Page 84 of Truly, Madly Viking

"Really."

"So what were you thinking about so seriously then?"

"I was thinking that mayhap living in this godforsaken country and time might not be so bad. I was thinking that perchance my mother was right when she said home is where the heart is. She was answering my question at the time as to how she—a highborn Saxon lady—could adapt so easily to the harsh northern climate and a vastly different culture. And finally I was thinking—and this scared me mightily—that your home is becoming too much like home to me."

Tears welled in Maggie's eyes. "Oh, Joe, that's the nicest thing you could have said."

"So you think, but how will I ever be able to depart this land if my affections grow so strong? All this time, I have been heeding your cautions not to let your daughters get too close, for fear of the hurt they would suffer once I leave which I must do inevitably—but not once did I realize that I was being pulled into this selfsame net."

My affections... Maggie homed in on those words of Joe's. What did he mean by that? Suddenly she recalled blurting out to Joe, in the midst of their lovemaking earlier tonight, that she loved him. Had he heard her? Did her words bother him? Was he trying to tell her, indirectly, that he returned her affection?

She couldn't help herself. Maggie asked, "Are you in love with me, Joe?"

"Pfff! How would I know? I have never been in love afore."

"Some men claim that if you have to ask the question, then you're not."

"Ha! Most men don't know their manroot from a beet root." He sighed deeply. "All I know is that I go breathless just looking at you. Is that love? I could swive you till my cock falls off. Is that love? When you leave a chamber, even for a few minutes, I miss you. Is that love? My heart swells almost to bursting when I watch you with your daughters. Is that love? I want to do things to you that no man has ever done or contemplated. Is that love? I want to protect you with my shield from all harm. I want to stop all men from gazing at you. I want to see... I want to see you..." He was unable to finish his litany.

Maggie was weeping openly now. "You want to see me what?"

He reached beneath the covers and placed a hand over her belly. "I want to see my babe growing in your womb."

That afternoon, they decided to go yule shopping.

Mag-he claimed she needed to buy some last minute gifts to put under the tree—Odd practice, that but he suspected she wanted to get him out of her house, lest he try to teach her more tricks in bedplay.

Smart lady.

He yielded to her wishes readily because he was thinking he should buy some gifts, as well. The Norse people did not celebrate Christmas, as such, though they welcomed any opportunity for feasting and gift giving. But mostly Jorund agreed to go shopping with Mag-he because he did not want her to become bowlegged. Ha, ha, ha, he thought. A little Viking humor. Quite frankly, he did not want his manpart to fall off from overuse—Ha, ha, ha! A lot of Viking humor.

She was driving her car, and he was sitting in the passenger seat, strapped in. He was going to have to learn to drive if he stayed in this land much longer. Driving a car was a necessity here, much as riding a horse or a longship was in his time.

"Did you hear me?" she asked.

Oh, she must have been talking while he'd been humoring himself. Too much swiving must turn a man's brain to gruel. On the other hand, was there such a thing as too much swiving?

"I said, I think we'll skip the mall."

"Methinks we should skip the shopping and stop at McDonald's. My stomach is growling."

"Your stomach is always growling. We are not going to McDonald's again. If you eat many more Big Mac's and french fries, you're going to turn into a clown... a Ronald McDonald clown."

"Shopping is women's work," he grumbled.

"And a man's work would be... ?"

"War." Then he waggled his eyebrows at her. "And swiving."

"Why did I ask?" She shook her head at him, as if he were hopeless. "Anyhow, we're going to the Strand historical district. Besides, you already went shopping at the mall with Beth and Suzy the night I had a staff meeting at Rainbow."

"And ne'er did my feet hurt so much in all my life. Those girls must have stopped at every blessed trading stall in the entire mall. And I swear, if I hear 'Jingle Bells' one more time, I may just throw up the contents of my stomach."

"The girls told me you had a good time," she pointed out with a smile. "They said you even had a long conversation with Santa Claus."

"Santa Claus! Oh, I am glad you brought up the subject. That fat, old, white-bearded fraud! You'd never catch me wearing a red suit, not even if I owned a set of flying reindeer. Do you really believe in the Santa Claus myth? Do you?"

"Well, I certainly believe in the spirit of Christmas."