Page 69 of The Caged Viking

Face it: he was temptation on the hoof where she was concerned. And, oh, what he’d just done to her in the bathing hut! It had been beyond amazing. Turned out he had more than the few moves she’d implied. A shiver of pleasure passed over her at the memory. In fact, her toes still curled when she thought about it, which she feared was going to be too often.

“Are you cold?” Hauk asked, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her into his side as they walked back to the main longhouse of the estate.

“No,” she said.

“You shivered.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I shivered at the prospect of having to spend months in this lousy place before I can go home.”

He stopped to look at her, releasing her from his hold. “Lousy? Is this true? You hate Haukshire that much?” What he didn’t ask was whether she hated him that much, but the question was there in the wounded expression on his clean-shaven face.

And her fool heart hurt at having hurt him. She wasn’t sure what she felt for this man, but, whatever the reason, she did not want to hurt him.

With an honesty that came naturally to her, she admitted, “No.”

She could tell that he wanted her to explain: no, she didn’t hate Haukshire, or no, she didn’t hate him, or no to both. When she didn’t elaborate, his jaw went rigid, and he took her hand in his, continuing their walk to the back door of the main longhouse. Under his breath, he muttered, “Guess I’ll have to work harder to make her like me.”

And she thought, Holy moley! Can I take any more of his efforts to seduce me? I’ll be a puddle of melting hormones. She shivered again.

Hauk’s jaw relaxed, and he grinned.

They entered the brighter light of the kitchen, which was illumined by the hearth fire and several wall torches. Frida was sitting at the table, a cup of mead or ale in front of her. The evening meal had apparently already been made and served, if all the empty pots and serving utensils were any indication, the cleanup not yet begun. Kirstin had been hoping to grab a bite here and not have to sit down in the hall where Zoya was probably holding court.

Frida looked up at them, then looked again, before bursting out in a chortle. Kirstin didn’t know what Frida was reacting to until she glanced at Hauk. Then she did a double take, too. The skin of his clean-shaven face down to the rounded neck of his tunic had a definite ruddy glow to it.

Glancing downward, all she could see on herself was her upper chest, exposed by the neckline of her gown, and, yep, the skin showed little spots which together gave her a pinkish tone.

A sex flush!

Yep, she and Hauk were displaying the quintessential sex flush. How telling! Everyone who saw them would know what they’d been up to.

No way was she going to let everyone see her…them…like this! Vikings loved nothing more than to laugh at each other, and themselves. She knew exactly how her brothers would react if she and Hauk walked into a room like this. The knowing…the teasing…of the men in the great hall would be no different than her brothers…loud and crude. So, she dug in her heels as Hauk continued to lead her by the hand through the kitchen toward the hall.

“What now?” he asked. “Are you still upset that I showed you more of my….uh, moves?” Then he grinned with self-satisfaction.

“Oh, you!” She smacked him on the arm for the grin. “I was never upset by…um, never mind. I think I’ll just grab something to eat in the kitchen and go to bed early.” She yawned to accent her tiredness.

“Nay.”

“What do you mean ‘nay’?”

“Nay means nay. We will dine in the hall with my people. It is expected.”

“By whom?”

“Everyone. It’s my first evening home. It is your first introduction to my people as my wife and mistress of Haukshire. It would be impolite if you, or I, declined to eat with them.’

“It seems to me that they’ve already eaten, or begun eating,” she pointed out.

He waved a hand in the air dismissively. “Give me one good reason why you would not sit down with them? To eat or just to share fellowship?”

“I’m embarrassed,” she said, weakly

He stopped to stare at her. “About what?”

“You know. Everyone will know what we were doing.”

“And that is a bad thing?” He tried but was unable to hold back a smile.