Page 25 of A Viking's Captive

Later, Ilona looked around outside but did nae see Rathnon. Already, she missed him and couldn’t wait until he returned.What occupies him? As she thoughtfully sewed, she recalled images of their marriage celebration, feast, and their honeymoon.

Her face turned red when she thought about what she had experienced with Rathnon. Deep in thought, Ilona hadn’t heard him approach when he said in Gaelic to please her, “Does yer lovely blush mean yer thinking of me?” He brushed her cheeks with his fingers.

“Aye, it does, husband. Sigrid told me we need to bed down early tonight since the sheep shearing will be tomorrow.” She arched a brow teasingly up at him and squeezed his arm playfully. “Mayhap before we sleep, ye can take me on a long walk with ye?” She smiled at him beguilingly.

“Aye, wife,” Rathnon whispered in her ear and nuzzled her neck. “I have missed ye. I will gladly take ye for a suitable and long walk before we sleep.” Her pulse leapt in her chest as she felt his breath and lips on her neck. The tension sizzled between them with looks of longing.

Rathnon picked up the sleeve Ilona had completed sewing. “Ye have made a garment fit for a king, Ilona. It is beautiful.”

“Takk. I am nae done yet.” She smiled at him and ran her fingers through his hair and over his cheek. Ilona gazed intently at his eyes and shyly at his lips that she yearned to kiss. Her rapt expression brought joy to Rathnon’s heart.

As they sat at the dining table, the men teased Rathnon. “You were gone for over a week. It must have been strong mead you drank to give you power,” one said suggestively.

“You must have charmed your lovely wife for you to return with such a big grin on your face,” another joked.

“It appears you did a lot of hunting by the looks of all the furs you brought back with you,” started another man. “But I know you tamed the feisty lass to make her your wife.”

“You must share your special brew of mead with us, for my wife is begging for my attentions and another baby.” The man’s red-faced wife shoved him playfully, and everyone laughed loudly.

Finally, they relented their teasing. Talk turned to the shearing. Sigrid translated the teasing the men had aimed at Rathnon, and Ilona turned beet red. The men had teased him mercilessly.

“Is it unusual to stay away that long after being married?”

“Let’s just say, ye stayed longer than most.” Sigrid beamed at Ilona.

After dinner, Rathnon held Ilona’s hand and led her in a new direction. The fragrant scent of large spruce trees and pines filled the dense woods. After they walked, Rathnon leaned Ilona back against the tree and drew her in for his kisses. He undid the ties on the front of her dress and drew out her breasts. He kissed her there before returning to her lips with devouring kisses. Rathnon’s kisses drugged her, leaving her dazed and needy for him.

The world faded away, and she breathed his scent of the sea and spice, blended with the spruce enveloping her. They were alone in their own world. Rathnon undid his pants and hiked up her skirts, thrusting inside her.

He lifted her legs to wrap around his waist and continued with frenzied need. He pumped his hips back and forth until their pleasure exploded and Ilona collapsed in his arms. Rathnon caught his breath and lay down on his back under the canopy of branches over their heads.

He held Ilona on top of him. “Min elskede (my beloved), I need ye again.” Still hard, Ilona rode him as fast as he wished, wanting to give him the pleasure of her body. Afterward, they lay entangled together for a short time as raven wings of darkness descended and enfolded the sun.

Rathnon stood and pulled Ilona up and tied the front of her dress. He straightened his clothes and pulled his tunic over his pants. Ilona smoothed her dress, hoping no leaves clung to it. She brushed Rathnon’s clothes, relieving him of twigs and leaves, and giggled. He caught her in his arms again and passionately kissed her before returning to the longhouse under the setting sun.

They settled in their bed together on the floor and fell asleep at once. The men and women rose early the next day, and the women began preparing vegetables and meat for pots of stew. The villagers would nae have a formal meal. Instead, people could come in and eat, and two older women would serve them.

Ilona kissed her husband before she left his side to help make bread dough. Rathnon kissed his wife with pleasure, giving her a long and searing kiss before he left to shear sheep. Ilona blushed afterward, and he smirked and left.

Ilona joined the women outside and stirred a pot of already sheared wool. Many other women stirred pots. When the wool had been cleaned and rinsed, she dried it with towels. Ilona placed the wool on long cloths laid on the grass to dry in the sun.

Once she returned to her pot, Rathnon carried a huge armload of wool and deposited it in her pot. He winked at her and returned to shearing more sheep. Several lasses with long sticks fluffed up the bundles to speed drying. When finally dry, the ladies gathered the wool in uniform bundles and bound it in tight cloth ties. The bundles were taken into the longhouse and stacked by the looms.

Later, Ilona returned to the longhouse and baked loaves of bread for the evening meal. She watched the bread carefully in the oven to ensure it did nae burn. After removing one batch from the stone oven with a long wooden paddle, she placed more in the oven to bake. She kent after all the work done today everyone would be especially hungry for the evening meal.

Tomorrow, the men would divide into groups for hunting or fishing. While the men hunted, the women would work spinning the thread into wool yarn. When enough wool had been spun into yarn, they’d tie it in bundles with string and set it inside huge baskets. It would take several days to spin the wool into yarn.

At dinner later, they ate a hearty meal and enjoyed the warm bread with butter. Rathnon stole Ilona away for an amorous interlude in the forest before they slept.

The following day, the men took bread, dried meat, and cheese with them for their mid-morning meal. Ilona gave Rathnon an extra serving of meat and cheese in his sack of food. While Ilona sat at the spinning wheel, the women saw to their children, made bread dough, cut vegetables, and cleaned.

Other women sewed. Once Ilona had accumulated a huge pile of yarn, she rolled it into loose bundles. When done withher bundles, she tied them with string and deposited them in baskets.

She stood and stretched. Another woman took up spinning. They all took turns, and the older women schooled the younger lasses in proper spinning techniques.

In the afternoon, the fishermen returned and cleaned the fish. Ilona looked expectantly to see Rathnon, but he had gone hunting. He’d probably had his fill of being out at sea.

Hours later, the hunters returned and dressed the game. Rathnon’s eyes glossed over the women until they landed hungrily on his wife. He persuaded her to disappear with him into the woods for a protracted amount of time in amorous abandon.