The skaldic poem ended with a story about some Viking and his precious knife called Fealty and how it had saved him in some battle. “Good Lord! Only a Viking would name a knife, like a pet,” Ruby muttered, and the Viking seated next to her shot her an annoyed frown.
Everyone congratulated the skald after he finished, asking him questions. In the short lull that followed, one woman guest talked cattily to Aud in a voice loud enough for many around her to hear.
“I understand your guest from Ivar—the one of the mannish clothing—has a most unusual manner of using a knife.”
Everyone looked at Ruby. Aud and Dar raised questioning eyes to her. Thork looked as if he would have an apoplectic fit. Well, at least she’d finally piqued his interest.
Ruby blinked and then hiccuped loudly. She heard Dar guffaw.
The woman went on with relish, “She shaved her legs today with a knife.”
Again, everybody looked at Ruby in astonishment.
” ‘Tis true, Ruby?” Aud gasped.
“Where did the thrall get a knife?” Dar wanted to know.
“I will kill you,” Thork mouthed silently.
With as much dignity as she could maintain in her inebriated condition, Ruby explained, “It’s no big deal. Really. Women in my country shave their legs all the time. And their underarms. It’s considered unfeminine not to do so.”
They all gawked at her in disbelief. Several elderly matrons seemed about to have a stroke over the scandalous conversation.
Oh, hell! She was in deep trouble as it was. She might as well enjoy herself. Besides, she still wanted to get back at Thork for abandoning her the other night to be with Linette.
“Thork,” she said sweetly, staring him straight in the eyes.
He refused to answer, incensed at the spectacle she’d created once again.
“Thork,” she called out louder now. “Do you remember the time you shaved my legs for me?”
His mouth dropped open.
Dead silence reigned.
“It was our tenth wedding anniversary, and we were high on white wine and… and love. You remember, don’t you? It was your idea, so don’t glare at me. You made me stand perfectly still, like this.”
Ruby stood with her legs slightly parted and almost fell over. She straightened herself by holding on to the back of the chair.
Aud clamped her hand over her mouth at Ruby’s outrageous conduct. Gyda seemed to be praying. Olaf smiled in appreciation of her daring. And Dar smirked from ear to ear with self-satisfaction, as if he’d planned the whole damned event. The young girl, Elise, was nowhere to be seen. It was probably past her bedtime.
“You lathered both my legs with cream and then you shaved them, ever so slowly,” Ruby went on with gusto, “all the way up to here.” She drew a line with her hand at the tops of both thighs.
Ruby felt fuzzy and disoriented, beginning to realize just how scandalous her behavior was, noticing the strained silence surrounding her. She started to back away as she saw Thork beginning to approach her around the circle of people, his eyes piercing her, his lips a pale line of white-hot anger.
Thork’s continual anger was really starting to annoy Ruby. Criminey! she decided, I might as well put the icing on the cake. Her eyes narrowed and held his in unspoken challenge.
“Oh, and did I mention, Thork?” she said ever-so-sweetly. “We were both stark naked.”
Thork gurgled with words that would not come out as all eyes turned on him, but not for long. “Damn you!” he bellowed and lurched across the remaining people separating them. “Warned you were, wench. Over and over you were told what would happen if you pushed me.” Without another word, he vaulted over a chair, picked Ruby up and carried her from the hall and up the steps.
Ruby. was oblivious to the cheering laughter and loud speculation on her fate that followed them out of the hall. She snuggled in Thork’s arms, burrowing her face in his neck, which smelled so sweetly of her own Jack and yet somehow marvelously different. Tomorrow Ruby would worry about her fate. Tonight she was back in Jack’s, no, Thork’s arms, where she belonged, and that was all that mattered.