Page 80 of The Very Virile Viking

He heard Carmen murmur under her breath to Angela, "Maybe this brute isn't so bad, after all."

"Magnus, this is Gunther Morgan."

Instead of extending a hand, Gunther said in a snarl, "What shield?"

"The one that goes with this sword," Magnus said, drawing his weapon out of the pottery jar in the corner.

"I need a cigarette. Badly," Grandma Rose said, and scurried away to the kitchen.

"I need a cigarette, and I don't even smoke," Carmen said, and followed Grandma Rose.

That left just him and Angela and the stranger.

"I could have you arrested for assault," Gunther threatened, puffing his thick chest out in a bullish manner.

" 'Twould be hard to prove when you are trespassing, would it not?" Magnus said in an equally threatening manner, even as he fingered the sharp blade on his sword.

"Now stop it, both of you," Angela insisted, stepping between them. "Gunther is a neighbor. He heard about the fire, and… and…"

"And what?" Magnus addressed his question to Gunther.

"I made an offer to purchase Blue Dragon, if you must know. It's not the first time, but frankly it's foolish for these two women to hang on here. Everyone knows the place is in financial ruin, and that fire last night should be the last straw, I would think." His words dwindled off as he realized that Magnus and Angela were staring at him with hostility.

"How convenient—and offensive—that you would make another offer the day after our loss!" Angela said with a snarl.

"I was just trying to be helpful."

"If you want to be helpful, get your sorry arse out of here," Magnus said. "Angela doesn't need your money." If Magnus knew for sure that this man was responsible for the damage last night, he would attack him with his bare hands. But he needed proof… proof he would get eventually. For now he demanded, "Depart, or you will do so on the tip of my boot."

"Who the hell are you? A new foreman?"

"Nay, I am…"

He saw the fear in Angela's eyes that he would reveal they were lovers. That subtle insult he would have to ponder later.

"… I am Angela's… new investor."

A woman's world…

That evening Angela found herself in a most uncomfortable position. She was teaching two young girls about sanitary protection.

Magnus was out in the vineyard with the boys and some hired security personnel, setting up twenty-four-hour patrols for the property. Grandma was rocking Lida to sleep in the adapted nursery…

which was the former sewing room. And she was in her own bedroom instructing Dagny and Kirsten on the differences between tampons and sanitary napkins. They seemed awfully young, but even twelve-year-old Dagny had already had her first period. It must have been hard for both of them, not having a mother around at that important time.

"These are so easy to use," Dagny said, coming out of the adjoining bathroom. "And you say that we can just throw the soiled ones into the trash… wrapped in some toilet tissue?"

Angela nodded.

Kirsten was turning the tampon over and over in her hands, trying to figure out how it correlated with the instructions that came in the box.

"Maybe you should save those till you're a little older," Angela advised. "Just use the napkin."

Kirsten seemed relieved that she wouldn't have to use such an invasive product.

The girls, both of them, were adorable, really, with their blond braids and wide blue eyes. Even in jeans and Tshirts, they were Norse to the bone.

"What did you girls use before, if you didn't have sanitary napkins?"