Sandra Hill - [Vikings I 02] (15 page)

When they entered the great hall of the keep, Rain knew that she and the captives had their work cut out for them. Bats hung from the high rafters, sharing quarters with a number of birds’ nests. The rushes on the stone floor were so filthy that the straw stuck together in flat clumps. She shuddered under the overwhelming smell of mildew and decay.

While she would have much preferred to eat and sleep outdoors, she had seen the look of anguish on Tykir’s face at the sad state of his ancestral home. And actually, it was her heritage as well. Rain had to do what she could to help him.

She decided that the kitchen and sleeping quarters would have to come first. She accompanied Blanche through the closed corridor connecting the hall with the separate cooking facilities after ordering Bertha and Eadifu to bring all the mattresses
and sleeping pallets out to the kitchen courtyard for cleaning.

The former inhabitants had stripped the kitchen bone-bare. Not a pot or ladle or chair or scrap of food had been left by the servants when they abandoned the castle. Only a large wooden trestle table remained in the center of the massive kitchen, and a dozen bars of hard soap on the shelf of the scullery. The table had probably been too large for thieves to take or it would be gone, too. And from Rain’s experience with these tenth-century people, soap was not a highly prized commodity.

Rain spent a grueling, backbreaking two hours scrubbing the floor and table and dusting the cobwebs from the walls and ceiling, while Blanche brought in the cooking utensils and supplies they’d carried with them from Brunanburh. They soon had the kitchen in reasonably clean condition and the last of their venison roasting over the hearth fire.

She went out to the kitchen courtyard to check on Bertha and Eadifu, who were boiling the few bed linens they’d found, along with everyone’s dirty clothing, in large cauldrons of soapy water.

“Yer doin’ that all wrong,” Bertha complained as Eadifu lifted a sopping garment from the soapy water with a long stick, dumped it carelessly in a cauldron of clean water, creating a six-foot-wide puddle of mud around the pot, then hung it soaking wet from a nearby bush. “Ye must needs wring the bloody tunic, ye stupid lackwit. Do ye think we have a sennight ta dry the buggers?”

“Stick the buggers up yer arse, ye old shrew,” Eadifu retorted. “I got better things ta do with me time.” She looked over to the edge of the courtyard where a soldier waited, a lewd glint in his eyes and a horrific bulge in his pants.

Bertha noticed Rain’s presence and enlisted her aid. “Mistress, tell the bawd ta keep her legs planted on the ground next ta me, ’stead of up in the air. ’Tis too much work fer me ta do here meself.”

“Eadifu,” Rain warned icily, “if you dare to leave this courtyard before all the laundry is done, I swear I will have you chained in the dungeon.” Did they have dungeons here? she wondered idly before going on. “And you will not eat for a week.” This was one slave Rain was beginning to think she wouldn’t mind selling herself.

Eadifu muttered something under her breath that sounded like “bloody bitch,” but she turned sullenly back to her work.

“And do your work properly, the way Bertha orders.”

Bertha beamed like a full moon at being placed in charge.

“Stop twitchin’ yer arse every time a man comes within a hide of yer foul scent,” she heard Bertha berate Eadifu as she headed for the kitchen.

“Yer jist upset cause ye got no arse worth twitchin’,” Eadifu snapped back.

Rain heard a loud splash and hoped Bertha had dumped the slut into the cauldron of cold water. So much for being a pacifist. When push came to shove, it appeared that her principles were open to some flexibility.

Later, after the makeshift dinner, Selik came into the kitchen and told her that he and Tykir and the men were going to a nearby pond to bathe.

“Unless you want me to wait, and we can go together,” he offered in a low, husky voice near her ear. The eagle-eyed Blanche watched with interest from across the room.

“No,” Rain answered quickly, her skin turning warm at just the memory of their last bathing session.

Selik’s gray eyes turned misty with remembered passion as well, and the edges of his full, sensual lips tilted upward in a knowing grin. “Ah, well, mayhap next time.”

That night Rain climbed the stairs to a second-floor bed chamber, feeling aches in muscles she hadn’t thought of since medical school. Tykir already slept in the room next door, being exhausted from the trip and his still healing injury.

Selik was in the room, removing his clothing when she opened the door. She thought about closing the door immediately and retreating back downstairs at the magnificent sight of his half-clad body. Swallowing hard, she tried not to stare at his clean hair hanging down past his shoulders, his bare, muscular back, and a trim waist exposed by leggings slung low on his slim hips.
Good heavens!

“Shut the door,” he ordered, having already seen her. “’Tis colder than a witch’s tit in here.”

Having no clean rushes to replace the ones taken from the mattresses, Selik had spread his sleeping furs on the floor before a fire in the hearth. The drafty room was warm only directly in front of the fireplace, and Rain already shivered from her recent bath. But still she stood frozen near the doorway.

“Come closer.”

Rain dragged her feet reluctantly toward the fire—and Selik. She had slept next to this man for the past two weeks, knew the smell of his skin, the sound of his light snores, the heat of his flesh. And yet, being here with him in the small bed chamber was different. More intimate. Even the air in the room seemed close, filled with tension.

She wanted to run. And she wanted to stay.

Rain didn’t delude herself about Selik’s intentions. The consummate lover, Selik knew exactly how she
was feeling. She could see it in the smoky depths of his gray eyes which watched her every move with hawk-like intensity, the seductive parting of his lips, and the high-strung stalking movement of his body.

He dropped his pants and stood before her, hands on hips, legs parted slightly—totally naked. Rain could not look away. Sweet Lord! The man did not play fair.

She closed her eyes for just a second to gather strength. The firelight cast flickering shadows on his silver-blond hair, and a golden sheen on the firm planes of his chest and washboard-firm abdomen. He exuded restless energy and tightly coiled power.

“Take off your garments, sweetling,” he said in a raw voice.

Rain looked at him in horror.

He glided the tip of his tongue along the seam of his full lips and laughed. “I will not force myself on you. We will just sleep…if that is your desire.”

“Hah!” Rain said in a shaky voice, looking pointedly at his huge erection. He grew even longer under her gaze.

“Oh,” she moaned softly, feeling her defenses weakening.

And Selik moved closer, reaching for her.

She backed away.

He put the palms of both hands up in the air as if in surrender, repeating, “I will not force you.” Then he dropped down to the bed furs to show his good intentions, covering himself. “Come to bed, Rain. It has been a long day, and we are both tired.”

Rain didn’t believe for one minute that he was
that
tired.

“Selik, our sleeping together all the time is not a good idea.”

“So you have said numerous times afore.”

“I think I should go downstairs and sleep with Blanche.”

“What makes you think Blanche sleeps alone?”

“What?”

Selik shrugged. “She has approached me numerous times. I cannot believe I am the only man she invites to her bed.”

You better believe it
, Rain thought with a heavy heart, wondering how long it would take Selik to relinquish his celibacy under Blanche’s unrelenting temptation.
Oh, hell!

“There is no choice. You sleep with me,” he declared firmly, patting the fur beside him. “You are my hostage.”

She groaned. “Selik, I’m not going to make love with you. Why torture yourself?”

“And you as well?” His left eyebrow rose a fraction in question.

“And me too.”

He smiled with infuriating satisfaction at her admission.

Giving up, she began to drop down to the furs on the side closest to the fire.

“Nay. Take off your garments first.”

Rain stood back up and glared down at him. “I slept in my clothes at the campsites during our trip here.”

“That was then. This is now. Whether you come from the future, as you claim, or the bloody moon, you will adopt our ways whilst living amongst us here.”

Selik sat up and folded his arms over his bent knees, watching her intently as she began to disrobe.

Rain felt her face flame, but she would not betray her nervousness over undressing in front of the arrogant man. God, she was too tall, too big and gawky. The only times she’d been with men in
the past, she’d undressed in the dark to hide her embarrassment over her ungainly body. They hadn’t seemed to mind.

The only sounds in the room were the crackling of the fire and Selik’s even breathing as she finally stood before him in nothing but her flesh-colored lace bra and panties. His burning eyes seared her skin. When they connected with hers, she jerked back slightly at the jolt of electric heat they transmitted.

“The rest,” he urged raspily, waving a hand to indicate her underwear. She could not be sure, but his breathing sounded ragged in the charged silence of the room.

Dazed, Rain didn’t even protest, but she lifted her chin defiantly when the wispy garments dropped to the rushes, refusing to cower before his too-close scrutiny. She had enough flaws when fully clothed. Naked, she felt as awkward and unattractive as she had in sixth grade, when she was the tallest student in her class, the brunt of jokes for all the mean, insensitive, teasing boys.

But Selik wasn’t mocking her. His eyes caressed every inch of her body. Wherever his eyes touched, Rain felt a tingling heat ignite and warm her skin. For the first time in her life, she felt attractive.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he whispered in awe.

Tears welled in Rain’s eyes. “Don’t, Selik. Don’t make fun of me.”

He tilted his head questioningly, then lifted the bed fur next to him, urging her to join him.

When she was lying down, making sure her body did not touch his, Selik said softly, “The men of your time must be halfwits to make you ashamed of your body. Truly, Rain, you
are
beautiful.” Ever so gently, he brushed some loose strands of hair off her face.

“I think you are the one who must be halfwitted,” she said with a shaky laugh, pleased despite the fact that he was probably just trying to seduce her. Oddly, she wanted to be beautiful for Selik. “Besides, you likened me to a tree and a horse a few times, if you’ll recall.”

Selik chuckled, tracing a forefinger along the curve of her shoulder. Rain shuddered with the sheer sweetness of pleasure that swept her, so intense it was almost unbearable. “Ah, well, ’tis a well-known fact that I have a fondness for horses and stately trees.”

She turned to poke him for his teasing. A big mistake! Her breast grazed his arm, and he inhaled sharply at the electrifying contact. Rain immediately turned over and away from him toward the fire to hide the effect of just that brief touch on her sensitive nipples.

Suddenly, Rain could not help the silent tears that streamed down her face. She wanted Selik so badly, and she wearied of fighting the battle with herself.

“Rain, why do you weep? I will not make love to you if you do not wish it.”

You silly man, don’t you know that’s just what I want you to do?

He ran a hand caressingly along the length of her arm, sending shivers to every erotic part of her body.

“Are you afeard of getting with child? I assure you that you will not carry my seed,” he offered softly as he kissed the line of her shoulder over to the nape of her neck. With every rhythmic breath he took, the tip of his penis grazed the cleft between her buttocks.

Rain laughed shakily. “Now that’s an original line. How do you plan on guaranteeing that? Do you have a condom?”

“Nay, I use none of those ridiculous sheaths your mother mentioned.” She felt him smile against her neck. “I follow the method of your Biblical Onan—spilling the seed outside the body.” When she snorted with disbelief, he laughed. “Are you about to preach me a birth-control lecture, as your mother did to King Sigtrygg’s ladies?”

“My mother did what?” Rain exclaimed, turning to look at his grinning face. “Oh, never mind.” Really, she had heard more than enough of her mother’s outrageous conduct. “But I don’t see how you can be sure you have never fathered any children…using that method, I mean.”

“I assure you, lady, I have no
live
children.”

“Well, perhaps that’s true, but it’s only luck that you haven’t if you practice pulling out before climax.”

Selik make a choking sound of disbelief. “What kind of woman are you to speak so bluntly?”

“I’m a doctor, for heaven’s sake. And I’m telling you, Selik, that a few moments ago you had a bead of semen on the end of your penis—”

Selik made an inarticulate sound deep in his throat, and his eyebrows arched in wonder, probably at her attention to detail.

“Anyhow, if you made love with a woman then, even if you withdrew early and climaxed outside the woman’s body, she still could have gotten pregnant.”

“I assume that see-man and peen-yes mean what I think they do?” he asked dryly. At her nod, he went on. “But how could conception take place if the seed spills outside the body?”

“Because, you fool, just that tiny drop of semen inserted in a woman’s body is enough to make a female pregnant.”

“You make these stories up as you go along. ’Tis not true.”

“Yes, it is, Selik. As a doctor, I’m telling you, I’ve seen evidence of it over and over.”

Horrified, he stared at her with disbelief, which soon blossomed into alarm. “I never knew,” he whispered, concluding with disgust, “’Tis just luck then that I have bred no more babes.”