“Ja.”
“That is generous of you.”
“Do not grow annoyed with me. Believe me, I understand. There is a little woman among the Scots at the settlement—”
“Is there, now?”
“She is in charge of trading their food supplies. We have been bargaining. And talking.”
Surprised, Hulda said nothing.
“She is among the loveliest women I have ever seen. We have grown…not friendly, nei, but perhaps comfortable talking with one another. I once even made her laugh.”
Garik, at his best, could make most anyone laugh.
“So—so though I perhaps did not before, when we spoke, I do understand it. And me, I would not mind coming back next spring. But the men…”
“What is her name, this Scots lass?”
“Morag.” Garik stared away over the rail with a look in his eyes such as Hulda had never before seen there. “She is able to understand my garbled command of their tongue, which is why the head o’ stores put her on to dealing with me. They are not so different from us,” he reflected, “once you stop with slitting their throats.”
Hulda had no response to that.
“So as I say, Hulda, I understand. And a promise to return—one I could perhaps give to Morag—would not go amiss with me. To be honest, I do not know how many others among the crew will be eager for a return voyage.”
“Despite what they have gained?”
“The alliance with the Scots makes them uncomfortable. Your attitude toward the Murtray does.”
She had heard the mutterings, aye.Freyaand, indeed, the camp was not large enough for her to miss overhearing. But Norsemen were by and large a practical breed. She had hoped avarice alone might bring them back.
“Well, then.” She puffed out a breath. “We will find another crew, come spring.”
Garik scoffed. “Not if they tell everyone you have gone making alliances with the Scots, instead of killing them.”
“It is done in Dublin. In—”
“I know, I know. It is done there by powerful jarls and commanders. Not by such as we.”
Hulda frowned. The fear that seemed to have become lodged inside her, all tangled up with her love for Quarrie, stirred and unsheathed its claws.
She must return. Leaving would be hard. Near impossible. She could not do it, were she not certain she could return.
“We will find another crew,” she insisted with certainty she did not feel. “You may tell your Morag you will be coming back to her.”
“She is not my Morag.” But he would like her to be. “And she has said nothing to make me think she would welcome me back. There are many, far too many difficulties between us.” He leveled a stare upon Hulda. “I doubt such a joining would ever work.”
“Ja.” Hulda had to admit it. There was a surfeit of doubt in the world, and far too little certainty.
Chapter Forty-Five
“My men wantto go home.” Hulda whispered the words but a breath from Quarrie’s lips, having just finished kissing him. She had not meant to speak them—not here, not now when his body lay naked beneath hers, in this time apart. The words merely came on their own.
His eyes, which had closed against the pleasure of her kiss, opened. By Freya’s heart, she loved his eyes. That rare hazel sparked with green, they contained all she would ever need of the world. Nei, they contained a world of their own.
His thick brown lashes swept up and down and his gaze narrowed on hers when he said, “Do they, now?” He slid his palms down her back to her naked buttocks and drew her closer in a gesture that had become wonderfully familiar. It brought desire and comfort in equal measures. He fitted her, he did. She belonged with him andtohim. No need for further questioning.
They had met again at the ruined stone hut, even though it was surely unwise to do so, for they might well be discovered by her men or his people. Hulda had delivered the message when she and Brynjar had gone for supplies, Garik having made up an excuse to stay away, that Quarrie should come here to her this night.
