Page 94 of The Very Virile Viking

Dirty Harry meets Mighty Magnus…

Magnus had been working with a private detective agency and a team of security personnel for the past two weeks. The head of the troop, and owner of the agency, was Harry Winslow, which Magnus thought was an odd name for an investigator to have, but then again, betimes winning slow was the best

way.

Harry was a hard-as-nails former soldier with a haircut that was so short the scalp showed through.

Magnus was thinking about getting a similar haircut, till he mentioned the idea to Angela. "Get a buzz cut, and you might as well buzz away, big boy!" she had exclaimed. Magnus was pretty sure that meant no.

Whatever . He had other plans for her once this whole drama was over, and none of them depended on what was atop his head.

Her comment to him about the haircut was one of the few times she had spoken to him these past weeks. She was still fuming over his failure to share his plan for capturing "Big Bird." That was the code name Harry had given the culprit who was threatening the Blue Dragon. When he had asked Harry why they needed a code name, why they couldn't just refer to that nithing Gunther, he had said there was no firm evidence yet that Gunther was the one… or the only one.

Actually, there was another occasion when Angela had deigned to talk to him—when they took Jogeir to visit an orthopedic surgeon, who took pictures of the inside of the boy's foot and leg. An operation was scheduled for two weeks hence. He was nervous about putting his son under the knife, but Angela was optimistic about the operation's outcome, and Jogeir was wildly enthusiastic. In essence, he'd been outvoted from the start.

If Angela had been stingy in sharing her talk with him these past two weeks, she was even stingier with her body. "No sex, no way, no how!" she had proclaimed when he had broached the subject.

When he'd grumbled, "There are some who say that an organ in too much disuse could wither away,"

she had rolled her eyes at him.

Wait till she hears what I have to say now.

Angela was in Grandma Rose's vegetable garden when he walked up. Sitting down on a bench near the bean trellises, he inhaled deeply, loving the smell of moist earth, sun, and growing plants.

"Angela, come over here, please. I have something to discuss with you."

She glanced up from the basket where she had just placed several red toe-may-toe globes. "Go away."

Well, that was certainly short and sweet. "I need you to do something for me."

"Dream on, buddy. You aren't coming near my bed until I find out what you are up to. Even then, you might not be welcome."

"Tsk, tsk," he chided. "I was not speaking of sex." I was thinking it, but I did not say it. Bloody hell, I am always thinking it when around you, witch of my heart . "I need you to gather Grandma Rose and all the children, except Torolf, and go stay in your apartment in the city for several days."

That got her attention.

She put the basket down on the ground, dusted off her hands, placed them on her hips— hips that look very nice, by the by, in a pair of tight den-ham braies, which mold her behind and slender legs and cup her woman place… not that I consider any of that significant—and said in a snarl, "Are you crazy?"

"Crazy for you." Sometimes I astound myself. I can smooth-talk even in this modern language.

"Ha! Don't you dare try that smooth talk on me. I know what you are up to."

"You do?" Caught in the act of being smooth. Ah, well ! He glanced down at his groin, where the only "up" thing on him was located.

"Not that, you dolt!"

"Oh." She is losing her sense of humor… fast .

"You think you can Softsoap me, and I'll agree to anything you want."

"Well, Softsoap did work in your shower when—"

"Oh! You are such a brute for bringing that up now."

A man will try anything. Trust me on this, sweetling. "Angela, can we start afresh? It is serious business I need to discuss with you. Events are building and I fear a climax here at the Blue Dragon sometime soon. I would not want you or your grandmother or my children to be at risk."

Angela walked up and plopped down beside him on the bench. "Why don't you start by telling me what's been going on?"