Page 43 of The Very Virile Viking

Despite all that, she had let him kiss her. Worse, she had kissed him back.

What could I have been thinking?

I wasn't thinking. That's the problem.

Maybe it's a good thing to toss logic to the wind sometimes. To listen to my heart, instead of my brain.

Maybe I'm engaged in a little morning-after rationalization.

I don't even know the man.

I knew the Creep for two years before we got married; so that shoots that argument full of holes.

Why am I arguing with myself?

Angela ran her hands over the front of her cotton sleep shirt and stopped at her breasts. They felt full and achy, and the nipples were still tender from Magnus's fondling. Oh, the things he had done! Whether he was a farmer or a Viking or a movie actor, one thing was certain: the man was a supreme lover. He knew things about pleasing a woman. If he could bring her such pleasure fully clothed, imagine what he might do if they really made love.

Moving her hands lower, she put a palm over her lower belly, where an unfulfilled emptiness existed that hadn't been there twenty-four hours ago. Last night was not nearly enough, she realized.

So much for good intentions. So much for her and Magnus agreeing that there could be no repeat of that kind of sex play between them. The bottom line was, she wanted him—more today than she had last night… and that had been a lot. How could she have been so blind to what was happening?

With crystal clarity, she admitted to herself, I am attracted to a man who claims to be a Viking, and a farmer. And he has eleven children .

Criminy! Could her life get any worse than this?

La vida loca, for sure …

The house was empty by the time Angela had showered and dressed in her usual Blue Dragon attire—jeans, athletic shoes, and a T-shirt… a stretchy one that read, Wine Away !

She heard soft singing coming from the kitchen. It was Juanita, and she was singing, of all things, "La Vida Loca." So the house wasn't totally empty after all.

The Blue Dragon kitchen was huge, with commercial appliances and a ten-foot oak pedestal table in the center to accommodate all the entertaining that had been done here at one time.

She did a double take as she entered the kitchen. Juanita—the short, elderly, plump cook—was doing a cha-cha from the stove to the sink and back again, all the time singing that old Ricky Martin song.

Juanita's audience was a laughing Lida, who was perched happily in a wooden high chair, which Grandma must have brought down from the attic. The baby was keeping time with Juanita's singing and dancing by banging a spoon on the wooden tray, where a dish of mashed bananas sat, half-eaten. The other half was on Lida's drool-covered chin.

"Goo," Lida said, noticing her arrival.

"Good morning, sweetheart." She leaned down to kiss Lida on the top of her head. Angela went immediately to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup. "Good morning to you, too, Juanita."

"Good morning," Juanita answered cheerily, and stopped cha-chaing… for the moment, anyway. "I will make you a big breakfast… just like when you were a little girl. Ho-kay?"

"Not too big," she protested.

"Okey-dokey!"

Okey-dokey? Jeesh!

"A little breakfast then," Juanita said, and managed to whip up within minutes a Spanish omelette with whole-wheat toast, home fries, fresh sliced tomatoes, and orange juice. Angela ate every bit of it.

In between bites, some of which managed to get in Lida's mouth, too, Angela asked, "Where is everyone?"

"Well, Magnus was up at four—"

"Four! Are you kidding me?" The men whom Angela knew—especially the Hollywood types—slept till noon and partied or business-schmoozed all night.

"I am not kidding. He was up at four and was out weeding and hoeing your grandma's vegetable garden when me and Miguel got up at five. Jow was there with him. That man sure does know a lot about growing things. Didn't know what a tomato was, which is strange. Or a potato. Everyone knows tomatoes and potatoes. But he knew to pull the suckers off some plants, leave them on others. Which plants need transplanting to get more sun or shade. Which plants got too much fertilizer. That kind of thing. Have some more coffee, honey."