by Jianne Carlo
Xára grew more precious to him with each passing day and since the birth of his son, Varin, she exuded an otherworldly glow as a result of her blossoming goddess powers. The pregnancy had heightened her acute hearing to the point where she knew the moment Varin opened his mouth to cry.
Her voice had taken on the qualities of Heimdallr, and it took but one verse of a song to sooth their son, no matter how hungry or wet he was. Varin’s howl of outrage shook the roof timbers on a regular basis and it appeared his son had inherited some of his mother’s half-immortal powers. Dráddør grinned. He could not wait to begin training his son. Varin would be a warrior beyond compare.
Evie and Hjørdis bounded off the bench and skipped over to stand below him.
“Liam says Ali H’malik’s ship is in Myrtle Harbor. May we go inspect his cargo on the morn?” Hjørdis beamed a huge smile. “I have told Evie all about the treasures he sells.”
“Ali will bring his wares here to Lathairn, bright star—”
“Dráddør, we are to practice our court manners when we are in the great hall. How else am I to learn? You must address me by my given name.” Hjørdis stuck her hands on her hips and shot him a glare.
“There is naught wrong with your brother calling you bjartr stjarna, Hjørdis. You are indeed our bright star. Think on it—ladies of the court are known by a special phrase. Methinks bright star would be a dazzling term for the great beauty all are cert to label you.” Xára jiggled a swaddled Varin in her arms as she stepped onto the dais.
Dráddør helped his wife and son to settle. “’Tis hard to believe that Varin nigh deafened us with his hungry bellow not moments ago. He coos and snuggles like a tamed falcon.”
Evie hopped onto the platform and quickly made her way to Xára’s side. “May I play with him and then rock him to sleep?”
“Aye. Go to sit with Ulna so she can take him to his cradle when he falls asleep.” Xára carefully transferred her sleeping son to Evie. “Hjørdis, you can take a turn with Evie.”
“My thanks, Xára. Come Evie, make haste so I can tickle him before he snores.”
Frowning, Dráddør held his tongue until the two girls were out of hearing distance. “Is aught amiss? ’Tis not like you to let our son out of sight or touch.”
The hot pink he loved dusted her cheeks and his hopeful pecker twitched. There had been many, many, many long nights of finding his pleasure by his own hand during the last two moons.
She peeked at him. “Ulna will care for Varin this eve.”
He stiffened. “The whole eve?”
“Aye husband. ’Tis time we renew our bedsport.”
Dráddør could not wait for the meal to end. He ate, but knew not what. Fed Xára, but saw only her glistening ruby lips. Gave her mead and then tasted from the same spot. Pictured her pink nipples and wondered if he dared taste her milk. Would it hurt? For she winced when Varin latched onto the fat buds.
A commotion at the bottom of the stairs drew his attention and he glimpsed his nephew, Jorunn, now a lad of three winters and growing faster than spring weeds, racing to the high table.
Brökk, Skatha, Jorunn and their new daughter, Kadlin, had arrived two days ago with Konáll, Nyssa, and their firstborn son, Thorfin.
Jorunn hurdled the dais, lost his balance, and flailed his arms in an attempt to right himself. Dráddør reached over and scooped the boy into his lap.
The young lad let out a riotous whoop and promptly stuffed a morsel of bread into his mouth. He squirmed to face Xára, pointed at Varin cradled in Evie’s arms, and declared through a mouthful of food, “Babe.”
“Aye.” Dráddør tousled the boy’s dark curls. “Varin. Can you say his name?”
“Vaaarin,” Jorunn drawled.
Skatha, holding a swaddled Kadlin, glided to a halt below the table. “Varin has Xára’s eyes.”
His son did indeed have eyes the color of Xára’s. Every time he glimpsed his son or held him in his arms, more and more of the rage he’d contained for long years faded just a little. Beside him, Xára cooed to his nephew. Dráddør draped an arm around her shoulder. He had never felt so content.
Life was good.
~ About the Author ~
Award winning, author Jianne Carlo’s motto is simple: Alpha Me Please. While strong heroines, exotic locations, and cultural differences are her forte, she goes weak in the knees for warriors of any type, rebels, SEALs, Vikings, and bad-ass mercenaries.
Send her a man with an attitude and she’ll find the right woman to tame him. Jianne’s writing career began in 2008, and since then she’s been lucky enough to have over twenty books published. Most of her books are Top Picks and several have been nominated for and won awards and prizes.
Nothing makes Jianne’s day more than an email from someone who’s read one of her books. So far, she’s received emails from almost every continent on the planet. Almost…
Discover more about Jianne Carlo here
Web Site: http://www.jiannecarlo.com
Blog: http://www.jiannecarlo.com/
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/jiannecarlo
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~ Also by Jianne Carlo ~
Malice Striker
Viking Vengeance Book 1
Can a mere mortal Viking tame the daughter of a goddess?
When Scotland’s King Kenneth orders his death and kidnaps his sister, the Viking Brökk—the Malice Striker—plans his vengeance: he’ll steal the king’s bastard daughter from Sumbarten Abbey and use her to buy his sister's freedom. But his schemes go awry when his liege lord commands him to wed Skatha—and when he finds five women instead of one at the Abbey, none will claim the King as father.
When the Viking abducts Skatha and her women, she’s bewildered. Why did Brökk seize her? Why does he want her for his wife? She weds him willingly enough when he threatens to kill her companions, but she vows to control her own destiny and escape. For if the Viking discovers her secrets, the laws of his people will force him to cast her aside…or kill her. And even Skatha, daughter of a goddess, might not escape the Viking’s wrath…
Buy Malice Striker here
http://www.amazon.com/Malice-Striker-Viking-Vengeance-ebook/dp/B009OJ1OEO/
Death Blow
Viking Vengeance Book 2
Can a mere Viking break the curse of a sea god?
Cursed by the sea-god Ægir to be burned at the stake, Lady Nyssa seeks the one man who can save her--the warrior who bears the mark of the Saracen. When she finds a Viking warrior wounded and senseless on a beach, she knows he is her savior. But Ægir’s wrath extends to others in her life as well. He’s killed her father and stepmother, turned her stepbrother into a mountain lion, and imprisoned her people. And worse, he’s cursed any man who lays with her to have his manparts wither and die.
Konáll has traded coin a-plenty to gain a wife with lands, the daughter of the King of Moray. He expects a refined, comely, trainable damsel, not a doomed warrior princess with the strength of a giantess who cannot bear the touch of a man. But once he learns more about this woman who speaks to talking mountain cats and hides as a peasant among the rabble, he cannot deny his feelings. There’s more than one way to breech a maidenhead, and if teaching her the ways of a woman’s pleasure with a carved ivory dildo is what it takes to make her his, then he’s more than happy to challenge the wrath of a god…
Buy Death Blow here
http://www.amazon.com/Death-Blow-Viking-Vengeance-ebook/dp/B00ALG6WM8/
The Bear and the Bride
Viking Warriors Book 1
Jarl Torsten glimpses Ainslin of Durham, a recent widow with two sons, and immediately covets her for his wife. He outmaneuvers his rival, Ainslin’s neighbor Earl Sigrid, and receives the king’s blessing to marry her.
/> Ainslin fears Torsten's reaction when he discovers she’s a virgin. How will she explain her maidenhead and twin sons? Will Torsten cast Ainslin and the boys aside when he discovers the truth?
Buy The Bear and the Bride here
http://www.amazon.com/Bear-Bride-Viking-Warriors-ebook/dp/B004GHN6BS/
The Dragon Slayer
Viking Warriors Book 2
To save her sister, can Catriona slay the Dragon Slayer?
Ruard, the Viking warrior known as The Dragon Slayer, has no great hopes for the wife he’s to take as the lord of Dunnsmuir Castle, so long as she’s a biddable wife, with all her teeth, who doesn’t drool—a plain, humble woman. He has no use for the flame-haired nymph with breasts as ripe as melons and whose supple hips beckon a man’s hands. Nor for a maiden with a stubborn chin and flashing eyes that speak of naught but trouble.
Catriona hopes for a husband ‘twill be easy to poison. Lord Ulfric holds her sister captive and demands Catriona do his bidding: poison his Viking rival, the man they call the Dragon Slayer. Catriona hopes for a cruel warrior, a man easy to hate, not this Thor god come to life with golden hair, sky blue eyes, and a laughing smile. Her sister’s life depends on it, but how can she slay this Ruard, her new husband, who makes her heart pound with joy?
Buy The Dragon Slayer here
http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Slayer-Viking-Warriors-ebook/dp/B004VWKXMS/
The Peacemaker
Viking Warriors Book 3
Can the Peacemaker tame a warrior bride?
When Njal the Peacemaker meets his bride-to-be, she’s dressed in breeches, flaunting a crossbow, and covered in boar’s blood. What he needs is a woman skilled with words, a woman with exquisite manners, a cunning woman capable of maneuvering the political intrigue of a king’s court. Not this rough country lass whose skill with a crossbow rivals his.
Bettina has no desire to wed a peacemaker. She needs a Viking warrior who’ll strike fear into the hearts of her enemies, a man of strength who can thwart her step-uncle’s theft of her castle’s treasures. But Nyal the Peacemaker wields words, not weapons—until their wedding night proves he’s also a man of passion. Neither can resist the heat of their coupling, but can a man who values peace be enough for a warrior bride?
Buy The Peacemaker here
http://www.amazon.com/The-Peacemaker-Viking-Warriors-ebook/dp/B00550LD9C/
The Destroyer
Viking Warriors Book 4
To Viking warrior Magnus, marriage is naught but a contract, a bargain between men for land and title. Lust, love—he scorns such notions as weak and unmanly. But three days before he’s to wed a highland princess, he falls into the maelstrom of a maid’s startled eyes. Their passionate tryst has him rethinking his notions, and he struggles to find a way to keep the beguiling Deidra while honoring the marriage contract he’s arranged with the father of his betrothed.
Deidra cannot take a walk in the forest without finding a wounded dove. Devoted to her menagerie of injured bears, peacocks, and wolves, she vows to disobey her Da when he betroths her to the Norse warrior known as the Destroyer. Until, disguised as a maid, she’s rescued from a would-be rapist by the Destroyer himself. How can any call him ugly or cruel? For he treats her as if she is made of spun glass, and teaches her the magikal pleasures of the flesh.
But Magnus is furious when he learns the woman he’s fallen so deeply for is none other than his betrothed. For there’s nothing he despises more than a deceitful female...except, perhaps, two of them...
Buy The Destroyer here
http://www.amazon.com/The-Destroyer-Viking-Warriors-ebook/dp/B005NJNHQW/
The Seducer
Viking Warriors Book 5
How can she trust her heart to a man known as the Seducer?
Elaina's step-uncle, Eógan, has murdered her father and usurped his crown. Desperate to save herself and her younger sisters, Elaina, the concubine's daughter, takes the girls and vanishes from the world. But when she's discovered by the tall, brash Viking known as the Seducer, he's determined to make the unwilling woman his own. Even if it involves blackmail: Elaina's hand for his silence.
Angry at being discovered and desperate to protect her sisters, Elaina agrees to marry Jarvik after he threatens to reveal her identity. She bids him to make haste and slake his lust, but Jarvik will accept naught but Elaina's full passion. Their joining is explosive and magical, but how can Elaina trust a man called the Seducer? And even if he proves as good as his word, will the political maneuvering of rival kings force Jarvik to relinquish his new wife to the very man who wants her dead?
Buy The Seducer here
http://www.amazon.com/The-Seducer-Viking-Warriors-ebook/dp/B0062MUHFI/
More Historical Romance from Etopia Press
The Unraveling of Lady Fury
by Shehanne Moore
Regency Romance
Rule One: There will be no kissing. Rule two: There will be no touching…
Widowed Lady Fury Shelton hasn’t lost everything—yet. As long as she produces the heir to the Beaumont dukedom, she just might be able to keep her position. And her secrets. But when the callously irresistible Captain James “Flint” Blackmoore sails back into her life, Lady Fury panics. She must find a way to protect herself—and her future—from the man she’d rather see rotting in hell than sleeping in her bed. If she must bed him to keep her secrets, so be it. But she doesn’t have to like it. A set of firm rules for the bedroom will ensure that nothing goes awry. Because above all else, she must stop herself from wanting the one thing that Flint can never give her. His heart.
Ex-privateer Flint Blackmoore has never been good at following the rules. Now, once again embroiled in a situation with the aptly named Lady Fury, he has no idea why he doesn’t simply do the wise thing and walk away. He knows he’s playing with fire, and that getting involved with her again is more dangerous than anything on the high seas. But he can’t understand why she’s so determined to hate him. He isn’t sure if the secret she keeps will make things harder—or easier—for him, but as the battle in the bedroom heats up, he knows at least one thing. Those silly rules of hers will have to go…
Buy The Unraveling of Lady Fury here
http://www.amazon.com/The-Unraveling-Lady-Fury-ebook/dp/B00C2I62D2/
Lord Keeper
by Tarah Scott
Scottish Historical Romance
No man bargains for war when he chooses a bride, but when he steals her from holy ground, he can expect nothing less.
A midnight race for freedom leads Victoria Hockley, the Countess of Lansbury, to a churchyard deep in the Scottish Highlands. But not even hallowed ground can save her from the devil who’s pursued her from England, or from the furious Scot who swears to protect her.
Iain MacPherson swore he was nothing like his father, but his kidnapping of Victoria Hockley shows the same kind of obsessive jealousy that sent his mother to an early grave. Now Iain has hell to pay, and the devil may very well be the noble English lass who has bewitched his very soul…
Buy Lord Keeper here
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Keeper-ebook/dp/B006GHJLLU/
Submission
by Fiona Vance
Historical Erotic Romance
Lady Juliet De Mar is a confirmed bachelorette and a member of the exclusive London Literary Club, a secret sex club for the more libidinous of the London ton. After taunting her childhood friend and wealthy sea captain, James Wakefield, with the club's bondage games, she finds herself once again longing for him to be something other than he is—a prude with no interest in sex. At least not with her.
Tired of his annual visits that always end in rejection, Juliet decides to kidnap him and bring him to his knees—and to the altar—or end their acquaintance forever. But her plan backfires when she's kidnapped from her carriage and taken to the docks. Blindfolded and shackled, she becomes the property of a notorious pirate, the murderous Captain Black, purchased for his pleasure. When her deepest, erotic fantasies b
ecome a dangerous reality, will Juliet be forced into submission? Or will she learn what she needs to know to master James?
Buy Submission here
http://www.amazon.com/Submission-ebook/dp/B004ZV65EA/
Lord Devere’s Ward
by Sue Swift
Regency Romance
His honor or his passion…
Orphaned Kate Scoville is trapped in a tower prison by her scheming uncle, who plans to wed her to his loathsome son to gain control of her fortune. Plucky and resourceful, Lady Kate escapes to London to beg help from her guardian, the elderly Earl of Devere. But once she arrives, Kate is astounded to find that the Earl has died and his son has inherited–and her new guardian cuts a very dashing figure…
Quinn, the present Earl, remembers Kate from his childhood as an awkward child he loved to tease. But his father’s ward has grown into a beautiful young woman, and when she comes to him in need, he finds his thoughts far from honorable. Duty demands he offer his protection, but their attraction is irresistible, and the temptation of the dark-haired beauty may be too much for even an honorable man to resist…