Wearing nothing but her blue leather boots, she stepped into the steam pool, stomped down the steps and over to him. Standing above him, she wagged a forefinger at him. “You are not going anywhere without me, is that understood?”
Did she actually expect him to answer when she was standing before him looking like a Playboy Cowgirl of the Month centerfold? The only thing missing was the cowgirl hat. Bloody hell! The boots were enough!
“What are you looking at?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
“Are you kidding? What do you think I’m looking at? I’m looking for staples.”
“Huh?”
He snaked a hand out and grabbed her by the wrist, tugging her forward. She almost fell, but he caught her, and somehow, talented fellow that he was, he managed to settle her on his thighs, astride.
“Ride ’em, cowgirl?” he asked with a laugh.
“This is serious,” she said, pushing against his chest.
He wouldn’t release her, not even when he noticed the tears welling in her eyes. “Hey, I was just teasing. What’s wrong?”
“You,” she said on a sob, swatting him on the shoulder. “You’re an idiot.”
“I know,” he agreed. “Why am I an idiot?”
“You got lost, and I was afraid you were dead, or something, and I was stressed out worrying about you, and about myself, I admit. I didn’t know what I was going to do. And then you showed up, and you looked half dead, and you finally got better, but now you say you have plans to get yourself captured, and maybe crucified, and I’m definitely going to be lost in the past. And what am I going to do without you?” She took a deep breath after her long diatribe, and added, “And I think I’ve fallen in love with you, idiot that I am.”
“Maybe we’re both becoming idiots. Ah, sweetling, I wouldn’t deliberately leave you here.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“What I meant was, I’ve been making plans. I think Thorkel is planning to wed Dyna. I’m going to have a private talk with him. If I should suddenly disappear, I want him to take over as jarl at Hoggstead. I’ve already made him military commander. Even if the famine continues, he’ll have the authority to use whatever money or goods I have left to survive.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” she repeated.
“My next priority is to get you home. Since I seem to have lost telepathic communication with other vangels, I told Zeb to contact one of my brothers and tell them what has happened. You need to be removed from this situation.”
“Seriously? You expect me to leave while you stay here and just wait for the demons to come?”
“Well, yes. This is my problem. Not yours.”
“Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!” she said, smacking him on the shoulder with each word. “Didn’t you hear me say I’ve fallen in love with you?”
“Of course I did, and I thank you for the compliment.”
She smacked him again.
“I was waiting for the right moment to say that I love you, too.”
“Oh, really? And when did you decide that?” Her words were waspish, but he could tell she was pleased.
He was, too. Amazingly, Cnut didn’t recall ever having said those words before. To anyone. “When I was sitting on a stump in the middle of nowhere, lost, and turning into an icicle, I realized that the most important thing I would miss is you. Are you going to cry again?”
“Of course I’m going to cry.”
He thought about putting his arms around her, but she was still in a mood and would no doubt swat him again. “Uh, one question, dearling? Why were you naked under that cloak?”
She wiped her nose on her forearm, then sloshed it clean in the water. “I was going to join you in your bed tonight. I figured you were well enough by now to have a bed partner.”
“You could be right about that,” he said, glancing downward where his favorite body part was standing at attention. And no wonder. He was nude. She was nude, except for the boots. And it had been four whole days since last it got any attention. Then he looked at her and smiled. “Cock-a-doodle-do?”
She was a bloody fool . . .
“I missed you,” she told him with all the heartfelt feelings she’d bottled up the past few days as she’d worried over his absence and then worried over his sickness. “I know, I know,” she added before he could speak, “I’m putting pressure on you right now that you don’t need. You shouldn’t have to think about me when you have all these other problems to face. The famine. The demon thingees. Our time-travel dilemma. The Zeb threat.”