Laughing, he backed up and took her with him, then sat down on the bed. He turned her so she sat on his lap. Ruby could feel the force of his arousal under her legs.
“What is it that’s so important?” he whispered in a distracted fashion, obviously as affected by this love play as she was. He kissed the nape of her neck and ran his fingers feather lightly over the inside of her thighs.
“Oh!” she gasped, and something wonderful twisted deep within her body.
“Oh, indeed,” Thork chuckled.
“Stop it, Thork. I can’t think when you do that.”
” ‘Tis the idea.” Then he pulled his hand away teasingly and nuzzled her neck again. “I’m listening.”
“Thork, I’ve decided… ,” Ruby started, finding it hard to speak after his sensual attack, “… I’ve decided we should… we should… get… married.”
“You’ve decided,” Thork hooted derisively, dropping backward to the bed and shifting so that she lay at his side in the crook of his arm. He put his mouth to her breast again, and she could feel his smile. When his infolded lips and grazing teeth brought her to a mindless pitch once again, he looked up with passion-glazed eyes and told her, “I’ve decided we should make love, without the marriage.”
Obviously, he didn’t think she was serious.
“No,” Ruby protested, trying to pull away, but he held her firmly in his arms. When she stopped struggling, Ruby implored him, “You have to marry me, Thork.”
“I do?” he asked seductively, rolling on his back and pulling her up on top of him, chest to breast, straining manhood to throbbing womanhood. He was not making this easy, at all.
“Sweetling, how many times do I have to tell you. I will not marry—ever.” Then he laughed and gave her a quick hug. “Leastways, in my country, the woman waits for the man to ask.”
“It’s pretty much the same in my country, even with women’s lib,” Ruby confessed, “but I don’t have time to wait for you to do the asking.”
“Let’s talk about this later,” he cajoled smoothly and pulled her knees apart and forward so that she straddled him. They both gasped simultaneously at the shock of swirling pleasure, almost too intense to be borne.
Trying to slow down the careening pace of their sexual game, Thork asked, “What is this urgent need to talk of marriage?”
Inhaling deeply to stabilize her heightened senses, Ruby said, bracing her straightened arms on his chest, “I now realize I need your protection when I go before the Althing.”
“A wise conclusion.”
“Thork, let me move. I can’t concentrate.”
“Nay,” he laughed. “You are just where I have wanted you for a long time.”
She laid her right hand gently on his cheek. “Thork, I’m very concerned about Eirik and Tykir. They need a family unit—a mother and father, living together.”
Only the flickering muscle near his mouth betrayed his reaction to her mentioning his sons. “Do you try to cool my ardor by bringing up those subjects I forbade you to address?”
“Oh, Thork! I came to your room to try to make you see… oh, what’s the use!” She lay her face on his chest for a moment, then looked up, determined to try once more. “Did you know that Tykir plans to become a Jomsviking like you just so he can spend some time in your company? And Eirik wants to be fostered at King Athelstan’s court with his Uncle Haakon. The atmosphere there couldn’t be any colder than the one he lives in now.”
The surprise on Thork’s face showed Ruby he hadn’t been aware of his sons’ wishes.
“I have already told you why I cannot be with them,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I know. I know. That brings me to my third point,” she said, nervously drawing circles around his flat brown nipples, barely noticing his small gasp of pleasure.
“Pray tell,” he laughed, probably expecting her to pop another of her surprises on him.
“You don’t have to be sarcastic. I’m just trying to help.”
“Odin save me!” he prayed, raising his eyes dramatically upward. “The wench would save me by having me give up Jomsviking to wed her.” He wrapped his arms around her tightly, though, amused with her arguments.