Page 94 of My Fair Viking

"God bless the woman," Adam declared. "Sometimes she is not her usual pain-in-the-arse busybody self."

"I think he is looking for love," Alinor continued.

"On the other hand…" Adam said.

"Love?" all four of her sisters said in a swooning voice. They must have returned.

"That is ridiculous woman-nonsense." Tykir was talking to his wife now. "Men do not think of love when the lust is running high. Hey, why did you hit me?"

"I hit you because you are behaving like a troll, you troll."

"Really, Adam, just open the door so I will know you two have not killed each other," Tykir implored. "Then I can be off to my bed where I will prove to my winsome wife just how much of a troll I can be."

With a sigh of disgust, Adam lifted himself gingerly off of Tyra. "It seems they will not leave till one of us makes an appearance." He wrapped a bed fur around his middle and stomped to the door. Opening it a mere crack, he said, "See, I am fine. Now go away." He tried to slam the door shut, but Tykir stuck a foot in.

"Why is your hair standing up like you combed it with a hay rake? And is that a bite mark surrounding your nipple?" Tykir asked with the innocence of a seasoned rascal.

Adam looked down. Then he looked over at Tyra and winked.

She hated it when he winked at her. It set off all kinds of strange ripples through her body… a body that needed no more ripples tonight, thank you very much.

"Holy Valhalla! Our lady is stark naked, and she looks as if she wuz flattened by a warhorse." It was Alrek, who had scooted down to his knees and was peering around Tykir's legs and into the bedchamber.

Tyra scurried to cover herself.

"That is it! I am closing the door now." Adam was tired of being the brunt of everyone's speculations.

"Wait! Just one minute. I have something to say," Alinor shouted. She shoved her husband and Alrek aside, then advised Adam in a surprisingly warm, almost motherly way, "Treat her well."

Adam closed and locked the door, then dropped the bed fur. Tyra wasn't sure if he was talking to Alinor or her when he said, "That is precisely what I intend to do. Very well indeed."

Tyra hoped so. This was to be her one night of love. It would have to last her a lifetime.

After midnight, when most of the keep was abed, he and Tyra slipped outside to the sweat house, where they soaked their aching muscles in the hot springs.

It had been his plan to soap her body from crown to toes with the soft soap that was kept there… to minister to her like the princess she was. But Tyra surprised him once again. Taking charge, as she was wont to do, she lathered him up, rinsed him off, then laid him down on the stone slab outside the pool and kissed him up one side and down the other. But that was not all. Oh, God, that was not all. The enchanting woman, ever the apt pupil whether it be the art of battle or the art of love, brought her mouth down on him till he begged for mercy.

He thought he might be in love.

But many a man thought he was in love when his cock was tickling a lady's throat. So he did not speak the sentiment aloud. He planned to ponder the question later, though, when his eyeballs were no longer rolling in his head.

They went back to his bedchamber, arm in arm, where he massaged her still sore muscles with one of his special ointments… in this case, sandalwood scented. She kept saying she had not known there were muscles there or there, but he kept assuring her that there were still more muscles he would show her that she'd never imagined. In fact, some time later, he showed her the famous Viking S-Spot, the secret of which had been passed on to him by his stepfather Selik, as well as his uncles Tykir and Eirik. Tyra claimed to be extremely impressed. That must have been why she fainted at the end. It was Adam's opinion that a man who could make a woman faint in the bedsport had performed admirably. He intended to tell Tyra so when she awakened.

Adam was enthralled with Tyra. Her lack of inhibitions… her enthusiasm for everything he suggested… her ability to laugh while making love… all these made her an incredible bed companion. But it was more than this… much, much more, he suspected. And that prospect both frightened and elated him.

He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Tyra awakened just before dawn.

The one night she'd committed to Adam was over. She could not be unhappy about what she'd given him. He had given her so much more in return.

But it was over now, and she must go on from here. A new life… a new path awaited her. But she would never forget Adam, or this long night of loving. It was a gift from the gods.

She slipped out of the bed, careful not to awaken Adam, who slept soundly on his stomach, his face resting on his folded arms. Once she was hastily clothed, she gazed down at him, gloriously naked.

Adam thought he would have another sennight or so in her presence as she transported him back to his home in Britain, but he was wrong. Tyra had made a decision the previous evening. The agreement to captain the longship back had been made under pressure. It was an unreasonable request her father had made, and she felt no dishonor in disobeying him.

She was going now to Father Efrid's bedchamber, where she would renounce all her rights as a daughter of Stoneheim. She would never dare do so in front of her father. He would just laugh at her, or deny her request, or lock her in her bedchamber till she did his will. After the ritual denouncement before Father Efrid and two witnesses, Gunter and Egil, she intended to tie the priest up so that he would not warn her father of her actions. A fully manned longship awaited her in the harbor. She would be gone before first light.