“No!” she cried out, trying to wrench herself away from the man. She had been right, Oswald had come back for her, to exert his revenge for the humiliation inflicted upon him. But how? How had he gotten to her? She pushed at him with all her might. “No! Let me go!”
“Hush, Saxon. It’s all right. It’s only me.”
Saxon.
Gytha stilled. Only one person called her that. Relief flooded through her. The man holding her was not Oswald, it wasHaakon. Of course. He’d stayed overnight, precisely to protect her. Her whole body went limp.
As long as he was here, everything would be all right.
“Sorry, I-I heard…”
“Yes. I did as well, which is why I came to reassure you.”
It was only then that she realized she was still cradled in his arms—and he was bare chested. Even if she had not seen it in the blue moonlight, she would have felt it. His skin was soft as buckskin against her cheek, covered with short, silky smooth hairs. Irresistible. So irresistible that her hand started to move of its own accord. Mm, yes. Her throat began to vibrate and what could only be described as a lust-filled moan built in her throat. The muscles under her palm bunched when it finally passed her lips and a warm hand imprisoned her wrist, keeping it tight against him.
“Gytha. Please. Stop.”
If we don’t stop right now I’m going to rip your clothes off and impale you on my cock.
Did she want to stop? She wasn’t sure. Should she? Probably. Could she make the decision and push him away? It wasn’t?—
Bang!
Another awful, bone-jarring noise cut through her thoughts.
“Fuck, whatisthis thing?” Haakon hissed between clenched teeth. He sounded just as aggravated as she felt, though she wasn’t sure it was due to worry or the fact that their embrace had been interrupted before they could see where it might lead. “Stay in your room, I’ll go and check.”
He let her go, and she felt the loss of his warmth deep in her bones. Doing as she had been instructed, she went back to her room, closed the door and waited, a blanket draped around her shoulders for heat.
It was not long before Haakon came back. When he entered the room, Gytha forgot to breathe. The gold light thrown bythe dying flames of the brazier sculpted his chest in a way the glow of the moon had not. The first had softened the edges, the second was bringing every muscle into sharp contrast. How could anyone look so strong, so perfect? She was certain not a single muscle was showing in her own body, whereas his arms, his shoulders, his stomach, everything was delineated.
“What do you do all day?” she whispered in awe.
He frowned, clearly confused by the question. “All day? I was only gone a moment, to see what the noise was.”
Yes, of course, only she had meant, ‘what do you do all day to have acquired such a physique?’ She knew he was no raiding warrior honing his body by pillaging the land, thank God. So how did he?—
“A shutter from the house next door.”
“Pardon me?” Her gaze fluttered back to his face. Had he been talking?
“A shutter from the house next door had become loose. And the wind has picked up. It was sending it crashing against the wall. That was what we heard, perhaps what Alfred heard last night as well. But I’ve secured it now.” He looked at her strangely, as if fearing she was losing her mind. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m all right. Only, the moonlight did not show the same thing as the fire.”
He shook his head. Apparently this answer had mystified him. Which was a relief, because she hadn’t meant to say this out loud.
“Get back to bed, Gytha.”
Gytha. Not Saxon. She nodded.
The moment had well and truly passed.
Haakon was doing his best to be sensible and do what should be done but never had any man’s resolve been more sorely tested. Gytha was standing in the middle of the room with herhair in disarray, her naked feet and calves exposed to his view, and a blanket draped around her delicate body. That was bad enough. But the way she was looking at him with those big, green eyes was threatening to snap the last shred of his control.
Was she even fully awake? Her eyes were dazed, she was talking of moonlight and fire and was under the impression that he’d been gone all day. He had heard of people who wandered about in their sleep, and had no recollection of what they had done in the morning. Well, if she wasn’t thinking clearly, that was all the more reason for him to get the hell out of here before he made a mistake.
“I’ll go back to my furs,” he said curtly.
