Ice Maiden

Oh, nay. Surely they didn’t expect…

“It must be witnessed,” Hannes said. “It’s the law.”

George stood speechless, clutching the fur.

“Go on then,” the burly islander said, and slapped him on the back for what had to be the hundredth time that night.

“With all of ye here? Ye’re daft.” In truth, since the third or fourth flagon of mead he’d been thinking he wouldn’t mind it so very much. And why not? Any port in a storm, so the Inverness sailors were fond of saying.

But this, this was unthinkable.

Rika sat up in the bed. “You must, or it won’t be legal. Am I right?” She looked to Lawmaker for confirmation. “Unless of course, we don’t have to do it at all?” Her face lit with hope.

“We’ve been all through this,” Hannes said. “Have we not?”

“Ja, we have,” Lawmaker said. “But it need not be witnessed. That’s an ancient custom we rarely practice. I, myself, shall attest to the legality of the marriage when the time comes. Now, let us away.”

“But—” Rika flew from the bed as Lawmaker herded the onlookers from the room. “Nay, you must stay!” Her eyes widened in what George could swear was fear. “Sitryg, Lawmaker, do not leave me here alone with him.”

Lawmaker paused in the doorway and cast her a hard look. “He’s your husband now. You must trust him, as he has trusted you in agreeing to this bargain.”

She started toward the door, and on impulse George reached out and grabbed her braceleted wrist. Her whole body went rigid at his touch.

“Remember, too, what I have told you,” Lawmaker said to her. “Not all men are the same.”

George looked into the blanched face of his bride and, as Lawmaker closed the door on them, wondered what the devil the old man meant.

Chapter Five

All men were the same.

Rika backed onto the bed in the cottage, drawing her legs up under her, and waited. And waited.

Grant stood for what seemed a lifetime with his back to her, the fur wrapped around his waist, warming himself by the small peat fire blazing in the hearth.

The moment she had been dreading had come at last, and now that it was here she was anxious to have done with it.

“What are you doing?” she asked lamely, not knowing what else to say.

“Trying to clear my head.”

This surprised her. Brodir had never been concerned with such matters. In fact, he’d been deep in his cups most every time he’d taken her.

“Perhaps this would go…better for you, were it not entirely clear.”

He turned to look at her, and she could tell from his expression he thought it a strange thing for her to say. Their eyes locked, and he let the fur slip from his waist.

Thor’s blood!

Grant was nothing like Brodir.

Heat suffused her face as the Scot dispensed with his leggings and cast them aside. His eyes raked her up and down, and she braced herself for what would come next.

He moved toward her in the firelight, and for the second time in as many days she was acutely aware of his size and strength. He exuded a feral maleness that startled her.

Lawmaker was right. She had underestimated the Scot.

Rika drew herself up to meet him, fisting her hands at her sides. Fear was not an option. She would never give him that satisfaction. Never. Let him take her and be done with it.

Her pulse raced as he eased himself onto the bed beside her. “Do it,” she demanded. “Do it now.”

He cocked his head, studying her face. Why did he hesitate? Thor’s blood, just do it!

All at once his expression softened. “Never in my life have I taken a woman against her will, and I’m no about to do so now.”

Her heart stopped. Of all the words he might speak, those were the last she expected to hear. “But…you must.”

“Nay, lass.” He shook his head. “Ye dinna want me, and…well…” He shrugged.

The truth of it stung more than any blow Brodir had e’er dealt her. Grant didn’t want her. Her belly tightened. She knew all along he didn’t, so why did it hurt? She should be relieved, elated, even, but she wasn’t.

Something else occurred to her. “It doesn’t matter what you or I want. It’s the law. You heard the elders—without consummation the marriage is not legal and I cannot claim my dowry.”

He shook his head. “This coin is of great import to ye—to willingly give up your virginity to a man ye canna stand, and one you’ll ne’er see again.”

She closed her eyes against the rage of memories blasting across her consciousness. There was no reason to keep the truth from him, for he was about to learn it for himself. “I am no maid, and therefore give up nothing.”

The silence that followed was unbearable. She felt her cheeks blaze hot. Finally he said, “We can say that we did it, and no one will be the wiser.”

Rika opened her eyes.

He really didn’t want her.

She almost laughed. That would never have stopped Brodir. His hate stoked his lust, and he wreaked it on her not as a lover, but an enemy.

Nay, she did not understand the Scot at all.

“Lawmaker sees all,” she said. “The old man will know we lie.”

Grant laughed, and warmth flooded his eyes. “Aye, methinks naught gets past him.”

Rika smiled, unable to help herself, and worked to instill a measure of gentleness in her words. Everything depended on the Scot’s cooperation. “Will you do it, then, as agreed?”

“Aye,” he said, and slid his hand across the furs to cover hers. “I will.”

The warmth of his touch startled her. She drew her hand away and, gathering her courage, stripped her shift off over her head.

Grant sucked in a breath.