by Denise Lynn
The stubble covering his face, the square edge of his chin and the line of his jaw were far from soft.
When she caressed the edge of his ear, he pulled away, but had no complaint at having her stroke the side of his neck. And when she tasted his neck with her lips and tongue, a low rumbling groan rewarded her action. That deep throaty sound did as much to send fire rushing through her veins as his touch on her thigh had.
His shoulders were broad, leaving her certain that he could bear whatever weight was placed up them. Whether it be the weight of his armour, or that of troubles.
She smoothed her hands across his shoulders and down his arms. A laugh escaped at his antics when he flexed his muscles. She’d seen the bulge of his muscles before and was not surprised by the solid hardness that was impossible for her to squeeze, even with both hands.
Her hands drifted over to his chest where she traced more than a few white scars. Some were thin, likely nothing more than nicks from the tip of a sword or knife. But two were long, jagged and wide enough to have been much more than simple nicks.
‘This one.’ She touched one just beneath the middle of one collar bone. ‘How did you survive it?’
Again, he shrugged. ‘It slipped right past anything I required to live, I suppose. Hurt like hell and it took a long time for me to gain strength back in that arm, but it didn’t threaten my life.’
She leaned forward to place a kiss on the wicked-looking scar. ‘You were lucky.’
‘No, Avelyn. I am luckier this day, this moment than at any other time I can remember.’
Rising up on her knees to press against his chest, she teased at the corner of his lips with her tongue. ‘How so?’
He wrapped both arms about her, holding her tightly, to whisper hoarsely against her ear, ‘Forgive me. But this exploration of yours is over. I ache for you.’
She laughed softly, her tone just as hoarse and shaking as his had been. ‘And I for you.’
‘Hold tight.’
She slung her arms around his neck only a second before he rose up on his knees, and then dropped her on to her back. Freeing his arms from beneath her, he slid down her body. His hands caressing her breasts were no longer gentle or teasing, a gasp caught in her throat, escaping as a moan when he covered one tip with his mouth.
He slid slightly off her and smoothed a palm down her belly, over the patch of curls to stroke down one thigh and back up the other, coming to rest between her thighs. She drew in a ragged breath, wondering if he could feel the maddening pulse against his palm.
His first stroke made her jump, but the weight of his leg slung over one of hers kept her in place. She curled the fingers of one hand in his hair while the other grasped at his arm. ‘Elrik... I don’t...’
Whatever she’d been about to say was forgotten when he released her breast and pushed himself further down her body to replace the hand teasing at her core with his lips and tongue.
While she’d been embarrassed before, now she was horrified, but when she tried to move away, he held her in place with a firm hand on her belly. She was positive, certain she would die...if he stopped.
She felt his intimate caress in nearly every part of her body. Her scalp tingled, heart raced. She shivered from the streak of ice racing down her spine. Her thighs trembled from the building heat.
When she gave into the sensations washing over her, he relaxed his hand on her stomach and reached up to tease a peaked nipple. Her eyes widened as all the wondrous sensations raced to centre beneath his tongue.
She grabbed his shoulders, gasping, ‘Elrik...please.’ Avelyn had only a vague idea of what she begged for, but she knew without a single doubt that he could ease this frantic pulsing of her body.
He slid one finger inside her, stroking, teasing her even more until she was unable to make any coherent sound other than a higher-pitched whine as her body started to rapidly contract beneath his touch.
She closed her eyes and bit her lips to hold back the shout she wanted to release. He was instantly there, above her, whispering, ‘I’ve got you.’
When she felt him entering her, filling her, she moaned and wrapped her legs around his to hang on.
Where was the pain she’d heard whispers of? Or the disgust and shame her mother had often warned about? What about the boredom, the waiting for it simply to be over which some of the women had spoken of?
Instead of pain, she felt a sense of being...complete. An overwhelming emotion that she wished not to look at too closely washed over her for the husband holding her close. This was far from boring, her heart beat so hard, so fast that it was nearly impossible to catch her breath, yet she wished for it not to end too soon.
No one had spoken of this dizzying spinning of her head. Nor had they once mentioned feeling more alive than she’d ever before experienced; the joy of it brought tears to her eyes.
Avelyn gasped at the increased sense of spinning out of control. Elrik caressed the back of her head and held her face against his shoulder. ‘Let the wave crest around you. You are safe.’
His tone was gravelly, rough, and his body trembled against hers. Just as she reached a height she didn’t think she could return from, she felt as though she were falling and bit his shoulder to keep from crying out.
He stiffened and groaned against her ear, making her wonder if he’d experienced the same feelings, emotions that she had.
Once he stilled and his breathing calmed, he rolled on to his back, bringing her atop of him. ‘I don’t want to crush you beneath me.’
Avelyn sighed. ‘I wouldn’t notice, or care.’
She felt the silent laugh shaking in his chest and closed her eyes, wishing this moment could last a lifetime.
When she opened her eyes, the cabin was awash in darkness. She lay on her back, Elrik next to her on his stomach with one arm slung across her waist.
While the closeness was nice, her legs were cold and she wanted to pull the cover over them. But when she tried to move, he rolled on to his side, tightened his hold around her and pulled her hard against his chest.
Unwilling to awaken him, she curled her arm over his and settled into the embrace to give herself over to the beckoning call of sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
Elrik stepped out of his cabin and into the brilliant light of midday, squinting against the glare of the sunshine.
‘Well, you are still alive.’
He ignored Samuel’s comment and climbed the ladder up to the deck of the forecastle, motioning over his shoulder for the man to join him.
Fulke remained in place guarding the door to the cabin, while Samuel climbed the ladder to join Elrik at the railing.
‘Haven’t seen much of you these last three days.’
Elrik leaned his forearms on the railing and stared out over the water. ‘Anything gone awry while I saw to my new bride?’
‘Not a thing.’
‘Then my absence caused no trouble.’
‘No. Although from your surliness I would guess something is troubling you.’
Elrik slowly turned his head to glare at Samuel. ‘Care to explain why you found it needful to tell my wife anything about my past?’
His man took two steps further down the railing, putting him well out of reach. ‘It seemed the reasonable thing to do at the time.’
Elrik stood up and moved away from the railing, putting more distance between them. ‘It seemed reasonable for you to frighten Avelyn?’
‘The intent wasn’t to frighten her. It was to explain why you sometimes act the way you do.’
‘And to what? Warn her not to hurt my tender feelings?’
Samuel’s eyes widened briefly. ‘She told you that?’
‘No. She said nothing of the sort. You just did.’ Elrik stormed closer, stopping when he was toe to toe with the man. ‘I’ve no need, or desire, to be co
ddled by anyone, least of all my wife. What right did you have to say anything to her?’
‘Nearly thirty years of friendship.’ Samuel held his ground. ‘And over seven years of watching you hold yourself back from any personal involvement with a woman. If any of us needs to be wed, it is you.’
‘Me?’ Elrik shook his head. ‘You are daft.’
‘Of the three of us, you are the only one who needs to protect and care for someone smaller and weaker.’
‘It is my duty.’
‘No. It is your desire. You need it as much as you do the air you breathe.’
‘Ack.’
When he turned away, Samuel said, ‘Tell me you are not more content now than you have been in a very long time.’
‘Content?’ Elrik turned back. ‘After three days in bed with my wife I would call it exhausted.’
‘Well, that’s one way to avoid the issue.’
‘There is nothing to avoid. Did you and Fulke enjoy your time on the oars?’
Samuel snorted. ‘You made your displeasure fairly obvious.’
‘That was the intent.’
Samuel turned to stare out over the water. ‘Have you given much thought to what you’re going to do with her half-brother and his companions?’
Elrik joined him. ‘Did you get the ships back into their original order?’
‘Yesterday.’
‘Good. Now we just need to identify all six of them.’
‘Will Lady Avelyn help with that?’
‘Other than pointing out her brother, I’m not sure she’d know the others. But I don’t want to involve her unless there is no other choice.’
‘Do you think she knows what he’s planning?’
‘No. Not at all.’ He had never thought that. ‘I simply don’t want to put her in the position to choose between her family and her husband.’
Samuel stared at him. ‘There wouldn’t be a choice for her. She’d side with you.’
‘I know. But I’m trying to keep an eye to her future. What if something were to happen to me and she needed her family’s assistance?’
‘Speaking of her future, how are you going to protect her after we land?’
‘I’ve yet to figure out how to do that, control her brother and take over Roul at the same time. Short of putting her back on the ship with the women and sending them away, I am not certain what else to do.’
‘That might be the best course of action.’
‘I can’t send a lone ship of women all the way back to King David and I have no certain allies in Normandy. So, where do you suggest I send them?’
When Samuel offered nothing more than a shrug, Elrik added, ‘I thought about having them go just off shore. But for how long? While subduing Brandr’s son and his companions should be easily accomplished, this taking possession of Roul could require nothing more than a few days with little or no fighting, or it could be weeks of battle.’ He didn’t give voice to the third option—they could be met by overwhelming forces and die—because every man went into battle with that knowledge.
‘It is not like you to over worry things so much, Elrik.’
He sighed. ‘A hazard of having a wife and a ship of women to protect.’
‘Better you than me. I would set them up in a camp and be done with it.’
‘Unfortunately, that’s most likely what will happen.’ Although, until they were all safely behind Roul’s walls, he wouldn’t be done with it.
‘There is little time to consider what needs to be done.’
Samuel agreed. ‘And with no head winds the last few days, we’ll make landfall tomorrow morning.’
‘Since there is nothing to be done until then, I’m going to take a bucket bath. You and Fulke see if the two of you can figure out a way for Avelyn to have a bath. Our method isn’t going to work for her.’
Without waiting for a response, he climbed back down the ladder and headed to the other end of the ship where he took off his low-cut boots, stockings, shirt and braies. Once naked, Elrik dumped two buckets of cold water over his head, letting it sluice down his body. Someone handed him a small pot of soap and a rag.
He scrubbed and rinsed the soap off, then nabbed a drying cloth from one of the men.
An eerie sense of being watched crept up his spine. The laughter coming from his men along with their nods towards his cabin let him know who was watching him. He didn’t need to turn around to know that Avelyn peered out at him.
With his back to her, he took his time wiping the water from his body and hair. He dropped the drying cloth, then bent to retrieve his braies. After stepping into them and securing the tie, he turned around and slowly stretched before running both of his hands through his hair to slick it back.
Avelyn’s half-closed eyes and parted lips gained more than a few suggestive comments from the men. Elrik knew he’d provided the crew with more entertainment than he’d intended.
He glared at them, quelling their amusement, and asked, ‘Do none of you have anything to do?’
The group quickly broke up. He grabbed the rest of his clothes and headed for the cabin.
She didn’t move until he was within reach. Curling her fingers into the waist of his braies, Avelyn tugged him through the opening of the makeshift door and into her arms.
He laughed and tossed his clothes to the floor. ‘Something you want, my lady?’
She pulled at the tie to his braies. ‘Yes. You.’
The time they’d spent inside this cabin had done much to alleviate any shred of her embarrassment with him. He sighed heavily. ‘Where has my shy, timid wife gone?’
She paused to lean back and look up at him. He was well aware that she did so to judge his mood. How long would it take for her to know instantly if he was serious, or just teasing her?
Finally smiling, she placed her palm over his obvious erection and answered, ‘I fear that dying at least a thousand little deaths in your arms may have killed her.’
The soft laugh building in his chest wouldn’t be contained. As it escaped he drew her into an embrace. ‘You do realise the men will talk.’
She feathered tiny kisses against his chest. ‘I am sure they have already been talking.’
‘Elrik?’
Fulke’s call from outside the door drew his attention. He released Avelyn slowly, his touch lingering to stroke down her arm. He promised, ‘I’ll not forget where we were.’
As he approached the door, he called out, ‘What?’
‘You wanted a bath for the lady?’
Avelyn pushed past him to tear open the heavy flap. ‘Yes!’
Fulke and Samuel carried in a large wooden barrel that had been lined with sailcloth and placed it in the centre of the room.
‘This is the best we could find on short notice. It is mostly watertight.’
‘Mostly?’ Elrik looked into the barrel, noting the steam rising from the hot water already inside.
‘Once the water hits the halfway mark it starts to leak.’
Samuel added, ‘That’s all the hot water available. If you want more it will take some time.’
Avelyn was already taking off her soft boots. ‘That is plenty.’
Knowing she wasn’t about to wait for her bath, Elrik waved the men out of the cabin. ‘Go. Thank you. Leave a few buckets of water by the door and I’ll grab them.’
By the time he turned away from the door, Avelyn had already stripped down to her chemise. He dumped two buckets of cold water into the barrel and tested the water to make certain she wasn’t going to climb into a scalding bath in her haste.
He set the buckets back outside the door, grabbed another one, then came back to see her stepping out of the chemise that was pooled on the floor.
‘Wife, you are robbing me of my fun.’
She tossed her hair that was now free
of a braid. ‘Husband, you cannot blame me if you are too slow.’
He laughed at her quip as he set the bucket by the barrel and picked her clothing up from the floor to hang on a peg next to his tunic.
‘Elrik, a hand, please.’
She stood at the side of the barrel, waiting for him to help her into the water.
He stared at her, wondering how he’d been so blessed. Not only did her lusty appetite match his, she was the loveliest woman he’d ever seen.
Her hips were nicely rounded and soft, providing a perfect place to grasp when he wanted to hold her still. And while her breasts were small, he had an inkling that the first time she bore a child they would fill out to be as soft and rounded as her hips.
‘Elrik!’
Impatient, she shouted and waved her hand to beckon him closer.
He grabbed the small wooden stool and slowly, taking as much time as possible, joined her at the side of the barrel.
She narrowed her eyes, then moved close enough to slide her breasts against his chest.
When he did nothing but look down at her, she leaned harder against him, making a point to press her body suggestively against his groin.
Elrik winged a brow, then leaned around her to drop the stool into the water before delivering a quick tap to her bottom.
Avelyn jumped back. ‘You hit me.’
He slung one arm behind her knees and the other across her back to lift her off her feet. ‘I did no such thing.’
She wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘Then what would you call it?’
‘Gaining your attention.’ Elrik kissed the end of her nose and lowered her into the water.
She leaned her head back against the rim of the barrel, closed her eyes and sighed. ‘This is nice. Thank you.’
Standing behind her, Elrik traced the line of her throat. ‘Lift your head.’
He scooped up a goblet full of water and dumped it over her head.
Avelyn sputtered. ‘A warning would have been welcome.’
He reached down to refill the goblet, then paused with it above her head, long enough to say, ‘Warning.’
She pushed her dripping hair out of her eyes. ‘Do you have nothing else to do?’