“I know how Eve felt in the Garden of Eden,” she admitted ruefully, despite her better judgment.
“Tempted are you, Eadyth?” he asked huskily. “Are you likening me to Adam?”
She came to her senses immediately. “Nay, the snake.”
He chuckled softly and lay down on the soft mattress, watching her.
“I cannot sleep next to you.”
” ‘Tis your choice. Sleep on the stool, or on the floor, or in the bed. I already promised not to touch you against your will.”
Eadyth moved closer to the bed and removed her veil-gown. Then she edged herself onto the mattress on the far side, complaining, “There are no bed linens. What will I use if it turns cold?” She immediately regretted her words.
“Mayhap you can seek my body heat. I swear my skin is hotter than Hades right now.”
“I would rather grow icicles on my nose,” she declared stubbornly. “And best you keep that icicle of yours on your own side of the bed.”
He laughed. ” ‘Tis more like a hot poker right now.”
She made a sound of disgust and turned onto her stomach, burrowing into the mattress as she tried to get comfortable. “I cannot sleep without a bed linen covering me.”
“I could cover your cold body with my ‘hot poker’.”
“You are as vulgar as a hog in heat.”
“Do hogs go into heat? Or is it sows? Hmmm. I did not know that. But then you know so much more about these domestic matters.”
“How would I know if hogs go into heat?” she exclaimed sharply, her nervousness gaining the better of her emotions.
He chuckled.
The boor.
“Did you know that hogs have a cock shaped like a twisted, spiral bore, and that it grows to be as long as a man’s arm when it is erect?”
“Liar.”
“I swear, ’tis the truth. Ask any farmer. And then there are turtles, of course. Did you know that their male parts turn inside out in the mating? And Tykir told me once that he met a man who had two, but I do not know if I believe that.”
“Oh, you are outrageous! I am not listening to you anymore. So go to sleep,” she said, putting her hands over her ears. “Go and snore your head off.”
“Mayhap I will pleasure myself, instead.”
She gasped and turned angrily on him, revealing that she could hear his words even with her hands over her ears.
He lay with his hands folded behind his head, grinning arrogantly back at her, his manhood standing up in the air.
“Did you want to watch?”
Her mouth dropped open. In truth, she did not really know what he meant, but she was sure it was perverted. “You look… foolish,” she declared, waving a hand at his nether parts, but refusing to look again.
“Do you think so? Some women do not share your opinion.”
Eadyth turned away from him again, an odd tearing sensation pulling at her heart. He spoke of other women so easily. Would he go to Asa, his mistress, now that she’d turned him away? Or find another closer to home? Eadyth tried not to care. But she did.
Reluctantly, Eadyth recalled the sweet lovemaking Eirik had initiated that afternoon. The brute had taught her body how to respond to passion, something she had never thought possible. And she had allowed herself to hope that they could have a true marriage, one like she had dreamed of as a young girl.
“Eirik?” she asked softly.
“Yea,” he answered, his tone equally soft.
“Can you not compromise? Cannot you allow for equality in this marriage? Would it be so bad to have a wife with a mind of her own? I would not want to usurp your authority, just share it. Can you not agree to that?”
A long silence followed.
Finally, Eirik exhaled loudly. “Nay, not now. Mayhap someday, but not now, Eadyth. Not now.”
Eadyth’s heart dropped. Clinging to her edge of the bed, she allowed the silent tears to stream down her face. So this was what the rest of her life would be like.
Eadyth did not allow herself to wallow in self-pity for long. In truth, her fate—a loveless marriage—was no worse than that of most women she knew, and better than some. Resigning herself, she tried to sleep, but could not. She tossed. She turned. Finally, she rolled over on her side and looked at her husband whose even breaths bespoke a deep sleep. Her lips curled into a sneer. How like a man! They riled a woman, made her angry and upset, then, in the midst of an argument, walked away or fell into a snoring slumber. Well, Eirik was not snoring yet, but he probably would. The mule!