Heart of Honor (20 page)

They were at least three hours out of London before he returned to the cabin. Krista’s arms ached from her uncomfortable position on the bunk. She was exhausted from so little sleep and more furious than she had ever been in her life.

In the light of the brass ship’s lamp that hung on the wall, she watched Leif enter the room, and wondered if he could read the anger on her face.

“I will remove the gag, but only if you promise not to scream. No one will come in here even if you do.”

She would like to scream the house down, but she knew, as he said, it would do her no good. She nodded, waited while he untied the cloth round her head and removed the gag, then clamped down on the shout of fury that rose in her throat.

“How
could
you?” she growled through clenched teeth. “How could you do this when you know the way I feel?”

“You are mine,” he said simply. “Did you truly think I would leave what belongs to me behind?”

“I am not
yours!
” she screamed. “I am not a possession to be owned by you or anyone else!”

He held up the gag in warning and she clamped down on another burst of temper. “Please untie me. There is nowhere I can go—aside from jumping overboard—and that, I assure you, I am not going to do.”

He didn’t hesitate, just strode over, pulled a knife from the top of his black, knee-high boot and cut the strips of cloth he had used to bind her wrists and ankles.

Krista slowly sat up on the bed. “So now I am your prisoner.”

“You are my betrothed.”

“Funny, but I don’t remember agreeing to marry you.”

He shrugged the powerful shoulders beneath his full-sleeved shirt. “If you did not intend to wed me, then you should not have given yourself to me.”

“But I…but you…you…” She took a deep breath. “What about my father? He is going to be worried sick.”

“I left him a note. I told him you would soon be my wife and that there was no need for him to worry. I believe, in his heart, he knows I have done what is best.”

“What is
best?
Sailing off to some primitive, godforsaken, sixteenth century island? Forcing me to leave my home? My family? My work? You think that is doing what is best?”

Leif ignored her. Reaching out, he caught her chin in his hand. “Get some sleep,
kaereste.
”
Sweetheart.
“Tomorrow you will see things more clearly.”

She bit back a reply. Arrogant, domineering, infuriating man! She had to clench her teeth to keep from shouting the words, but if she did, she had no doubt she would find herself trussed up on the bunk again.

Instead, as soon as he was gone, she got up and paced the cabin, trying in vain to vent some of her fury. Leif might be a man who craved adventure, a boy who had spent his life wanting to see far-off places, to experience a new and different world, but Krista wasn’t that way.

She liked her life just as it was. She loved London, no matter the sooty air, crowded streets and foggy weather. She loved her family: her father, grandfather and aunt, the cousins who sometimes came to visit.

And she loved running her magazine.
Heart to Heart
meant everything to her. It was her passion, her joy, the challenge that kept her life interesting. Leif didn’t understand. He had never understood and now it was too late to make him see.

She took a steadying breath, her anger suddenly deflating. As he had said, she was tired to the bone and the journey had just begun. She lay down on the berth and pulled the covers up to her chin. They had nearly a week before they reached Draugr Island. There was time yet, she told herself. She would think of a way to persuade him to take her back home.

Or perhaps she could persuade the captain and crew. They were Englishmen, not Vikings. Englishmen didn’t abduct a woman and force her into marriage. Surely they would help her.

But as she thought of the men, the captain and the others, and tried to imagine what would happen to them should they go against Leif’s wishes, uncertainty crept over her. She had seen him fight on two separate occasions. Was it fair to urge the men into that sort of danger?

Her mind spun as she lay beneath the covers. What should she do? How was she to get back home? Eventually, the wash of the waves against the hull soothed her into a restless sleep. As the morning light seeped into the cabin, she dreamed of Leif and home.

Krista didn’t hear Leif return to the cabin. It was in the early hours of morning that she awakened and found herself curled against him. She might have allowed herself the comforting heat of his body if she hadn’t felt his mouth press against the side of her neck.

Krista leaped out of bed, furious all over again.

“If you think for one minute that you are going to make love to me, you are sorely mistaken. I will fight you with every ounce of my strength. I will not let you touch me, Leif Draugr! Those days are over!”

The edge of his mouth faintly curved. “Come back to bed, sweetheart. I will not touch you, if you do not wish it. But you are a woman of passion, Krista, your needs nearly as great as my own. In time you will seek the pleasure I can give you.”

“Go to bloody hell,” she said, whirling away from him. It was cold in the cabin, her feet freezing on the icy, wood-planked floor. She heard Leif’s muttered curse as he followed her out of bed and padded toward her. She gave only token resistance when he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to bed, jerking the covers up over her shivering body.

“Sleep. It is time I went back to work.”

And so he left her there, shivering under the covers, trying to ignore a faint tug of love at his care of her. Then she thought of all she had left behind and the life he meant for her to live.
We aren’t there yet,
she thought, and steeled herself for the battle ahead.

L
ogic did no good. Coaxing, cajoling and tantrums did no good. Appealing to the men in the crew did nothing but embarrass her.

“Yer intended says he took yer innocence, miss,” said Captain Twig. “And not without yer a’wantin’ ’im to. ’E’s doin’ the right thing by ye. Ye should be grateful.”

One-eyed Mr. Young agreed. “You made your bed, miss, if you’ll pardon me sayin’ so. And Mr. Draugr seems like a nice enough fellow to me.”

She couldn’t believe Leif had told the men that they had made love. But then, she supposed, being men, it was the one thing they would understand.

Even when she discovered an ally aboard, the result was the same. It was the second day out that she realized the Suthers boy, Jamie, and the little monkey, Alfinn, were also aboard the ship.

“Jamie! God in heaven, surely he didn’t abduct you, too!”

The lanky youth, about fourteen, with brown hair and dark eyes, just grinned. “I asked Mr. Draugr if me and Alf could come along, and he said we could if’n we wanted. He said the two of you was to marry. Mr. Draugr…he’s promised to take real good care of you.” His grin widened. “You just wait and see, miss. It’s gonna be a fine adventure.”

“I don’t want an adventure! I want to go home!”

But the boy just returned to scrubbing the deck as he had been before. A few feet away, she spotted little Alfinn hanging from one of the ratlines above the rail, watching them with eyes even darker than Jamie’s. The monkey swung down and ambled across the deck in her direction, and Krista bent to pick him up.

“What about you, little friend? Are you on Leif’s side, too?”

Alf chattered a response. Since he was also a male, she figured his allegiance probably fell with that of the rest of the men.

The voyage progressed relatively smoothly. Several brief squalls came up and for a time the seas grew rough, but as long as Krista got enough fresh air, she didn’t become ill. Evilly, she hoped Leif would suffer at least a short bout of mal de mer, but when she asked him how he felt, he only smiled.

“My last voyage was far rougher than this. At first I did not fair so well, but I am a Viking. The sea is in our blood.”

Perhaps it was. He seemed completely at ease aboard the ship, as if he belonged at the helm as much as Captain Twig. Krista considered that if the sea was in his blood, so must be his desire for her. His passion had not cooled where she was concerned, and in some strange way, she found that reassuring.

Much of his time was spent with the captain, learning all he could about the ship, and the winds, and the vagaries of the sea. He worked even harder than the other members of the crew and took longer shifts at the wheel. But during those times when he returned to the cabin, she could see the heat in his eyes, the need for her that had not lessened.

Krista guarded her own desire. Leif was a strong, virile, incredibly attractive man, but the life she faced with him was completely unappealing. The more intimacy they shared, the more she might fall under his spell, and she refused to let that happen.

For the next five days,
Sea Dragon
sliced through the water toward Draugr Island. Then one morning, as she made her way up on deck, she saw the rugged peaks of a mountainous island peeking through a layer of distant fog. The land itself was shrouded in a grayish mist, almost completely hidden from view.

“You have almost reached your new home,
kaereste.
”

“Stop calling me that. I am not your sweetheart. Not anymore.”

For a moment he smiled. “Five days and your anger has not cooled?”

“Five years would not be enough.”

His smile slid away and his features hardened. “It is time you stop behaving like a child. You will soon be my wife. It is time you learned to accept that.”

“I won’t marry you, Leif. I have told you that time and again.”

Leif simply ignored her, turned and walked away. From what she knew of Viking lore, women weren’t forced to marry against their will, but this was Draugr, and of course she couldn’t be sure.

A little shiver went through her. As long as she remained unwed, as long as she refused to become Leif’s wife, there was a chance she could get back home. Until that time, she was condemned to a life on Draugr Island.

Krista watched with dread as the rocky, uninviting land drew near. It was clear why the place was more legend and myth than real. The coastline was a wall of rock with hundred-foot cliffs guarded by massive boulders whipped by wind and sea.

Wispy fog shrouded the island, making it appear hostile and uninviting. Occasionally the wind blew away the mist, exposing jagged rocks where great plumes of foamy spray shot fifty feet into the air.

She turned as she heard Leif approaching where she stood next to the rail. “How will we reach the island without being torn to bits by the rocks and waves?”

“The harsh exterior is our protection. More than one ship has been destroyed over the years. But there is an entrance through the rocks on the other side of the island. It is impossible to see unless you know where to look. It is the way the men and I were able to sail from here.”

Krista shivered. She wasn’t certain if it was from the chill or what she would face once they reached Leif’s home.

“You are cold,” he said. Leaving her there, he disappeared down the ladder to his cabin and returned with a blanket, which he draped around her shoulders. For the first two days, she had worn the same white cotton nightgown she’d had on the night he had taken her from her home, and been forced to stay in his cabin.

At the end of the second day, Leif gave in to her pleading and brought her a set of men’s clothes.

“These belong to Mr. Young. You are about his size.”

She’d put them on with some trepidation, since she had never worn men’s trousers before. But she liked the comfort, she discovered, the ease of movement and the loose fit of the shirt was a joy compared to the confines of her corset. She particularly enjoyed Leif’s scowl when he saw her walking around in the clothes up on deck.

“You will stir the men’s lust,” he said darkly. “The clothes show your pretty behind and your very lovely breasts.”

She tried not to feel pleased by his jealousy. “If you don’t like the way I look, you should have brought me something of my own to wear.”

The edge of his mouth faintly curved. “Oh, I like the way you look. Every time I watch you bend over, it makes me want to take you from behind.”

Her face went crimson. “You…you are the most outrageous man!” Still, the image was now fixed in her head—of both of them naked, Leif’s broad chest against her back. She wasn’t sure exactly how making love that way would work or why the notion seemed so titillating, but it lingered just the same.

“These are good men,” Leif continued. “But they are only human. Do not temp them too much.”

She said nothing to that. She wasn’t sure if she should be angry or flattered. Until Leif came along, she had thought herself plain and too tall to be attractive. Leif thought her a temptress.

Krista almost smiled. It was amazing what that sort of thinking did for one’s self-esteem.

By the time
Sea Dragon
inched its way through the rock-lined, narrow channel that led to a protected harbor not visible from the sea, about forty people had gathered on the sandy shore. The last sail was lowered and the anchor tossed over, mooring the ship in a quiet inlet untouched by the violent waves along the coast not far away.

The crew lowered the dinghy over the side and all of them, including little Alfinn, who rode on Jamie’s shoulder, climbed aboard. As the boat approached shore, Leif stood up in the bow and began to wave to the waiting throng, and a huge cheer went up. Apparently, they recognized him even in his English clothes.

But then, it wouldn’t be difficult, not with his extreme height, powerful build and gleaming blond hair.

Leif’s hair had gotten longer, but he still wore no beard. Since beards were the custom of Viking men, Krista had thought that he would grow it back, but so far every morning he had scrupulously shaved with the Sheffield steel straight razor he had learned to use back home.

“Just because I am returning to the island does not mean I intend to forget the things I learned in England,” he said. “I like the way my face feels without a beard.” He cast her a burning glance. “And I do not wish to make marks on your very soft skin.”

Krista ignored a little tremor in her stomach. She wasn’t giving up her life for him, no matter how much she might desire him.

She watched him now, standing like a conqueror on the bow of the small boat heading for shore, his heavy iron sword strapped round his narrow waist. The dinghy softly nosed into the sand and came to rest, and Leif jumped into the shallow water. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to shore as the other men climbed out of the boat and pulled it farther up on the sand.

“We will unload the cargo after we are settled,” Leif told the others, then began speaking to the group that gathered around him. Though Krista didn’t understand every word, she knew he was telling them he had returned and that he meant to stay.

“I have brought friends,” he told them. “These men can be trusted. I have brought gifts from the land in which, for a time, I lived. And I have brought the woman who will be my bride.”

A roar went up from the crowd, but Krista noticed a cluster of women who didn’t look happy at all. One of them rushed forward and threw her arms around Leif’s neck. She was as tall as Krista, with hair so pale it gleamed in the sun like strands of silver.

“Leif! You cannot mean it! We are to marry. It is what our fathers wanted. It has always been so!”

Leif eased her arms from around his neck. “The gods have decided otherwise, Hanna. This I cannot change.” He looked over to where Krista stood and his brilliant blue eyes came to rest on her face. “Nor do I want to.”

Something moved inside her. Something warm and sweet that made her wish with all her heart that she could marry him. She surveyed her surroundings, the barren, rocky island that was Leif’s home, the rough, bearded giants in their fur-trimmed tunics and the women in their long, straight, primitive robes, and knew it could never be.

Standing on the sandy shore, Leif stared out over the throng of familiar faces and inhaled a lungful of clean, ocean-scented air. He was home at last, as for a time he’d thought he never would be again.

“Where is my sister?” he asked one of the men, his gaze moving among those gathered around him. He looked up just then and saw her racing toward him down the hill that led from the settlement, her red hair streaming like a banner out behind her. She had known but nineteen summers, and remained as yet unwed. She was the youngest of his siblings and, being the only girl, he had always carried a soft spot in his heart for her.

“Leif! Leif! I cannot believe it is you!”

He opened his arms and she rushed into them, and he held her tightly against him.

“Runa. Little sister, you have grown into a woman since last I saw you.”

“I didn’t think you were coming back. I thought you must be dead.” She clung to him, and the more fiercely she held on, the more uncertain he became.

He eased her away so he could see her face. “What is it, little one? What has happened while I was away?”

Her pretty gray eyes filled with tears. “Father is dead, Leif. Almost a moon has passed since the day he journeyed to the Otherworld.”

His stomach twisted. He should have been here, should never have gone against his father’s wishes.

And yet it was difficult to feel regret. How could he regret the incredible knowledge he had gained from the time he had spent in the world away from this one? Regret the woman he had brought home to be his wife?

“How did it happen?” Leif asked.

“Father fell ill. A terrible fever raged within him and even old Astrid could not discover what was wrong. In three days he was gone.”

Leif held her tightly again. They had lost their mother many years ago. He could barely remember her. But Ragnaar had always seemed invincible, more than merely a man. Leif had looked up to him as if he were a god himself, and a lump swelled in his throat now as he thought how much he would miss him. “Who has been leading the clan?”

“Olav, since he was next in line to be chieftain after you. Uncle Sigurd has been giving him counsel.”

Leif nodded. “That is good, but I am here now. And I promise all will be well.”

She gave him a smile, reached up to touch his cheek. “Your beard is gone. You look different—and even more handsome.”

He chuckled. “In a way I am different.” He took her hand. “Come. There is someone I wish you to meet.” He led her over to where Krista stood waiting.

“Runa, this is the woman who is to become my wife. Her name is Krista Hart.” He turned. “Krista, this is my sister, Runa. I hope that the two of you will become good friends.”

Krista stumbled over several wrong words, then finally murmured, “I am happy to meet you.”

Runa frowned at her brother. “What about Hanna? She is your betrothed.”