A Heart of Fire (25 page)

"You
must not tremble at my touch, unless it is in pleasure." He kissed her
there again, nipping the top of her shoulder with his teeth.

He'd
had a taste of her fire, and now he wanted to sample her passion, that other
fire he knew she possessed somewhere. His eyes traveled down the length of her
body, knowing well the wanton that lay beneath those clothes, beneath that
shield she wore like armor around her heart. If only he could coax her to let
go those barriers she had erected so strong between them. He feared it would
take all his might to shatter those walls.

"Should
I make you my wife in truth? Would you heed me then?" he asked, gently
pulling the top of her dress lower, exposing a soft mound of flesh to the tip of
her breast.

A
powerful, primitive surge rattled him, and Valdrik mouthed her tender flesh.
Finna squirmed under his hold, tossing her head back. He gave the material of
her dress a mighty tug, and a pearled nipple sprang free.

Gods,
he could not bear denying himself much longer.

Valdrik
took her breast and suckled her deeply into his mouth, wrenching a cry from
Finna. Her body arched under his again, and she began to squirm against his
groin, igniting a fire he'd not known the likes of before. His lust for this
woman ran deeper and hotter than any other before her.

His
mouth left her breast and came to her neck and then her mouth. He kissed her
hungrily. Valdrik lifted himself just enough to speak, the sight of her beneath
him unraveling his last strands of power over himself.

"I
have my plans for you," he rasped, continuing to explore her, adjusting
his legs from straddling her and pressed one between her thighs, nudging her
legs apart. He hiked up her dress and raked his hand up her legs, between them.
"I have stripped you of your weapons, your outer armor, now I plan to
strip away that wall you’ve built up as a shield over your heart, wife."

Though
her eyes were full of heat, he found that fire there stoked of pleasure and not
anger. She gasped against his touches, arched her neck back when Valdrik
slipped his fingers into her folds, just to the thin barrier, finding her wet
for him. Finna whimpered, throbbing around the single digit. His head fell to
the bed at her shoulder, the strain of his cock nearly bursting from his
leggings at the feel of her tight sheath. His desire for her was unbearable,
and he needed release like never before.

Oh,
he could only imagine how she would feel around him.

"Finna,"
he breathed, near to begging her to allow him to take her, but she reached down
and pulled his hand from her.

Valdrik
rose up and kissed her hotly, even as she scooted from under his body. He came
to his knees over her, raking his hand down from the back of her hair to the
curve of her nape, tilting her head back as he came up on his knees over her to
continue ravishing her mouth.

"You
cannot tell me you do not desire me, too," he said against her lips,
flicking his tongue against hers.

She
pulled back and nipped her teeth at him. Her feverish gaze met his. "Nay,
I do not." They both knew she was lying, and both knew she only taunted
him.

He
growled at her.

"You
have made your feelings for me clear," she said, a tinge of hurt entering
her tone.

"Am
I supposed to love you in a day?" he thundered.

Finna
pinched her lips together, her cheeks heating. "Nay, I did not say I
wanted your love."

"Aye,
you did. You say it every day in the way you look upon me, the way you pretend
to hate me." Valdrik rested back on his haunches, though it pained him
greatly. "I told you I would give you time to adjust, and I have kept my
word. Is that not showing you a great kindness when any other man would have
simply dragged you under him and had his way?"

Finna
looked askance at him. "'Tis a kindness appreciated, but I think you only
use that as an excuse because you do not want
me
."

He
reached over to turn her head to him. "That is not true. Do you have any
idea how ludicrous you sound?" He pulled her hand to his hard cock.
"I find you very desirable, especially now.
You
did this to me," he said, desire thick in his tone. Her
small hand against him made him throb. He'd not thought it possible to become
harder, but he did. He leaned to kiss her again, but Finna brought her fists up
to his chest to push him away.

"As
desirable as the serving girl Willow? Or as desirable as my sister,
mayhap."

Valdrik
paused. "Do not do this again, I beg you."

"I
may wish to have feelings from my husband, but I do not wish to have him desire
other women as well. I do not wish to be compared to them."

"I
do not compare you."

"Do
not lie to me, Viking. We both know you wish I were someone else, and so long
as that is the way between us, you shall not have me." Finna jerked
herself from under him and reluctantly Valdrik watched her go across the room
to the fire, to a soapstone cooking pot hanging above the flame.

He
watched her for a long moment, as her shoulders began to shake.

Could
Finna be crying? Several long minutes passed, and still she would not turn in
his direction. Her emotions surprised and unsettled him, and worse yet, he had
no inkling what to do with them.

What
was it his shieldmaiden wanted from him?

****

A
while later, Valdrik sat and watched Finna sleep for he knew not how long. He
was at a complete loss as how to tame this woman, or more so, how to convince
her that she was a desirable woman.

He
wasn’t sure what she wanted or expected from him.

Surely,
he had made mistakes with her when he had first brought her home. Mistakes he
dearly wished to rectify. He could see where she might think he compared her,
or desired Willow or Geera.

He
chuckled lightly in the flickering glow from the fire and ran a hand over his
face and through his hair. He reached down and gently trailed the pad of his
finger over Finna's soft cheek.

Had
she any idea what she stirred in him? Truly, there was no comparison.

He
had always desired a quick, playful rut with whichever willing woman was
around. Always ready to sate his desires and continue on with more important
tasks. But now, with Finna, he wanted more. He wanted to savor each and every
touch. There was nothing more important. Since he had discovered this desire
for his wife, he'd had a hard time thinking of aught else.

He
enjoyed simply watching her sleep as Nordic winds gusted against their dwelling
and snow fell in great swaths. An idea occurred to him then. Perhaps what his
wife truly needed was some time with him, some time for him to coax her into
allowing his touches, allowing him to show her pleasure.

Mayhap
the solution was not as complex as he worried it would be.

He
looked down on Finna and gently brushed her pale hair from her cheek.

Tomorrow,
the snows would be too thick to bother going out in.

Finna
was getting nowhere in her duties as a wife or learning from her mother and
sister the things a woman did.

But
he knew of one sure way to make her feel like a woman.

Tomorrow,
he would make her his wife in truth, no matter her false protests.

He
wasn’t sure what exactly she feared about being bedded, but it was his duty to
see those fears vanquished.

Valdrik
stared down on her for a long time more, finding peace in her slumber. It had
been a while since his vengeance crossed his mind. It no longer plagued his
every thought now, as his thoughts were much filled with his wife.

Perhaps
Hadarr had been right.

Though
an unlikely candidate, perhaps Finna
was
the woman to soothe all his pains.

Chapter Twenty

Though
the warm dwelling was dark still, the morning hour wrested Finna from
sleep. She stretched and yawned, energy rolling through her—and then she became
immediately aware of the man behind her. The hard, lean feel of him. His leg
thrust over one of hers and an arm wrapped tightly about her middle. Something
she had felt before, and decidedly liked now as much as she had then.

Her
heart thudded a little faster. Valdrik's body was warm against hers, and she
couldn’t deny, she liked the pleasantness he stirred, but at the same time she
wanted to crawl out of her skin as much as she wanted to bolt from the bed.
She'd never dreamed she could feel such a way. She didn’t love him. Nay, she
lusted for the feelings he stirred with his presence, his eyes, his voice. She
sucked in a hard breath as she began to ache in the way only he caused.

Finna
closed her eyes a moment, both relishing the sensations and convincing herself
she had to leave the bed.

Reluctantly,
before he wakened and began to seduce her with his touches again, Finna began
to pull free, but Valdrik tugged her back to the mattress, into him, and she
stilled. Helpless against his strength—against his powerful virility—she sank
into his body. His touches held her in thrall as he lifted himself in bed to
look down on her.

"Nay,
do not get up," he said, his voice raspy from sleep. "'Tis too cold
to bother getting out of bed this day."

Finna
turned to him in shock, caught off guard by the twinkle of mischief in his eye.
Her resolve to get away from him shattered with that look, for she knew very
well what he meant to do.

She
shouldn’t have been surprised, really. Not after the evening before when he had
very nearly claimed her as his completely. She'd very nearly let him, too.

"You
wish us to stay abed
all
day?"
There was a twinge of panic in her voice. She knew very well that he would not
allow her to deny him this time, if having her was truly his wish. She knew
that she could not
stand
to deny him.

Valdrik
laughed and lifted himself over her to steal a kiss. Although she pinched her
lips together, he gave her a light, reverent peck. "Would that be so
bad?" he asked, his voice deep and stirring. His eyes scorched her with
his lustful gaze. "Would it be so bad to stay abed with your husband?
All
day," he mimicked her tone. He
lifted a brow as he stared down on her, his gaze traveling to the fur she
clasped tightly against her breasts. "I do not believe 'tis me you fear so
much, Finna. Tell me, what might I do to ease your worries? What do I have to
do to have you? All of you?"

Her
body responded to his nearness, his touch—though it shamed her—to
everything
about the man. Even her
breathing changed, provoked by his overpowering sexuality. So engulfed by his
intensity, she was at a loss for words. For that matter, she couldn’t harness
what he had asked.

"Have
you ever been with a man?" He bent and nuzzled her neck, speaking against
her skin.

Finna
swallowed against the tightness in her throat. "Nay, as I have told
you," she said. When his hands began to drift down her bare arm to her
hip, "
Nay
," she said more
forcefully, turning away, ready to deny him again as panic spread as quickly as
desire.

"I
shall not hurt you, if that is what you fear." His lips were warm on her
shoulder as he kissed her, tugging the furs lower to expose more of her back.
Valdrik pressed her over and brushed her hair away from her neck, his mouth
scorching her flesh there as well.

"Aye,
you shall," she breathed.

He
shushed her as he turned her in his arms once more. "Only once, for I
cannot help that. You are a woman. The pain you shall feel, all women feel. You
must get past it to have pleasure." He dipped his head down to kiss her
shoulder. "A husband is permitted to take pleasure with his wife. Shall I
again show you what that pleasure feels like?"

His
determination frightened her. She had managed to evade this for as long as she
could. "Without pain?" she asked.

"Aye."
He kissed her again, sending a shiver through her.

She
paused, hesitant. 

"Remove
your nightdress," he urged.

 Instead,
Finna clutched the collar to her throat.

"I
am your husband, I am permitted." Valdrik came above her, pressing himself
upward in bed and splayed his fingers along her jaw, tilting her head so
he could kiss her deeply.

Her
blood began to swell in her veins, and Finna tipped her head back in his hands,
savoring the taste of her Viking warrior, the feel of his tongue lashing across
hers.

Valdrik
pushed down her dress, and Finna's arms instantly came up to shield her
nakedness. He chuckled and pushed away her arms, then took the peak of her
breast into his mouth as he had the evening before. The pleasure was so intense
she gasped, but the sound was silent. Finna thrust her neck back into the
bedding and grasped at the furs, then reached for Valdrik's hair. Her fingers
tightened on the strands. One moment she held him fast to her and the next she
tried fervently to tear him away as she writhed under his mouth.