“I will go home for a moment. I have a piece of salted pork I can add to the soup, seeing as there are three of us eating. I will also buy bread to go with it.” She wiped her hands on a piece of cloth. “I won’t be long. Don’t worry about Sven, he knows what he’s doing.”
“You do know his name then?”
Know it? She had whispered it, moaned it, shouted it over and over again when pleasure had overcome her. Eahlswith made sure to keep her back turned because she guessed she had gone crimson. It seemed she had done little more than blush today.
“Yes. I remember Cwenthryth telling me.”
She ran past him and out of the door, ignoring the slight pain lingering in her foot. She had not lied when she had told Sven it had not been serious but she still had a mighty bruise to remind her of her clumsiness.
Once in her own house she sat on her chair, trying to contain the wild beating of her heart. For three days she’d thought of little else than the moment she would see Sven again and what she would do when she did but nothing had happened like she had imagined. She had feared an attack on her senses, anticipated a battle with her reason, but she had not thought to prepare for a direct hit to her heart. He had not tried to seduce her, he had not demanded anything. It had been much, much worse. He had gifted her and Osbert with his skill and time—and utterly stolen her heart in the process.
She placed the piece of pork and some spices she had been lucky to buy at a good price the week before in a basket. If ever there was a moment to use them, this was it.
Eventually she had no choice but to go back to Osbert—and Sven.
4
The smell of salted pork simmering with leeks and onions had been torturing Sven for hours, or so it seemed. Well, it wouldn’t be long before he could stop and taste what Eahlswith had prepared. The repair could have been finished by now, but he had made sure to work slowly so as to have an excuse to remain in town for another day. Now that he was here, he would make the most of it.
He had been so very vexed to be told Eahlswith had already left for town when he’d come to visit her the morning after he’d brought her to Steinar’s hut… For a moment, anger had clouded his judgment, made him fantasize about punishment. He would make her pay for another disillusion. Why was she so determined to not be part of his life? What had he done wrong? Give her pleasure such as two people rarely experience? Offer her a drink of good ale? Carry her to her friend’s house when she couldn’t walk? None of these actions could explain, much less justify, her attitude.
She would pay.
Then once he had calmed down, he had seen that he was losing his mind. Aggression had never been his weapon of choiceand would not be the way forward with Eahlswith. He didn’t want to frighten her away, rather the other way around. And barging in would achieve nothing but to make her turn from him for good.
He needed to understand what motivated her actions.
She had disappeared, just like she had in the summer, but the difference was, this time, he knew where to find her. This time, there would be no escaping him; he was now more determined than ever to find her. When he’d heard Cwenthryth tell Steinar an old man Eahlswith cared about needed his roof repaired, he’d known it was his chance. Out of his brother’s hearing, he’d asked her where he could find this Osbert’s house. And the following day, he’d been there, ready to do what needed to be done.
The shock on her face when she’d seen him had been worth the effort, as had the result. A whole afternoon with her and if his luck held, a second day tomorrow. Had he gone to find her at any other time, she might have found a way to avoid him, but as the old man indeed needed his roof repaired, she had been unable to do what she’d been itching to do and send him on his way. His idea of pretending not to be able to talk to her had been a stroke of genius. It had prevented any arguments, at least while they were in the house. And now the hole was covered, which ensured the old man would survive the winter.
Yes, all in all, the day had been a success.
He climbed down from the roof, remembering Eahlswith’s urging to be careful. Say what she might, she cared, a least a little. And that smile she had given him as a reward for his work had been… Stunning.
Night had already fallen when he finally pushed the door of the house open.
“Thank you, young man,” Osbert told him, taking his hand in a surprisingly strong grip.
Sven shook his head and gestured at his bag, then at the roof. He waved his wrist in the air a few times. The man just stared at him in incomprehension.
“I think he’s trying to tell us that he’s not quite finished yet and will have to come back tomorrow,” he heard Eahlswith say. Sven barely repressed a smile. They were very good at understanding one another, even without words, in whatever circumstances.
“But we couldn’t put him out thus. Look, the roof has been patched up. What else could the man do?”
She made a helpless gesture. “I am no carpenter but there is probably some consolidating to do.”
There was. Sven had made sure the planks were in place so as to protect the interior in case it started to snow in the night, but he’d left some work for tomorrow, just enough to ensure another day in Eahlswith’s company.
When he turned to her he could see the urge to scowl at him again swirling in her eyes. The effect was most fetching. He almost smiled.
“Well, if he means to come back tomorrow, I’ll have to offer him a place for the night,” the old man started, looking slightly flustered at the idea. “He cannot go all the way back to his village only to come back again in the morning. But I’m afraid I can’t play the host tonight. I told Wassa I would?—”
“Worry not. Sven can sleep with me.”
Sleep with her? That sounded promising. Sven arched a wicked brow at her, confident Osbert could not see him, placed where he was. Eahlswith couldn’t stop the most delightful color from spreading to her cheeks. His cock twitched.
“I mean… There is room in my house,” she amended, for his benefit rather than Osbert’s. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. Too late. He was already imagining the two of them in bed together. Moving as unobtrusively as he could, he placedhis clasped hands in front of his groin. If Eahlswith carried on talking about welcoming him in her bed it would not be long before the tingling he was feeling grew into a full erection.
