Viking's Love (28 page)

Allisande relaxed at his obvious sincerity,
finding it vastly in short supply among Vikings. She eyed him
curiously. He was much too handsome for his own good, and judging
by the look in his eyes, hardly deterred by Joran’s warnings to
stay away from her.

“
You should not be here!” Allisande
leaned tiredly against the counter for support; feeling exhausted
from serving the men all night, and had no energy to fend off
anymore unwanted attentions. “Joran will be angry if he finds you
here, and blame me for it!” she said in irritation.

He grinned and dazzled her with another
smile. The man was having a disturbing effect upon her. She had the
vaguest notion he knew it. He nodded and grinned without remorse,
causing her no small amount of alarm.

She felt like a rabbit trapped by a wolf. The
wolf was reeling her in as he walked closer within the confined
space, making her far too aware of his manly appeal. She was
blushing furiously as he gazed down at her, wondering what it would
feel like to be kissed by such a man, and angered at thinking
it.

This man was far too dangerous to any woman’s
peace of mind, and he knew it, and exuded such command of it, she
felt herself noticing his full, sensuous lips and quailing inside
from the sheer force of his magnetism.

“
Joran is busy with his father, and by
the looks of it, Ivar will keep him up long in the night,” Rowan
said with such subtle, seductive undertones that she failed to see
his objective in telling her that at all. She shrugged as if she
didn’t care, but she would have liked to be a fly on the wall to
hear what the two of them discussed.

Surely Rowan must know something about the
raid being planned? If she were to exert some effort to flirt with
him, he might give her some information to help her plan her
escape.

“
Why are you not in on the discussion?”
Allisande’s violet eyes met his before her eyes lowered
coquettishly. “Surely you are going to Luxtley with
them?”

“
I do not raid anymore, Sweetface.”
Rowan he reached out and plucked a piece of lint from her dress
sleeve and flicked it away absently. “I have no taste for maiming
and killing for the sheer pleasure of it. I am a mercenary Ivar
hires from time to time to handle other matters. This is not a
topic suitable for so lovely a lady, Allisande.”

“
And how do you know me to be a lady,
Viking?” Rowan was growing distracted by her lush cleavage spilling
over the top of her gown. His eyes seemed captivated as they dipped
low to the shadowed valley many times during their conversation. He
smiled appreciatively as his eyes met hers, lost in the violet
pools that met his gaze, feeling himself being seduced despite his
desire to be the seducer. She curved her lips in invitation, her
gleaming smile blinding him to her true motives.

“
You are the Baron Lockwraithe’s
daughter, are you not?” Rowan’s eyes lingered upon her full, lush
lips, eager to taste them, and divine if they were as sweet as they
looked. “It is no secret who you are, Sweetface. Whether you are a
lady remains to be seen.”

Before she realized she toyed with him too
long, and had learned nothing of value, he reached out and jerked
her to his strong chest. Allisande gasped as his mouth captured
hers in a slow, insistent kiss.

His busy hands were busy at her back, molding
her to him with obvious intent.

She gasped under his lips in dismay as he
walked with her dangling from his lips, and kicked open the side
doors to the kitchens. He shut it behind them, never breaking the
kiss. She struggled in vain, for he was too strong, and fought the
wild sensations in her belly as he pressed her into the wall
outside the kitchens, his mouth never leaving hers.

His mouth slanted over hers, parting her
lips, and stroking the sweet recesses within with his determined
tongue. His body held hers captive against the wall. She was lost
in sensation as she inhaled his clean, manly scent.

His hands reached down and cupped her
buttocks and lifted her up to rub against him deliberately.
Allisande cringed to know a feeling of lust as the Viking held her
aloft, his determination to have her obvious and growing against
her thigh. She colored to know Mira’s assessment of his size was
accurate.

Allisande knew she had erred in leading on
the handsome Viking as he pressed her into the wall, showing her
just how aroused he was. She felt his hardness through her gown.
She struggled under his lips, aware of his hands touching her full
breasts now, and stroking her nipples with expert flicks of his
fingers as he tugged down her gown.

Allisande was ashamed to feel lust for him.
She panicked as a heated flush pervaded her loins as he lifted her
easily, and straddled her against the wall. If she did not stop him
now, he would take what she had unknowingly offered. She suspected
she would enjoy it very much.

His hands suddenly went to the fastenings of
his pants. She knew she had to stop him before things went too far.
She had only been curious about kissing another man, and desiring
information. He would take it further than she wanted without any
hesitation.

She used his distraction with his laces to
push him away at last, sliding down his aroused body, and pulling
up her gown huffily. She glared up at him as she stumbled backward,
her violet eyes glowing with anger as she righted herself.

“
You have overstepped yourself,
Viking!” Allisande hissed in a whisper, fearful of them being
discovered in the dark, and backed away from his purposeful intent
as he stepped towards her, his face flushed with desire. “It wasn’t
my intent to be tupped next to the rubbish bin, you oafish
knave!”

Rowan chuckled softly at her angry words as
he saw the raven-haired beauty had come to her senses at last. A
pity, he thought, for he would have dearly suffered Joran’s wrath
and inevitable challenge to finish what they started here.

She was exquisite, despite the barb of her
words. The taste of her was upon his lips, and he throbbed
painfully within his pants now, with little hope of conquering the
fiery English lady this night.

“
Name the place, Sweetface, and I will
take you there,” Rowan said thickly, his green eyes dark with
desire. “No one need know of it. I will not tell tales your master
will hear of. Come, lady, and lie with me. I will not tell any of
it, this I swear to you.”

“
I would know of it, and despise myself
for it later,” Allisande cried angrily, her eyes bright with tears
of shame. She turned after giving him a withering gaze, and without
another look reentered the kitchens, leaving him to cool his ardor
in the darkness alongside the longhouse.

Rowan wrinkled his nose as the stench of
rubbish met his senses, and looked down in disgust at the pile he
stood in with a grin. Allisande had so enflamed him; he hadn’t
realized where he had planted them both in his zeal to get under
her skirts.

Allisande was wary of him now. It was
doubtful he would get her alone again to pursue her once more. His
green eyes filled with longing as he remembered the feel of her in
his arms, and the intense desire she wrought within him.

He sighed as he decided to walk off his lust,
still reeling from the pleasurable interlude for much of the
evening. He decided Allisande was very much a lady indeed.

Collin eyed the Baron Luxtley darkly as he
tossed the note onto the table in front of him. The older man
flicked the note a wary look, and picked it up. He read it and
tossed it back down, his steely grey eyes looking sympathetic as
they met his.

“
It seems the Viking is most determined
to keep Lady Allisande, my boy,” Luxtley said and shook his graying
head sadly. “However will you meet such a price?”

“
You will give me half, and Ulsted the
other half!” Collin hissed and his violet eyes met his father’s
long-time friend coldly. “Or I go to the king and name you both as
conspirators in the planning and execution of the raids. I will get
my sister back, Luxtley. I will not let her languish as Ivarsson’s
whore while you two profit from your treachery. You have until
spring to meet my demands, and make no mistake of it; I will
collect from you both.”

“
Who do you think you are talking to,
boy?” Luxtley snarled, his face mottled with rage as he rose and
sputtered in outrage. “You would have your own lands stripped
should you go to the king! Your father may be dead, but you would
suffer for his part in this! One hundred pounds of silver for your
silence, you say?” He flung the note across the table. “Ivar is a
wily bastard! You will learn he cannot be trusted soon enough! The
ransom will be twice that high by springtime! He plays with you!
You will never see her again, my boy, if she even
lives.”

“
Your half will be paid, no matter the
price! You have done this to my sister and you will undo it, by
God, or I will ruin us all!” Collin grabbed the note, and stuffed
it back into his vest. “Make no mistake, I will have my sister
returned to her home and right this wrong. You can have the honor
of telling Ulsted what is expected of him now, for if I lay eyes on
the man, I just may just kill him myself. My sister lives! She will
come home!”

“
You would bring her back dishonored
and ruined by the Viking?” Luxtley argued and rounded the table in
his hall to face him determinedly. “Have you thought of her fate
should she return? I feel as badly as you do, for I cared a great
deal for your sister, but she will be ostracized, much like my own
sister was.”

“
Yes, and I have often wondered if Lady
Leonie knows you planned the raid on her husband’s home. Should I
tell her of it? You have made a great deal of gold off the
suffering of many. One hundred pounds of silver for my silence is
the least you can do to atone for your sins!” Collin struggled to
keep from striking the man he had once loved like a father. “You
will make this right. I do not blame the Vikings now as much as I
do you both. At least I know Ivar will give me back my sister once
he has the silver.”

“
Ivar will not give her back to you,
Collin. He does not want the silver either,” Luxtley said tiredly
and ran a shaking hand through his grey hair. “He seeks to divide
us into killing each other off, and save him the effort, don’t you
see? We betrayed him to stop the killing. He held our guilt over
our heads to keep us with him all those years. After what happened
to my sister, I could take it no more. I warned Harold it would
come to this in the end, but he wouldn’t listen. He thought we
could outsmart the man, and he was wrong.”

“
I want the ransom, and do not tell me
you do not have it, for we both know you do.” Collin remained
unmoved by the man’s words. “I have no choice but to take the
Viking at his word, for I know I cannot trust yours. Allisande will
come home. I will have half the ransom of you come spring, and I do
not care what price he levels. You both will pay it to keep your
crimes hidden.”

“
I have it, as well as Ulsted does, and
we will pay it gladly to keep your silence,” Luxtley said and shook
his head sadly. “You will realize too late he uses you against us,
Collin.”

“
I will have Allisande back home where
she belongs, tainted or not, and you both may go to Hell with Ivar,
for all I care!” Collin turned on his heal to leave the baron’s
presence.

“
Ivar will betray you in the spring,
Collin,” Luxtley said in prediction. “It is true that I planned the
raid upon Waltham, but it was Ivar himself who raped my own sister
that day to throw it in my face, and I could do nothing. Do you
think that was what I wanted? True, I detested her husband, but I
never meant for that to happen. That was never part of the plan,
don’t you see? He changes the rules to suit himself. He will drag
you and your sister down with him, mark me well. He will take the
silver, and he will leave your sister with his son.”

Collin refused to listen and stormed out of
the keep, mulling over his words with a worrisome frown as he rode
hard for Lockwraithe. He couldn’t afford to trust Luxtley in this
matter, knowing the man had been as deeply entrenched in this as
his father was.

He had no choice but to trust Ivar until he
had his sister home safe. If the Viking betrayed him, he would kill
him, he thought with a deadly glint in his eyes.

****

Allisande was still dwelling upon the
incident outside the kitchens as she made ready for bed. She closed
her eyes in disgust at her response to the handsome, mysterious
Viking. She had nearly let him take her in a rubbish pile! What
madness was this? She cringed as she lay in the darkness.

To his credit, Rowan hadn’t forced the issue
after she deliberately teased him. She needn’t be angry at him. She
was disturbed she could act so wantonly. The damnable man had
bedeviled her with his amazing looks, and his knowing touch and
kisses.

She punched the pillow in fury at how stupid
she had been to lead the man on. He wasn’t one to be satisfied with
mere kisses. She was fearful he would tell Joran of it now. She was
mortified to feel such agonized guilt at kissing another man, even
though she had refused him at the last moment. She felt like a
loose, immoral woman and was determined to atone for her sins. She
was determined she would not find herself alone with Rowan again in
the future. She decided she would rather not know if he could bring
her to the dizzying heights of passion she shared with Joran.

It was nearly dawn when Joran entered his
room, too tired from talk and drink to wonder why Allisande retired
so abruptly the night before. He grinned sleepily as he removed his
clothing, tossing all upon his chest as he joined her underneath
the furs, pulling her sleeping form into his arms.