Free To Tempt A Viking by Michelle Willingham

gift?’ She wondered if they would offer gold or a horse. Instead, the girl pointed towards a folded hide. It was large and when she led Elena to touch it, she realised that it had been treated to make it repel water. It would keep them warm and dry inside their shelter.
    ‘For your journey,’ the girl promised.
    Elena thanked them in her own language, even knowing they would not understand. She accepted the heavy cloth and started to return to Ragnar, but the wind began to blow hard, whipping at her hair.
    ‘Tonight, you share our shelter,’ the girl promised. ‘Bad storm coming.’
    The men and women began to set up an array of tents and Elena joined them, offering her help. The girl urged her to keep the heavy cloth and to use it on their travels later.
    The Irish set up a tent and lined the interior with soft furs and hot stones from the fire. When it was ready, the girl invited her in. ‘For you and your man to share.’
    Ragnar had limped over to join her, leaning on a thick staff that someone had given him. ‘You’d better go inside,’ he told Elena, ‘before the rain starts.’
    ‘This will be more comfortable than our house of sticks,’ she teased, holding the flap open for him. He entered and she closed it behind him, enveloping the room in darkness. The space was not large and if she stretched out her hands, she could touch him.
    ‘I suppose so.’ Ragnar’s gaze settled upon the pile of furs on one side. It was then that she realised they would sleep beside one another. Though it shouldn’t have bothered her—after all, she’d already slept beside him when he was burning up with fever—somehow, this space seemed more intimate.
    A flush of heat pressed through her and she imagined lying in this man’s arms. Hard against soft...and the image was not unwelcome.
    Elena knelt down on the furs, trying to push out the dishonourable thoughts. Ragnar was a friend, that was all.
    He kept his distance and that was likely for the best. In the darkness, the hot stones warmed the air while outside the wind battered their shelter. Here, she was safe, protected from the elements. But there was nothing to protect her from the forbidden feelings rising inside.
    To distract herself, she rested her hands upon her flat stomach. It seemed strange that she felt no different at all, even with a child growing within her. No illness...nothing except the absence of bleeding. Sometimes it seemed like a dream to imagine it.
    Ragnar leaned upon the staff, limping towards her until he eased his way to the furs. Elena lay down on her side and heard the rustle of him doing the same. She froze when his leg bumped against hers. Though she knew it was accidental, it made her all too aware that she was sleeping beside a man who was not her husband. A man who tempted her to cast aside honour for a taste of the forbidden.
    She curled up, but when she lay on the ground she felt the icy wind slipping beneath the tent. Without meaning to, she shivered. When she adjusted her position again, she heard him let out a tense breath of air when her body bumped against his. Elena suspected that she’d somehow pressed against his wounded leg. ‘I’m sorry, did I hurt you?’
    ‘No.’ He rolled on to his uninjured side, away from her. ‘You surprised me, that’s all.’
    He kept far away from her, which was for the best. She huddled beneath the furs, trying to get comfortable. ‘I’m glad you’re here,’ she said quietly.
    And she was. In the midst of all the terrifying things that had happened, having Ragnar at her side had made it bearable. She believed that he would surrender his own life for hers without a second thought. He’d been her protector and a man she could rely on.
    He said nothing in reply. Perhaps he had other matters on his mind. ‘Are you in pain?’ she asked. She waited, expecting him to answer yes or no. But again he held his silence. Which probably meant he was hurting, since no male she’d ever met would admit