“Mayhap I am hot for you.”
“What a sinful thing to say!” she exclaimed with a gasp.
” ‘Tis human nature. Even your Adam and Eve felt the same, I warrant.”
She needed to change the subject before she did something scandalous, like lick the cleft in his chin. “I asked you why you would help me. You are evading the subject, methinks.”
“Perchance I am just a noble fellow.”
She made a snorting sound of disbelief.
He shrugged and ran a fingertip along the edge of her jaw, from ear to chin, then grazing over her parted lips. “Perchance ’tis just a whim.”
That gentle caress stimulated a flood of liquid fire betwixt her legs and a burning at the tips of her peaked breasts. What is he doing to me? Why am I reacting this way?
“Or perchance I have ulterior motives for my offer,” he said huskily. “Perchance I want something from you.”
The glint in his blue eyes spelled danger to her… she just knew it did. Still she blundered on, like a lamb before the wolf. “I have naught to give,” she said, just as huskily.
“Oh, yea, you do, m’lady.” His voice was whisper soft and as tempting as sin.
He leaned forward then, his lips brushing lightly across hers. She heard a soft moan, and was not sure if it came from her or him. She wanted more. God help her, she wanted more. Sensing her acquiescence, the rogue kissed her again, but this time he really kissed her. Deep and wet and demanding. When she parted her lips, his tongue slipped inside her mouth, and her knees gave way. But wait, there were other things going on. A tongue kiss… she had heard of such, and had always imagined that she would be repulsed. She wasn’t. He did not end the kiss. Instead, he put both hands on her hips and lifted her off the floor so that his manhood was aligned with her female place. She began to throb there in the most delicious manner.
He wanted her… in the way that men wanted women. And she suspected that she desired him, too. Who knew? Who knew?
When he finally drew away from her slightly, he smiled. “I never kissed a nun afore.”
“I never kissed a Viking afore.”
“A first for each of us, then.” He waggled his eyebrows at her as if to convey that there was much more to come. “So, what say you to my offer, m’lady?”
“Which offer?” Her brain was so befuddled by his closeness and the kiss and the ache in her breasts and low down in her belly that she couldn’t think clearly. “You make me breathless,” she confessed, then immediately bit her bottom lip at her blunder. ‘Twas not good to let a man know your weaknesses.
“Breathless is good,” he said. His own breath was hot against her mouth.
Of course he would think breathless was good. He was a man. But she was a woman beneath the nunly garb and ’twas best to guard her vulnerable points. She tried to shove him away. He let her slide down his body to her feet, slowly, slowly, slowly, but would not release her.
“Will it be yea or nay?” he insisted on knowing.
“I do not know. Honestly.” She inhaled and exhaled several times, then said, “The only thing I know for certain is that I will have to go to confession again.”
“Good,” the Viking said, and kissed her again.
* * *
Chapter Four
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Back from the dead, part two …
Would he live or would he die?
Only the gods knew now.
Helga stoked up the fire in the hearth of Vagn’s bedchamber to ward off the winter chill. It had snowed the night before, and through the arrow slit windows, she heard the wind howl eerily outside. Once satisfied that the flames were strong enough, she turned back to her patient. A short time ago, she’d forced a small amount of an herb posset through his lips. Now, with gentle care, she replaced the cloth on Vagn’s burning forehead with a cool one and sat down on a chair next to his bed, resuming the vigil she’d been keeping the past two days.