Page 89 of The Very Virile Viking

For several long moments they both panted into each other's necks, neither noticing that water still sprayed over them, cold by now.

Finally, taking great joy in the passion daze that still covered her face, he leaned forward to give her a soft kiss of thanks. There was nothing he could say that would express how deeply she touched him with her response to his lovemaking. So he just kissed her softly once again.

"Have you naught to say, dearling?" he asked in the end, beginning to be alarmed by her silence.

Mayhap he had misinterpreted her quiet. Mayhap she was offended by his hard and quick loveplay.

She studied him for a long moment and said, "You are some farmer, Magnus."

Relief thrummed through him at her playful retort, which was surely a sign that she had been pleased.

Still, he had to ask, "I plowed straight and true, then?"

"And deep." She laughed.

But not for long.

Reaching behind him, he turned off the faucets, released Angela so that she sank weakly to the floor, then immediately picked her up in his arms.

"Now that you know about farmers, methinks you need a lesson in farm animals." He was carrying her into her bedchamber, which adjoined the bathing chamber. They were both very wet, especially their sopping hair, but neither noticed.

"Farm animals? That sounds kinky to me."

"Definitely kinky," he agreed unabashedly. What is kinky?

He dropped her to the bed and lay down on top of her. Angela would have some explaining to do to her grandmother the next day about the wetness of the coverlet, but he could not be concerned about that now. He was too aware of the wonderful naked woman beneath him.

"So what animals are we talking about here?" she inquired friskily, even as she combed his hair behind his big ears with the fingers of both hands. He did the same to hers.

"The stallion and the mare," he replied without hesitation.

Instead of shrinking back with revulsion, Angela surprised him once again with her laughing reply: "Yippee!"

Chapter Fourteen

A family Thing…

In the Viking culture, matters of great importance were settled at a meeting called a Thing, or an Althing.

Everyone had a vote in these assemblies, though the chieftain's opinion usually carried extra weight.

Magnus decided the next day that it was past time to call a family Thing to discuss this time-travel

dilemma in more detail with his children. He wanted Angela present, too.

So gathered that afternoon in the gazebo were Torolf, Kirsten, Dagny, Storvald, Njal, Jogeir, and Angela. He figured that the other children were too young to understand, or to keep a secret. In truth, Hamr would no doubt take great delight in announcing to the world that he was a "free-can time traveler"

who had damn well better get a bow and arrow "free-can soon."

"Does everyone concur on this point at least… we have time traveled to another country and a thousand years into the future?" Magnus asked.

No one immediately replied, which did not surprise him. It was hard to accept such a bizarre notion.

After a few minutes, though, each of them nodded reluctantly, except for Angela.

"What other explanation can there be?" he asked her.

"I don't know, but I live in a society that probes for scientific explanations for everything… and usually there is a sound, logical reason for even the most unusual events. But this…" She just shrugged.