To Tempt a Viking - Michelle Willingham Mills & Boon Historical

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Irish might kill his friend, for Styr had no value as a hostage and he would never be any man’s slave.

      Ragnar glanced over at Elena, who was busy gathering tinder for a fire. Her skirts were cut short to her knees, while her red-gold hair was still bound in a knot at her nape. She moved with efficiency, but as she stacked the wood and arranged the seaweed, the earlier tremors became impossible to stop.

      So cold. He couldn’t feel his fingertips or his toes and his muscles felt stiff and ungainly.

      ‘You’re so pale,’ Elena said, hurrying to strike a spark. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get you warm again, as soon as I can start the fire.’ But her own hands were shaking, as if she, too, were suffering from the intense cold of the sea. After several attempts, the spark kept dying out.

      His eyelids were heavy and he closed them, surrendering to the temptation of unconsciousness. Sleep was what he needed now.

      But a moment later, Elena’s arms were around him and she was supporting his shoulders. ‘Ragnar!’ She shook him lightly, demanding that he open his eyes.

      His vision flickered, but he managed to look at her.

      ‘Don’t leave me,’ she demanded. Her eyes welled up with tears and she commanded again, ‘You can’t leave me here alone.’

      ‘Just...resting,’ he told her. Sleep would make it easier to bear the pain. The darkness was tempting him to let go, to fall into nothingness.

      ‘Your lips are blue,’ she told him. ‘If you go to sleep now, you might never awaken.’

      He didn’t answer her, for his body had transformed into lead, the last bits of consciousness sliding away. Though a part of him understood what she meant, he lacked the strength to fight it.

      ‘Don’t you dare die on me,’ she wept, shaking him again. ‘I can’t survive out here alone. Do you hear me?’ she demanded. ‘If you die, I’ll die as well.’

      He tried to form the word ‘no’, to tell her he wasn’t going to die at all. But before he could speak, her mouth came down on his in a searing kiss.

      Chapter Four

      Elena couldn’t say why she’d kissed Ragnar. It was either that or strike him. Anything to shock him into awakening. As she’d hoped, his eyes had sharpened, his body jolting at her touch.

      ‘Why did you do that?’ he demanded.

      It had been only a short kiss, one hardly more than the touch of her lips on his. But he was staring at her with fury and she let go of him, edging her way back on the sand.

      ‘You weren’t responding. I thought if you closed your eyes, you wouldn’t wake again.’ But her face was on fire now and she regretted her actions. Worse, she’d never seen him this angry before.

      ‘Don’t ever kiss me again,’ he warned.

      ‘I’m sorry.’ She hadn’t expected him to react so strongly. ‘It was just a way of getting your attention, to make you open your eyes.’

      ‘The next time you need my attention, use your fist. Not your mouth.’ He grimaced, easing up to a seated position near the fire. ‘Styr is my friend and your husband. You would do well to remember it.’

      ‘I haven’t forgotten.’ But her face was burning with humiliation. She hurried to finish building the fire, wishing she’d never done anything. ‘It was meaningless, Ragnar. Truly.’

      But nothing she said would dispel the anger and frustration in his eyes. She hadn’t truly considered the consequences and his violent response unnerved her.

      ‘It will never, ever happen again,’ she swore.

      ‘See that you keep that vow.’ His voice was cold, almost cruel.

      Elena backed away, wishing there were words enough to apologise for what she’d done. Why couldn’t he understand that it was only an impulse, one intended to awaken him? Instead, he acted as if she’d tried to seduce him.

      The forbidden thought of this man claiming her swirled inside her. Of his mouth opening against hers, taking her down against the sand.

      She closed her eyes against the dark heat that poured over her. No, she would never fall under such a spell of madness.

      Finally, Ragnar said, ‘We’ll need food and shelter. Go and look around at the terrain. But stay nearby, in case you have need of me.’

      Elena didn’t point out that his injuries would prevent him from defending them. Instead, she welcomed the chance to leave, to escape her embarrassment and make herself useful. She hurried from the shore, shielding her eyes against the sun as she searched for a way to make shelter.

      She crossed over the rise of a hill and saw a wide oak tree with many branches. The leaves might shelter them from the rain, but there was still too much exposure from the wind. Her mind turned over the problem while she gathered as many fallen branches as she could find. She began to organise the branches by length and width, laying them out in neat stacks.

      Some were tall enough to make a lean-to shelter, but nothing larger than that. She was grateful that it would only be temporary, for it would force her to sleep close beside Ragnar once again.

      The bitter taste of shame lingered, for she’d made such a foolish mistake, thinking the kiss would pull him back from losing consciousness. She winced to remember it.

      If it had been Styr, he would have kissed her back, taking command of the embrace. Ragnar’s mouth had been cool, his lips firm. And though the kiss had meant nothing, her body had unknowingly responded to him. She took a slow, deep breath, ignoring the sensitivity of her breasts against the linen shift. Styr was the only man who had ever touched her. The only man who ever would.

      But their lovemaking had grown stagnant, a duty they had both endured for the sake of conceiving a child. Sometimes her thoughts drifted away and she found herself going through the motions. Lying with Styr had been pleasurable and she hadn’t minded it. But as of late, her thoughts had been so focused upon whether or not his seed would take root within her, she’d forgotten to enjoy it.

      Finally, she’d asked him to stop trying. The bitter memory burned inside her, for she’d allowed her festering grief to transform into anger. She didn’t want her husband to share her bed any more, for every time he lay with her, she was reminded of her failures as a wife.

      Elena stopped sorting the wood, her eyes blurring with tears before she forced them back. She was stronger than this. She had to be. Sooner or later, they would find a way back to the ringfort and they would rescue Styr. Then she would do what she could to heal their shattered marriage.

      It was best to ignore the kiss with Ragnar, as though it had never happened. It had been a foolish thing to do and his volatile reaction only reassured her that she had nothing to fear from sleeping close to him. Breathing a little easier, she walked back to the beach, her mind already envisioning the shelter. She would build a watertight lean-to that would keep out the rain and any harsh weather.

      Along the way, she spied some wild strawberries and picked them, tying them into her apron. There were also some carrots, hardly bigger than her thumb, but they would still do well enough. Further inland, she spied the silvery surface of a pond.

      Water. She breathed a sigh of relief, letting herself hope for the first time that they could survive here.

      She wasted no time in getting a drink. Then she found a leaf larger than her hand and curled it into a cone, filling it with water for Ragnar. It wasn’t much, but it was a start, until she could find another container. There was so much to do; her mind was reeling from all of it.

      * * *

      When she returned, she saw that he was leaning on his side, his eyes closed. Pain tightened over his face and blood darkened the bandage on his thigh.

      Guilt flooded through her, for she shouldn’t have left him this

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