Free Claimed by Her Viking Wolf by Doris O'Connor Page A

for you and your Viking.” She
laughed when Kim reared back in surprise and shook her head.
    “ After
what you just told me, you can’t expect me to share a bed with him?” The mere
thought sent a rush of heated arousal into her knickers and a wave of longing
so intense she could scarce breathe.
    “ That’s
exactly what I expect you to do. Besides Asger has
given his word to Richard that he will not touch you while under our roof, so
you will be quite safe. What you two get up to when you make it back to your
place is,   of course entirely up to you,
but I’ll promise I keep your place tidy and looked after, should you follow him
back in time.”
    Susan smiled and shut Kim’s open mouth with her
index finger.
    “ If
that happens I won’t be coming back, so there hardly seems any point in that. I
can’t just disappear. I have a life here, dammit.”
    “ Ah,
who’s to say you can’t come back. The stories are manifold and diverse, and you
don’t have to look too far from home to see that they’re true, my dear.” At
Kim’s confused expression, Susan gave Kim her most enigmatic smile yet.
    “ You
probably will not remember your great Aunt Violet, will you?” she asked. Kim
frowned and nodded.
    “ Actually
I do. She was Mum’s aunt. There used to be an old photo of her on the piano
when I was growing up. I asked about her once. Mum just said, ‘she was a woman
of loose morals’.” She mimed quotation marks, as she said that, and Susan
laughed.
    “ Yes,
that was the official version. The unofficial version was somewhat different.
You see your great aunt used to disappear for months at a time and then
reappear as though nothing had been amiss. What’s more she didn’t age like
other folks did. When that became far too noticeable, she disappeared for the
last time. I found the story utterly fascinating, so I did some research on it
for my citation. Did you know the first time she disappeared was out of her
bedroom in the middle of the night? The windows and doors were locked, so there
is no way she should have been able to get out of there. She was only sixteen
at the time. The only thing that was left behind was an old ledger that no one
could read.”
    Kim gasped at that, and Susan nodded.
    “ Not
your ledger I hasten to add, but something very similar, which leads me to
believe that good old Great Aunt Violet was a time travel er . So, you see, if she managed to come and go, I can see
no reason to believe, why you couldn’t do that, too, especially if we look
after those texts. They seem to be some sort of porthole, catalyst, whatever
you want to call it, and didn’t you say you were drawn to them when you found
them in that shop?”
    “ Yes,
I was, but…” Kim hugged herself and shook her head in wonder. “It can’t be that
simple, though, can it?” she asked. Susan sighed.
    “ Nothing
about love is ever simple, my dear. Anyway, like I said, you have a lot to
think about. Here comes your man now. I’m surprised he’s stayed away as long as
he has.”
    Sure enough, when Kim looked up it was to see the
formidable presence of Asger strolling down the path
toward them. With his face hidden in the shadows created by his long hair, she
couldn’t read his expression, but judging by the white knuckled fists by his
side and the tight set of his shoulders, he was worried.
    Susan met him halfway, and stopped to talk to him.
Kim couldn’t catch the murmured words, but whatever Susan had said relaxed Asger . Kim’s stomach fluttered in delicious anticipation
when he looked across to her. Asger smiled, while
tying his long hair back behind his nape. The action lit up his harsh features.
Everything in Kim tightened as she watched his long limbed walk toward her. The
man looked simply good enough to eat. She hastily dropped her gaze and scooted
to the side to enable him to sit next to her. Even though she had given him
space his presence filled the small bench. It made her skin tingle where his
thigh