Eadyth shook her head to clear her muddled mind. “I am just tired. We both are. Taking turns sleeping with Emma in her bed. Waking every few hours when she screams out in her dreams. Having her cling to one or the other of us every moment of the day. It does take a toll. And, yea, she talks more now, and she seems happy, most times. Still…”
“. . . still, she continues to cling to us, and the nightmares continue,” Eirik finished for her.
She nodded. “If only we could get her to talk about the fire.”
“I have tried, but every time I mention her mother or the raid which destroyed her village, she puts her hands over her ears and refuses to listen.”
“Just imagine what horrors she must have witnessed, Eirik. Seeing her home, with her mother and grandparents inside, go up in flames. And she so young and unable to help.”
“Well, thank God she was able to hide in the trees ’til the villains left. She will get better, Eadyth, and then we can get back to normal business. And do not forget, my wife,” he added, squeezing her hand and leaning closer to whisper in her ear, “we have unfinished business betwixt us.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she looked at him questioningly.
He winked.
The lout! “Of course, you are talking of Asa and why you felt the need to go to her.”
He laughed. “I am not. I refer to your punishment.”
“Oh, that.” Eadyth waved her free hand, as if that were no longer of any concern.
“Do not think I have forgotten, wife. And do not think you will escape my wrath. I am planning a most sweet torture.”
Eadyth wet her lips nervously and saw his eyes follow the movement of her tongue, hungrily. She could imagine what he meant by “sweet torture.” “Do not think you can hop back and forth between your mistress’s bed and mine. Like a horny toad.”
“Horny toad! Now, that poses some interesting mind pictures. But tell me, dear wife, what will you do to hold me in your bed?”
She gave him a sidelong look of utter disbelief and tried to pull her hand from his grasp, to no avail.
“Will you ‘attack’ me again?” he teased.
“I did not attack you.”
“You are right. ‘Twas seduction.” And he did not look displeased.
She felt her face color with heat, unable to deny his claim, and fought to control the swirling images in her mind of the scandalous things she had done. “It will not happen again, now that I know you left my bed for Asa’s. I would not make love with you now, even if… even if…”
“. . . even if I stood on my head, bare-arsed naked?” he finished for her, reminding her of his story once again.
“Even then,” she said stubbornly.
An easy smile played at the corners of Eirik’s mouth. “And if I told you that I did not?”
She stared at him, confused. “Did not what?”
“Make love with Asa.”
Eadyth’s heart lurched painfully at Eirik’s putting into words her heart’s torment. “Well, I am glad you brought the subject up, Eirik. I have been thinking that I treated you unfairly.”
“Oh?”
“Before we wed, I told you that I would not mind your mistresses, as long as you were discreet. I should not have changed the rules now. If you really feel the need to—”
“Stick out your tongue,” Eirik demanded sharply.
“Why?” she asked, shifting backward in her seat, away from him.
“So I can pull it from your prattling mouth, you lackwit wench.”
“Well! Here I am being extremely generous with you, and do you appreciate my bigheartedness? Nay. You just—”
“Shut up, Eadyth.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“You should.”
“Humph!”
“I told Asa I could not see her anymore. If you would stop wagging your tongue long enough to listen, you would know that.”
Eadyth’s heart leapt in her breast with hope. “Before or after you bedded her?”
He grinned and shook his head ruefully at her question. “Neither. I settled a sum of money with her to buy her own business and maintain her home. And I did not touch her enticing body, not even once.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly across hers, teasing, tantalizing her senses.