“I would perhaps try to make the most of it if I found someone who stirred my interest half as much as you do.”
Her heartbeat went from a trot to a gallop in the blink of an eye. She already knew that she could stir his lust. Now he was saying that she stirred his interest as well? That was wonderful news. Or rather it would be, if they had not agreed to put an end to what had blossomed between them during the two weeks spent pretending to be a couple.
“Good luck with that,” she answered, deciding it was better to jest.
“Yes. Good luck indeed.” He winked.
By the gods, was he saying that it would be impossible to find a woman who interested him as much as she did? And if that was the case, what would they do about it? Unsure what to reply,she waited. This conversation was not going the way she had anticipated.
“Your father came yesterday to thank me for saving you from the Normans,” he told her, crossing his arms over his chest.
Could she feel any worse, Aife wondered? She had only needed rescuing because of her own folly. Had she not fled, neither of them would have been in any danger.
“Yes. I guessed he would have.” The Dane had been incensed when he’d heard of the attack, even though she had been careful to keep the most frightening details to herself. “But did you tell him why we?—”
“No one knows why we were in that meadow,” he cut in. “And no one needs to know. I’m sure you’ll agree.”
Relief flooded through her. “I do, Thank you.”
“Now, how do you think Moon will react if he hears about the night we spent together? He was told only the other day that there was nothing between us. Will he not think he’s been taken for a fool? Again?”
Oh. Aife’s insides shriveled further. How hadn’t she thought of that? But, of a certainty, her brother would kill Torsten if he thought they had lied to him and then found out what they had done. It would not matter that she had been the one initiating the seduction, that Torsten had reciprocated the favor instead of simply taking advantage of her, and that they had agreed it would lead nowhere. All he would see was that his friend had done what only selfish men did, and that—well, that it would lead nowhere. He might have made his peace with a tryst that would lead to marriage, like Torsten himself had done when he had understood that what was between his best friend and his sister was serious, but he would balk at the notion that he had used her so shockingly for his pleasure.
She forced herself to calm.
“I don’t think there’s any cause for concern. Moon is not in the habit of listening to women’s prattle. If there is any issue, I will talk to Eyja. She will make him see that Gudrun only jumped to conclusions, as she often does. Besides, he knows we are not really…” Her voice trailed when she realized that, once again, she was reminding him that she had only gone to him because she’d hoped to provoke his brother into action. Why was she so clumsy around him? Hadn’t she hurt him enough?
“Yes, you’re right,” Torsten agreed slowly. “We’re just pretending. You are only trying to attract Sven’s attention and Moon knows it. You told him yourself. In such circumstances, he will never believe you are interested in me or that you wanted to give me pleasure.”
The flatbread she had just eaten sat like a burning piece of coal in her stomach, the sweet hazelnut taste suddenly sickly.
But I did want to give you pleasure and Iaminterested in you, in who you are, not just in how you look,she wanted to scream. It was different than it had been with all the other men she had taken an interest in over the years. It was better, inexplicable. And yet it was destined to disappear. Because they had agreed it was for the best.
“Here.” She shoved the almost complete flatbread in Torsten’s hand. “I won’t be able to eat any more. You can have it.”
Clutching her wheat loaf as tightly as if it had been made of gold, Aife ran back to her hut.
11
“Going anywhere?”
Aife started when the familiar voice caught her off guard. When she turned around, Sven was walking over to her, one thumb stuck in the belt hanging low at his waist. By the gods, but he did look good, if slightly too arrogant for his own good. His lips were the same shape as his brother’s, she noticed for the first time, but perhaps because his beard was blond, rather than light brown, the effect was less striking somehow.
She blinked. What did the color of his beard have to do with the appeal his lips exerted over her? And since when did she think him anything less than striking, or too arrogant for his good?
“Yes. It being such a nice day I thought I would go to the coast to gather cockles,” she answered, gesturing at the bag slung over her shoulder. For three days after the thunderstorm that had forced her and Torsten to take refuge in the ruins, it had rained more or less constantly. But today the sun was shining and she had decided she would make the most of it.
“Cockles, really?”
Sven laughed, and she didn’t understand why that might be. She shrugged. He could think what he wanted.
“Yes. They’re my favorite.” Didn’t he know? They had grown together, and she’d thought he would remember something like that. Didn’t she know he only liked goat’s cheese when it was very fresh?
“If you say so.” He placed a shoulder against the wall of the hut, a roguish smile playing on his lips. That smile put her in mind of a wolf on the hunt, something Torsten’s smile never did. “Want some company?” he asked, leaning in toward her.
Aife’s heartbeat increased, an automatic response to his proximity and the offer she had been hoping for for weeks. She opened her mouth to accept—and then she realized that, no, she didn’t particularly want him to come with her. Or at least, not in the hope that he would take advantage of the privacy of the beach to steal a kiss. This was odd. Only a few days ago she would have jumped at the chance of spending some time alone with him. Today, the question did not cause any flutter in her chest, or any stirring lower down. Why? Surely what had happened with Torsten in the Roman ruins had not turned everything on its head? Her heart sank.
But of course it had.
