On the other hand, Inga Sigundottir, young widow of a Norman jarl and daughter of the Danish King Svein Forkbeard, said, “Oooh, oooh! You are soooo good, Ragnor, but must you go so fast? I want this to last forever.”

Of course I am good. But fast, you greedy wench? Forever? Hah! I have been plowing the field betwixt your thighs for an hour at least. Bloody well reach your peak already, m’lady.
That was what he thought, but
what he did was slow his strokes to a snail’s pace.

Inga’s eyes rolled back in her head.

No surprise to Ragnor. He was an expert at the bedsport when he chose to be. After all, he was a Viking.

Then, whilst Inga moaned and writhed beneath him, even as he did his in-and-out exercise, he scratched his buttock, wondering idly if there were fleas in the royal linens. Then he squeezed one of her nipples, knowing it was expected of him, thus producing more moans and writhing. He pondered whether there might be any roast boar left from the evening meal down in the castle kitchen. Yea, a slice of boar on a piece of manchet bread, washed down with a horn of ale, would go over nicely about now, even though it was well past midnight. But, alas and alack, he had work yet to complete … bed work.

For a brief moment, Ragnor entertained the notion that he might be getting old. He was only seven and twenty. That was too young to lose the enthusiasm for coupling. Wasn’t it? But then, he’d lost enthusiasm for just about everything these days … a-Viking, trading, running the royal estates at Norstead, even fighting. That last was particularly alarming. He was born and raised to be a warrior. If not soldiering, what?

It had all started when his comrade in arms, Skorri Leifsson, died last year in battle. Ragnor had held his best friend in his arms while sword dew flowed steadily from the neck wound delivered by a Saxon blade. Nay, truth be told, Ragnor’s low spirits had begun long before Skorri’s death. There had been a hole in his heart and in his life since the death of his father, Magnus Ericsson, and nine siblings in a shipwreck more than ten years past. Before that, he’d lost
his beloved uncles Geirolf and Jorund Ericsson, Geirolf’s wife and twin daughters, and his grandparents Lord Eric Trygvasson and Lady Asgar. So many deaths!

“Why did you stop?” Inga asked peevishly.

With a jolt, Ragnor pulled himself back to the present. He smiled down at Inga, her blond hair spread prettily about the pillow, her blue eyes staring up at him with a mixture of concern and arousal and impatience. She wrapped her long legs around his hips, not about to let him escape. Her lips were red and swollen from his earlier kisses.

His manpart was buried in her sheath. He might have lost the “enthusiasm,” but his cock had not. In fact, it twitched.

She smiled up at him, as if he’d just paid her a compliment.

He waggled his eyebrows at her. It was not her fault he’d lost the “enthusiasm.” She deserved better.

Lifting her legs over his shoulders, he began to pound at her then. Short, hammering strokes that brought her to her peak, and then beyond.

Inga nigh screamed with pleasure.

Seconds before he reached his own peak, he withdrew and spilled his seed upon her stomach with a long sigh of satisfaction.

“Noooooo!” Inga shrieked and grabbed his wilting staff in both hands, trying to jam him back into her body.

“Huh?” His eyes bulged at the agony as she squeezed him hard and pulled. Every man knew … and every woman of experience should know … that a sensitive organ such as a cock deserved better treatment after being the instrument of milady’s pleasure.
Quickly he pried himself out of her viselike grip. If he hadn’t been wilting afore, he would be now. The pain was excruciating.

On her knees, she now whacked him about the head with her pillow. “By your leave, milady, have you gone demented?” he asked between whacks. Sex affected people in odd ways betimes; once, Ubbi the Ugly claimed he broke out in boils afterward, but perchance that stemmed from another cause. Ragnor had ne’er heard of sex turning a woman demented, though. Some men, yea, but that was usually from lack thereof.

She still reached for him, trying to pull him back inside her … which was ridiculous, really. Trying to put a wilted lily back in a slick pod was like … well, putting an egg back in the chicken. Impossible.

He laughed, which made her even more angry. Baring her perfectly white teeth at him, she snarled, “You bastard! You cur! You lying, cod-sucking, too-charming son of a whore!”

Have a caution, Inga. Your true character is showing.
“I never lied to you,” he proclaimed indignantly as he grabbed her in his arms and lifted her so that her feet dangled off the rush floor. “Stop squirming, Inga, and tell me what this is all about.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “Why? Why would you not give me your seed? Am I not beautiful enough? Was I not pleasing in the bed furs? By the gods, my father will thrash me for failing. And he will thrash you, too, for compromising me.”

“I don’t think so.” Ragnor was referring to the thrashing, as well as the compromising. But then he went stiff with alertness. Setting Inga down, he backed up a bit. “Your father … he sent you to my bed furs?”

“Of course,” she wailed, swiping at the tears which now overflowed and ran in rivulets down her cheeks. “Dost think I would dare such scandalous behavior without his blessing?”

Hah! ’Twas not I who made your virtue forfeit.
Ragnor had heard of Inga’s “scandalous behavior” with several other men; she was no untried virgin. Understanding dawned slowly. It had been a trap, set by the wily Danish king, ruler of all Jutland. Ragnor was not a king in his own land, but he was of noble birth … a chieftain of wealthy estates left by his grandsire in Vestfold, the rich southern region of Hordaland. Forkbeard schemed to join their families in wedlock …
lock
being the key word. He wanted to ensnare yet another Norse family into his spiderweb of intrigues.

But Ragnor was no fool. Ever since he’d lain with his first maid at age thirteen, he had tried to be careful not to breed babes hither and yon, and as far as he knew, he’d been successful. He had been taught a harsh lesson about the perils of virility by his father, who begat thirteen children. Children who gave him no end of trouble.

Ragnor grinned and gave himself an inward pat on the back at his escape.

“You dare to find mirth in me?” Inga narrowed her eyes at him and looked as if she might punch him in the mouth.

“Not in you, sweetling. Do not take it personally.”

“And why not? Would it be such a horrendous thing if your seed took root in my womb?”

Yea, it would.
“I do not wish to wed … yet.”

“Yet?”

Not ever.
“For years and years.”

“If your father were here, he would force you to marry … to carry on his line.”

If my father were here, he would not need me to carry on his line. He would have any one of my six half-brothers do the deed.
“My father would understand my reluctance,” he insisted.

But would he?
Ragnor mused.
Or would he tell me that family is everything, and it is time for me to start my own?

“Well, if you will not wed with me, you had best do me a favor,” Inga declared. “You owe me that at least.”

Ragnor had to laugh at her turnabout. They were both standing there, stark naked. She no doubt wanted to couple with him again.

Torolf, where are you when I need you?
Where that thought came from, Ragnor did not know. His brother had been dead these many years … the last time he’d seen him, they’d both been rogues to the bone and both sixteen years old—born a mere sennight apart to the same father but different mothers in different locales. Often folks mistook them for twins, so identical was their appearance, except his hair was black and his eyes blue, while Torolf’s hair was blond and his eyes brown.

Their mischievous personalities had been the same, too. Ragnor recalled more than one occasion when the two of them had taken one lusty lass betwixt them in the bed furs. That was what Inga needed now. Two men to satisfy her needs. Torolf would have been “up” for the game … Ragnor just knew he would, his brother’s preference ofttimes being for blond-haired women, while he preferred the rarer red. He liked his women to have a brain, as well,
whilst Torolf had claimed it took no brain to spread one’s thighs.
By the gods, you can still make me smile, Torolf, even when you are in far-off Valhalla.

He glanced at Inga, standing afore him in all her blond, naked glory, a pensive expression on her face. His brother would not have said her nay.

Inga stamped her small foot in the rushes to mark her impatience.

For the love of Frey! She
does
want me to swive her again. Can I?
He glanced down betwixt his legs. Turned out the lily was not dead after all. Turned out he did not need his brother after all.

Still, he thought,
I miss you, Torolf. Even after all these years.

“About that favor, Ragnor,” she said sweetly.

Yea, she wants me again. Oh, well! A Viking’s work is never done.

But then, Inga surprised the spit out of him.

“Dost think there is any leftover boar down in the kitchen? Could you bring a little late-night repast for me to sup on?”

He laughed. What else could he do when his lady friend was more interested in meat than … well, meat?

Six months later, and deeper in the doldrums …

“Stop wallowing, Ragnor.”

Madrene! By the gods, I am trapped now.

“Wake up, you lazy lout. ’Tis well past dawn, and much work to be done.”

Work? What work?
He tried to look at his sister, but his eyes seemed to be glued shut.

“Have you smelled the garderobes lately? They need to be limed. The outside privies, too. The mound of manure by the stables resembles a mountain.”

I thought I was in the fires of Muspell afore, but, nay, hell is yet to come.

“And have I mentioned the moats? Holy Valhalla! We must needs start digging a trench to drain the stagnant water lest it breed pestilence. Not to worry, brother dear, I will show you how.”

Dig a moat? Me? Now? I cannot open my eyes, let alone pick up a shovel.

“Shame on you for neglecting your duties so, brother. Tsk-tsk-tsk. All for the sake of wallowing. And one more thing …”

Ragnor groaned inwardly. Anytime a woman said “And one more thing,” any sane man knew to run for cover. ’Twas trouble coming, pure and simple.
Is there aught more irksome than a nagging Norsewoman? Why does she not find herself a lustsome Viking man to keep her busy in the bed furs?

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