Page 77 of The Reluctant Viking

“Tsk tsk! You have not given up yet, have you, child?” Aud chastised her in a soft-spoken voice.

“How can I? I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.” Ruby shrugged.

“You may have whatever fabrics you need, but this gem is worth much more than the few trifles you mentioned.” She handed it back to Ruby. “Make another set of your lingerie for me. That will be payment enough.”

Ruby agreed, thankful for Aud’s generosity.

“What do you want to cook in my kitchen?”

Ruby grinned impishly. “I’m going to make Thork a cheeseburger for his dinner with baklava for dessert.”

“After he treated you so, you would cook a meal for him?” Aud chided Ruby, indicating the marks on her arms.

“I intend to wear him down with all his favorite things. I’ll conquer him with kindness.” Ruby pressed her lips together in determination.

“Afeard I am to ask why you need the fabrics.”

“I’m going to try to duplicate a gift my husband gave to me once. He bought it from Frederick’s of Hollywood before I started my own lingerie company.” Ruby rolled her eyes meaningfully. “The garment was a fitted black silk and lace teddy with a strapless, push-up bustier top and sides cut up practically to the hip bone.”

Aud stared at her in open-mouthed amazement as she began to understand exactly what Ruby planned.

Chapter Fourteen

Dar’s storage room was a treasure trove of exquisite fabrics, jewelry, tapestries, carpets, sterling and gold objects. Ruby controlled her impulses and selected only those items she really needed.

First she chose black silk and lace for her own teddy, along with thread and one precious needle. Then she cut lengths of blue, yellow, red and white silk to be made into lingerie for Aud and for the bartering required in subsequent steps of her plan.

She found a piece of flexible whalebone buried in the back of the room beneath two ivory tusks, probably intended for a craftsman. She needed the whalebone for support under the cups of her bustier and to tuck in and accentuate her waist.

Before they left the room, Ruby noticed a bolt of the finest midnight blue wool she’d ever seen. She touched it lovingly, knowing it would match Thork’s eyes perfectly. She pictured in her mind a full-length cloak with embroidery along the edges, perhaps in a thunderbolt design like his earring.

She dropped the soft fabric regretfully. Her arms were already loaded with the items she’d selected. This would be asking too much of Aud’s generosity.

Aud smiled knowingly. “For Thork?”

Ruby nodded.

“Why stop now?” Aud handed her the fabric, with a sardonically raised eyebrow.

Ruby gave her a quick hug as they left the room. She didn’t get a chance to make the meal that afternoon as she’d planned because she spent so much time in the village bartering with a woodworker and a leather worker for some items she needed made. Both had young wives who practically drooled over the sample lingerie set she’d brought, urging their reluctant husbands to do the required work in an almost impossibly short time so they could have their own custom-made underwear. Ruby’s task was made more difficult because she had no paper to explain her ideas and had to draw with a stick in the dirt.

On the way back, she made Vigi stop with her in a small orchard where she saw ripe peaches hanging from a number of trees. She picked a dozen of the biggest, most succulent ones. When she got back to the keep, she washed them at the well, found a round basket in the kitchen and asked Ella to take the gift up to Thork’s bedchamber and put it on the table near his bed.

Ella grumbled at her task. “Seems to me ’twould have more meaning if you sent him a basket of cherries. Sour ones, no doubt!”

Ruby asked Aud if she could use the table in her weaving shed to cut her patterns since her own tower room was so small and poorly lit. She worked for hours until the light dwindled, then went into the keep to prepare for dinner. Vigi was livid at having to follow her around on her woman’s work.

She hadn’t seen Thork all day and was almost reluctant to run into him now. His anger when he’d left her the night before didn’t bode well for how he’d treat her today.

Thork was madder than hell, and everyone around him that day knew it. He almost bit off his grandfather’s head when he merely asked how things had gone with Ruby the night before. He nicked Selik’s forearm with his sword during maneuvers. His spear broke during target practice because he’d thrust too hard. He noticed wryly that no one walked back to the keep with him before dinner that afternoon. When he got to the bailey, he called out to Tykir to get some soap and linens and meet him at the pond. “Let us see about that swimming lesson I promised you.”

Tykir’s face lit up like a candle. If he had been a dog, he would probably have wagged his tail, Thork thought guiltily. All because he had shown him a tiny speck of attention. Thor’s blood! I cannot allow myself to start feeling guilty over my sons, or I will never be able to leave them behind.

Before he left the courtyard, he called Eirik to him. The boy almost jumped out of his skin at having his father address him in front of his hesirs. “Eirik, I understand you boast of your swimming abilities. Come with us. We shall see what a fish you are.”

Eirik smiled from ear to ear like a dimwit.

Thork’s heart lurched. I better get the hell out of here and back to Jomsborg while I still can. But he was so damned tired of the pretense. Let people think what they would of his taking two orphan boys for a swim.