Free The Temperate Warrior by Renee Vincent Page A

hide up over her chest, embarrassed. Though she was completely clothed, she felt a slight sense of vulnerability from last night’s rapture. The soreness between her legs reminded her of the savage lust that had overwhelmed her temperate warrior. She touched her lips where Gustaf’s hand had come to rest. The memory of his palm keeping her silent in such a domineering way flashed in her mind. The commands he’d whispered in her ear echoed in her head. Then she recalled the sheer fatigue that had wracked her entire body from the level of excursion he’d put her through.
    Honestly, she couldn’t remember a time when she’d slept so soundly, but admitting it to Øyven seemed inappropriate and excessive, given his men had slept in the same room where all that had taken place.
    “Where is Gustaf?”
    “He took watch all night as you slept,” he said, picking up the caged falcon. “I will tell him you are awake.”
    Æsa thanked him and waited for Øyven to walk out the door before she flung her feet off the side of the bed. She didn’t tarry by the hearth. The acrid smell of soot and wet peat drifted in a thick band of gray smoke up her nose. She stood and stretched, the sinful ache in her body bringing her thoughts back to Gustaf and all his wondrous deeds.
    “Thinking of last night, are you?”
    The familiar voice of her soon-to-be husband startled her from her reverie. She spun around to find him standing at the doorway, the light of morn lagging behind the call of dawn. Was even the sun too tired to rise into the heavens?
    She smiled upon Gustaf as he barely fit beneath the door, ducking briefly to enter. “How did you know what thoughts ran through my head?”
    Gustaf neared her, his footfalls drumming out the steps it would take to reach her. She counted five before he swept her in his embrace, his heady male scent pervading her senses. He bent to kiss her, his lips warm and soft.
    “Like-minded,” he reminded her with a wiggle of his brow.
    Æsa couldn’t help but enjoy how he’d drawn his conclusion, the memory of him belaboring the point last night behind the longhouse flooding her brain. Her mind was like a sea sponge, absorbed with so many splendid thoughts. The feel of his strong hands taking hold of her body, pleasuring her. The sound of his sultry voice, whispering behind her ear as he demanded obedience, and the sweet torment of his velvety hard shaft penetrating her, over and over again. How could she ever tire of this man? He was the best thing that had ever come into her life and she thanked the gods for bringing him to her.
    It was hard to believe she would soon be his wife.
    Gustaf gazed into her eyes, his smile matching hers. “When will you learn that we are both connected here,” he said, laying his hand across her heart, “and here,” tapping his long thick finger at her temple.
    She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself against his strong body. “Perhaps, if you covered my mouth and whispered the command in my ear, I might listen.”
    His hearty laughter vibrated through her entire being. “Even then you failed,” he proclaimed, swatting her backside. He reached up behind his head and gripped her wrists, pulling them down to his lips. He kissed the top of each hand and laid his forehead against hers. “I must admit, I enjoy when you fall short of obeying me.”
    “Is that so?”
    “More than you know, woman.” He took a deep breath as if to will his wanton thoughts away and stepped backward. “Have you tended to your morning ablutions?”
    “Nay.”
    “Come, I shall guard you as you do.” He took her hand and began to lead her out the back door.
    “Why the need to accompany me?”
    She heard him sigh as he tugged her outside. “Because it makes me feel better to know you are safe. Now, be quick about it.”
    “Or else?” she baited, adding an extra shimmy to her hips as she sauntered to the stream.
    He glared at her mildly. “Test not my patience lest you