Page 54 of Kiss of Wrath

“You could not get us out of here with a war horse and a battering ram. Not until we see you interacting with your five children and your life mate. A redhead! You never used to like red-haired wenches.” On hearing Mordr’s growl of displeasure, Harek added, “Potential life mate.”

Mordr stiffened and gritted his teeth, barely controlling the urge to put a fist in both of their smirking faces. “They are not my children, and Miranda is not my life mate.”

“Uh-huh,” the two lackwits agreed, clearly not agreeing at all.

“You know what Mike said after Ivak wed Gabrielle. No more human emotional attachments for us vangels,” Mordr said.

“I think what Mike said was, no more sex with humans,” Cnut corrected.

“No, you are both wrong,” Harek contended. “No more life mates for vangels.”

“Same thing,” Cnut grumbled.

Mordr felt like pulling his hair out, one strand at a time.

After drinking their beers and catching up on vangel news, Mordr led the two of them down the hall and into the kitchen, where Miranda was bent over, taking two loaves of bread out of the oven. The pies were already cooling on wire racks.

“Something smells yummy,” Cnut said.

“Something looks yummy,” Harek said.

Mordr’s jaw dropped. Yummy? Since when did Vikings use such ridiculous words?

In an undertone to Mordr, Harek added, “Great rump!” And he wasn’t talking about the meat.

Miranda had changed from her dress to a pair of short braies that reached mid-thigh and a sleeveless blouse. Just as well. He did not want his brothers speculating about that bow on her dress. As he had, for his sins! He also didn’t want them surveying her body in the skimpy attire with lustsome intentions.

He gave both of his brothers warning looks, but all he said aloud was, “Is there anything more ludicrous than a hulksome Viking male using the word yummy?”

“Did you just call your brothers hunks?” Miranda asked.

“No! I called them hulks. You know, big, clumsy oafs.”

“Like you?” Harek asked with mock innocence.

“Precisely.”

“Uh-oh! I see a problem already,” Cnut said, peering out the window.

“What? What have those kids done now?” Miranda was tugging off a pair of oven mitts, about to storm out the door.

“Not the children,” Cnut said quickly. “The backyard. It is a security risk.”

“Still?” Mordr asked. “I thought wiring up the fence to the home alarm system and motion detectors would be enough.”

Miranda had one hand over her chest and a hand braced on the table, as if she was having trouble breathing. Harek was sitting at the table, tapping away at a small electronic device he must have pulled from an inside pocket of his cloak.

“You are not to fear,” Mordr assured Miranda. “Cnut is an expert in security. If there is a problem, he can fix it.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother, but I’m not so sure that moving to another, more secure location wouldn’t be easier and safer, at least temporarily.”

“Out of the question!” Miranda exclaimed. “These children have been moved around too much already. They need stability.”

“She doesn’t like to disrupt the children’s lives,” Mordr explained, which caused Harek to glance up from his work and Cnut to raise his eyebrows. Belatedly, he realized that he sounded like he knew Miranda really well when, in fact, he had been here for only a little over one day. Putting that aside, he went over to the window and stood gazing outward with Cnut. “What is the problem?”

“The fence would suffice for keeping out intruders, but those houses in the neighborhood are too close.” Cnut pointed to a three-story dwelling that was located across the backyard and over several houses, facing another street. “A villain could stand on that roof with a high-powered weapon and do great bodily harm. At the least, using a cheap pair of binoculars, he could watch all the movements around your house.”

“How would Roger get up on the Sullivans’ roof?” Miranda scoffed, although she had to be thinking about Mordr being up on her roof earlier today, facing in another direction.