Eirik lunged for her.
Apparently, he would.
Throwing Eadyth over his shoulder, Eirik ignored her squeals of protest and flailing arms and legs. By the time they reached the pond, he was shaking his head at her unladylike language.
Lord, he loved a good battle, and this stubborn, domineering, stiff-backed wife of his was going to provide him with good sport. Without any hesitation, Eirik waded knee-deep into the ice-cold water of the spring-fed pond. Despite the hot sun, their baths would be coldly invigorating because of the recent rain. He smiled widely and dumped Eadyth, clothes and all, into the watery depths.
She came up sputtering, calling out every epithet she could name. “Loathsome lout! Odious oaf! Bloody bastard! Lusty Lackwit!”
Shamelessly, Eirik removed his loincloth and approached her. “Let us see just what I have bought in this marriage bargain, wife.”
“Bought? Bought? You have not bought me, you wretch. If anything, I have bought you with my dowry,” she shrieked, trying to walk past him to the shore with as much dignity as possible in her water-heavy garments. She had already lost her head-rail and wimple in the dunking, and the rest of her garments molded her body with enticing promise.
Eirik raised an amused brow at her feisty words, tearing his eyes from the clear outline of her breasts and hips and long legs. “Well, then, we shall both examine our purchases.”
As he stepped after her into the shallow water, she glanced downward and inhaled sharply, noticing that he’d discarded his loincloth. “Have you no shame?”
“None whatsoever.”
He proceeded to remove her clothing. And it was no small feat, with her kicking and scratching and swearing vengeance on him the entire time.
“Do not dare touch me… oh, you have torn my gown, you clumsy brute.”
“Stop twisting so. You are as slippery as an eel. Ouch! You scratched me. You drew blood with your claws,” he exclaimed incredulously and dunked her under the water.
She came up sputtering, “You bastard!” and launched herself at his chest, knocking him over, attempting to kneel on his chest. His nose burned, and he barely escaped emasculation when she tried to knee him in the groin.
“Eadyth! ‘Tis time you behaved like a wife, not a fish-wife.”
“Hah! ‘Tis time you behaved like a chivalrous knight, not a rude troll.”
“A troll!” he gasped out. “We shall see who is the troll here. I have had enough of your obstinance and unwomanly ways.” Forgoing tenderness then, he roughly ripped her gown and undergarments from her body.
“Look what you have done to my shoes. Oh, you will pay for all this damage to my belongings.”
Grinning at her soft leather slippers which floated by ignominiously, he yanked her stockings from her legs.
Once naked, Eadyth gave him no opportunity to view her bodily charms. Slipping out of his grasp, she dove into the water and swam away from him, giving him only a momentary glimpse of her bare buttocks and deliciously long legs.
He smiled.
Grasping the soap Britta had left on the bank, he took off after her, overtaking her in a few strokes. Grabbing hold of her hair, he pulled her back toward the shore and sat down on the bank, pushing her into a sitting position in the water between his knees. Her screams could, no doubt, be heard in Jorvik.
“Do not turn your back on me from this day forth, you heathen Viking beast, for I will pay you back tenfold.”
“I quiver with fright,” my lady.” Quickly, before she had a chance to turn and truly render him impotent, Eirik soaped her long hair, then dunked her head under the water. Three times he repeated the procedure, ignoring her shrieks of outrage at his brutish treatment.
When he was satisfied that he had finally removed all the lard from her hair, he let Eadyth stand. Angrily, she flicked her long, wet hair over her shoulder and stormed away from him before he had a chance to truly study her body. Ah, well, he would have plenty of time for that later.
He began his own ablutions, going off to the deeper water. He washed his hair and body, diving underwater again and, again to remove all the mud. When he finally emerged from the water, Eadyth was standing on the shore, fully clothed in a belted gunna of soft lavender silk, combing her waist-length hair.