While she was glad to hear that, she wasn’t certain if she should believe it. She had heard stories of the Northmen that would chill a person to the bone. “I am glad to hear you will never force me to couple with you.”
“I will not force you but I expect you to do your duty as a wife.”
She spread her arms invitingly, knowing full well he’d refuse her. “I’m willing.”
The quick tic at the corner of his eye was clearly visible this time and what was even more telling was the arousal of his shaft. It popped to life and he quickly turned away from her and went to the bed, slipping beneath the blankets.
So he did have a need, yet he would deny himself to make sure another man’s seed didn’t grow within her. That suited her, since she’d only recently had her monthly time. At least now, she had time to, somewhat, grow accustomed to him. Hopefully, that would make it easier to couple with him. Or would it make it worse?
“Come to bed. We leave at dawn,” he ordered.
“No!” she snapped. “We leave later. I have plans with my da early in the morning.”
He rested his arms beneath his head, the muscles growing tighter in each. “You had today.”
She slapped her hands on her hips and scowled. “And I’ll have the morn with him as well or you’ll have to drag me away and I promise that will not be easy.”
He turned an equal scowl on her. “Don’t tempt me.”
And damn if she wasn’t tempting him, something he hadn’t expected. But he couldn’t deny that he didn’t imagine how her long, slender legs would feel wrapped around him and how her taut nipples that poked at her shirt would taste against his tongue. And her shirt covering her intimate parts only made him more eager to explore what lay hidden beneath.
His lustful thoughts only worsened his arousal and he silently cursed himself. He may be straddled with her—he silently cursed himself for that word popping into his thoughts and painting an image of her doing just that. He might be stuck with her but he’d make certain that the first child she gave him came from his seed. With her thieving ways, who knew how many men had touched her and the thought sparked anger in him.
“I’ll sleep elsewhere, since you have no need for me,” she said, taking only one step when he bolted up in bed, halting her.
“Where I sleep, you sleep. Now get in bed!” he ordered and pulled the blanket back on the empty side.
Something in his dark eyes warned her not to argue. Besides, if she made a fuss it would draw not only her brothers but her men as well, and she didn’t want that kind of confrontation. She walked over to the bed and slipped in, keeping to the edge and turned on her side so her back faced him.
She felt him turn, grateful it was away from her. She’d survived much, she could survive this night. She closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep, needing strength for tomorrow and all the days to come.
Raven stared at the flames in the hearth, letting their fiery dance soothe her as had campfires done many nights through the years. Her thoughts calmed as did her worries and that’s when something he had said came back to gnaw at her.
The proposal you offered.
She hadn’t initiated the proposal to wed him. She’d been told he had.
Chapter 5
Raven didn’t glance back, if she did she was afraid she’d burst into tears. She’d only returned home and she had to leave her family again. She wasn’t going far this time and she’d be able to visit often, but still, she’d barely gotten to speak with her family, visit with them, before having to leave once again.
She’d been grateful for the time she had gotten with her da this morning. She had quietly left her husband sleeping soundly in bed and met her da in the Great Hall. The day was barely dawning and so as not to disturb or be disturbed they had left the keep and walked through the village that was beginning to stir to life.
They had spoken of many things as their footfalls left tracks in the light snow that covered the ground. She had clung tightly to his arm as she had done as a child when she needed his attention, only now she didn’t speak of what troubled her. She had gotten him to talk about what had happened to him after the attack five years ago and near the end of their walk, when close to the keep, he had reminded her that she had yet to confide to him all that had truly happened to her in the years they’d been separated.