Viking Heart (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors Book 3) (10 page)

“I shouldn’t have let him dance like that with me,” she murmured.

Kol kept scowling. “If you want to dance with a man, you should be able to do so without being accosted. So I am sorry that this happened to you while you were among my people.”

Heat started to burn beneath her skin and she swallowed. God, he smelled like a heady combination of supple leather and spice. She was becoming far too aware of not only his proximity but his warm weapon-roughened fingers stroking her neck. Though tempted to press close and sample the safety he so clearly offered, she pulled away and looked around. “I lost my drink. I could
really
use a drink.”

“Then I’ll get you one.” Kol pulled her after him until they arrived at a cart. He was about to hand over a few coins when the young, handsome vendor peered at her and his eyes widened “You are her!”

Though still anxious, she offered a little grin and nodded. “I
am
me.”

Excited, he reached beneath his cart then shoved some tree bark paper and a stick of charcoal at her. “Draw for me and drink as much as you like, yes?”

“Not right now,” Kol grumbled.

“No. It’s fine.” She mustered up a warm smile for the vendor. “Of course I’ll sketch for you.”

Kol nodded behind the cart. “Give her a sip first.”

“Oh yes!” The man handed her a skin, eyes glued to her face as she murmured thanks and took a few healthy swigs.

The vendor eyed other carts, specifically ones that sold mead or ale before his cunning eyes fell on her. “Could you draw us together then?”

Amber lowered her brows. “Me…and you?”

A wide smile split his face as he stared at her. “Yes. You are very beautiful. It will make the others jealous.”

“Others?”

Kol eyed the man, an unreadable expression on his face. “He means to use your beauty to help sell his wares.”

“Ah.” Amber nodded, feeling better by the moment. “Not sure my mug will sell much booze but sure.” She winked. “Way to advertise.”

The vendor blushed but kept on grinning.

Though it was a little strange drawing herself next to another person, she started flicking the charcoal over the paper and within a few minutes, she’d created a halfway decent image. She tried like heck to ignore the fascinated look on Kol’s face as he watched. Yet as she drew her eyes kept flickering to his face and she realized how much she would like to sketch him. Not only was he gorgeous but his face was more compelling than most with his endlessly varying expressions.

When finished, she handed the drawing to the vendor. “What do you think?”

The man’s eyes widened and he nodded avidly. “Very, very good. Thank you!”

Amber laughed when he came around and pulled her into a hug. If she wasn’t mistaken, he was about to kiss her when Kol released a low sound that sounded a lot like a growl. The vendor’s eyes shot to the Viking towering a good six inches over him and he pulled back abruptly. It took him less than a second to return to the opposite side of the cart.

The vendor hung the picture then handed over a few more skins, eyes avoiding Kol. “Come back when you need more. You both drink as much as you like this eve at no cost.”

“Thank you…I never did catch your name?”

“His name is Hagal,” Kol muttered as he steered her away.

“Nice to meet you, Hagal,” she said over her shoulder. “I’m Amber.”

Hagal grinned and blew her a kiss.

Kol grumbled something under his breath as they strolled along the oceanfront. It didn’t go unnoticed that he hadn’t released her hand.

“What’s up with you, Grumpy?” She eyed him, a small grin hovering on her lips. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jealous.”

“Of Hagal?” He snorted. “Never.”

“Good, because jealousy isn’t sexy,” she chided. “Besides, he’s just a kid.”

“He is eighteen winters,” Kol informed. “And he doesn’t mind that you are twenty-six winters.”

“Ewe.” She scrunched her nose. “Nice enough kid but I don’t do teenagers.”

“Teenagers?”

“People between the ages of thirteen and nineteen.”

Kol shrugged. “Those are good ages for women.”

“Oh, ick. You’ve got to be around my age.” Then she remembered exactly where she was and how young they got started here. “Damn, so I’m not young in the least here, huh?”

“I’m thirty winters.” He shot her one of those knee-weakening looks he was so good at. “And you are young enough for me.”

A little flutter uncurled in her belly. “But we aren’t hooking up, remember?”

“Hooking up what?”

“Getting together like your brothers and my sisters did.”

Kol took a swig from his skin and shrugged. “Not if you don’t want to.”

“Kol,” she exclaimed and they raised their joined hands as a few children ran under. “I thought we pretty much agreed that
us
, you and I together…” She eyed him looking for his reaction. “Wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Did we?” He steered her close to him again after the last child ran by. “I think maybe we could be together…” As though he didn’t quite expect his own words, he covered his tracks. “But still remain available to others.”

Amber took another long sip and shook her head. “And what about you not wanting to replace Sean?”

Better to bring him up to remind herself of things she was too quick to forget.

“I don’t want to replace Sean,” he said. “But Sean is not here and I am.”

“Sean isn’t anywhere,” she whispered and drank. “Not anymore.”

“Maybe I am,” a voice said from behind. “Maybe I’m right here, Sweetheart.”

Sean?

Wide-eyed, her eyes shot to where Kol had moments before stood only to see Sean.

“What is it, Amber?” Worried, Kol grabbed her upper arms as Kjar came up from behind and joined them.

Her rich brown eyes rounded as she stared at him and whispered, “Sean?”

“No,” he said softly and cupped her cheek. “I’m Kol.”

“Kol?” She blinked several times as though she finally saw him clearly. “Of course it’s you.” She pulled back, confused. “God, I think I’m losing it.”

Kjar rubbed her back, troubled. “Are you well enough now?”

“I think so.” She pressed the heel of her palm against her forehead and shook her head. “I could’ve sworn I heard Sean, and then when I looked at you, Kol, you were him…
shit
.”

“You still grieve.” Kjar massaged her shoulders. “This is normal.”

Though concerned about Amber, it took a great deal of strength for Kol to keep from ripping his cousin’s hands from her body. He didn’t like how close Kjar and Amber were growing and he felt unsettled by what had just happened.

He had felt something unexplainable when she called him Sean.

Something profound and different…but astoundingly familiar.

It was as if he was about to remember something he had forgotten. Something so important it had him clenching his teeth and struggling toward a memory just out of reach. Like when he thrust a dagger at a target and the wind shifted just enough to make him miss his mark.

“There you two are.” Kara grinned as she wrapped an arm around Kol’s waist and took Amber’s hand. “A few of us are enjoying a private fire further down the shore. Why don’t you join us?”

Confused by everything he was feeling, Kol welcomed the familiar escape Kara offered and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “That sounds good.”

Amber was shaking her head, but Kara refused to take no for an answer as she slid out from under his arm, wrapped elbows with her and started walking. “You will come, yes?”

“So it seems,” Amber murmured, but he heard a smile in her voice.

Kol and Kjar kept a discreet distance behind as they followed. They needed to have a conversation, and since they’d always been close Kol didn’t hesitate, just said what needed to be said. “I want her.”

“You want all women.”

“I want her more than most.”

“Then take her and be done with it." Kjar took a long swig from his horn.

As tended to happen between them, Kol’s inner dragon was feeling out the fluctuating power of the demi-god, probing for hidden truths.

“Tell your dragon that I am no threat,” Kjar muttered as he tossed a vendor a few coins and scoffed up a drumstick.

“But you are.”

Kjar shook his head. “Only because you are not used to a woman you want befriending someone you respect.”

Kol narrowed his eyes. “Because I sense you wish more than mere friendship.”

“Because I do,” Kjar acknowledged, taking a bite of the meat. “But I will not take what the gods do not intend for me.”

“And they do not intend Amber for you,” Kol said, warring between elation and the same sense of trepidation he’d had since he and his brothers first entered into their pact with the seers.

“No.”

Kol drained his skin. “Then she is meant for me.”

“I did not say that.”

“But it's true, yes?”

“You saw how easily the pact changed when Raknar and Veronica came together. New bargains were struck that nearly ended their connection across time. The seers tend to do what suits them best,” Kjar said as if he didn’t know Kol was hanging on his every word. “Nothing is ever final until it is.”

“Vague bastard,” Kol muttered but wasn’t in the habit of staying aggravated with his cousin long. Besides, he felt for him. “Will you be able to keep your hands off her?”

“
Hel
, no,” Kjar said as he munched. “But I will not have sex with her.”

“Kiss her then?” Kol said softly.

Kjar considered it before he shook his head. “No, if I kiss her I will want sex.”

Kol eyed Amber’s delectable backside as she walked. “I would too.”

“Hmph,” Kjar grunted, his eyes on the same thing.

They picked up their pace, well aware of far too many men eying Amber before they turned to walk alongside her and Kara.

“The slave you keep is good,” Kjar said softly. “She deserves much.”

“Kara?” Kol shook his head. “She is no slave but a free woman. Besides, I don’t keep her anymore.”

“Since this morning.” Kjar chuckled.

His cousin had no idea how long it had been since he had lain with Kara and his pride kept him from sharing. But he knew Kjar referred to Kara befriending Amber. “She
is
a good woman.”

They left the main thruway and started walking away from the crowds. Fires speckled the shore, but they were few and far between. Kara yelped with glee as a man tossed her over his shoulder. Another was about to do the same to Amber, but she shook her head, stopped and looked back at him and Kjar. When the men hovering around her saw who she was waiting for, they kept going.

“Hey, guys.” She wrapped an elbow with each of them. “I lost my partner.”

They smiled when she tossed them each a grin. He was grateful she no longer seemed upset but genuinely happy…anything to keep that joy in her eyes.

“You should stay close to Kol this eve.” Kjar met his eyes over her head. “Now that we know a stranger breached the village.”

“Sure,” Amber said easily. “Or you, right?”

Kjar’s eyes flickered to hers and softened. “I don’t intend to stay long but yes, me too.”

Though he shouldn’t be because Amber was stunning, he was surprised by the demi-god’s response to her. Kjar rarely took to a woman and Kol wasn’t sure how to handle it. Had it been any other female, he would have willingly shared.

But it wasn’t…
she
wasn’t.

They had just reached the second fire when several people called out her name, men and women alike.

“Amber, join us!”

Amber eyed Kol and Kjar. “You coming with me?”

Kol grinned. “Where else would we be?”

“Okay, see you over there.” She jogged forward and embraced several people. It was as if she hadn’t arrived this morning but had lived here her whole damn life.

“Odin must be smiling down on her,” Kjar said, a little awe in his voice. “I know I would be.”

Kol clapped him on the shoulder. “I couldn’t agree more, cousin.”

Several skins of ale later, Kol couldn’t imagine a better place to be on Middle Earth than sitting on the shore watching Amber. Based on the way Kjar still lounged next to him, eyes never leaving her face, he knew his cousin felt the same way.

Kara had done a good job at batting away any men who tried to become too affectionate with Amber. He had no idea what was said, but it was enough to keep them from doing anything that upset him overly much. Honestly, he was fine with them gawking, touching her arms and even her hair. Tension only locked his muscles when they tried to touch anything else, especially her lovely face.

All and all, the eve had gone well and Amber was, as she had been nearly the entire time, the center of attention. Now she’d finally gotten the hang of the falster pipe and all but the spark of the fire and the roar of the ocean had gone silent.

Like it had been when she played the drums, she created a sound that seemed to sweep the soul away. His dragon blood made him especially sensitive to sound so for the most part he had tuned out and not paid much attention to either instrument. Until Amber played them. Now it felt like a whole new world had opened up to him.

That the music was created by a mortal enthralled him.

Then again, a simple human would not look nearly as ravishing when they played or could draw out the tone with such subdued, carnal perfection. It was unmistakably erotic; the notes she weaved together and gave to all of those privileged enough to listen. It was almost as if her music ignited an enhanced level of sensuality in people that had been lacking before. As it had been when she played the drums, couples came together, their bodies swaying in the night, their lips, hands and fingers caressing.

“The essence of sex comes naturally to her,” Kjar commented as he tossed aside a skin and started on another.

Kol shifted and drank as well, long past the point of trying to will away his erection with magic. Yes, the essence of sex came to her naturally. Too naturally. Enough to have him imagining in great detail all the ways in which he meant to take her.

As the last notes of her song wafted into the air and pulled couples even closer, Kjar jumped to his feet and announced, “Time for someone else to play. I wish to dance with Amber.”

“No.” Kol stood. “Not this time, my friend.”

“Kjar,” Kara purred, sauntering around the fire. “Too long have I waited for you to dance with me.” She batted her lashes and held out her hand. “Might we now?”

Kol winked at Kara as Kjar grunted his agreement and pulled her into his arms. Meanwhile, when Kol held out his hand to Amber, the men who thought to snatch her up turned their attention elsewhere. To Valhalla and back, instead of feeling entitled, he’d never felt so privileged or proud to pull a woman into his arms.

Amber was sweetly tentative as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders as much as she could with their height difference and smiled up at him. Though tempted to grab her backside and grind his erection against her, he kept a little distance between them and enjoyed the simple pleasure of feeling her in his arms.

“Thank you for playing the pipe for us,” he murmured. “You’re very talented.”

But then he had thought as much when he watched her sketch earlier. More than familiar with magic, he would have sworn it was part of what came from her fingers as she drew. But it wasn’t. No, it was
her
…who she
was
. Yet he sensed something else to it. Something not magical but perhaps mystical.

“Thanks.” Her eyes were as bright as her smile. “I loved it. It’s a great sounding instrument once you understand what it’s trying to say.”

“Say?”

“Yeah.” She bit the corner of her lip, passionate. “Though it seems so simple, a range of sounds can be pulled from it if you move your fingers, airway and most especially, your tongue the right way.”

“Your tongue,” he murmured, grinning. If his straining arousal wasn’t already appreciative enough, now it was forged steel as he contemplated all the creative ways she could move her tongue.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Kol,” she teased.

“Gutter?”

She tapped a finger against his forehead. “The place your mind goes when it thinks of nothing but sex.”

“Then my mind is often in the gutter,” he admitted, not apologetic in the least.

“I know.” She sighed and shook her head as though they were pleasantly doomed. “Mine too.”

A drum had just joined the pipe, apparently introducing enough rhythm that Amber slowed and shifted the sway of her hips. Meeting her motion smoothly, he wrapped an arm around her lower back but touched nothing else. While he might have wanted to slam her to the ground, spread her legs, and thrust into her, he would not. No, he’d rather work his way closer slowly…at her pace.

Hel
, did their bodies move well against one another’s though.

Kol wasn’t sure if it was her or him doing it, but they adjusted, rocked and swayed as if they were made to please the other. Amber’s lips had parted slightly and her eyes drifted down, roaming over his neck, shoulders then chest as though they were unable to look anywhere else. 

Totally unlike him, Kol suddenly didn’t want to lose her to lust so he tilted up her chin until their eyes met. “Are you still with me, Little Dove?”

She blinked and frowned. “What did you just call me?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered.

“That’s what Megan has always called me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, confused as to why it had popped into his head. “I won’t call you that again.”

Amber’s eyes fell then met his, voice soft. “No, it’s okay.”

“It is?”

“Sure,” she murmured. “But it would be better if you knew why you said it.”

Kol shook his head. “The impression of fast and straight flight came into my mind and then I imagined a dove.”

“Because that’s how a dove flies,” she said softly.

“Why did Megan compare you to that then?”

“Likely because I have a habit of flying away when things get tough,” she murmured.

“I don’t know.” Kol shrugged. “I tend to see it more like you have the ability to fly fast and straight in any direction that keeps you safe. Whether it’s toward or away from something, I think the name is a sign of strength.”

“Ya think?” She quirked her lips. “Then you’re a die-hard optimist.”

“Optimist?”

“Someone who tends to see the bright side of things.”

“Yes. Then I am more of an
optimist
than most,” he said.