“Why would you think such?” Thork frowned. ” ‘Tis no dishonor in being a man’s bedmate. I treat my women generously. None have complained afore.”
“I cannot believe you think this woman is of the same mold as any other. Never, never, will she agree to be aught but wife to you.”
Inside, Thork secretly wondered if Selik might not be right. After all, he’d been down this route with Ruby afore. Seduction, pursuit, withdrawal. First she Would. Then she wouldn’t. Of course, he had changed his own mind a few times, as well, he reminded himself ruefully.
Ruby watched the two men through narrowed eyes, sensing they were up to some mischief, probably involving her since they kept looking over at her slyly.
They were outrageously handsome men in their knee-length tunics, worn belted at the waist over slim trousers. Selik was slightly taller with platinum hair, which contrasted sharply with his bronze, sun-baked skin, but, to Ruby, Thork was much more attractive. His impressively toned body and finely chiseled facial features were definite assets, not to mention his drop-dead gorgeous smile, but what appealed to Ruby most in this roguish clone of her husband Jack was his unselfish love for his sons and family. Then, too, his quick wit always caught her off-guard, and the boyish hurt he sometimes failed to hide in shuttered eyes drew Ruby strongly. She wanted to help wipe out the years of childhood abuse, to smother him with so much love he would forget he’d never been given much of that precious emotion.
That was before his betrothal to Elise. Ruby knew she would have a hard time resisting Thork now. After all these weeks of attempting to lure him into her bed, she could understand his confusion over her change of heart, but it was the only way.
Ruby loved Thork, and she wanted what was best for his future, even if it wasn’t her. Obviously, it couldn’t be her. If she and Thork made love, Ruby knew from past experience that a full-blown passion would develop between them. It would not end in a few days or even a month, as Thork predicted.
And it would be wrong. Thork belonged to another woman. She belonged to another man.
Oh, Lord!
Then there was the fact that, since she’d probably been sent back in time for a purpose, it would seem that she’d already accomplished those goals. Tykir was in the loving hands of his grandparents. Eirik would be at the Saxon court where he wanted to beb—at least safe, if not loved. And Thork—well, he would marry and possibly grow to love his gentle wife if Ruby did not fall into his bed and bind him with invisible ties of love.
Knowing that all these events had been set in motion, Ruby almost feared she might return at any minute to the future, abandoning Thork in the past. And that’s exactly how he’d feel if she let him fall in love with her. Could she hurt him like that? No! This was the only way.
But it hurt so bad.
And the pain grew worse and worse during the trip to Kingston as he teased and tantalized her with sweet smiles, fleeting caresses, promising glances, and whispered words of sensual fantasies he conjured of her each night in his lonely tent.
“Soon,” he kept telling her; “soon we will be together.”
“No, we won’t. We can’t,” she continually countered, but he ignored her protests with a beguiling, confident smile as they drew closer and closer to the Saxon court.
Chapter Seventeen
They finally arrived in Kingston at dawn on the day of King Athelstan’s coronation. She, Thork, Selik and Eirik went directly to the cathedral, leaving Thork’s men camped along the river, guarding the five ships.
Athelstan’s coronation ceremony turned out to be everything and more than Ruby had ever imagined. Like a page straight out of the Dark Ages court of King Arthur and Camelot, the gentle Saxon prince—the golden dragon of Wessex—was crowned.
Ruby wore the burgundy dress Dar had given her with Thork’s dragon brooches. Thork thrilled her by wearing the blue cloak she’d made for him over a magnificent black tunic and matching trousers, or braies, offset by the now familiar thunderbolt earring, and jewel-encrusted arm rings, brooch, pendant, belt and sword, all suited to a representative of an important Viking king.