Heart of Honor (24 page)

Krista bit back a rush of longing. “He was beginning to make a place for himself there. It was amazing how well he fit in.”

“His life is here on Draugr. He says you belong here, as well.” Runa’s gray eyes fixed on Krista’s face. “Sometimes the gods decide on a different life than the one we choose. Mayhap that is so with you.”

“I don’t think so. I think Leif made a mistake in bringing me here. I don’t think it was the will of the gods at all.”

Runa stiffened. “My brother is chieftain. If he says you were chosen for him as his bride, then it is so.”

“What if you were forced to marry a man you did not wish to wed?”

“You love him. You said so.”

“Yes, but I am needed at home.”

“Mayhap my brother needs you more.”

Krista’s heart squeezed. What if he did? What if she was wrong and her destiny lay here on Draugr with Leif? Krista almost wished she could make herself believe it.

The women talked awhile longer, speaking of less personal matters, the weather and the tasks to be done in preparation for the colder months ahead. Then Runa rose from her stool and left the weaving room, and Krista took her place at the loom. The simple task of running the soapstone spindle back and forth kept her mind occupied, at least for a while, and she was grateful.

Still, her thoughts strayed to Leif, and she wondered when he would return. Earlier, he had sent Jamie Suthers, who worked now in the barn with the horses, to tell her he had gone into the hills but would be back before nightfall. She knew he had met with the council elders that morning, but no one yet knew the results of the meeting.

Krista prayed they had voted in favor of Leif’s proposal, that his ship, the
Sea Dragon,
would be sailing back and forth between Draugr and England, and sooner or later she would be able to persuade him to take her home. As the hours slipped past, she grew more and more anxious to hear, but by the end of the day he had not yet returned to the compound.

Tired more from worry than the monotonous job she had been doing, she left the weaving room and returned to her bedchamber. The soft pallet of furs beckoned and she lay down to nap for a while before supper. Soon she had drifted into a troubled sleep.

Krista was home again.
Working with Coralee at the gazette, getting this week’s edition ready to be loaded onto wagons on the morrow. Finished sheets of
Heart to Heart
were being lifted off the Stanhope press and carried out to the assembly room to be tied into bundles. Her father was upstairs in his makeshift study, waiting patiently for her to finish so that he could escort her home.

“I love your article this week,” Corrie said to her, looking down at the fresh ink printed on the page. “You gave Cutter Harding another well-deserved kick. Perhaps this will give his employees the push they need to rise up and make him listen to their grievances.”

“I don’t know…the man is extremely unsympathetic. We need more laws to govern working conditions and more people to enforce them.”

Her father came down the stairs just then. “Have you two finished solving the world’s problems—at least for the night?”

“We’re just stacking the last of the bundles.”

“Good. I was hoping…I thought that perhaps in the morning before you come to work you might help me with the research paper I’ve been writing.”

She had been so busy lately. Her father was so lonely since her mother died. She knew how much he needed her. She gave him a tender smile. “I’ll be happy to read your paper, Father.”

“Capital!” He gave her a winning smile in return, and a wave of tenderness washed over her.

They finished their work for the night. Coralee left for home and Krista and her father locked up and climbed into their carriage. She didn’t know why, but for some odd reason it felt good just to be sitting on the seat across from him. He looked tired, she realized as she studied the lines etched into his face. He’d been working too hard lately. She would have to see he got a little more rest.

She reached over and took hold of his hand. “I’ve missed you, Father,” she said, but couldn’t imagine why, since she saw him every day.

But something was tugging at her memory, something she didn’t want to recall….

“Krista! Wake up! They’re coming! The raiders are coming!”

Krista blinked as she awoke, groggy for a moment, confused as to where she was. Then she recognized Runa standing at the foot of the bed. Despair washed over her. She wasn’t home at all. She was still on Draugr Island.

“Hurry! They’re coming!”

“Who is coming?”

Runa caught her hand and hauled her off the pallet of furs. “The Hjalmr!” The girl dragged her toward the window and shoved open the wooden shutter, revealing the darkening landscape that stretched across the valley toward the hills.

“See those torches? Those are Hjalmr raiders riding down off the mountain!”

Krista’s pulse kicked up. “Where is Leif?”

“He hasn’t yet returned. We’ve got to find Olav!” Runa started running toward the door, and Krista fell in behind her. She had no idea what the Hjalmr raiders intended to do, but it suddenly occurred to her that she needed to be prepared. Racing back to Leif’s room, she grabbed the lance that rested against the wall, then hurried to catch up with Leif’s sister.

“Stay here!” Runa ordered when they reached the front door. “I’ll go find Olav and be right back!”

“What should I do?”

Runa pointed toward the group of mounted riders advancing down the hill. “Pray they are Hjalmr and not berserkers.”

“
Berserkers?
What are—?” But Runa was already rushing away, and in the back of her mind, Krista was recalling what that word meant. They were rogue Vikings, men who disobeyed the law of the land, outcasts who followed no rules and seemed to have no conscience.

Her heart was pounding now and she was, indeed, praying the raiders were Hjalmr, who seemed to be considered less dangerous. Outside the window, men armed with swords and shields, battle-axes and lances, some wearing metal or leather helmets, rushed out of their low stone houses. Krista watched with a combination of awe and horror as the riders thundered across the valley, across the nearby fields, and galloped into the compound. The Ulfr men met their attackers head-on, swinging their own viscous-looking axes and swords.

“Oh, dear God,” Krista whispered, just as Runa ran back inside the house.

“Berserkers!” the red-haired girl yelled above the clash of metal and the wild shouts of the warriors. “And half of our men are off hunting!”

Krista had watched them leave that morning, and seeing how few were left in the compound, her heart sank. “Perhaps…” She swallowed, started again in Norse. “Mayhap the berserkers saw them leave.”

“Aye, mayhap they have been waiting for their chance, and saw the men riding out this morning.”

Krista trembled as her fingers tightened around the shaft of the lance she had taken from Leif’s room. “What…what should we do?”

“Our men will be returning. We can only pray those who are here will be strong enough to hold the compound until the others arrive.”

But as she watched the fighting, Krista saw one man fall and then another beneath the brutal blows of the enemy’s weapons. The Ulfr men were going to be defeated and, dear God, what would happen to the women once they were no longer able to defend them?

She bit back a sob as a man she recognized from the feast went down, felled by a berserker’s battle-ax, a bright red wash of his blood spilling onto the ground as he crumpled to the earth. She recognized Leif’s uncle, Sigurd; saw him valiantly fighting two men at once and amazingly holding his own. Olav was there, she saw, wielding his sword with the skill of a master, and still the Ulfr numbers were dwindling.

“Stay here!” Runa shouted. Turning, she disappeared out the door, and Krista realized she was carrying a dagger.

Krista just stood there, frozen. She wasn’t a warrior. She had no idea how to fight like one. She watched Runa charge into the fray, saw one of the berserker’s fall, saw Captain Twig and the two English crewmen rush forward into the melee of men and horses, each armed with a cutlass.

A berserker whirled his horse and rode straight toward Runa, and for an instant, Krista thought the young girl would surly die. Then the pounding of horse hooves drew her attention across the compound, and her heart nearly stopped beating as Leif rode into the battle.

He sat his horse easily, riding without conscious thought, his huge arms bulging with muscle as he swung his heavy sword, first one way and then another, taking out man after man, then whirling his horse toward Runa and dispatching her attacker.

“Get back in the house!” he commanded, and surprisingly, his sister obeyed, racing back toward the safety of the longhouse. Eirik and Thorolf rode up just then, word of the attack apparently having reached their farmsteads. Like their brothers, they were skilled with sword and ax, and soon the tide of battle began to turn.

One berserker after another fell. Other raiders began to scatter, some riding hard back toward the hills. It looked as though the day would be won when a huge, bearded giant of a man set upon Leif. From the start, the battle was even, both men skilled warriors, each masterfully wielding his shield as well as his sword.

Krista’s heart thundered in terror. “Dear God, don’t let him be hurt,” she prayed, her entire body shaking with fear for him. A moment later she saw a second raider moving up behind him. He was out of Leif’s sight, on Krista’s side of the compound, and though she shouted a warning, in the melee of clashing steel and neighing horses, he did not hear.

There wasn’t time to think, no time to be frightened. Leif was going to be killed and she had to do something to stop it. Gripping the lance, she rushed out of the house, straight toward the man behind Leif. Lifting the weapon, she held it in front of her and charged forward. At that exact moment, the warrior turned and saw her, and seeing the rage on his face, Krista knew she was going to die.

“K
rista!” Leif’s shout was lost in the din around him. His heart was racing, trying to pound its way out of his chest. He could hardly believe the woman who faced his attacker was his bride, and his whole body tightened in fear for her. She looked up at him the instant before she rushed forward, the lance gripped tightly in her hand. The instant before she plunged the vicious iron point into the bearded warrior’s chest. The instant before she might have died.

“Krista!” He shouted her name again, but again she seemed not to hear him. Her eyes were huge and fixed on the blood-covered man at her feet, the lance pointing skyward now, protruding through the man’s broad chest. Her hair had come loose from the strip of cloth at the nape of her neck, and fell around her shoulders in a cloak of gleaming gold. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

He started toward her a second before he spotted another attacker racing toward her, and the terror he had felt before welled up again so strongly he could taste it in his mouth. His heart seemed to still inside his chest and for an instant, he could not move. Then he whirled his horse, dashing between the two, swinging his sword and neatly removing the raider’s head from his body. Spinning the horse again, Leif reached down and swept Krista up in his arms as he and his mount raced past.

He seated her across his lap, his arm tight around her, his body still shaking with a fear that was unlike anything he had ever known. “Krista…” he whispered, pressing his lips against the top of her head. But still she seemed not to hear, just clung to his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder.

“You are safe,” he murmured. “I am here now.”

The battle was won, he saw, the raiders riding hard for the safety of the hills, some of the Ulfr men swinging up on their mounts to give chase. Leif slowed his horse to a prancing walk and rode back to the compound, reined up in front of the longhouse. The animal danced and snorted, his nostrils flaring, still smelling the blood of battle. Jamie Suthers raced forward, Alfinn clinging tightly to the young boy’s neck. He grabbed the horse’s reins and Leif slid down to the ground, cradling Krista in his arms.

“Is she all right?” Jamie asked worriedly.

“I think so.”

The boy grinned. “She were something, weren’t she, gov?”

An odd feeling rose in Leif’s chest. “Aye, that she was, lad.” And though he believed her unhurt, she was covered in blood and he had to be sure. His own clothing was equally bloody, he noticed as he carried her into the longhouse.

She finally began to stir from her trancelike state. “Did I…did I kill him?” she asked softly.

“Aye, love. You are not injured, are you?”

“No…I don’t think so.” She looked up at him. “Are they gone?”

He nodded. “They have run like the cowards they are, back into the hills.”

She tilted her head to examine him. “You aren’t hurt?”

The reminder of the awful chance she had taken and the terrible fear he had suffered began to stir his anger. “I am fine.” He carried her into the bathing room and set her on her feet by the edge of the pool, keeping hold of her when she swayed a little. “By Odin, what were you thinking to risk your life that way?”

Some of the color rushed back into her cheeks. “He would have killed you. I couldn’t just stand there and let him.”

Angrier by the moment, Leif caught her shoulders. “You little fool, you know nothing of fighting. You are a woman. You could have been killed!”

“Your sister fought beside the men.”

“My sister is as foolish as you.”

Krista jerked out of his hold. “Why, you ungrateful—”

“I am not ungrateful. I will never forget the sight of you racing toward me, risking yourself to save me. I will never forget the wrenching fear I felt for you in that moment—or the pride that you are my woman.”

Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “Oh, Leif, I was so frightened…so afraid you would be killed.”

He wrapped her tightly in his arms. “Promise me you will never risk yourself that way again. Promise me.”

Krista shook her head. “I cannot make such a vow. If your life were in danger, I would do the same again.”

Something tightened inside him. Anger and fear and something far stronger all melded together in a blaze of heat and need. “Krista…my brave little Valkyrie.” Bending his head, he claimed her mouth in a ravishing kiss. He kissed her until both of them were breathless, their hearts racing frantically.

He might have taken her there against the wall of the bathing room if he hadn’t looked down and seen the blood on her clothes. His own were also streaked crimson, and it reminded him of how close he had come to losing her. Easing a little away, he unfastened the tortoiseshell brooches on her shoulders and began to strip off her bloodstained garments.

“What…what are you doing?”

“You are covered in the blood of our enemies. You need to bathe, as do I.”

She looked down at her plain woolen gown, saw the dark patches of blood, and a shudder moved through her. With determined efficiency, Leif stripped off the last of her garments, then his own, lifted her into his arms and carried her into the heated water.

Setting her on her feet in front of him, he used a scrap of linen to carefully bathe her, removing a smear of blood from her forehead, cleansing her hands. Tiny waves lapped at her breasts, and though he was already aroused, his rod grew even harder.

Little by little, she seemed to return to herself, the pain in her eyes beginning to fade. “You never told me about the berserkers.”

Leif sighed, regretting the oversight. “They are outcasts and renegades.” He used the rag, trailing water over her shoulders, letting it trickle down over her breasts. “Mostly they keep to themselves in the hills. But they are very dangerous men, as you saw this night.”

He remembered the chance she had taken and how close he had come to losing her, and grew angry all over again. “I swear to you, Krista, if you ever dare to risk yourself that way, I will take my sword belt to your very pretty behind.”

She tipped her head back and stared at him down her nose. “I do not believe you would beat me.”

“I would do whatever it takes to protect you—even from yourself. I warn you, Krista. You are mine and I will not see you harmed.”

He caught the glint in her lovely green eyes and knew she meant to argue. Instead, he hauled her against him and crushed his mouth down over hers, kissing her as he had wanted to do all day, as he had ached to do since the moment he had swept her up in front of him out of danger. It was a burning, scorching kiss that said without a doubt she belonged to him.

She didn’t fight him as he feared she would, just kissed him back with the same driving need that burned through him. Steam rose from the water as they came together, his rod pressing hotly against her, aching with the need to be inside her.

She had risked her life for him. If he had doubted the wisdom of bringing her here, if he had feared that he might have somehow been mistaken, he didn’t now.

She was his and tonight he would claim her, as he should have done long before this.

Krista kissed Leif as she never had before. She could feel him in every pore of her body, feel the heat of his skin against her own, the strength in the powerful muscles of his arms and chest, the heavy weight of his shaft where it rose up hard and hot against her. Desire for him burned like a fire in her blood. Need scorched her feminine core, a need that had never been more powerful.

She had killed a man tonight. It was impossible to believe. She was a lady, a woman gently reared, a civilized young woman who should have fainted at the sight of so much blood. But none of that mattered, not in that moment when she’d realized she was going to lose the man she loved.

Because of what she had done, because of the chance she had taken, Leif was alive and safe, and Krista found it impossible to feel regret. As they stood there naked in the water, she clung to him, tipped her head back as his lips grazed the side of her neck. His big hands cupped her breasts and he gently pinched the tips, turning them diamond-hard, then bent his head and took the fullness into his mouth.

His palm slid over her skin, over the flat spot below her navel. He sifted through the thatch of pale hair at the juncture of her thighs, parted the soft flesh below and began to stroke her. Pleasure, deep and powerful, rose inside her.

For an instant she gave in to her relentless need of him, the love that threatened to overwhelm her. She had never wanted anything so much as to join her body with his, to know the pleasure he had shown her before. Never had she been more vulnerable, more tempted to agree to anything he might wish. Never had she wanted so much to become Leif’s wife.

Instead, she pulled away. Casting him a regretful glance, she began to slosh through the water toward the rock steps leading out of the pool. Saying nothing, Leif followed. As she left the water, she reached down for a linen cloth to dry herself, but he took it from her hand.

“I will do it for you.”

She didn’t protest. She wanted to feel his hands on her, see the heat in his brilliant blue eyes as he ran the towel over her fevered skin. When he finished, he used a second cloth to dry himself, then pulled her into his arms and began to kiss her again.

Desire rolled through her, so strong she barely noticed when he lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the bathing room and into his bedchamber, over to his bed. Not until she felt the warmth of the furs beneath her bare skin did she begin to push him away.

“Please…I beg you, Leif. I cannot do this.”

A muscle tightened along his jaw. “You ask me to stop and yet you desire me. Do you deny it?”

She trembled at his slightest touch and she refused to lie. “I cannot deny it, no. I want this as much as you do, but I cannot take the risk. I cannot be your wife, and so—”

“So will you continue to fight me—and yourself.”

She felt the sting of tears. “I have to.”

Resolve entered his features. “Then I will make this easy for you.” Turning away, he crossed the room, returned with something in his hand, and began to kiss her again. She could feel his barely leashed desire and it stirred her own. Dear God, she wanted him so badly. Perhaps just this once…

She had almost convinced herself to give in to her powerful need for him when she felt the soft glide of fabric over her wrist. Her second wrist was secured before she truly realized what was happening.

“What…what are you doing?”

“I am giving you what we both know you want. I learned much in your country. We will see if you like what I learned from the books on lovemaking I found in your library.”

Oh, dear God!
“Leif, you can’t just—”

“Aye, but I can.” Using more soft strips of cloth, he bound her ankles to the wooden posts at the foot of the bed, spreading her wide for him. Her body was open, completely exposed, and a soft blush rose over her skin.

She should fight him, she knew. Or beg him to stop, if she had to. Perhaps he would. Perhaps he would simply take what he wanted. After the way she had encouraged him, she could hardly blame him.

But her will to fight was gone, swept away a little more with each of his burning kisses. In truth, she no longer wished to stop him. She wanted to feel him inside her, wanted to be filled with him, to know again the fiery pleasure he had given her before.

Surveying his handiwork, Leif stepped back from the bed. “So beautiful. Like a green-eyed, golden-haired goddess. Before I fill you, I will taste you. We will see if you like it as much as Miss Boots did.”

Good Lord!
Krista remembered the erotic book he had once mentioned, but had no idea what sort of things might be inside. A little shiver of excitement raced through her, one she knew she should not feel.

Pressing her down in the furs, Leif settled himself above her, his heavy weight propped on his elbows. Nestled between her thighs, he slid his hands into her hair and began to kiss her, gently at first, coaxing her lips apart, tasting the inside of her mouth. The heat of his body burned her skin. Her breasts tingled where his chest hair rubbed against her nipples, and Krista kissed him back, her will to resist completely gone.

Leif nibbled her ear, kissed and nipped her neck, then moved lower, began to suckle her breast. As he teased and sampled, laved her nipple and bit it, she fought not to beg him to take her.

Krista thought that surely he would, that if he wanted her half as much as she wanted him, he would not wait. But instead, he moved lower, trailing kisses over her rib cage, pausing for a moment at her navel, ringing the indentation with his tongue, sending goose bumps over her skin and a deep tug of heat into her belly.

He said he meant to taste her. She gasped as his mouth caressed her most womanly place and his tongue slid over the sensitive nub at her core.

“Leif! You can’t…can’t possibly…” But she never finished the sentence, and instead began to moan and lift her hips against his persuasive mouth. Pleasure rolled through her. Powerful sensations rocked every part of her body, and her muscles went as taut as bowstrings.

Release hit her hard and she cried out his name, her body shaking all over, pleasure swirling through her like clouds in a storm.