“Aye, several,” she said with a soft smile.
“Was your mum like you, small in size?” he asked, fearing if she was then his wife might meet the same fate as her mum… dying in childbirth. The thought surprisingly upset him.
“Aye, from what my da has told me I am much like her,” she said proudly of the woman who gave her life, but she never got a chance to meet. It was obvious what he thought for he had voiced his opinion about her chances of giving birth without difficulty. “I am stronger than I look.”
“That remains to be seen,” he said.
“Are you strong, my lord?” she asked, with a tilt of her head, her eyes searching his blue ones.
Her question sparked his ire. “What kind of foolish question is that?”
She responded with another question. “Should I doubt your strength, my lord?”
“Another foolish question. What game do you play with me, wife?” he demanded, wondering what trick she might pull on him again.
“If my question is foolish, then is not your response foolish as well? I tell you I am strong, but you do not believe me. You tell me you are strong, yet I am to believe you without hesitation.”
He smacked his chest. “Look at me and look at you and you will have your answer.”
“Strength does not always come in a large size,” she said softly.
“Northmen would debate that,” Bhric said.
She would not argue the point since she felt he failed to see it.
“You will have ample opportunity to prove your strength as my wife—childbirth is only one of them. Now eat or there will be nothing left of you.”
Tavia nibbled at the cheese and bread to make it appear that she ate more than she did, but she doubted she fooled her husband. She saw how he kept a keen eye on everything going on around him. Even when his glance strayed to the campfire flames, she could tell he listened to what went on. He was a man who observed and absorbed all that went on, a trait of a fine leader.
“We leave at dawn,” Bhric called out and shortly after that the camp grew quiet and all began to settle into sleep.
She did the same, stretching out on the blanket beneath her to lie on her side. She was grateful when her husband draped a fur over her and surprised when he crawled beneath it to rest against her and tuck her back tight against him.
“We will keep each other warm,” he whispered in her ear.
His warm breath sent gooseflesh running over her neck along with a shiver.
“Do I tempt you, wife?” he murmured, feeling her body respond to their closeness.
She almost faltered and told him she knew nothing of temptation but caught herself. If they had coupled she would not be ignorant of what he had made her feel.
“Aye, as you did last night,” she said softly.
“How did I tempt you last night?” he asked, though warned himself he was playing with fire since he already felt passion poking at him planted so firmly against her.
“With your kisses and intimate touches,” she whispered, recalling them and how she had found them more than pleasant.
“You remember them?”
The truth fell from her lips. “I cannot forget them.”
“And I can remember only little of them,” he said.
“Then we shall have to make new memories that remain with us always.”
An image rushed into his head of her naked in his bed, her legs spread invitingly, and he suddenly wondered if she would have a trick waiting for him as she had done last night.
“Go to sleep, wife,” he snapped, annoyed that trust would be an issue with his wife and one that would not be settled soon enough.