. Her fingers certainly hadn’t captured that he was this well defined. His body was amazing, and when he stripped off his shirt to toss it aside, she couldn’t believe how muscular his shoulders and upper arms were.
He reached out toward her and released another button from its hole on her dress.
“Can I please?” he asked her.
“May I,” she replied heatedly, unable to stop her correction.
“May I?” he repeated, his voice deep and resonant in the air.
Afraid to speak again, she simply nodded. As he continued, he spread the material of her green dress apart in the front. Beneath it was her camisole, concealing her nudity from him. She watched his shaking hands unbutton her camisole, as well, and let her hands caress his chest as he did so.
“Jag faller i kärlek med dig, min kära,” he said in a near-whisper as he spread her camisole and revealed her large, naked breasts.
Then his lips captured hers again, and he lay down atop her, their nude torsos meeting for the first time. His words echoed in her mind. He was falling in love with her. Was she falling in love with him?
The question fled when his hand caressed her naked breast. He squeezed it gently then broke the kiss. Elise moaned in disappointment, but his lips were on the move—to her chin, to her collar bone at the edge of her camisole, to the upper mound of her breast. His tongue left a hot trail across her breast to her nipple. He circled the areola twice then kissed her hardened nipple.
Elise couldn’t control her movements. Her body reacted, and her mind centered on his actions. With one leg between hers, he ground against her. His penis throbbed against her covered thigh. Between her legs, a new feeling erupted. She couldn’t help it. She had to move against him.
Her hips rotated seemingly of their own mind. She had no idea what she was doing, but she knew it felt good. There was a spot between her legs that ached for more. His thigh came into even closer contact with it, and he rubbed against her as he braced himself above her and gazed into her eyes.
She let her gaze drift to his trousers, where she discovered the tell-tale lump. Curious, she reached out to touch his swollen organ. He gasped when she massaged it gently through his pants. Still, he moved against her. She released him, and a moment later, her body exploded in spasms that she had never felt before, and she grabbed the blanket with both hands. She started to scream out in joy, but his mouth covered hers in a passionate kiss to block her cry.
When she finally stopped trembling, he broke the kiss and rolled off of her, collapsing beside her on her left. Turning toward him, she laid her head on his chest and listened to his heart beat. It sounded so relaxin
g!
Then she dared moving her hand, letting her fingers trail down his stomach to the waistband of his trousers. She taunted him there for several seconds, watching his penis throb within his pants. Steeling herself, she slid her hand lower to cover his manhood.
“Oh, Elise,” he breathed. “I need you. I need to love you.”
“I don’t understand,” she said without stopping her motions.
“I’m not surprised. You’re innocent.”
“What can I do to help you?”
“Unbutton my trousers.”
While she did that, he pulled a packet from his pocket and opened it. With his penis exposed and erect, Elise watched with interest at he put something on it. Then he turned to her and embraced her again. They kissed for a while before he rolled her onto her back.
Pulling up her skirt and petticoat, he laid bare her womanhood and began to rub it. She couldn’t believe that the sensations were coming back again. He bent over her and kissed each breast before suckling gently on one nipple while he taunted the other into hardness.
Once she writhed beneath him, he put his hand between her legs and slipped a finger into her moist passage.
He pulled it out as he said, “I’ll be qvick.”
Elise had no idea what he meant, but she had no time to ask before his lips bore down against hers, and he thrust his organ into her body. The pain was excruciating, and she screamed into his mouth. He held motionless for a few moments, and finally the pain subsided. Then he worked his organ inside her, bringing her back to that place she had reached earlier.
She moved in unison with him until he stiffened in her arms and growled into her mouth. He dove into her one last time and remained still. Her body went over the edge, and her vagina convulsed around his maleness.
Soon, he pulled out of her and removed the bloodied thing from his penis, tossing it aside.
Chapter 11
“What was that?” Elise asked.
“I protected you from getting pregnant,” he replied.
“Oh. Thank you. Now what do we do?”
Moya laughed as he pulled up his trousers that he had pushed to his knees at some point. Then he pulled her skirts down to cover her as he said, “Ve rest and enyoy de afternoon.”
Elise buttoned her camisole and her dress bodice. “I really don’t know what I’m doing.”
“I know. Ve are having a secret courtship. Ve are enyoying each other.”
Unsure she wanted an answer but knowing she must ask, she questioned him nervously. “Is what you said true?”
“Vat did I say?”
“That you think you’re falling in love with me. Is it true?”
He hesitated, leaving Elise to wonder if she had just made a mistake by asking. When he finally answered, though, it wasn’t what she had been expecting.
“No, Elise, it isn’t true. De trut is dat I do love you. I fell in love vit you almost de moment I met you—maybe before. Lars told me a lot about you. He’s so proud of you. I almost feel bad about vat we did a few minutes ago.”
“Almost.”
“I vill never be sorry for vat ve did.”
“What if I can’t tell you that I love you in return?”
He shrugged. “You do. You yust don’t know vat love is yet.”
“You’re right. I don’t know. As it stands now, I’m not sure I ever will.”
***
Four days later, Karin ran into the house shouting Elise’s name.
Elise came out of her room, asking, “What is it?”
“Mr. Coleman needs you up at the logging site.”
Stunned, Elise stared at Karin. Why would Karin’s boss and the owner of the logging company want her up at the site? He’d specifically told her that she would never be allowed to go there.
“I don’t understand, Karin. Why would he want me up there?”
“There’s been an accident, and he needs you to translate. The man only speaks Swedish.”
“I know Lars doesn’t speak Swedish, so it can’t be him, thank goodness. And Moya speaks both, so he wouldn’t need a translator. On top of that, Moya is working at the site today, so he could translate for Mr. Coleman.”
“No, he can’t. He’s the one who got hurt.”
Elise stared at her in shock. “What? Moya was injured in a logging accident? Why didn’t you say so? Do you know where they are?”
“No, but the man in the wagon outside does. He’s going to take you up there.”
Without saying thank you, Elise raced outside to the wagon a climbed onto the seat beside one of her students.
“Let’s go,” she told him in Swedish.
Slapping the reins over the horse’s back, he urged the animal to go. When the horse moved at a slow pace, he hit the quarter horse harder, and the gelding picked up his pace to a canter.
Satisfied they were moving fast enough, Magnus greeted Elise in Swedish. “God eftermiddag.”
“Good afternoon to you, too, Magnus,” she replied in English. “Maybe it would be a good time to practice.”
“Yes,” he replied. “I vill try.”
“Good. Do you know how badly Moya is hurt?”
“Bad. De läkare said he is having trouble vit his vords.”
“He can’t speak?”
“Yes. He does not … um … kom ihåg?”
“Remember?” Elise’s heart sank. What if he didn’t remember her? Would she lose the only man who had told her that he loved her? Afraid of the answer, she asked, “What doesn’t he remember?”
“Engelska,” Magnus replied. “English.”
“Was he hit on the head?”
“Ja, the head. He has blood.”
“Does the doctor need me to translate?” She thought a moment and remembered that she hadn’t taught her class the words doctor or translate yet. “Does the läkare need me to översätta?”
“Ja. He must ask Moya tings.”
“To assess his condition, I imagine.”
“Vat?”
“Never mind. How long will it take to get there?”
“Soon.”
Elise fell silent. Her concern about Moya’s condition increasing with each step the horse took. If he had been hit on the head, he could have a very serious injury. He could die from it, and Elise had just realized that she could be falling in love with him—if she had even an inkling of what love felt like.
Oh, how she longed to have had a mother to guide her through adolescence. So much would be clear now if she had. But she couldn’t change the past, either. She couldn’t bring her mother back to help her now.
What was it that her mother had said when she gave her that locket just before she died? Håll detta och jag kommer alltid vara med dig. Hold this, and I will always be with you. What had she done with that locket, anyway? If she ever in her life needed it, she needed it now.
A clamoring in the near distance alerted Elise to their imminent arrival. Thank goodness, they were almost there. She steeled herself for what she was about to see—Moya bleeding from the head wound he had received.
How had this happened, anyway? Moya had told her that he was always careful and that she had no cause to worry about him on the sites. Now he had a serious injury that had at least robbed him of some of his memories. Had it robbed him of their picnic? Her heart ached at the thought that it had. Their tryst had meant the world to her, and if he didn’t remember it, she would be devastated.
As they approached the site of Moya’s accident, Elise could see a crowd of lumberjacks gathered around. Some other lumberjacks worked on a fallen redwood tree near the doctor and a man lying on the ground before him. That had to be Moya. The lumberjacks cut away at the branches around Moya. The lumberjacks not hewing the thick limbs milled around, just watching the doctor and the man lying before him.
The moment Magnus brought the horse to a halt, Elise scrambled from the wagon. Lars met her and helped her down.
“How is he?” she asked.
“Not good, I’
m afraid,” Lars replied. “He has a massive injury on the back of his head. He’s only speaking in Swedish, too. He doesn’t seem to understand English anymore. That’s why we need you. Doc Frey doesn’t understand Swedish.”
“Okay,” she said, struggling to maintain her composure so Lars wouldn’t realize that she was so attached to Moya. Now wasn’t the time for his jealousy. “Take me to them.”
Upon reaching the doctor and patient, Elise knelt down beside Moya, who lay on the ground. She questioned him quietly in Swedish. “How are you feeling?”
He replied in a weak voice, and she turned to the Dr. Frey. “He says that he has a terrible headache, and he wonders what happened.”
“Nobody seems to know, Miss Anderson,” Dr. Frey said. “Apparently, no one was around when he was injured, and nobody knows how long he was unconscious.”
Elise relayed the information to Moya, who questioned her when she stopped explaining. She turned to the doctor. “Moya wants to know who found him if nobody was around when it happened.”
“I did,” Lars said.
Shocked, Elise turned toward him. “You found him? How did you know where to look?”
“He was supposed to be back by eleven, but he didn’t show up. I went looking in the direction he had gone until I came across him here, out cold.”
“Lars found you,” she told Moya in Swedish. “He said you were unconscious when he got here.”
Moya reached up and grasped her hand. “Jag älskar dig.”
Elise nearly shouted in joy. He remembered her, and he loved her. That was all she cared about right now. That, and that he was being cared for by a real physician, of course.
Chapter 12
“What did he say?” Dr. Frey asked.
“It wasn’t important.”
She ran her hand over his blond curls but jerked it back when she felt blood. Staring down at his head, she saw that blood soaked into the ground him.
“I haven’t moved him yet to examine his wound,” Dr. Frey said, “because he wouldn’t let me touch him. Now that you’re here, you can explain that I only want to look at his injury. I need to know how bad it is.”
MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) Page 162
