Two candles still burned low in the chamber as he crossed to the bed. She lay on her stomach in the middle, her auburn hair spread out across the blankets. He was struck again by her beauty and the sense that she was his. His responsibility. His wife. His. Shedding his clothes as he stared down at her, he could not help but wonder if the tenderness he felt for her was becoming something deeper. It was as if his admiration for her had found his desire for her and twisted together so hopelessly that he could not pull one thread from the other. A very real fear had gripped him today when he had considered that Jarl Eirik might find a way to take her from him. Rurik had been prepared to battle for her, to the death if need be. He didn’t know how she had captivated him so completely in such a short time.
Placing the knives at his hips on the chest at the end of the bed, he stepped out of his clothing and climbed under the blankets beside her. His hands encountered smooth, silky skin as he touched her. Sending up a silent plea of thanks, he drew the blanket back from her to look his fill of her naked body. There was not a part of her that he did not think was perfect.
The candlelight painted her skin gold as his fingertips followed the line of her spine down to the twin globes of her bottom. He paused as his gaze caught on an odd scar at her lower back. It was difficult to tell in the uneven light, but it looked like two jagged marks that crossed each other. They had almost certainly been made by a blade. How would she have been scarred in such a way? Surely, Cedric’s training would not have led to that.
Before he could come up with any likely scenario, she sighed and rolled over on to her back. His fingers followed the movement of her hips, coming to rest on the smooth skin above the russet patch of hair between her thighs. His manhood twitched in response to the memory of how good it had felt to be inside her.
‘Annis,’ he whispered, pressing his palm to her belly.
Had his seed taken root in her the night before? A flare of hope sprang to life in him, surprising him with how pleasing he found the idea of sharing a child with her. Children had always been something far in his future. Now he could so easily see them. However, he also liked the idea of selfishly having her to himself for a while. Perhaps it would take months of ploughing before the seeds would find roots.
She shifted, her breathing changing as she turned towards him and came awake. ‘Is it morning already?’ she whispered.
‘Far from it.’
She smiled, though her eyes were still closed as he pressed his mouth to the hollow of her throat. ‘Jarl Eirik has not banished you?’
‘If he has, it only means that I have come to take you with me.’ He lapped at the salt of her skin with the tip of his tongue, marvelling at how he was ready for her so quickly. He was infatuated.
‘Like a true marauder,’ she whispered.
He grinned at their play. How easily he was coming to enjoy this sparring with her. ‘It has been too long since I last pillaged. You may find me all the rougher for it.’ He took her nipple into his mouth, drawing it deep and pulling a gasp from her at the same time. Her fingers curled in his hair as she held him tight. He did not allow her to stay him, however, and continued on his path down her body.
‘What are you doing?’ A faint thread of panic entered her voice when he passed her belly.
Instead of answering right away, he settled himself between her thighs, moving down until his shoulders had pushed them apart. Shifting his arms beneath her thighs, he held her open for him. The shadows of the night kept her mostly hidden from him, but he was able to see a slight tinge of pink through the dark red curls.
‘Rurik...’ She sat up on her elbows, staring down at him, her brows together in confusion.
The scent of her longing made his blood thicken in his veins as his need for her pulsed through him. ‘I want to taste your desire for me, Annis. I want all of you.’
It was true. After the trying day, there was some part of him that he did not completely understand pushing him to claim every part of her as his. Because she did belong to him now. Whatever the Jarl ultimately decided, she would belong to Rurik for the rest of their lives.
Taking in another deep breath of her, he touched her with his tongue. She made a low sound in the back of her throat and her thighs tensed around him. He stroked her from the silken channel that had held him so tightly the night before to the tiny nub of swollen flesh peeking out from between her folds. Putting her knee over his shoulder, he let it go so that he could spread her with his fingers and ease the way for himself. She cried out when he covered her with
