Page 105 of The Outlaw Viking

“And your penis to a popsicle?” Rain asked saucily and moved quickly off the bed to avoid his swatting palm. He had a very fair idea of the meaning of popsicle.

They moved downstairs and made sure that the barn doors were barred from the inside and Selik’s sword lay nearby, in case the Saxon soldiers returned.

After gorging themselves hungrily on whatever food they could rustle up—manchet bread, cold venison, hard cheese, and watered mead—they pulled a pallet up close to the roaring fire and put several cauldrons of hot water on for bathing. They sat companionably wrapped in one large fur blanket, feeding the flames with bits of kindling while they waited for the pot to boil.

“Admit you lied to me afore?”

“About what?” Rain slanted a sideways look at him.

“About your bad ruttings with men.”

Rain jabbed him with an elbow in the ribs and he pretended injury.

“I never used those words. I said, as I recall, that I could take sex or leave it, that I had a poor history of relationships with men.”

“And you still feel the same?”

“Fishing for compliments, are you?” she asked, raising one brow mockingly.

“Nay, I know how good I am,” he boasted. “I merely wanted you to admit you were wrong, for once.”

“I didn’t lie, Selik. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I love you. And I think that’s what made the difference in making love with you.”

In truth, he did not mind her saying the words so much now. Actually, the sentiments warmed his soul and made him feel more alive than he had in years.

“And if you did not love me, you think you would not have enjoyed our coupling?” he asked, biting his bottom lip with concentration.

“I don’t know,” Rain admitted honestly. “Maybe it would still have been good. All I know is that from the moment I first saw you, long before the Battle of Brunanburh, from the first time you haunted my dreams, there’s been a special connection between us. And last night, it was as if two pieces of a broken whole were finally connected. That sounds really corny, doesn’t it?”

“Corny? I do not know that word, but I like the part about being coupled,” he said with a smile, then caught his breath at the open look of adoration in Rain’s eyes.

“I didn’t say coupled, you horny toad, f said connected. C’mon, let’s see if that water is hot enough before you get distracted—again.”

When they had finished bathing, and she helped Selik shave his face and he did not help her shave her legs—choosing, instead, to make erotic remarks the entire time—Rain rummaged in her carryall for a comb. While Selik combed his hair and then hers before the roaring fire, pulling the teeth sensuously through the drying strands, Rain looked through her bag to see if she might find a loose Lifesaver she’d overlooked. No such luck.

But she did find something of interest.

“Selik, how do you feel about strawberries?”

“I like them well enough, but the fruit will not be in season ’til next spring.”

Rain opened the little metal tube in her hands and applied the strawberry lip gloss. Then she turned and took the comb from Selik’s hands. “I’ve got a little out-of-season treat for you, babe.”

Sometime later, Rain whispered, “I sure hope you don’t have an allergy—a bad reaction—to strawberries, like some people do.”

He retorted with a gasp of pleasure, “Holy Thor! If I do, I will have rashes in some hard-to-explain places.”

That afternoon, Selik wakened from a deep sleep with Rain’s arm across his chest and her knee between his legs. He did not want to open his eyes, burrowing deeper under the warm fur blanket whose silken hairs caressed their naked bodies.

But something had jarred him. A sixth sense, mayhap. Selik came suddenly alert and carefully reached for his sword. Then he slitted his eyes carefully to peer at his surroundings.

A dozen pair of wide eyes stared back at him in open curiosity.

“Ubbi! Where the hell are you, you lackwit?”

Ubbi stepped forward immediately. “Yea, master, did ye call?”

Rain sat up beside him, pulling the furs up to her bare shoulders, exposing his naked body to the cool air.