Page 110 of The Reluctant Viking

Ruby didn’t see how that could be. For hours she wrestled with all the questions swirling in her brain, unable to come up with answers that would satisfy her heart, as well as her morality. Finally she cried herself to sleep but tossed restlessly, not knowing if Thork would be gone when she awakened in the morning. In the middle of the night, she dreamt of him.

His feather-soft caresses swept her from neck to toe. Her breasts swelled and ached under the soft, circular caresses of his callused palms. The wet tip of his tongue traced the crevices of her ear and plunged inside, then repeated its sensuous path again and again. Soft, wet lips suckled her breasts, and practiced fingers teased her nether folds until they opened and swelled for him.

So lifelike was the dream that Ruby could smell the masculine scent of his warm skin, and his lips tasted of raging passion and virile man. Was it Jack or Thork? Whoever! To Ruby, he was the consummate dream lover.

When the firm lips played their sweet music on Ruby’s mouth, entreating her to open for his more sensual assault, she tried to moan, but the sound was caught by hungry kisses that alternated between gentle coaxing and deep, ravaging plunges.

“I love you, heartling.”

The softly whispered, precious words drifted on the air and penetrated Ruby’s dreams. She awakened immediately.

Ruby found Thork lying over her, naked. She leaned into his long fingers which gently stroked wisps of hairs back off her forehead. Her first reaction, though, was fear for his safety. “Thork, are you crazy? Hrolf will kill you if he finds you here.”

“Where?” He grinned and buried himself in her dream-readied sheath with one long stroke. “Here?”

Ruby gasped. The exquisite pleasure of the hot melding of their two bodies caused shudders to ripple across her skin like the fluttering of a million birds’ wings. Purring, she pulled Thork closer by wrapping her thighs around his waist.

Braced on his elbows with head reared back over tautly stretched neck muscles, Thork held himself immobile inside her body’s tight clasp, unable to move. Through gritted teeth, he finally asked with a devilish laugh, “Shall I leave?”

“Don’t…you…dare!” Ruby warned hoarsely and arched her hips, welcoming him with all the love and unsatisfied yearning she’d built up during the past week of separation. Threading her fingers through his long hair, she pulled his face down to hers and moved her lips back and forth until she’d shaped his mouth for her gentle kiss.

“I love you, Thork. Always. I’ve missed you so.”

With her soft words, Thork lost control and plummeted her with his deeply felt, unspoken emotions. “Rube…oh, sweet…oh, Lord, oh, Lord…let me…please…aaargh!” he murmured disjointedly until he reached his soul-shattering climax, taking Ruby over the edge of eternity with him on a flight of pure bliss.

When they lay spent and gasping for breath in each other’s arms, Ruby traced the silky hairs on his chest with a forefinger and whispered against his lips, “I thought I was dreaming of you at first, Thork. I thought you said you loved me, and it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. That’s what awakened me.” Questioningly, she raised her eyes to his face, now relaxed in the afterglow of their sweet loving. She saw conflicting emotions battle in his tense facial muscles, even as he drew her closer in the crook of his arm.

For several long moments, Thork said nothing. Ruby could feel a nervous pulse in his neck beat erratically. His heart thundered under her palm, still racing from the excitement of their lovemaking.

He inhaled deeply and began to speak, running his palm caressingly over her shoulder as he spoke, “I am not sure I believe in love or that I am capable of such an emotion anymore.” He stopped and turned her face so that he could see her eyes. He continued in a thickened voice, “Yea, I said the words, but they just slipped out. I do not even know if I meant them.” He grinned sheepishly and admitted, “The words did feel good in the saying, though.”

Tears of joy filled Ruby’s eyes and misted her vision. “Oh, Thork, I love you, too.” She rolled over on top of him then, bracing her arms on either side of his face so she could see his face more clearly. With a quick brush of her lips, she urged, “Will you say the words again? Oh, please, honey, I need to hear you say them.”

Holding her eyes, Thork lifted her above him and lowered her onto his manhood, which had hardened again on their soft caresses and sweet words. When she straddled him, forging their bodies as one with her heat, Thork rasped out, “I love you, sweetling.”

“Again,” Ruby demanded as she moved on him.

“I love you, sweetling.”

“Again,” she gasped as Thork took hold of her hips and set his own rhythm.

“I…love…you…ah!…no, do not stop…yes, there…I…love…,” he jerked out brokenly.

To the tune of those whispered words and others, said over and over between them, Ruby and Thork pledged a love for each other that they swore would never end.

“I will love you till I die,” Thork swore on one long, slow endless stroke that ended with her keening wail and his low, prolonged, throat-wrenched growl.

“Thork, wait a minute. I need to…I…oh oh oh!…I can’t stand any more…please,” Ruby said brokenly as each of his deep thrusts took her to a new plane of mounting tension.

“Rube!” Thork exclaimed softly when he reached his shuddering peak. “We can make it work!”

Jack’s words! Ruby blinked dazedly, not sure if it was Thork or Jack who spoke the familiar words to her. Truly, she no longer knew or cared. Fate had put her in this time and place. Surely, this man was her destiny. On that hazy thought, Ruby snuggled closer in Thork’s embrace and fell into a deep sleep.

They awoke at dawn to a loud pounding, followed by the harsh noise of wood splintering as Hrolf’s massive frame broke through the locked door. Three armed retainers and Poppa followed him into the room.

Their naked bodies told a story that inflamed Hrolf. He spit out a string of expletives, then snarled, “You bloody bastard! You are Harald’s son through and through. Stand so I can put a knife through your traitorous heart.”

“No!” Ruby screamed, and stood with a fur wrapped around her nakedness. “Don’t hurt him. He came because I wanted him here.”