Page 57 of Kiss of Wrath

“I will remind you of that question in an hour,” Mordr said.

The instant he opened the door, all eyes turned to them.

“Whoa! Who are they?” Sam said, pointing at Mordr’s brothers, who followed behind him.

Ruff’s head shot up and he galloped toward them. Mordr stepped aside and Ruff hit Harek full-on, almost knocking him to the ground. Standing on its hind legs, the dog proceeded to lick Harek’s lips.

“Yuck!” Harek said. “The beast must like the taste of beer.”

“Or else he just thinks you are a female dog,” Mordr commented.

“He better not hump my leg.” Harek laughed, trying to turn his face away from the slobbering tongue.

Ruff paused, as if considering Harek’s words.

“I hope this is not your guard dog,” Cnut remarked to an amused Miranda, who was sitting in a lounging chair where she had been trying to read a book.

Cnut’s voice drew Ruff’s attention. Giving up on Harek, he jumped on Cnut, and backed him up against the house where he began to give his mouth equal attention, accompanied by loud ruff-ruffs between licks.

“Do not dare laugh,” Cnut warned Mordr.

“Daddy never laughs,” Linda said, latching on to Mordr’s thigh with her usual pose of adoration.

“She thinks every man she meets is her father,” Mordr tried to explain to his disbelieving brothers.

“Yippee! Wait ’til I tell Johnny Severino we have three Viking nannies, not just one,” Larry chirped in and did a little dance that involved thrusting hips and pumping arms. He and Armod would get along well, sharing dance moves.

“I am not a nanny,” Mordr declared.

“House manager,” Maggie corrected with a rolling of her eyes at her brothers, implying that it didn’t make any difference but to appease Mordr’s feelings.

“You are not telling Johnny or anyone else about the doings in our house,” Miranda said, coming up to stand beside Mordr and his brothers.

Immediately, he was enveloped by the scent of lilies and cloves. He glanced at his brothers, but they didn’t seem to notice anything. At first.

But then Harek asked, “What?”

“Why do you look as if you swallowed a sour apple?” Cnut added Mordr.

“He always looks like he swallowed a sour apple,” Miranda contributed.

“Not always,” Mordr told her, thus getting in the last word.

Or so he thought.

“Would you like me to get an ice pack for your mouth, Mordr?” she asked sweetly. “Your lips are all swollen and bruised.”

Ben hitched up his short braies, which were hanging so low his arse crack was exposed. Undaunted, he sauntered toward them and asked Mordr’s brothers, “Are you going to help us dig a swimming pool?”

“Uh,” Cnut and Harek said.

“We are not digging our own swimming pool,” Miranda inserted quickly.

“A longboat then. They can help us build a longboat,” Sam suggested. “Mordr said he would.”

“I did not!” Mordr asserted.

“You didn’t say that you wouldn’t,” Sam asserted right back.