A Midwinter Fantasy (29 page)

“I survived,” she whispered.

He smoothed his hand down her silky blonde hair again and again, as if he could wipe away her pain and confusion. “Yes, you did,
ástin mín
.”

“So why didn’t I live with my father?”

His heart contracted at the tremor in her voice. “Your father loves you, Sonja. He would fall on his own sword if he thought it would protect you.” No lie. He’d watched Troy sacrifice his life for his child—only to discover that he couldn’t die.

“Really?” She raised uncertain eyes to him and he realized, with a crushing sense of sorrow, that she’d grown up without anyone to love her.

Except him.

The child he’d comforted and protected out of a sense of duty had grown into a woman. Along the way, his concern for her well-being had grown into love, a miracle for him in the dark cold land where he’d been bound against his will for centuries. But the pleasure only lasted a moment. It was his fault that Sonja was now condemned to live that same life.

He held her tightly, realizing he must tell her the complete truth of her past. Just not yet.

“So, how did you end up with my Magic Knot thingy?”

The trouble with telling half-truths was that the gaps had to be cemented with lies. “I wanted a way to check that you were safe, so I took your Magic Knot and formed a bond with you. That meant I could be with you in mind and spirit wherever you were.”

As her questioning blue gaze met his, he realized exactly what he’d revealed.

“We’re bonded in some way?”

“Yes,
ástin mín
.” And the bond of mind and spirit no longer satisfied him. His body yearned to make their link physical. He decided he would complete it by giving her his own Magic Knot.

But first, he would make love to her.

Vidar’s golden eyes flared with desire, his face a taut mask of control. Sonja’s heart tripped and raced. She splayed her hand on his chest, felt the flex of his muscles and the thud of his heart, while his hunger for her caressed her mind. She’d lived with this man in her head and her heart for as long as she could remember. Being with him now felt like the most natural thing in the world.

He lowered his mouth to hers and slowly brushed her lips with his own. Yet, even as he kissed her, she sensed doubt reining back his need.

Gripping his shoulders, she said, “This
is
what I want, Vidar.” From the moment he’d touched her Magic Knot and become her
guardian angel
, there could be no other man for her.

He curved a hand around her cheek. “Part of me feels this is wrong.” He frowned and squeezed his eyes closed. “I pledged to myself I would protect you. Not take advantage of you.”

She touched a fingertip to his full bottom lip and trailed her finger from one corner of his mouth to the other. “Then let me take advantage of you.”

Nibbling at his lips, she relaxed under the enervating wash of pleasure as he responded. She knew exactly how to make Vidar forget his reservations. Her hand skimmed down his chest, and she dragged her fingernails lightly across his belly
just above his belt. He gave a needy little grunt and gripped the back of her head to deepen the kiss.

While they kissed, her fingers worked loose the buttons on his shirt. The smooth, warm skin that met her palms sent streamers of heat through her. She traced the sculpted ridges and hollows of muscle and bone, memorizing his body, eager to see him as well as touch him. With a little gasp, she broke the kiss and shoved his shirt off his shoulders. Feathering her lips across his chest, she breathed the intoxicating scent of him.

Her hands fell to his belt, but he stilled her fingers with the flat of his palm. “Sonja . . .” Amusement edged Vidar’s velvet drawl. “Slowly, love. Slowly.” Glancing down at his bare chest, he smiled. “You have me half naked and you haven’t even taken off a sock.”

Vidar stood, bringing her to her feet with him before freeing her of her jacket. As soon as her arms were out of the sleeves, her hands returned to him, cruising up and down the sinewy strength of his forearms. She wanted him naked on the bed, yet he was maddeningly slow, taking his time as he unfastened the top button of her cream silk shirt. He trailed his fingers across the sensitive skin he revealed, sending an electrifying shiver through her.

“You’re teasing me,” she accused.

He laughed, his eyes sparkling. For the first time since she’d met him, he looked truly happy. “It’s called foreplay. I thought women liked to take things slowly.”

She pouted in mock offense, enjoying the game.

“What do you want me to do? Rip off your clothes and throw you down on the rug in front of the fire?”

“That might work.”

“Don’t tempt me.” Curling an arm around her waist, he jerked her flush against his body. A sigh of satisfaction escaped
her before she wrapped her arms about his neck. Their lips met in a hard, hungry kiss. She speared her fingers through his hair, moved against him, drowned in the sensation of his mouth. She didn’t notice his wandering hands had unfastened everything until he eased back to pull her shirt over her head and she lost her bra as well.

Excitement thrummed between them as his hot gaze traveled over her. “Sacred elf-fire, Sonja, I knew you’d be beautiful, but . . .” He swallowed hard. “Change of plan, we’ll take things slowly next time.”

He swept her into his arms. Raining feverish kisses over her face and neck, he carried her to his bed, deposited her gently on the mattress, kicked off his shoes, and came down beside her with a grunt of satisfaction. The heat of his mouth caressed a sensitive spot at the base of her throat. Unbearable need rolled through Sonja. He strung a row of kisses around her breasts. She grabbed handfuls of his glossy black hair and urged him on. His mouth explored her skin, driving her mad with wanting as he circled first one nipple then the other with the tip of his tongue. Then the wet heat of his mouth closed around her breast and she stopped thinking altogether.

Somewhere in the very back of Vidar’s mind, the voice of his conscience told him he should set everything straight with Sonja before he made love to her. But he was long past the point of talking, almost past the point of thinking.

Tasting the silky softness of her skin, he ran his tongue over her nipples, kissed his way down the gentle rounding of her belly. He eased her trousers down her legs, rewarding each newly exposed inch of skin with a kiss. Then he paused to marvel at the beauty of the woman on his bed—his fantasy come true. The golden halo of her hair spread out on the
pillow, while her eyes burned for him like blue flames. With her long slender limbs and full breasts, she was both beautiful seductress and innocent maiden, firing his desire and making him want to take things slowly at the same time.

He didn’t deserve her. Yet he couldn’t stop. He moved up the bed, sprawling half across her body to claim her mouth in a searing kiss. Her seeking hands went to his belt. She pressed her palm over his erection, stroked him through the fabric.

His breath hissed out. Fire blazed in every cell of his body. If he didn’t find release soon, he would combust. He reared back, bracing his upper body on his arms. “Yes. Go on.”

She held his gaze for a second before her eager fingers worked his belt loose and unfastened his trousers. Her hand enclosed him. The tentative touch sent an explosion of desire racing through his body. He jumped back off the bed and stepped out of his trousers.

She watched him from beneath her lashes, the tip of her tongue playing at the corner of her mouth. Did she do that on purpose to drive him wild? He leaned down and pressed his lips to her belly, breathing in her female fragrance. A moan of desire escaped her, and she flexed beneath him, parting her legs.

“Sacred elf-fire, Sonja.”

Vidar gripped her feet, pushed her knees back against her belly, and positioned himself between her thighs. With one hard thrust, he entered her. Her eyes widened at the suddenness of his move, and her surprise flashed along their mental link.

What was he doing? Trying to shock her, make her push him away?

“Sorry.” He withdrew, sat back on his heels, and screwed closed his eyes, trying to understand why he was sabotaging his chance for happiness.

The bed shifted as she moved. “Vidar . . .” Fingers trailed along his jaw, over his lips. He opened his eyes. The deep, almost luminous blue of her gaze trapped him, her breath a sweet whisper across his face. She gave him a naughty grin. “If you stop now, I’ll have to tie you to the bed and take you by force.”

She lay back, arranged herself sensually on the bed, and beckoned him. His doubts burned away in a rush of electrifying eroticism. He followed her down, catching his weight on his elbows. He curled a lock of golden hair around his finger and stroked it across her lips.

Sonja smiled, and a place inside him that had been hollow was suddenly filled with warmth. He might not deserve to love her, but he did.

She looped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down. The feverish intensity of her kisses wiped all thought from his mind. Her legs wrapped around him. This time he entered her slowly. Instinct took over. He opened himself to her completely, flowed into her mind, tasted the essence of her spirit. A frisson of unbearable pleasure expanded between them, joining them in the ecstasy of mind, body, and spirit.

“Sonja,
ástin mín
.” She was his, so perfectly his.

Her breath came in fractured little gasps. She dug her fingernails into his back, clutched him tight, and he never wanted her to let him go. Her pleasure rose, swirling around him, and he sensed her air elemental nature more clearly than ever before. His fire responded: flared in a scorching burst of sensation that seared along his nerves with almost painful intensity. When it was over, he sagged against her, his face pressed into the sweet curve of her neck.

In the wake of the pleasure, painful realization hit him so hard it brought tears to his eyes. He’d confined Sonja to the
Crystal Crib without any idea what he’d given up to appease his father’s anger. He’d lost years of loving her to satisfy one cantankerous old man’s need for revenge. Never again would he ignore his conscience.

Sonja’s fingertips traced circles on his back while his awareness of the room returned. He eased his weight up onto his elbows so he didn’t crush her and touched her cheek. “I want to give you my Magic Knot. Bond completely,” he said.

“Yes.” She smiled, so sweet and full of love.

But would she still look at him like that when she knew about the Crystal Crib?

Sonja curled against Vidar and dozed for a little while, but she was so conscious of the hard muscular length of his body pressed against her that she couldn’t settle. She wanted more of him.

Opening her eyes, she watched him sleep. His sooty lashes lay in dark crescents against his lean bronzed cheeks. Her throat tightened with love to see him looking so peaceful, even while her body quivered at the prospect of making love with him again. She slid down the bed and rained tiny kisses across his chest, gradually working her way over the taut muscles of his abdomen and lower.

He woke with a gasp and pushed up on an elbow. “Sonja, love . . .” He blinked at her as she dropped a kiss on his hip. “We need to talk.”

“Not more talk.” She wrinkled her nose. She was well aware they had issues to discuss, like where she would live and how she’d earn a living, but that could wait until later. She ran a teasing finger over his belly and thighs. Already things were starting to perk up down there. She grinned at him, excitement tingling through her. For the first time in her life she
could do what she wanted without her aunt watching her every move. How ironic that Odin’s ring had confined her, yet set her free to be with Vidar.

She straddled his thighs and smoothed her palms up his body until she lay on top of him. Then she wiggled her hips and his breath shuddered out. His hands settled at her waist and she rubbed her lips across his, teasing him with the tip of her tongue. Although he kissed her back, she sensed reluctance. A tiny chill took the edge off the heat in her belly.

Breaking the kiss, she rested her head on his shoulder, suddenly uncertain. The first time they’d made love had been wonderful for her, but perhaps she’d overestimated his enthusiasm. She kissed his neck and stroked tiny circles on his chest. Perhaps he was just tired.

“Sonja.” Vidar rolled over, depositing her on the bed beside him. He propped his head on a hand. “We need to discuss the past and how it affects us.”

Goose bumps rushed across her skin, so she pulled the quilt over herself. He must mean about the disagreement between their families. “I’m sorry my grandfather killed your brother, but that doesn’t have to be a problem for us, does it?”

Vidar rubbed a hand over his face and wouldn’t meet her gaze. The tiny chill inside her hardened to a ball of ice.

“Vidar, you’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t want you to worry . . . but you have to know something. You weren’t born twenty-six years ago, Sonja. You were born a lot earlier than that.”

“What?” She squinted at him in the firelight. “You’re not making any sense.”

“Two thousand years earlier, to be precise.”

“Yeah, right.” The tension in her gut released. She laughed, expecting him to smile. He didn’t.

Silence stretched between them until her ears hummed. He was freaking serious.

“That’s crazy! There were cars and planes and stuff when I was little.”

Yet, why was she trying to counter such a ridiculous claim?

Vidar sighed as if what he was about to say ripped at his soul. He climbed off the bed and pulled on his pants before joining her again. Resting his back against the headboard, he leaned his forearms on his raised knees and said, “There’s no easy way to explain this, so I’m just going to say it. Everything I told you about the past was true, but I left out a couple of things. Troy’s father killed my brother two thousand years ago. That was before Troy developed his power. Odin wanted to kill you and your mother along with Troy as part of his revenge. I managed to persuade him not to kill you. Instead, I had you frozen in a Crystal Crib by a frost fairy.”