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“How was your day, beautiful?” he asked, his normally intense features slack.
“Don’t talk to me,” she demanded.
“Don’t be that way,” he slurred and hiccupped loudly. “I’m sure you did a great job in your duties.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her closer. “Tell me allllll about it.”
“If you don’t get your hands off me right now, you’ll regret it.”
“Ah, how’s that for dampening the fun. Have some mead.”
He pressed the cup to her lips and lifted it, spilling the honey wine down her chin and the front of her dress. She shoved him, and he toppled over backwards, off the bench and onto the floor. His cup of mead tumbled out of his hand, liquid sloshing across the floor. He made things worse by laughing.
“I take it you don’t want any mead,” he said between chuckles.
She stood up from the table and flounced towards Eirick’s quarters.
Everyone in the room was laughing, rather at her expense or Reece’s she couldn’t be sure.
“You better get that woman under control, Eirick,” one of the warriors called. “She’ll have you wearing a dress before you know it.”
“I’ve tried, Sven, there ain’t no taming that one,” Reece claimed, right before Lara slammed the door.
A few moments later, Reece entered the room. Lara was sitting on the bed, tugging a comb through her hair. Apparently, Vikings combed their hair often. Few of them had naturally curly hair though. These combs were more like a torture device.
Reece sat down next to her on the bed and gave her a pitiful puppy dog look. “Are you mad at me?”
“You’re drunk,” she told him unnecessarily.
“That I am. Are you mad at me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Because you’re mad at me.”
She breathed a frustrated sigh. “Typical male response.”
“Give me the comb, I’ll help you,” he offered, taking pity on her and her tangled curls.
“No thanks. Go drink some more with your buddies.”
“But I want to be with you, Lara. That’s why I came in here.”
“It doesn’t seem that way,” she said.
“I love you.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Mouth puckered, he closed his eyes and leaned closer. And closer. And then fell over onto the bed with a loud snore.
“How very romantic,” she said to her unconscious bedmate. She sighed heavily and moved to remove his boots.
He grumbled a thank you when she rolled him into a more comfortable position on the bed and covered him with a quilt. She didn’t bother going to share the evening meal in the main hall. Instead, she blew out the candles and crawled into bed beside Reece. He spooned up against her immediately. She lay there tense for a moment and. When his only movement was to nuzzle her hair, she took his arm and wrapped it around her waist. She stared into the darkness for quite a while, thinking about her reaction to him. She hadn’t been mad about the rabbits or even his drinking, she decided. She had been mad because he hadn’t seemed to miss her half as much as she’d missed him.
She breathed a frustrated sigh. “Typical female response,” she murmured to herself just before she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 7
The next morning, Reece awoke to the uncomfortable effects of his alcohol overindulgence. He covered his eyes with his forearm and groaned. Lara sighed in her sleep and cuddled up against his side. His heart thudded as her small hand rubbed across his belly and then curled to clutch the fabric of his shirt.
“Reece,” she whispered.
Was she calling his name in her sleep? Dreaming about him? This was a good sign. He grinned and covered her hand with his. He had to be careful not to pressure her. He had learned the hard way not to tell an independent-minded woman what to do, not to even give her the impression that he was attempting to gain her cooperation. It had to be her idea for them to be together, not his. But he couldn’t help wanting her. Just when they’d forged their future together, she had been taken from him. And now he had her back. A year younger and a having no memory of him because as far as she knew, they’d never even met. That year of them falling in love would never exist for her. But he’d get to live it twice. Reece smiled to himself and then grimaced as some invisible blacksmith used his head to pound horseshoes flat.
He and Lara probably had one more day here before they leaped again. He never knew exactly when Carl would show up. Somewhere between 60 and 84 hours after arrival. Reece needed to stay close to Lara today in preparation. He was pretty sure they had to be touching to leap together and there was no way he was leaving her here with an uncouth Viking.
A loud rattle at the window, which was made of a semi-transparent, stretched animal hide, drew Reece’s attention. It looked rather gray and foreboding outside. The wind blew against the window in abandon. A storm had hit sometime in the night. And it was a perfect excuse to waste the day in bed with Lara at his side.
She stirred, stretching languorously.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he murmured.
She started, glanced around nervously and then lifted her head to look at him. “I thought this was all a bad dream.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
She smiled. “I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, just very overworked. I feel like I ran a marathon yesterday.”
“If we’re quiet, we can lay here all day and listen to the storm outside.”
“As if Thora, a.k.a. Slavedriver, will allow that,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“The whole house is quiet. I think everyone has the same idea,” he whispered.
Lara settled back beside him, gazing up at the ceiling. “What do we do with ourselves if we aren’t working our fingers to the bone?”
“We could get drunk. Tell stories. Make love.”
“All good for passing time.”
He rolled on his side and lifted onto one elbow, gazing down into her blue eyes. He winced at the jolt of pain that pulsated through his head.
“Hungover?” she asked.
“A little,” he admitted. “Are you hungry?”
“Starved.”
“Stay here. I’ll bring you some breakfast.”
She smiled. “That’s sweet of you.”
He rolled over her, and off the bed on the other side. “You know, I don’t even remember going to bed last night,” he said.
“You probably don’t remember what you said to me before you passed out then.”
He winced. Oh no, please, not that. Too soon for her to hear those words again. Please, not I love you. Anything but that. It will send her running in the opposite direction. Eyes closed, he asked, “What did I say?”
“You promised you’d milk the goat today.”
He chuckled. “I did? Are you sure? That doesn’t sound like something I’d promise.”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“If you say so, but you’ll have to show me how.”
“The trick is to make sure your hands are warm before you grab the teats.”
He laughed. “I can see why cold hands might be a problem.”
“For their size, goats really pack a wallop.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He crossed the room to the door and looked back at her before entering the main room of the longhouse. It was apparent why everyone was quiet. They were all nursing hangovers, and the storm that raged outside was of blizzard proportion, so there wouldn’t be much work getting done this morning. After a quick trip to the latrine, Reece grabbed a plate of cheese, bread, and smoked venison sausage, and a jug of water before he returned to the room. Lara was sitting on the edge of the bed, drawing a comb through her tangled curls.
He had a stirring of familiarity, as if he’d seen this before. Last night, perhaps? He wondered how much a fool he had proved himself to be while in his stupor. She was acting normally
though. Surely, he hadn’t behaved too improperly.
He sat down next to her and cut a piece of cheese from the small block. She reached for the serving, but he hid it behind his back.
“Open,” he prompted.
“I can feed myself, Jericho.”
“A bit testy this morning?”
“I don’t do helpless female.”
He was well aware of this. “I was in no way implying that you were helpless or female. Though, you would have a difficult time hiding that you’re female.”
“Are you always this irritating?”
“You do bring out the best in me, sweetheart.”
He set the piece of cheese on the edge of the plate. She grabbed it and popped it in her mouth.
“You could feed me,” he offered. He cut off a slice of venison sausage. She snitched it from the plate and crammed it in her mouth as well. Something was obviously bothering her. “So what did I say or do last night that has you so up at arms?”
