Wait. Her eyes opened. Was she? What was she going back to? What was the hurry?
She almost laughed out loud. Was she nuts? The hurry was that there were Vikings and Saxons everywhere. She wasn’t sure who was more dangerous. Nuts because there were slaves here, no electricity, no phones, nothing!
“Is something wrong?” Wolf’s deep voice stole across her ears as he rode closer. “You look troubled.”
But the future didn’t have him in it.
“No. No. I’m fine. It’s just that I don’t know why I was sent here.” She sounded ridiculous. But she didn’t want him to ride away. She liked his company. Maybe she even liked him a little.
“Perhaps,” he said with a smile that brightened his compelling eyes and made her want to win his warrior heart. “I am a part of your destiny.”
Was it the fathomless, sultry tone of his voice or the possibility that his words were true that made her feel faint? Maybe it was just the way he smiled at her while his hair lifted softly off his shoulders.
“You mean,” she managed, fighting his effect on her, “my destiny is to be a slave?”
He didn’t take offense at her words or the scathing way she delivered them. He didn’t seem to care at all. “You could use some—what is the word the Saxons use?” His smile hadn’t changed but what she thought of it did. He was infuriatingly annoying.
“Humility,” he said with a wink.
“You are telling me I could use some humility? You? An arrogant marauder?”
“Do I not treat you better than the others?” he asked with incredulousness tainting his smile. “I let you sleep beside my bed and gave you my tent—”
“I sound like your pet dog.”
“What would you prefer from me?”
They both seemed to realize what he was saying at the same time. She watched him blink and swallow, as if the truth of him was as unexpected as a summer rain. He’d offered himself up. What would she prefer from him? The possibilities were endless. Umm, how about he appreciate her as a woman, try to see her as an equal? Release all his “slaves”? Help her find her way home and maybe come with her? She wanted to smile thinking of him in New York City. After the initial shock of it, he would like it.
“I would prefer you not speak to me so often.”
All traces of humor vanished from his face. “Yes, I would prefer that as well.”
He kicked his horse’s flanks and flicked his reins. He was gone before she could get out another sentence. What was there left to say? What if she could never return to her life in the twenty-first century? What if this was it? She needed him! But she didn’t want to be his servant. Better his than a man like Aethelwold or Leofric, but still a servant.
“You are perplexed about him.”
Camelee looked to her left and blushed at Genevra. She had forgotten that she was there, on the other side of him.
“Yes. He does perplex me,” she confessed. “He’s a nice guy…for a murdering Viking. But I really need to concentrate on finding a way to get home.”
“To your future?” the older woman asked, her silvery-blue eyes wide with curiosity and apprehension.
“Yes,” Camelee said. “Who told you?”
Genevra’s deepening smile radiated with affection. “Alric. But do not be angry with him. It is not easy to keep something like this a secret. He believes you wholeheartedly.”
Camelee didn’t understand why knowing that comforted her. It was important to be believed. These people had nothing to go on about her. She was different, more likelynotto be trusted. But Alric…and Wolf believed her.
She wouldn’t ask Genevra if she believed her.
“Tell me of it,” Genevra said as they rode.
She would be easy to convince. “I live on an island called Manhattan,” Camelee began. “It’s not too big but almost two million people live on it.”
“What is million?”
Camelee smiled and explained the number.
