Page 59 of Truly, Madly Viking

"What things?"

"I just talked to Harry—Dr. Seabold—and everything is settled."

"What has Dock-whore Seabold to do with my settling?" Understanding struck him like a lightning bolt.

"I am no longer your pay-shun."

She nodded.

Despite all that weighed him down, Jorund couldn't help grinning. If he was no longer considered her pay-shun, then that opened the doors to all kinds of... well, possibilities.

"Don't get any ideas," she chided him. Meanwhile, her gaze kept coming back to his exposed chest, visible through his unbuttoned shert, which he hadn't bothered to tuck into his braies after his recent shower.

"Oh, I have ideas aplenty. I wonder if my ideas coincide with your ideas."

"Probably."

"Probably? Probably? Sweetling, you'd best not toss out such seductive words unless you plan to follow up on them."

She just shrugged, but that shrug shouted a thousand things to him... all of them sexual.

"Sweetling, huh?" she asked with a soft smile. "I like the sound of that." Her voice was even huskier than usual. Jorund had been fond of that huskiness from the start. Now he would like to experiment with different ways of tuning that huskiness to his own satisfaction.

"Come here, Mag-he," he said, and was surprised that his voice, too, was husky.

She backed up a step instead. "Slowly... we've got to take things slowly here."

At first he wanted to balk... to argue that going fast was the better course. But perhaps she was right. He had been assailed by so many new emotions these past hours.

"For now, let me help you make up a bed for the night." Motioning him to stand, she stepped into the chamber. The soft folds of her scarlet silk robe outlined her body as she moved, especially where it was belted at the waist. He felt an immediate jolt of awareness at the joining of his thighs. Was she wearing undergarments under the robe? Or had she come to him naked, already prepared for his lovemaking?

Oh, what a heady thought that was! His entire body went hot and throbbing with the mental picture. He had been without a woman for a long time. He had been without Mag-he for a long time.

Was now the time?

As she showed him how to pull out the bed mattress that was magically enclosed inside the sofa, the scent of lilacs wafted his way, and he recalled that the girls had said their mother was taking a bubble bath. Then, taking soft pillows, bed linens, and blankets from a close-it, she began to make up the bed.

Each time she bent or turned, the filmy robe clung to a different, more enticing curve of her body.

He smiled.

Turning suddenly, she caught him in the smile, and seemed surprised—then embarrassed. Did the blush that now flooded her face and neck also color other parts of her body?

"Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, Joe," she informed him as she turned her back to him and worked to smooth out the wrinkles in the blanket. That gave him a good view of her backside as she bent to the task. Holy Valhalla, the wench had more curves than a Norse fjord.

But then Mag-he's words registered, and jolted him out of his erotic musings.

With disgust, he realized that he had been ogling her body like an untried youth before his first swiving.

"Thanksgiving?" he inquired in as level a voice as he could manage. Well, I certainly hope I will be having something to be thankful for, after tonight. "In our country it's a special day when everyone gives thanks for their bounty. In our home we have our Thanksgiving feast early so we can go to the Orcaland amusement park for the last day of the season... weather permitting, of course."

"And?" he prompted. Why was she telling him this now?

"And I want to make sure you will be all right with that. Will you be able to stand being around my daughters? You've had a rather strong reaction when I've mentioned them previously."

He thought long and hard. It was a good question. Could he be in the company of twin girls, when his own cherished twin daughters were dead? "I think I will be all right. If I have a change of sentiment, I will take myself from their presence."

"I don't want my girls to get hurt. I mean that."