Chapter 18 #3
He brought Demon to a halt so he could turn around to see Merewen. She looked so beautiful that for a moment he forgot to breathe. Then he saw that she was about to cry and his heart broke in two.
“Oh, little one, don’t cry! And don’t you dare thank me! Without me, you wouldn’t have been in danger!” he groaned, unable to hear her gratitude when he was so ashamed of what he had done.
“But I would,” Merewen told him. “You did not force me to go with Alaric, I had already decided to follow him, fool that I am! He lied to me, luring me in with promises of being reunited with long lost family members. I wanted to go because I wanted to see the uncle he’d made up, of course, but also because I thought to take the opportunity of going back home to get money. ”
He frowned. She had agreed to follow a near stranger for money? “What do you mean?”
She blushed. “I wanted to give you back the sum you’d spent on me that day at the market, because I… I didn’t want to feel that you had bought me but rather chosen to be with me.”
Everything within him roared in protest. “I did choose you! I would never have married you otherwise. As soon as I started to live with you I knew I could never let you go.”
“Then why did you—?”
“Send you away?” he finished for her. “Do the one thing that tore my heart in two and put you in the clutches of the bastard who wanted you dead? Because I want you safe, whatever the cost. I need to know I’m doing everything to ensure you are not in danger.
I think after Solveig you will understand why.
” He clenched his teeth, desperate to convince her of his good faith.
“I fear I will never be able to protect you as you deserve. The incident in town proved it and then there was the—”
But she did not allow him to finish. “I don’t want to be protected if it means being apart from you!
Besides, I trust you absolutely with my safety.
Didn’t you buy me to protect me? Didn’t you just save me?
Don’t you see? I would rather fall prey to someone’s scheming than think you don’t care about me. ”
A tear rolled down her cheek. Wolf’s whole body lurched at the sight because he was responsible for her misery.
“I’m sorry, I should never have made you think that I did not care for you,” he said, wiping the tear tenderly. “Because I do.”
I love you. Even though I have no right to.
She recovered quickly. “No one can ever be totally safe, there is no guarantee. But the fear of what might happen should not prevent anyone from being happy.” She shook her head. “Anyway. It’s all in the past now. I don’t want to have to think about it ever again.”
“No. Let’s go.”
Wolf nudged Demon back into a walk. They would soon have to stop and find a place for Merewen to get some rest. After the events of the last two days, she would be exhausted and, in truth, he was feeling weary himself.
He had barely had any sleep last night and now that he had her safely in his arms he could feel the tension in his body melt away, leaving an immense fatigue in its wake.
She never wanted to let him go, Merewen mused, as she tightened her hold around Wolf.
Her rightful husband. With her arms wrapped about his waist, the heat of his body warming her, the muscles of his back rippling against her breasts, she could have fallen asleep.
Too frightened to let her guard down, too wretched and cold to lie still, she had not been able to get more than a few moments of rest in the night.
“What are we to do now?” she asked after a while, trusting him to have come up with a plan.
“Hide for a few days, then go back to the village.”
“We cannot go there! Alaric will find you,” she cried out, all thoughts of sleep forgotten. “It’s the first place he’ll look!”
She felt Wolf shake his head. “He won’t come for me.
He thinks I have forsaken you, remember?
And you heard what I told his men. As far as everyone is concerned, a Dane called Harald the Strong abducted you in retaliation for Alaric’s attack on his wife.
That is what they will report, as they have no reason to doubt what I said. As for Alaric, he never even saw me.”
“Of course. How clever. And I thought I’d been quick-witted by having you pretend to abduct me!” Merewen mumbled.
“You were. Without that I might not have had the idea to pose as Harald and we might not have gotten out.”
A dark shadow to the right suddenly caught their attention.
A farm, set a small distance away from a village nestled in a bend in the river.
Perfect. With the promise of some coin the farmer would allow them to sleep the afternoon away in his barn.
Wolf steered them in that direction. Once he had brought Demon to a halt, he jumped down from the saddle, then helped her down.
When she touched the ground, he kept his hands at her waist a moment and stared deep into her eyes.
Lord, she had forgotten just how massive he was. How hot, how comforting.
How irresistible.
“It’s a good thing I happen to look like a bloodthirsty savage. It undoubtedly helped to give credence to the whole abduction thing,” he said in a low voice.
“You look nothing like a bloodthirsty savage!” Merewen was indignant.
“No?” Wolf arched a devilish brow. “Is it not the same as a big brute?”
“Absolutely not, the two have nothing in common,” she answered, stifling a giggle.
Truly in that moment he looked nothing like a savage or a brute, rather like the most splendid savior you could imagine.
Her savior. It was the second time he had saved her from Alaric’s machinations and she knew there would not be a third time.
He might not believe in his ability to protect her but she knew no one was better suited to the task.
Besides, she would rather have an uncertain life by his side, than a safe one without him.
She’d had a sedate existence before and she had been so lonely she had literally dreamed a way out of it.
As Wolf’s wife, she would never need to do that, he would provide all the excitement she needed—and more.
“I’m glad to hear my wife doesn’t think I look like a bloodthirsty savage,” Wolf replied, his voice low and sensual. “Could I ask what I look like then?”
“You could, but I’m not sure I would tell you.” She blushed. If she told him even half of what she thought of him she would die of embarrassment.
“That sounds promising. I will find a way of making you talk, make no mistake about it,” he warned.
“I’m all atremble.”
“So you should be. I am of a mind to try my luck with a ladle to get a confession out of you.”
The laughter Merewen had tried so hard to contain finally escaped her throat. It felt good to be reunited with Wolf at last, and secure in his feelings for her!
“You can try,” she said. “But you will find that I am more resilient than you think.”
His eyes threw flames. “That, little one, I do not doubt.”