Chapter 5 #2
This time she stayed silent for there was nothing she could answer.
So the vexing little Saxon wanted him to believe she was married?
Wolf allowed a smile to bloom on his lips.
Would he have believed her claim if he had not felt the proof of her innocence that night at the pig sty?
Probably not. It just seemed improbable that she had not alluded to it before.
Nevertheless, he needed to make sure, for indeed he could only marry her if she did not have a husband already.
The fact that she was still untouched proved little.
She might have been abducted straight after the wedding ceremony by the groom’s family, people who did not approve of the union and had tried to dispose of her by selling her into slavery.
It was a stretch, but not impossible, and would even explain why a refined woman like her had ended up at the hands of a slave trader and why she wouldn’t want to return to a man whose family frightened her.
After all, he’d already decided she had been abducted by someone who knew her and wanted her gone.
“So tell me, how long have you been married?” he asked, leaning casually against the wall. As he’d predicted, she flushed, betraying her discomfort.
“Two years,” she said with a commendable effort at breeziness.
Two years… Wolf smiled inwardly. Now he had her. She had just ruled out the only explanation for her virginal state. No man would resist a wife as delectable as she was for so long, even if he had not desired their union.
“And what’s wrong with your husband?”
“W-what do you mean, wrong?” she stammered.
“Is he an old man? Or perhaps he was injured in battle, rendering him incapable of fulfilling his marital duties?” He rubbed his chin in mock consideration. “I am trying to understand the reason for his impotence, you see.”
“Impotence?”
Well, the little vixen had lost her infamous tongue, it seemed. All she could do was repeat what he said.
“Yes,” he leaned in confidentially. “Because, married as you are, you are a maid untouched. And I don’t know many men who would live for two years next to a wife as alluring as you without making love to her time and time again.”
“I—”
“I think this husband of yours doesn’t exist,” Wolf cut in before she could mumble an explanation. “I think you made him up as an excuse to refuse my offer. And it’s not going to work.”
“I am married!” Merewen retorted instantly, desperately wishing it was the case, that she was not alone in the world, that someone, somewhere, was worried about her.
Never had she felt more dejected. She’d had to resort to dreaming her lovers to alleviate solitude, and now she had to make up a husband to protect herself. How pathetic.
“Very well. Let’s have it your way. What’s your husband’s name?”
“AEthelred.”
She did her best to sound assured but her mind had gone to mush the moment Wolf had called her alluring while looking at her with his amazing eyes. How was a woman supposed to think in front of such a man?
“And how did you two meet?”
“He… was a friend of my brother’s.” It seemed a reasonable enough explanation.
It was not, as Wolf’s next comment made clear.
“Right. The same brother who was several years younger than you?” His lips quivered. “You are telling me that you married a boy barely out of his mother’s skirts?”
“He is a bit older than Leofric,” she mumbled.
“Still, you apparently married him two years ago, when he will have been no older than fourteen summers.” Wolf laughed.
“Well, that could certainly explain why you didn’t have a proper wedding night.
Perhaps the boy was so inept then he didn’t know where everything was supposed to go!
But we both know that an excitable sixteen-year old would not be able to keep his hands to himself when in bed with a woman.
And so we are back to my original question.
What’s wrong with him that he could not work out what to do with you? ”
Merewen bit her lip. Why did he have to remember how old Leofric had been? And why had she forgotten that she had mentioned it to him? He was unsettling her, that was why! Another few questions and she would crumple, admit she was not married—and his for the taking.
While she was hesitating, Wolf uncrossed his arms and came closer. “Tell me one last thing so I may know that you are not just making it all up. What do you like your husband to do to you in bed?”
Merewen’s mouth fell open. Had he really just asked her such an intimate question? One look at his smirk confirmed that, yes, he had, and he would not leave off until he’d had an answer.
“You… How could I even answer that question?” she gasped.
He smiled as if she had said precisely what he had expected her to say. “You could not, that’s my point. Because you have never known any man.”
His words hit her square in the chest. How on earth did he know she was untouched? He sounded so sure of himself! Was he a mind reader?
“How could you possibly know that?” She flushed when she realized she had just admitted that he was right. Now not only would he know she was not married, he would know she had not managed to attract any man despite being well past twenty summers.
Oh, this had to be the single most embarrassing moment of her life!
Wolf stared down at Merewen. Her eyes had gone wide with a mixture of worry, embarrassment, and guilt.
The same guilt invaded him. How could he admit that he had taken advantage of her dream to touch her naked body?
True, she had asked him to, and he had not hurt her.
He had only given her pleasure but still it was clear that she had no recollection of what had happened that night, no knowledge that for the sweetest, most delectable moment, one of his fingers had been inside her.
It was better that way. She already thought him unbearably high-handed, there was no telling what her reaction would be if she knew what he had done. She might well flee in horror.
But if he didn’t admit to it, how would he explain the knowledge that she was a virgin?
He could not.
“You flush whenever a man comes near you. You cannot be used to lovemaking if a simple caress is new to you,” he said, coming closer.
Once he was within touching distance, he brushed the tip of his fingers over her velvety cheek and saw her inhale sharply.
That simple sound set him hard as a rock. “Look at you. You are untouched.”
“I…”
She lowered her gaze but not before he saw something flash in her dark eyes, replacing the shame and embarrassment. Desire.
She wanted him, too.
His groin tightened further.
“You don’t have to remain an innocent,” he growled, wondering how long he would resist before he snapped. “As your husband, I could show you what happens when a man and a woman come together.”
Merewen could not move. Yes, she was flustered.
Yes, she was untouched. But she was not innocent, far from it.
Mercifully, though, Wolf could never have guessed what dark desires she entertained, what shameful caresses she had given herself under the cover of darkness, what vivid dreams plagued her at night, what blinding pleasure she had experienced only the other night, when she had imagined him poised over her, suckling her breast. It was her secret; no one could ever know, for fear they would condemn her as a shameful wanton.
Women were not supposed to feel such things, to crave a man’s touch.
And she was not supposed to melt under this particular man’s caresses, especially when he was only mocking her!
But, oh, how she wanted him to show her what happened when a man and a woman came together, or rather when he made love to her!
It would be explosive, too intense for words, she was sure of it, even if she based this belief on what had only been a dream.
But what a dream! Her body started to heat up at the memory.
Without a doubt Wolf would be as skilled in the art of lovemaking in real life as he had been in her imaginings—and she would respond just as wildly.
If he could make her blood pound hard in her veins with a simple brush to the cheek, what could he do if he decided to explore other parts of her body with intent?
“Do not touch me,” she said, taking a step backward. If they touched, she wasn’t sure how long she would resist. She might well wrap her arms and legs around him and beg him to take her. “You have no right!”
“I know, we are not married. And your pup of a husband, whose voice has likely not broken yet, will kill me if I touch you,” he drawled, not in the least impressed.
“No, I will.”
With those words, she stormed out of the hut.
Wolf bit back an incredulous laugh. Had she just threatened him? Really his little Saxon was irresistible. She was also impossibly contrary and defiant. Did he really want such a wife? Life with her would be...
Thrilling.
He had smiled more in a week with her than he had in two years.
He wanted more of her. More of her sharp tongue, more of the silky softness between her thighs, more of her passionate nature, more of the complicity that had started to grow between them.
He wanted to taste her lips, feel her warmth wrap around him, hear her moans of pleasure when he plunged inside her.
He wanted to laugh with her, argue with her, be silent with her.
He had bought her moved by a selfless urge, even though he had not wanted a slave, for her benefit.
Now he wanted her to be truly his.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, he had become Merewen’s protector.
He had already saved her once, and he was now looking after her.
Marrying her would not change what he was in effect already doing; it was not going to cost him more effort.
The only difference was that he wouldn’t have to fight his desire for her anymore.
Yes, impossible as she was, he wanted this woman to be his wife.
He had already concluded that if he married again it would have to be to a woman of spirit, one who would not elicit his boredom, one who would be able to face the dangers she might face with courage and determination, one who would not lie passively in his bed and be afraid of her womanly desires.
In short, the opposite of Solveig.
And no one fitted that description better than the quick-tempered, sensual minx he had saved from a miserable fate.
Even physically, with her dark eyes and fiery hair, she was nothing like the fair, sweet Solveig.
Of course, he did not love her, like he had once loved his wife, but it was not a problem, quite the opposite.
It would be easier to keep a cool head that way.
He was not even sure it was possible for him to love again anyway.
As a youth, he had fallen in love with Solveig, only to be disillusioned when her true nature had been revealed.
It had been a sobering experience, one that had shattered any illusions he might have once entertained about love.
There was no danger of such a thing happening to him with Merewen. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and hid nothing of her thoughts, which guaranteed he would not wake up one morning and wonder how he had not seen the truth of her.
So it was decided. He would marry this woman who had seemingly been placed on his path by the gods.
All he needed to do now was to convince her to accept him.