Michelle Willingham - Forbidden Nights With A Viking

‘I have nothing to say to you. Or to your wife.’ She stood from the stone, ignoring him.

‘Elena is not my wife any more,’ he called out to her back. Her face flooded with colour, but she continued walking away. Whether it was true or a lie, a storm of confusion muddled her thoughts. When she reached the grassy hillside, she stopped walking but didn’t look back at him.

Was he expecting her to fall into his arms, to somehow rejoice that she was his second choice? Had something happened to Elena or their unborn child?

Anger and sorrow choked her, but Caragh got no further before he caught up with her, catching her in his arms. ‘As I said, we need to talk.’

‘Put me down,’ she demanded, trying to push her way out of his arms. When he only tightened his grip, she relented. ‘All right, I’ll talk with you. But not here.’

Not where others could see her being carried off by a Lochlannach . Styr didn’t appear to trust her promise, for he didn’t let her down at all. ‘It’s been too many weeks, søtnos.’ He embraced her, as if he wanted to meld her skin into his.

In passing, he nodded to his men who had begun unloading their ship, carrying her past the ringfort and towards the open meadow.

‘Styr, please,’ she said. ‘I can walk.’

‘I don’t want you to run away,’ was his response. ‘You’ve a right to be angry, but we’ll talk in private.’

‘What about your child?’ she asked. ‘If you’re no longer married to Elena—’ Her words broke off as she realised what had likely happened. Even to mention it was cruel.

‘There never was a child,’ he admitted. ‘She believed there was, but it was a mistake.’

In his voice, she heard a trace of regret, almost as if he wished the child had come to be. ‘Please, let me down,’ Caragh repeated.

He did, but he didn’t release her wrists. His grip was firm enough to remind her that he wasn’t going to let go.

‘What do you want from me?’ she asked quietly. ‘Why did you come back?’

He took her face between his hands and kissed her hard. His hands tangled in her long hair, pulling her to him as he coaxed her mouth. The familiar rush poured through her with awakening desire. And though she accepted his kiss, she didn’t return it.

‘You’re angry,’ he murmured against her mouth.

‘You can’t believe that I’ll let you come from another woman’s bed into mine.’ She turned her face from him, hiding the hurt within.

‘I never lay with her. Nor did I touch her.’

Caragh shook her head. ‘It’s too soon, Styr.’ To her embarrassment, the weeks of hurt welled up within her, and she blurted out, ‘You had no choice, I know. But I don’t want my heart to bleed like that a second time.’

‘It won’t,’ he swore. ‘I don’t intend to leave you again.’

His intense gaze reached inside her, pushing back against the barriers around her heart.

‘I don’t know what’s right any more,’ she admitted. ‘Perhaps we should be friends for a time,’ she offered. ‘We could get to know one another without…’

‘Without Elena between us,’ he finished.

She nodded.

A dark expression came over his face, as if he didn’t like the idea of waiting. His hands moved down to the base of her spine, and he remarked, ‘I won’t be bringing you flowers or trying to win your heart, Caragh.’ He reached below her hips, picking her up until her body was flush against his.

‘I’m a Lochlannach . And I take what I want.’ To emphasise his words, he kissed her, invading her mouth with his tongue. He ravaged her mouth like the warrior he was, claiming and consuming her until she was breathless. Against her body, she felt the length of his arousal, and it sent a rush of need between her legs.

His mouth travelled down her jaw, to the soft part of her throat. ‘Perhaps you’ll be my prisoner, this time.’

Her mind spun with images of being chained and at his mercy. A sigh escaped her when he lowered her again, sliding her against him.

But she raised her chin and said, ‘No.’ Before he could carry her off again, she pointed a finger to his chest. ‘I hardly know you. And you know very little about me.’

‘You like food,’ he offered. ‘And you’re not fond of sailing.’

‘I’m not fond of drowning,’ she corrected. She’d learned to overcome her dislike of the water, especially after she’d continued to fish alongside her brothers. Never again would she let her fear prevent them from getting food.

‘You like the colour blue, and you have a sense of adventure. You like to try new things.’ He took her hand in his, and added, ‘You cheat when we play games.’

‘I do not!’

‘I saw you move a few pieces when you thought I was distracted.’

He’d seen that? She frowned, but before she could say anything, he finished with, ‘And you like kissing me.’

‘Sometimes,’ she admitted.

Styr took her hand in his, leading her up to the open meadow where new sheep grazed upon the tall grasses. ‘I brought you gifts from Dubh Linn,’ he told her.

Caragh tried to keep the interest from her face. She couldn’t let herself be swayed by offerings, but he said, ‘Come to the boat and I’ll give them to you.’

A sense of warning flared up. ‘If I go with you now, you’ll steal me away.’

He cocked his head. ‘Would it be so bad to spend a night with me on the boat, watching the stars?’

It did tempt her, and he offered, ‘I’d take you south to the lands of the sun. Where the warmth would change the colour of your skin darker.’ He traced a single finger down her throat, and the touch burned through her.

‘You would taste foods you’ve never had before. Spices and wine that linger upon your tongue.’

‘Would I see my brothers again?’ she ventured, going along with the dream.

He nodded. ‘Whenever you wanted to go back, I would take you there.’

His hand moved around her waist, but she stopped walking. ‘What happened with your wife? Tell me.’

‘I already did. She learned there was no child, and she divorced me.’

Elena had divorced him? At her shocked expression, he continued, ‘She saw us together before you left with your brothers.’

Her face darkened with shame. ‘I didn’t mean to come between you, Styr. And I shouldn’t have gone to you that night. It was wrong of me.’

His fingers moved up her ribs in a light caress. ‘I haven’t stopped thinking of it, Caragh. Only the next time, I want my hands upon you.’

A flare of desire shuddered through her at the thought. But she couldn’t simply drop the shields around her battered heart. ‘I want a man who will protect and love me.’ She raised her eyes to his, the apprehension rising within her. ‘But I need time.’

Another barrier hung between them, and she questioned whether or not to voice it. His first marriage had ended because there had been no children. Though she didn’t want to hurt him, neither did she want to ignore the truth. If she chose him for a husband, there was a very real possibility that he could not give her children.

‘There is time now,’ he acceded. ‘I’ve come to stay, Caragh.’ His hand moved to touch the small of her back, and the gesture made her next words all the more difficult.

‘I won’t deny that I’ve missed you,’ she began, trying to choose the right words that needed to be spoken. ‘And my feelings haven’t changed.’ She took a breath and met his eyes. ‘But you only left her because she could not bear you a child. What if the same thing happens to us?’

Her words were a sharp blade between them, for he didn’t know if he could grant her a child. Though it was possible that it was Elena who was barren, Styr had known men who had married again and again, never to bear sons of their own. If he couldn’t give Caragh children, were they condemned to the same fate as his first marriage? Would she grow to hate him, pushing him away and not wanting to share his bed?