Page 14 of Lord of Fire and Ice

“I thought your honor wouldn’t allow you to let me beat you.” A feline smile played about her lips as she smacked her own palm with the soft switches.

“This isn’t a beating. Bear in mind I’m letting you go first so I’ll know how hard you’d like me to switch you in return.” He really tried to keep his gaze fixed on her face, but a bead of sweat trickled from her neck. He couldn’t help but follow its progress till it balanced on a taut nipple. “Do you want to start on the front or the back?”

“Turn around.”

He obeyed, spread his legs to shoulder width, and extended his arms out to the sides. The birch switches were so tender and supple and covered with wet, softened leaves, he barely felt the slaps on his calves. They stung pleasantly when she swatted his thighs and buttocks. His back tingled as she moved up to his shoulders and along each of his arms.

So long as he felt something, he didn’t need to think about his dead father or his enthrallment or anything else.

“Face me, but close your eyes,” she ordered.

He turned around and swept her form with a quick gaze. “Afraid I’ll like what I see, princess?”

“No, I’m afraid I’ll poke your eyes out,” she said with poisoned sweetness as she brandished the birch bundle. “Accidentally, of course.”

He clamped his eyelids shut.

The fresh scent of birch filled his nostrils as she slapped the bundle on each shoulder and across his chest. Blood surged in his veins, and his whole body thrummed with life as she moved down to his thighs.

When he opened his eyes, she was frowning at his cock, which had risen unbidden.

“I don’t have any way to stop that from happening when a beautiful na—” He caught himself before he said “naked.” It wouldn’t do to point out the obvious, even if her bare body was the cause of his erect state. “When a beautiful woman is lavishing attention on me.”

Color rose in her cheeks. Didn’t she know she was beautiful?

“Most people wouldn’t consider a switching lavish attention,” she said dryly. “It’s just part of your bath. Don’t make it something else.”

“I won’t if you won’t.” He took the bundle of birch from her and dipped it in the aromatic water so it would be cool and refreshing. “Turn around.”

She gave him her back and caught up her hair in one hand to bare her neck. He ached to plant a kiss on her nape at the hairline. She’d be salty and sweet and unbearably soft, but he’d given his word not to kiss her again without permission. Instead, he lightly tapped her shoulders with the birch and dragged the leaves across her skin. Her flesh glowed as he moved along each of her slender arms with glancing taps.

Then he switched across her back, moving quickly from side to side, careful only to invigorate her skin, not hurt her. He birched her bum with a little more pressure, as she had his. He smiled at her sharp intake of breath and enjoyed the rosy blush creeping over her rounded buttocks.

He moved down her thighs and sweetly curved calves. When he told her to turn around, he was a little surprised by the raggedness of his tone. He was no stranger to passion, but he hadn’t expected to want this woman so much. She was bossy and standoffish. And vulnerable beneath her hard outer shell. He’d seen glimpses of that softer Katla and ached to coax her out.

She closed her eyes. He wished she’d have left them open. He wanted her to watch him as he tried to delight her.

He flicked the birch across her breasts. Her nipples drew tight. He dragged the soft leaves around them in slow, teasing circles. Her lips parted. The slow rise and fall of her breasts with each deep breath was spellbinding. He forced himself to move on.

He feathered the leaves over her ribs and across her belly. He would have liked to tease the hairs on her sex with the supple switches. He’d trade a year in Valhalla to see this woman squirm. But she’d skipped over his groin, so he had to follow her lead if he wanted her to trust him. He stung her thighs till they pinked with glowing health, and worked his way down her shins.

Then he stood upright. Her eyes were still closed, so he drank her in from head to toe. He’d desired many women, but he’d never ached so for one. Perhaps it was the lure of the unobtainable. Katla was his owner, his mistress.

Well beyond his reach.

She opened her eyes.

He reached for her in spite of the difference in their stations. Naked in the bath house, they were only a man and a woman.

She put a hand to his chest to stop him.

“I think we’ve had enough heat.”

Even though he was almost certain she desired him as much as he did her, she turned and headed toward the cooling room. Her pink bum cheeks undulated, a beckoning summons, as she walked away from him.

A wise man would listen when a woman turns him down, he could almost hear his friend Harald saying. A wise man wouldn’t follow his cock every time it took notion to lead.

Brandr grinned as he trailed Katla into the cooling room.