“Eyja is my only sister. I have two brothers, both older. Steinar, who you know already, and Torsten, who’s just had a little girl.”
“Does he also look like you? I mean, Steinar could be your twin.”
He let out a snort, having heard that comment many times before. “Yes, I know he could. We both take after our Icelandicfather, Ulf, who everyone calls Wolf. But Torsten looks like our Saxon mother, Merewen.”
Eahlswith was so taken aback by his declaration that she dropped the piece of cheese she’d just picked up.
“Surely you’re not half Saxon?”
“I am,” he confirmed, amused by her reaction. “I was even born here. How do you think I speak your language so well.?”
She eyed him dubiously. “But I… You look all Norse to me.”
“That’s because, as I said, I look like my father. But my mother has eyes as dark as yours. You will see when you meet her.”
It was as if he’d just issued a terrible threat. He watched as Eahlswith seemed to shrink to half her normal size.
“I have no intention of meeting any member of your family,” she said in a whisper. “What would be the point?”
“The point,” he said, doing his best to stay calm. Would it forever be one step forward, two steps back between them? Only a moment ago they had been sharing a moment and here she was, saying that she didn’t see any future for them. “The point is that I like you and I might want you to meet them.”
She didn’t answer, but he saw in her eyes that if she had her way, that would never happen. Was it because of this mysterious Edwin? He would have to ask her who he was one day, or he would go mad.
“I think we should go to bed,” she concluded, standing up.
Sven’s heart stilled in his chest. What might have sounded like an invitation to sin sounded like a condemnation to the worst kind of death.
6
As soon as they settled in the pallet Eahlswith found herself snuggling next to Sven, placing herself in the same position they had adopted the previous night, with her back moulded to his front. It had seemed the natural thing to do then, but suddenly she wasn’t so sure. Worry spiked through her while she waited for his reaction. Would he refuse to hold her now that she’d told him she didn’t want to meet his family? Would he point out that they didn’t need to be so close as the fire had been kept going all day?
To her relief, he didn’t tense or pass comment on the fact that it wasn’t cold tonight. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her waist, like he had the previous evening, before bending his legs behind hers to engulf her in his bulk. She loved how feminine he made her feel. How desirable. Howdesired, and not just for her body.
Eahlswith let out a slow exhale, trying to hang on to her control.
Though his talk of meeting his family had frightened her, she could not deny that her mind was in turmoil—and her body onfire. He had been perfect with her tonight, attentive, patient and kind.
Which was the whole problem. Had he been a real bastard, not caring that her feet were soaked, not offering to help with the food, not making her laugh and opening up about his family, she would not be here, nestled in his arms. She would have made sure to signify her displeasure and lack of interest by keeping as far as she could from him. But here she was, melting into his delicious embrace.
“So, you know how to thank me in my language,” he purred in her ear. The sound caused the hairs at the back of her neck to stand on end, but she could tell that he wasn’t trying to seduce her. It was just his normal way of talking. “I’m curious. What else do you know? Can you beg me also?”
“No.” The word could barely escape her lips. No, definitely not cold tonight. More like scorching hot.
“Not a problem. You will never have to beg me anyway. For anything.”
“Sven…” A sigh. Damn, damn, damn, why did he always know what to say to her?
Before she knew it, Eahlswith had snuggled up even closer to him, and she was grinding her buttocks against his loins. Predictably, he was as hard as the nails he’d used on Osbert’s roof. And she was so desperate to welcome that strong length inside her that her body was weeping with need. This was dangerous territory, deep down she knew it, but she didn’t seem able to stop herself. Her body started to undulate of its own accord, indicating its need to be filled, betraying a desire she had fought for two days. She had reached a snapping point and she didn’t even care.
She needed this.
Their last night together had been motivated by lust and ended up freeing unsuspected feelings from a place locked deepwithin her soul. Slowly but irremediably these feelings had coalesced into a hot ball of desire that was burning her from the inside. There would be no stopping what was going to happen.
She didn’t want to. All day they had been playing with fire. It was time to accept that fire burned.
She moaned.
“Alva.” That simple name, pronounced in Sven’s most gravelly voice, frayed each and every one of Eahlswith’s nerve endings. “I said I would keep my hands to myself, and I kept my word. That was last night, when you just lay still in my arms and allowed me to go to sleep. Now, I am a man. A man who wants you, desperately. I told you as much earlier. And so I’m warning you. If you keep moaning like that, I cannot be answerable for my actions. And if you keep on grinding your delectable ass against my cock, I cannot promise not to bury it exactly where you want me to bury it.”
