Page 96 of The Very Virile Viking

Oh, really? Try to stop me. "We can discuss that some other time. What Harry and his troop have discovered thus far is very alarming. Not only did Gunther probably set fire to your vineyard, but he has sabotaged your good standing with bankers in the area. If you had gone to them for a loan to recover your losses, you would have been denied."

"Oh, no!"

"He is the one who lured your winemaker away, as well. He found him employment in the Franklands.

'Twas he who conspired to raise the price of the glass bottles you use for your wines. 'Twas he who was responsible for the bad brakes on that load of grapes that was lost last year when the truck careened off the road."

"Is Gunther really that evil?"

"I think so," Magnus said, taking her hand in his. "Harry's men are experienced in gathering evidence…

Everything from fingerprints to car tracks to a paper rail, whatever that is. But Harry warns me that Gunther is getting desperate. He was moderate in his methods in the past because he thought he could afford to wait you out… that eventually you would surrender, being helpless women. But now…"

"Now?" she prodded.

"Now he perceives that my presence may change things. He is not sure who I am and what our relationship is, but to his mind I am here to save the Blue Dragon, and that he cannot allow."

Angela quietly pondered all he had told her. He saw the moment understanding dawned. "Gunther is going to try to kill you. That's why you want us all back in Los Angeles. That slimeball plans to kill you.

Ha! Over my dead body!"

Methinks I am making progress now. Leastways, she cares if I live or die now. He smiled grimly at her vehemence.

"Nay, not over your dead body… because your sweet body is going to be far from the Blue Dragon."

It's not over till it's over…

For two days Angela walked around like an automaton in her L.A. apartment.

She went into her office both mornings, managed to show a half dozen homes, and even sold one, pulling in a hefty commission. But the rest of the daytime hours she spent with Grandma and the kids, all of whom fought the strictures of confined living. None of them wanted to go out, though, in case Magnus called, which he did once a day.

When she asked how the "plan" was going, Magnus was always infuriatingly elusive in his answers. "On target." "Biding our time." "Do not worry." She felt like screaming into the phone at him, and she would have… if she weren't so very worried about him.

To make matters worse, Darrell Nolan was being a real pain, now that he knew she was back in town.

The man just wouldn't give up on signing Magnus to be the next big star in his stable. Apparently Magnus had taken to hanging up on Darrell on those occasions when Darrell managed to connect with him by phone. Even that rudeness didn't daunt the persistent producer.

"Why don't we go to the mall?" Angela suggested in the late afternoon of the second day. If she had to put up with much more MTV, video games, the quack-quack of Lida's pull-along duck toy, makeup makeovers of Dagny and Kirsten in her bathroom, and general overall shrieking, Angela was going to pull her hair out. She loved Magnus's kids—each and every one of them, even the rascally Njal and Hamr—but all of them all at once in such a small space… well, even a saint's patience would be taxed.

"We can have dinner at Chi-Chi's or Red Lobster. Even McDonald's… God forbid! Then spend an hour or so walking around the mall."

"Quack, quack, quack…" It was Lida coming through on her established route, living room to bathroom.

"How about if I stay here and take a nap while the rest of you go to the mall?" Grandma suggested. She was probably dying for a cigarette. But more than anything Angela was afraid Grandma would scoot back to the Blue Dragon, which she hadn't left for this long in more than five years.

"Quack, quack, quack…" Lida was on her return trip.

"If I go to the mall, Grandma, you go to the mall," Angela insisted. "Unless I can leave Lida and the duck here."

"Quack, quack, quack…" Lida was passing through again.

"I'll go to the mall," Grandma said.

"Can I have my ears pierced?" Dagny wanted to know.

"Well, I don't see any problem with that… as long as it's only one hole per ear." Lots of girls her age had their ears pierced, so Magnus probably wouldn't object. Heck, some people even had infants' ears pierced.

Kirsten sat up straighter, suddenly taking her eyes off the Britney Spears video playing on TV. "I would rather get a piercing in—"