Page 101 of A Tale of Two Vikings

Nay, ’tis worse than that. He will go with us to Ravenshire, but he will not be returning to Briarstead with us after the visit. It is over. Oh, my gods and goddesses! It is over.

She really did feel like throwing up then.

But wait. Vagn was doing something that caused her even more concern. He dropped to one knee before her and took one of her hands in both of his. “Helga, there is no smooth way for me to say this, except, Will you marry me?”

“What?”

“Now, now, sit still and hear me out. Do not say me nay till you hear my proposal.”

“Vagn, please, you know how I feel—”

He put the fingertips of one hand to her lips. “I wish to take you for my wife. I want to protect you under my shield. I want to stop sneaking about at night. I want to wake beside you in the morning. I want to make love with you whene’er I wish without having to hide. I want to have children with you. I want to grow old with you.” He shrugged at his inability to express himself better. “Will you marry me?”

His proposal could easily have charmed Helga into compliance, except for one word which stood out like a sore thumb. Children. “You know,” she accused him. “You know that I am with child, and now you want to marry me.”

“I do know, Helga, but—”

She stood abruptly and shoved his beseeching hands aside.

“Nay, I will not marry you.”

“Now, Helga, be reasonable.” He stood, too.

“Reasonable?” she practically shrieked, then lowered her voice for fear she would attract attention. “We had an agreement.”

“Yea, we did, and part of that agreement said I would ask you to marry me if you conceived,” he argued. The stubborn lout!

“Why? Why do you want to wed me?” Deep down, Helga knew that if he said three simple words to her, she would capitulate.

Unfortunately…or fortunately…he did not utter those words. “It is time for me to wed. We do well together. Why not?”

“Ooooh, I would like to clout you a good one.”

“Huh?”

“Vagn, if it were not for this child”—she put a hand protectively over her flat belly—“would you be asking me to marry you today?”

He thought for a moment, then answered honestly. “Probably not today, but mayhap someday I would have. I like you, Helga, and I think you like me, too.”

Like? Like? The dunderhead! “I would ask you one more question, Vagn. If your brother were still alive, would you be asking me to marry you?”

“That is an unfair question. If my brother were alive, I wouldn’t even be here.”

Her shoulders sank with defeat. She’d given him a chance, and he’d failed her. “If I were ever going to marry, Vagn—and I am not—I would want more from a marriage than that. I am sorry, but nay.” He was about to say more but she put up a hand to halt him. “I will not deny you access to this child, and you may acknowledge it, if you wish.”

“Of course I will acknowledge my child, you foolish wench.” He wagged a finger in her face menacingly. “Be forewarned, though, I do not accept your rejection. We will marry. You can bet your luscious lips on that.”

To prove his point, he kissed said luscious lips soundly, then stomped away. Helga loved the way Vagn loved her lips. He didn’t love her, but he loved her lips.

In the hall outside the solar, she heard her father ask him, “How did it go?” Frigg’s foot! My father knows, too?

And Vagn replied succinctly, “Just bloody hell wonderful!”

Chapter Thirteen

Tiptoeing loudly…

It was two days later.