Viking Passion (36 page)

Once in the bedchamber she shared with Maura,
Lenora waited, standing by the window and listening to the distant
sounds of the city.

“Aren’t you going to bed?” Maura asked.

“No, I’m going to see Erik.”

“We aren’t allowed out of this room at night.
You know that. There is always a guard at the door.”

“Perhaps not tonight. With so much excitement
over Basil’s homecoming, they may forget about us. It’s worth a
try. I know where Erik’s room is now. I’ve learned my way around
this house.”

Lenora waited a little longer, then slipped
out the door. Her guess had been correct. No one was in the
corridor. She hurried to Erik’s room, only to find it empty. She
dared not linger, for there would be a servant coming soon to
prepare his bed for sleep. She would have to come back later. She
was about to leave when the door opened and Maura appeared.

“You frightened me,” Lenora whispered. “What
are you doing here?”

“I came to warn you. Eirena is still awake. I
heard her talking to someone in the corridor. I think the guard
will be at our door soon. Oh, and the men are still in the dining
room. Eirena said so.”

“Let’s join them.”

“Do we dare? Eirena will be furious.”

“She doesn’t need to know. I have to see Erik
without that woman around to interfere.”

“All right. I can keep watch, and if someone
should find you with Erik, it won’t look so bad if I’m there
too.”

“That’s a good idea, Maura, though I’m tired
of always following Eirena’s rules for us. Come on, then.”

Silently they made their way along the
corridor and down the wooden stairs, which creaked at every step.
Lenora was sure they would be discovered, but they reached the
dining room without meeting anyone, either the servants or the
imperious mistress of the house.

They paused outside the half-closed wooden
door, stopped by Basil’s angry voice, and now Lenora understood the
tension she had recognized in him earlier.

“You came naked the first time and I took you
in because my sister requested it. I fed and clothed you and gave
you gold when you went home. Now you return, with two extra mouths
to feed, and again you bring nothing. I do not call this
friendship.”

Erik’s answering voice was full of humor,
refusing to accept the offered insult. “Basil, you forget, I
brought to you my connections with the Rus traders. Because of my
friendship with the rulers of Kiev, you have made one fortune and
will soon make another. That is payment enough for your former
kindness to me. This time I come as a friend, as an equal. I want
to stay in your city, as your partner.”

“That is impossible. There have been changes
with the new Emperor, stricter regulations on foreign trade. Life
is difficult these days for a poor merchant.”

“You are not poor, Basil.”

“In any case, you would not be permitted to
stay in the city permanently. The last time you were injured and
sick, and I had to pay entirely too much gold in bribes to keep you
here. This time, three months is the limit. The Emperor himself
would not change the new laws for you.”

“I see. Well, then, the women and I must go
when our three months are over.”

Maura suddenly brushed past Lenora, pushed
open the door, and ran into the dining room. She stopped before
Basil, her creamy silk skirts swirling about her, her red hair
gleaming in the candlelight like a fiery beacon. She looked like
some angry northern goddess.

“No,” she cried. “We cannot leave. It’s safe
here behind the walls. If we leave Miklagard, Snorri will find us
again. I can’t bear that.” Maura burst into tears.

Lenora had never seen anyone cry so
beautifully. Maura did not wrinkle up her face as she cried, nor
did her nose turn red. Her skin retained its normal creamy tone.
Maura’s soft gray eyes simply filled with glistening tears that ran
down her cheeks in great round drops. Her long, dark lashes
fluttered as she blinked. She sniffed delicately.

Basil rose from his chair with an angry
exclamation. “Were you eavesdropping?” he accused.

“No, no, we came to find Erik.” Maura
gestured toward Lenora, who had followed her into the room. “I only
heard a little, but it was more than enough. Basil, you can’t be
cruel and send us away, just when we have found safety. I know you
are a kind man. Please help us.” Once more Maura was overcome with
tears as she looked at Basil with a piteous expression.

Lenora saw Basil’s face change as he regarded
the slender, flame-haired creature before him. Basil’s stern anger
disappeared when he tried to comfort Maura.

“Something will be done,” he assured her. He
put one arm around Maura’s slim waist, and she bent toward him like
a willow tree in a spring breeze. “Don’t worry, Maura, I’ll think
of something. Please don’t cry.”

Maura’s head was now on Basil’s shoulder and
he was patting her back as she wept. Since Maura was a full head
taller than Basil it was an awkward position. Lenora noticed that
Basil, unaware of any awkwardness, had taken on a protective
attitude. Struggling to subdue a giggle, Lenora glanced at Erik and
saw answering laughter in his eyes.

“Sit down,
poulaki mou
, my poor little
bird. Sit here.” Basil led the still-weeping Maura to his own chair
and settled her in it, tucking an extra cushion behind her back. He
rapped out an order. “Erik, pour her a glass of wine.”

Erik, his face a study in careful
self-control, obeyed. Basil held the glass to Maura’s lips,
watching attentively as she drank.

“Everything will be all right,” Basil
soothed. “Who is this Snorri? Why do you fear him? Tell me all
about it.” He drew a second chair close to Maura and prepared to
listen.

As Maura talked, Basil’s eyes remained fixed
on her face, oblivious to everything else. Erik grinned at
Lenora.

“Walk with me in the courtyard,” he
suggested. “We aren’t needed here.”

Arm in arm, they circled the marble fountain.
Its gentle splashing muffled the voices from the dining room, but
Lenora could see Basil still sitting close to Maura and listening
to her as though spellbound.

She forgot Basil and Maura as she felt Erik’s
arms around her, and she lifted her face for a long, satisfying
kiss.

“I’ve scarcely seen you since we came here,”
she accused.

“I have been busy.”

“With Eirena?”

He laughed and kissed her again. “Not with
Eirena. With Harald, making plans. It is always good to have an
extra plan for an emergency.” Sensing the query that rose to her
lips, he stopped it with a third kiss. “Ask me no questions inside
these walls, my sweet Lenora. Trust me.”

“I do. Oh, Erik, if we must leave as Basil
said, I don’t want to go away without seeing this city. I want to
see the hippodrome and Santa Sophia and the golden statues, and all
the other wonderful things you told me about, but Eirena won’t let
us go out. She says virtuous women remain indoors unless they are
going to church.”

“Does she? Yes, Eirena would say that.” He
seemed amused.

“It’s like being in prison,” Lenora went on.
“And worst of all, I never see you unless Eirena is there. I think
she’s afraid of what we’ll do if we are ever alone together.”

“No doubt. Aren’t you afraid?” he teased.

“Not of you.”

“Then come to my room. Now.”

“Yes. But what about Maura?” Lenora glanced
through the arch into the dining room, where Maura still sat
talking to her host.

“She’s safe enough with Basil. She’ll keep
him talking half the night. Come on. This way.”

Catching her hand, he led her through
darkened halls, up a staircase at the back of the house, and thence
to his room. The servant Lenora had feared meeting earlier had come
and gone, leaving a single candle burning beside the luxurious,
silk-covered bed. She heard Erik bolt the door behind them, and
then she turned to see his outstretched arms. She went into them
without hesitation.

His hard mouth covered her trembling, eager
lips, leaving her aware of nothing but his presence. She clung to
him, aching with swiftly stirred desire. She opened her mouth to
lure him, and when she felt the moist surge of his tongue she
answered with her own urgent thrusting. She would devour him if she
could, and make his body completely one with hers. Her fingers
trailed through his hair, kneaded his strong shoulders, dug into
his back. His mouth slid along her throat as his hands tugged at
the neckline of her gown. He was defeated by the silk fabric, which
lay close at the base of her neck.

He let her go just long enough to lift the
gleaming green-gold robe over her head and drop it on the floor.
Her sheer linen under tunic followed the same route. She pulled at
his tunic, helping him, until he, too, was completely naked. Then
she was crushed against him, lost in the sweet sensation of flesh
on flesh. His hands stroked slowly along her spine, leaving traces
of fire in the wake of his fingertips. Before she could recover her
breath his lips met hers in another passionate onslaught that sent
her senses spinning.

He lifted her off her feet and carried her to
his bed. There he tenderly laid her and, taking the candle, held it
above her to gaze upon her body. His eyes traveled from her strong,
slightly squared shoulders to the wonder of her full, rounded
breasts with their rose-brown tips to her slender waist and gently
curving belly. He scrutinized the rich promise of hips and thighs,
missing no detail before he moved on to her long, beautifully
formed legs and delicate, high-arched feet. And then he lifted his
eyes slowly, lingering once more on each curve and hollow, until
his attention rested on her lovely face.

She felt not the slightest shame as he looked
at her, but moved about so he could see her better, preening for
him while he smiled his pleasure. When at last he replaced the
candle on the table by the bed, he bent his head and kissed the
sensitive tip of each breast in turn, teasing them gently until
they both stood erect and firm, and her breath came in soft gasps.
He searched on, moving lower with calculated slowness, while his
skillful hands turned her flesh to rosy fire.

They were very quiet. Lenora knew that in
this house there was always someone listening, some servant nearby.
They dared not speak above the faintest whisper, but this stricture
only intensified their passion, forcing them to communicate by
touch and taste and the ardent movements of their bodies. The words
they dared not utter aloud were spoken with eyes and fingertips,
and silent lips and tongues, and finally by the deep, urgent union
of both body and spirit that went on and on for a glorious eternity
of sweet sensation until it ended in a long, soft sigh.

With infinite tenderness she brushed back his
dark hair, smoothing down the white streak, stroking the
Greek-style fringe over his forehead. He kissed her, his mouth a
promise of yet more passion to come.

“Tomorrow,” he whispered into her ear, so
softly she could hardly hear him, “I’ll take you to see a church
near here. Eirena can’t object to such an excursion. We will talk
then. Now I must take you back to your room.”

“Not yet,” she breathed. “Just a little
longer.”

Her hands teased at him until he gave a
smothered chuckle at his body’s response. He put his mouth against
her ear. “You are a dangerous woman,” he murmured. “How could I let
you go now?”

It was nearly dawn when they crept out of
Erik’s chamber in their bare feet and tiptoed along the corridor to
Lenora’s room at the other side of the house. The servant posted to
guard the door sat on the floor, his head resting against the wall,
snoring softly. With great care, Lenora opened the door and slipped
silently inside. Erik waved and headed back to his own room as she
closed the door.

Maura lay in the bed they shared, apparently
sound asleep. Lenora stripped off her gown and slid into the
unoccupied side. She was startled a few moments later by Maura’s
quiet voice.

“Hasn’t it been a wonderful evening? Sleep
well, Lenora.”

The morning brought changes. Lenora was
barely dressed when two elderly women appeared at the bedroom door,
followed by the arrival of a young servant girl, reeling under a
heavy load of brilliant fabrics and glittering trimmings. An
irritated Eirena finished off this odd procession.

“I don’t understand it at all,” Eirena fumed.
“Basil woke me at dawn to insist that Maura must have new clothes.
He says my old gowns are too small for her.”

“So they are,” Lenora observed mildly.

“What does that matter? They are perfectly
good material.” Eirena tugged at the light green silk dress Maura
had hastily donned. “This will last for years.”

“Then give it to a servant to wear,” Lenora
said. “Maura should be decently covered.”

“For what?” Eirena regarded the two women
with a suspicious expression.

“Perhaps she will want to go to church.”

“Could I? That would be lovely. I know it’s
different from the church I am accustomed to, but at least it is
Christian. May I go with you, Eirena?” Maura’s pale gray eyes were
wide and innocent.

“Oh. Well, yes, once you have a respectable
dress and a cloak. I hadn’t thought of that.” And that was the end
of Eirena’s protests for the moment.

It was later in the morning when Lenora,
bored with the chatter of the seamstresses who had cluttered every
corner of her room with their work, went looking for Erik. She
found him with Eirena in a chamber off the inner courtyard.

Lenora had quickly learned that in the
Panopoulos house information was usually gained by eavesdropping on
the conversations of others rather than from an open exchange of
facts or plans. She had been repeatedly shocked at finding servants
-and on several occasions Eirena herself – listening at partly
closed doors or behind pillars. Lenora had done this for the first
time the evening before, with Maura, as almost by accident they had
overheard Basil and Erik. Now, more deliberately, Lenora stood in
the empty courtyard and listened to Eirena and Erik. They were
discussing her.