Page 75 of Viking in Love

Hey, I have done this about a thousand times, and I never knew, either.

He turned them so that her back was against the wall. Glancing downward, he saw her short curls intermixed with his, like black and red fleece, spun together. Cradling her face in trembling hands, he whispered against her open mouth, “You make me breathless with need.”

“Any ready female would do, I warrant.”

I wish that were so. “Nay. Just you. This is naught like anything I have ever experienced afore. Believe that, if naught else.”

“What does it mean?” she asked.

It means I am sinking fast in quicksand…and loving it. He could not answer because his lower body had taken over. Long, slow thrusts that quickly became short and hard, pummeling her against the door.

“Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh…” she keened with each stroke.

Passion licked through his body. His senses reeled. He was consumed with his want of her.

She was equally abandoned. He could see by her eyes, which were large and liquid, by her wails of pleasure, and by the way she arched her hips forward against his belly, then matched his rhythm, undulation for undulation.

’Twas a wonder that he was able to pull out at the last moment before spilling his seed inside her womb. It was a wonder, as well, that he really, really wanted to stay, to throw caution to the wind, to be fulfilled totally as men were meant to be.

He helped her to stand on wobbly legs, then leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips. Next he pulled up and laced his breeches. She still stared at him, stunned. He loved that he could stun her. Adjusting her gown, he kept kissing her, unable to stop. Finally, when he was about to drop the hem of her gunna back down, he heard a crackling sound.

“What is that?”

“Hmmmm?” she said dreamily.

He chuckled. “Breanne! You must get control of yourself afore you go back into the hall. In truth, I heard one of the children knocking on the door, looking for you.” More like all the children, but she does not need to know that.

“Oh, my gods! What must everyone think?”

That I have been swiving you silly? “No one will have noticed your absence, except mayhap one of the children, and they are too young to know what we were about.” Hah! My children were born knowing all the things they should not.

She pulled a small cloth sack out of a side placket in her gown, squeezing it to indicate that this was the source of the crackling noise. “Amicia gave it to me. Rashid gave it to her.”

“And?”

“It prevents conception.”

“What? Oh, this is too much, even for you. Dost mean it kills the babe in the womb? Toss it away.”

“Nay. Mixed in hot water with a dollop of honey to mask its taste, it prevents a man’s seed from fertilizing a woman’s egg, or so Rashid told Amicia.”

Caedmon smiled.

“’Tis no laughing matter.” She moved to the other side of the small room, trying her best to smooth her gown and finger comb her hair.

“I agree, but ’tis a joyous matter if the powder works. Just think, I could engage in sex the way God intended.” And no more babies, thank you, God!

“I do not think God intended people to prevent birthing babies.”

How like a woman! Give a man a gift, then take it back. “Why would God have invented such herbs if not to be used?”

“You have a point, I suppose. And, leastways, it is not some lackwit idea about apples.”

God’s toenails! She knows about THAT? “Hey, ’twas not my idea, and I ne’er tried it, either. Geoff told the men of that practice. In any case, I must needs get back to the shire court afore they bring me up for neglect of duty,” he told her. Opening the door, he let her go through first, then smacked her on her bottom.

“What was that for?”

“Just to remind you. Drink a cup of that brew this afternoon. In fact, drink five cups. One for each time I will be—”