Randvior wanted to slap the egoistical look off his face.
“Are you of a mind to accept?”
“You’d consider me a damnable liar if I denied any attraction for the girl.”
Randvior grabbed a glass of wine off the table and choked it down. He wiped his mouth dry. “If you were any other man, I’d kill you for that admission.”
“Aye,” the Scotsman agreed. “And if Iweren’tyour friend, I’d conveniently forget to tell you to take that enchanting girl as your wife before another man does.”
Randvior grunted and shot him an appreciative look. “I intend to.”
Desperate to escape the humiliation of Randvior’s drunken display, Noelle bolted outside. The only place she felt safe was in the bathhouse, shielded from inquiring minds. She shivered, finding herself once again poorly equipped for the cold. Shelter stood only a few yards away. She hurried and nearly lost her footing as her silk slippers skated across the ice.
She slammed the bathhouse door shut behind her. Randvior’s unpredictability and his mother’s conniving and interference were driving her crazy. She had lost too many people she loved to simply accept her precarious position is this household. But it seemed futile to resist Randvior. She sat on a chair near the large fire pit, warmed her hands, then rested her head on the table.
After a while, a noise pulled her from her racing thoughts. The door opened suddenly and she jerked. Half expecting to find Randvior leaning against the doorjamb, she gasped at finding the young man she had flirted with instead. A beatific smile lit his mouth.
“Mistress Noelle.” A head of dark hair, tied back in a tail, framed a handsome face. Mischievous blue eyes appraised her leisurely.
“Remember me?”
As if I could forget a face like yours.“Yes,” she answered.
“Dimwitted fool…” she mumbled self-deprecatingly. The object of her teasing had taken her attention more seriously thanshe had intended. His unnatural good looks were rivaled only by Randvior. She caught her breath as he came closer. He knelt. Maybe if she ignored him he’d go away.
“My father is Jarl Fald Ovesen, our steading only a day’s ride north,” he informed, not offering his name. “He sat at Randvior’s right side during the feast.”
“Yes.” She remembered the stocky warrior very well. “It is an honor to sit at thejarl’shigh table. I am sure your family deserves this privilege.”
He smiled and plopped down in the chair across from her. “I am greatly encouraged by your favor this evening.” He leaned forward and took her hand. “Should I consider myself the most fortunate man on earth to capture the eye of the loveliest woman at the feast?”
Warning sounded in Noelle’s head. Extraordinary sensations titillated and punished her body all at once.I’m absolutely devoted to Randvior,her heart spoke—but she didn’t understand.
“Stjernene blek i sammenligning.”
Bloody heathen tongue. She scooted away.
The stranger rubbed his chin and grinned rakishly. He spread his legs, the outline of his engorged shaft visible through his leather breeches. She must concentrate on other thoughts. WereallNorsemen concupiscent swine oblivious to rejection? If she screamed, Lauga would blame her, and she refused to give that woman another reason to find fault in her. If she ran away, he’d chase her. She didn’t possess the strength to look up and instead rose to her feet, hoping to discourage further advances. It didn’t have the desired effect. Rather… encouraged it. He leapt and gathered Noelle in a tight embrace.
“My dreams are answered,” he petted her head. “Could it be that you remain unblemished by any man?” Amusement tinged his voice.
“Let me go.”
Too late.
The door burst open. With her back facing the entrance, she was at a disadvantage, but she recognized the bestial sounds of Randvior. She flinched at each heavy footstep she heard.
“Hva faen gjør du?”
“Hva enhver mann ville gjort i nærvær av en slik skjønnhet,”Ovesen shot back.
Roughly shoved aside, Noelle turned just in time to see Randvior’s fist connect with the younger man’s face.Oh, God.Reminiscent of a Greek epic, she ran for cover and ducked behind a set of shelves. Noelle peeked around the corner, heart pounding. Ovesen shook his head and hurled his weight at Randvior. They crashed to the floor, a tangled mass of fists and curses.
Randvior rolled onto his side and sprang to his feet. He landed a solid kick to the man’s head, reached down, and let out a ferocious growl, lifting him by the front of his shirt. Randvior shook him and hurled him across the room. A pile of firewood broke his fall.
Randvior turned away from the scene and looked at her.
Shaking like a leaf, her life flashed before her eyes.He’s going to kill me.
