Page 46 of The Outlaw Viking

Rain’s heart fluttered with hope. “Selik, unless you are willing to stop the bloodshed, I don’t think we can have a future,” she cried, clutching at his hands, wanting him to understand.

“We have today.”

“But that’s not enough,” she said as her hopes deflated. “Can’t you see? Oh, Selik, I’m so frightened.”

“Of what?”

“You. Us. There’s something powerful connecting us. If we make love, I know it would be incredible. I just know it. You don’t have to seduce me with false compliments or enticing sexual challenges. I already want you.”

He moved closer, putting her hands on his shoulders.

Rain backed away out of his arms, unnerved by his closeness. She had to make him understand. “I can’t get involved with a man in that way, so intimately, knowing he’s committed to a life of violence. It’s contrary to everything I value, all my beliefs. Can’t you even consider giving up your vendetta?”

Selik’s face stiffened and his chin jutted proudly as he refused to bend to her wishes or beg for her favors.

“It’s hopeless for us then,” she whispered softly, widening her eyes to stop the tears pooling in her eyes from overflowing. She failed. “But know this, you stubborn Viking, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Selik stared helplessly at the tears streaming down her face. After a moment, his face relaxed as his anger melted away. “Do not cry for me,” he said, forcing a lighter tone to his voice. “I have survived much worse than the loss of a mere wench. Much, much worse.”

Rain’s heart almost broke at the lack of emotion in his voice. She wondered who had hurt him so badly, why he was on such a course of bloodshed.

This time, when he turned and walked away, his back rigid and unyielding, Rain did not follow.

“Dear God, how will I ever resist this man?” she asked aloud.

He needs you, child.

“What he needs is a good shot of pacifism.”

What he needs is love.

If she didn’t stop hearing these voices, she was going to start to accept Ubbi’s belief that she really was an angel sent from God. Surreptitiously, checking first to see that no one was looking, she reached behind her back. Yup! Just as she’d thought. Her shoulder blades were flat. She shook her head in disgust then at her own foolishness.

When she returned to the cook fires, Blanche was draining some greens from a pot of boiling water, adding what appeared to be sauteed wild onions and garlic. A dozen loaves of golden-brown manchet bread lay cooling on a flat rock. The perfectly roasted venison sizzled over the fire, throwing off a wonderfully delicious aroma.

The woman was amazing. Rain was beginning to hate her.

“Where did you learn to cook like this?” she asked sweetly.

Blanche’s intelligent hazel eyes turned her way, assessing Rain and her question, probably wondering how safe it was to reveal personal information. “My father was a Highland lord and my mother a weaver in his keep. The lord had no particular fondness for me, but he allowed me to work in the kitchens instead of the fields.”

“How did you get tied up with Edwin then?”

“My father’s lady—the bitch—hated me from the day I was born. As I grew older and more like my father in appearance, her viciousness grew.” Blanche shrugged. “I had no choice but to use my other talents, on my back, to escape her wrath.”

Rain shook her head sadly, reminded once again what a brutal period of history she had landed in. “In my ti—country, things are different. Illegitimacy is no real stigma, and women have rights. With your obvious intelligence, you could have any job you wanted and support yourself without having to rely on a man—either as a wife or a prostitute.”

Blanche laid her cooking ladle aside and stared at Rain incredulously. “Truly?”

Rain nodded.

“How do I get to this country?”

Rain laughed. Oh, if it were only that easy! “It’s a long, long way. I’m not sure I could even get back there myself.”

Blanche studied her with renewed interest. “Well, then, let me ask you this. Is Selik your man?”

A slow heat spread from Rain’s neck up her face, and she shifted uncomfortably. “No. I mean, not in that way. We’re not lovers.”