Sirens - The Gripping Beast Part 10

Lorelei blinked. "Sheesh. Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed." She rubbed at the gooseflesh puckering her arms and shivered.

"Stand still." Erik retrieved his shirt and rubbed her down with the rough fabric. The brisk motion dried and warmed her simultaneously, but she was still cold.

Erik finished drying her, then pulled her down to the lynx skin she preferred to sleep on. Her hair would take time to dry. Meanwhile, she needed warmth. He wrapped her in his embrace, trapping her legs between his own. He drew another fur up to cover them and spread her hair over it, lifting it away from her bare skin. A shudder racked her slight frame and he frowned in concern. Worry made his voice harsh as he demanded, "Do you wish to die?"

"Do you wish to make me deaf? Stop yelling, Erik."

He closed his eyes in relief. Her tongue remained as sharp as ever. She was safe and unhurt. He hugged her closer, absorbing her tremors and letting her draw heat from his body. "I do not yell."

"Oh. Right. That was my imagination running away with me." Lorelei grinned at that, then shivered again in earnest. "Erik, I'm cold." She paused as she realized what she'd said. Her worst fears realized, she'd finally slept with a man and he thought she was frigid. Before she could stop them, tears were welling up and flooding her eyes. She struggled for control for a minute. Then she asked herself why it mattered. Since she couldn't think of a good reason, she let loose and bawled.

Erik felt the tears falling on his chest before he heard her sobbing. "Lorelei? Hush. Hush, woman. I have you now. You are safe, sweet."

A low, choking sob answered his words of comfort. The sound tore at his innards and made him long for an enemy he could face and defeat with fists and swords. Her James Bond would do. He could slaughter the man for his callous use of her. Then would she forget him.

"Hush, do not cry." His tender whisper caressed the sh.e.l.l of her ear. "Hush, sweet. You are mine, and I will never let you go."

She sobbed again, a low, broken sound.

"Shh," he murmured. He stroked her from hip to ribs in a long, gentle motion intended to soothe. Instead, he found himself inflamed by the feel of her. He turned her to fit his palms over the fullness of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Her nipples budded under his hands and he groaned at her response. All thought of comfort fled. He would make her forget all others. He would make her his, again and again, until she welcomed his possession.

Hunger rose in him, sharp and urgent. He tore at his breeches, positioned her over himself and thrust upwards into her. She struggled briefly. His hands held her hips still as he withdrew and then returned to sheathe himself fully. She parted for him, closed around him and encased him in sweet, tight heat.

With an effort, he waited for her to adjust as he held her. Dimly, he realized that her tears were still falling and she was crying softly.

"Ah, woman," he whispered. His hands gentled, cradling her. "You make me lose control. You make me as thoughtless and greedy as an untried youth. Am I hurting you?"

She sniffled and shook her head slightly.

Erik smiled and kissed her, giving her the tenderness he should have thought to offer sooner. "I will be gentle," he promised softly. "You make me forget that you have never known a man before. There will be no more pain, sweet."

Lorelei raised her face to his, hurt glistening in her eyes. "You're hurting me now."

Carefully, he withdrew and turned on his side to hold her, cuddling her full-length. "Better?"

She shook her head. "That isn't where it hurts. Well, only indirectly."

He frowned again. "You will explain."

She sighed. "Why is it that everything with you sounds like an order?" She reached up to tangle her fingers in his full beard.

"Because it is an order. Explain."

She sighed again and rested her cheek against the smooth, muscled wall of his chest. "All right, you hurt my feelings, you overgrown barbarian."

"Feelings." Erik repeated the word blankly. "How did I do this hurting your feelings?"

"Good question," she muttered. "I'm a tough nut to crack. But since I met you, all I do is-never mind. Let's just say I'm a tad emotional, and leave it at that. Maybe it's PMS. Maybe time-travel causes mood swings. I don't know. But for once in my life, I wanted to make love. I felt real desire for an actual man, and it was wonderful."

Erik smiled against the midnight silk of her hair. Wonderful sounded like a good word for it. Then her next words deflated him completely.

"It was wonderful, and then you ruined it."

She may have misspoken, he reminded himself. Used the wrong word unthinkingly. She did speak Norse badly. "Ruined?"

She nodded and sighed again. "Ruined. From paradise to purgatory in the blink of an eye. One minute, we're as united as two people can get, and the next, you have your hand on my throat and your sword pointed at me. Thank you, but I don't care to repeat the experience. If I was that bad in bed, you can just drop me off at the nearest port and go find yourself another love slave."

"That bad?"

Lorelei levered herself up on one elbow to glare at him. "Do you want me to say it? All right. You said I was a secret weapon sent to turn every Viking dumb enough to come near me into ice."

"I said no such thing."

"Yes, you did. You said I was frigid." At the memory, another tear slid down her cheek.

Erik reached out to brush it away with one finger. Then he curled his hand beneath her chin to lift it for his kiss. Gently, his lips brushed hers in the barest of caresses. "Cold?"

"No, I'm warmer now." Then she blinked in comprehension. "Oh, right. Frigid. Cold. Well, you were right, I am, so just leave me alone."

"And how am I to do that?" Erik brought her full against himself again, rubbing his throbbing arousal against her belly. "I want you. You are mine."

"So you're going to use me for s.e.x, and then criticize my performance? I don't think so."

"I do not think so, either," Erik agreed fervently. "Your performance is not lacking. Well, at this moment, it is. You should be l.u.s.ting for me. Do you not feel a bit of l.u.s.t?" His hands explored the swollen peaks of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"No. I don't feel any l.u.s.t anymore. I feel hurt." Lorelei rolled away, turning her back to him as she burrowed into the furs.

Her Viking didn't take the hint, however. He pulled her back and held her securely in his arms, his strong thighs curled under hers, his chest to her back. "You are not cold," he informed her.

Lorelei gritted her teeth. "Sure, you say that now. But you were singing a different tune the last time we were under these blankets."

Erik rubbed her stomach in absent, concentric circles. "I sang no tunes."

"There you go again, being literal. No, you didn't sing. You just threatened to kill me."

He sighed at that reminder. "I did not threaten. I promised. If your lover comes to claim you, I will kill him. But you, I did not speak of killing."

"No, you just used extremely effective body language."

He pushed her onto her back and leaned over her. "I questioned you. That was my duty. And you admitted to being placed here by a spy."

She narrowed her eyes in irritation. "I would have admitted to being an Oscar Meyer wiener, too, for the record. You had a very large, sharp sword ready to carve my heart out."

Erik frowned at her words. "You will explain this Oscar Meyer wiener."

"'Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener," she sang readily. At his blank look, she added, "It's a jingle. A product endors.e.m.e.nt. An advertis.e.m.e.nt of wares for sale. An Oscar Meyer wiener is a food product. I would have admitted to being anything, in other words. I like living."

He thought that one over. "Do you tell me you lied? There is no Saxon spy?"

"There's no spy, but that isn't the point. You obviously feel very differently about things than I do. You could make pa.s.sionate love with me one minute and turn into a stranger capable of killing me the next. I don't understand that, Erik, and frankly I don't want to." Lorelei attempted to pull away again.

He didn't let her. The same muscles that made her salivate made an effective weapon against her. His arms caught and trapped her and kept her close.

She struggled in vain. Finally, she frowned at him. Glared, actually. "Let go."

"No. You feel hurt by me. Therefore, you need my comfort." Erik cuddled her in spite of the fact that she remained stiff, resistant and silent. As time went on and she didn't relent, Erik tried again. "I regret your hurt. It was not my intent. I had a duty to question you."

That stirred her curiosity. Lorelei sat up and looked at him in silent invitation to continue.

He was unused to making explanations for his actions. And to explain to a woman, a slave, at that, seemed absurd. Yet, he wished to soothe her. "Too many things made no sense. You knew things you should not, and know not the things you should. It matters not to me if you were sent by a spy. I would keep you, regardless. But I would make certain you caused no trouble, and I would deal with the man who failed to protect you."

Lorelei quirked a brow at him. "The man who failed to protect me?"

He nodded. "If a man sent you into danger he feared to face himself, leaving you without protection, he deserves to die. But you say there is no Saxon spy, so I will not have to make you watch me kill him."

A slow, mischievous smile turned up the corners of her mouth. "Well, in a manner of speaking, there is a James Bond."

He reached for his sword reflexively.

"No, no, not like you think," Lorelei rushed out. "It's a story. Kind of like, oh, maybe Thor and Loki. Loki makes trouble, and Thor goes around being the hero, right? Well, James Bond is a hero."

Erik reached for her and drew her back down to lay with him. "This James Bond is a hero in Saxon stories?"

She nodded. "A very popular one."

"He is a G.o.d?"

"Only in Hollywood."

They fell silent for a short time.

"Then, it is true, what Harold said," Erik stated.

She looked up at him, silent inquiry in her eyes.

"He called you a skald."

She sprawled across his chest in a relaxed heap again. "That's the word he used. By the way, did he throw the rope, or did you? If he did, I owe him a song."

"I did. You owe me a song."

"Mm." She made a noncommittal noise and nestled her cheek into the hollow of his shoulder. It felt so good to be warm again. To have a truce with Erik. To be clean from her swim. She could go back to sleep so easily...

His next order cut through her daydream and dumped her without warning back into reality. "Now you will explain how you came to be in the water and nearly drowned."

So much for a pleasant catnap. She sighed inwardly. "I wasn't in any danger of drowning. I'm an excellent swimmer, and I'm used to the ocean."

He gripped her shoulders painfully. "Do you tell me that you jumped purposely?" Erik demanded.

"Ow. Lighten up, will you?" Lorelei twisted from side to side, but the pressure didn't lesson. Instead, it increased. "Okay, I get the point. Let go."

"I doubt you get the point," he grumbled. "But you will explain." He did loosen his hold, however.

"I'm explaining. I had a sudden urge to go swimming."

He went still. "You had a sudden urge to go swimming," he repeated.

"Yes."

"And when did this sudden urge come upon you?" he asked in a voice like a steel whip.

"Oh, let me see." Lorelei rolled away to give him her back again. "It must have been about the same time that the sudden urge to scare the life out of me came over you."

"You jumped because I questioned you?"

"I didn't jump, I went swimming. I wanted to get clean. It gave me the creeps, Erik." She turned back and met his eyes squarely. "You really don't understand. You touched me. You were inside me. Then you put a sword to me and drew blood. I realize this is all probably just another day in the life of your average Viking, but it gave me the creeping horrors."

Erik studied her face silently, his own expressionless. "You felt the need to wash away my touch."

She nodded. "That says it pretty well."

"And now do you feel the need to swim again?"

He wanted to know if it bothered her that badly for him to touch her, she realized. It was tempting to lie. It might make him keep his distance. But she had a sneaking suspicion that under that emotionless mask lurked a vulnerable Viking.

"No," Lorelei admitted. "I don't mind you touching me. I just can't take the sudden change of heart, Erik. I'm not built like that. I can't do it. If you're going to turn on me again, then just stay away from me."

Erik traced the hollow beneath her cheekbone with one gentle finger. "This is why you wished not to belong to me? You feared to give yourself to a stranger, and then be cast off?"

"You make it sound like used clothing. But that's the general idea, I guess," she agreed. "There's also the little matter of ownership. It kind of makes for an unequal relationship." She paused, and turned troubled eyes to his. "I'll be honest with you. I like you. Even when you're a little authoritarian. But I'm never going to be compliant and content with slavery."

Erik studied her face briefly. "You think you cannot be content," he replied calmly. "You will learn. You will adjust."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. In your dreams, I might add," Lorelei mumbled. But she didn't complain when he started to pick up where he'd left off, before he found out he wasn't hurting her. The problem was, he presented her with temptation on a scale she couldn't even measure. There was a seductive lure in the idea of belonging to him. In the idea of abdicating responsibility for once. To not have to be the one in charge, to relax and just go along with his desires and let him fulfill hers in the process. Desires she hadn't even suspected she had.

Just for a little while, what could it hurt to pretend? Couldn't she enjoy what he offered, just for now? The rest, she could sort out later, Lorelei decided.

And for all she knew, she could find herself back in the future at any moment. That thought made her shiver. In spite of everything, she had found something fragile and precious here. Something that could be lost forever in the blink of an eye. Since she had no idea how she'd gotten there, it was entirely possible she could find herself back where she'd started without warning. She might not have another chance to taste her Viking's kisses.

The possibility that any moment with him might be the last made her part her lips under Erik's and invite his swirling, thrusting tongue to take more, to know all of her. The same urgency communicated itself in the fierce pressure of her hands gripping his shoulders, the tilt of her hips encouraging his sensual invasion.

When he settled himself between her legs again, he took his time entering her. The care he took with her moved her deeply. He was no crude, uncaring captor, but a sensitive and sensual lover, protective and possessive at the same time. He cherished her with sweet kisses while he held her hips in a bruising grip and drove himself deeper with every thrust. He dominated and demanded. He coaxed and seduced. He took her to the edge of reason and beyond, to a world of sensation and emotion where he led and she followed blindly.

He taught her pleasure. And in his burning embrace, she was his willing slave, surrendering gladly to his strength. He took, and she gave. He gave, and she took. His pleasure became her own and when he found his fulfillment, the deep pulsing triggered hers.

Afterwards, he turned her gently to rest against his side. His lips feathered kisses along her smooth brow as his hands touched, held and caressed. This time, he gave her the closeness and comfort that paid homage to the splendor that came before. Secure and satiated, Lorelei curled into his hold and enjoyed the sweet sensation of being closely held after being thoroughly loved.

When he wove his fingers through her hair and tugged her face up for a kiss, she sighed blissfully. He had wonderful lips, she decided. Firm, smooth, and warm. They made her tingle and left trails of fire behind when he lifted his head again to smile at her.