Vanquished by the Viking Read Free

had been through too much already? She would be a profitable captive since his brother would no doubt pay to have her back. Gunnar’s honor would demand she be returned.
    “I have slept in worse places, I assure you.” Eva propped herself on an elbow, her glossy chestnut curls tangled from sleep. Her shoulder peeped out from the fur, angled in such a way that he could see the skin at the base of her throat, the soft hollow inviting exploration.
    “Your father has not taken proper care of you if that is the case,” he growled, not liking the idea of such a delicate creature sleeping anywhere but a mattress stuffed with feathers beside a warm fire.
    “My father is a hard man and his sons died when they were still young.” Her mouth flattened in a grim line. “I have worked like a son and sometimes I have known harsh punishments for my failings. But I am stronger for it, I assure you.”
    Reinn spat over the side of the boat, disliking the taste this left in his mouth.
    “Is that why you know how to hold a crossbow?”
    “I have led the winter hunts when my father is away from the keep.” She lifted her chin into the salty breeze, as if daring him to suggest this was not a fit role for her.
    He could see her pride and understood now why she chafed at the idea of belonging to his brother. She would not have thrived while confined to hearth and the bedchamber. Possessiveness surged through him at the thought, his fingers gripping the oars too hard.
    “But you have not answered my question,” she prodded when he did not speak. “I asked what you were thinking about when you believed I was still sleeping. You were scowling most fiercely.”
    Had he? Ah, yes. He’d been thinking about tasting her.
    “I was debating what to do with you,” he lied even as he found his attention lingering on those soft, full lips. Cursing himself, he put the oars up and reached for his pack, needing to do something besides stare at Eva.
    They were within the shelter of a small cove where the current would not take them out to sea. They could afford to drift about for a bit without heading off course.
    “Are we stopping?” she asked, sitting up higher to peer toward the shore. “I don’t see the settlement yet.”
    He avoided discussion of Cledemutha since he had not decided what to do with her once they reached the small town on the River Clwyd.
    “Now that it is daylight, I worry about you being seen. Gunnar will have men searching for you. It will be safer to raise a tent about you so you are hidden from sight.” He found the fabric and light supports that fit into holes in the side of the boat. “We can drift for a little while as I fasten the shelter in place.”
    Removing the carved wooden stakes, he knelt on the fur beside her before considering the wisdom of such close proximity. The bedroll was warm from her body heat, her thigh grazing his knee through the thick pelt.
    “How clever,” she murmured, reaching for one of the stakes and running a finger over the etched scrollwork. “The Norse ships are elegant despite their power to strike fear in the hearts of men.”
    “We spend many days at sea.” He fitted a stake in a notch and then took another that she handed him. “Often the boats that are not carved when they leave on their maiden voyage return full of markings from idle men between battles.”
    He reached for the next support, only to find her holding it still, her finger tracing the sinuous body of a snake wrapped about a bare-chested goddess.
    Tugging it from her hand, he saw her cheeks flush pink. Was she a virgin still, given how little her father had sheltered her? Her reaction made him suspect she was an innocent.
    “I see.” She gripped the fur more tightly to her chest while he moved around her to ring her in the stakes. “How can I help?”
    He wanted to suggest she hide under the fur so as not to tempt him with her blushing cheeks and tousled locks, but instead he merely reached for the heavy