Free Margaret Moore - [Maiden & Her Knight 03] by All My Desire Page B

trained.”
    Crossing his arms and genuinely puzzled, Ingar raised a thick blond brow. “Why would you waste your time and skill with that? Chivalry is for boys playing at war, not men who can really fight.”
    “I don’t expect a Norseman to understand.”
    “That does not mean he cannot fight,” Denis said, leaping to his feet as well as his friend’s defense. “He once held off an entire village all by himself.”
    Ingar looked so impressed, Alexander decided he wouldn’t clarify that the villagers had, for the most part, been armed with sticks—except for the butcher with the cleaver.
    “I thought he would be good,” the Norseman said. “I would gladly welcome such a man into my crew, Norman, if you wish to fight to good purpose.”
    “I have no desire to plunder and pillage.”
    Ingar threw back his head and laughed. “Of course you do. All men do, if they can. Most cannot, though.” He ran a canny eye over Alexander. “You would be a wealthy man if you join me.”
    “I have been promised a knighthood and money after we collect the ransom.”
    The sly, knowing look lingered in Ingar’s eyes. “You abduct a woman for ransom and yet you are too good to sail with me?”
    Alexander’s jaw clenched. “This is different,” he muttered, telling himself it was so.
    “He never said he was too good to sail with you,” Denis protested.
    Ingar, however, was clearly not offended, for he smiled as he regarded the Gascon. “There is no need to defend him. It is his loss if he will not join me.” He put his hands on his lower back and stretched like a cat after a long nap. “This wind will speed our progress. Now I will sleep until midday, when we should be near Oswald’s fortress. There are some treacherous rocks that guard the bay, and while Lars is good with the steering board, I am better.”
    With that, he went back toward the stern, said something to the man holding the tiller, wrapped his cloak around himself and lay down.
    “A strange fellow, that Norseman,” Denis remarked as they settled back down beneath the sail.
    Alexander silently agreed. Then once again his gaze strayed to the lady in the bow.
    No, he was not like Ingar, or he would have done more than kiss her last night. He would have taken her there in the trees, sating the desire she roused with no thought beyond that. He would have teased and caressed and stroked with all the skill he possessed until she whimpered with need, anxious and desperate for him.
    He would have been long in the loving, savoring every moment she was in his arms, lingering over every part of her. He would have made her moan with yearning and cry out for him to love her. When he finally entered her, he would have listened to her every word and sigh and breath, seeking to pleasure her to the utmost so that his would be all the finer. Only when he was sure she could wait no longer would he release the full power of his desire. Only then would he have given free rein to the ardor she inspired and thrust hard and deep, until he reached the pinnacle of excited bliss and release.
    After, he would kiss her lightly, sweetly, like a lover should. He would whisper tender endearments, yet all the while he would touch and brush and fondle, until she was ready for him once more. Then he would love her again, fast or slow as the mood took him.
    If he were like Ingar and thought only of himself.

Chapter 6

    L ater that day, after Ingar had successfully guided his ship around several tall, jagged rocks, Isabelle wrapped the blanket more tightly about her body as she stared at the bluffs surrounding a small bay. Perched on an outcropping, dark against a slate gray sky, were the remains of towers and crumbling walls. It was obvious that there was no village nearby, or there would be vessels in the bay.
    Two roofless towers stood at the corners of the outer wall. She could make out two more beyond that, probably at the other corners, indicating that this castle had not been a large