Beyond the Sea Mist by Mary Gillgannon

Author:Mary Gillgannon [Mary Gillgannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-29T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The next moment, Ailinn was beside him. She took hold of his arm and examined the bleeding gash. “You should take off your tunic so I can clean your wound.”

“Aye, I should.” He couldn’t keep his eyes from her. The perfect shape of her mouth. The graceful curve of her cheeks and brow. The soft waves of her hair, like a shimmering bronze sea. When she looked up at him, he felt as if he could drown in the green-gray depths of her eyes. She tugged at his sleeve. “Take it off so I can tend you.”

It was an order, given in her usual imperious tone. But he was happy to obey. Handing his sword to Asgar, he pulled his tunic over his head.

She gasped when she saw the wound. “’Tis deep. ‘Twill need stitching.”

“You can do that, can’t you?”

“Aye. But first I must clean it.” She turned to Asgar. “Fetch me some wine.”

Asgar narrowed his eyes at her, then looked at Magnus. Magnus nodded, trying to hide his amusement at the way she treated the warrior like a servant. No wonder he’d thought of Ailinn as a princess ever since he first laid eyes on her. His princess. And now she truly was.

Ailinn led him over to one of the sea chests. Perhaps it was the blood loss, but everything around Magnus seemed to be happening at a distance, as if he were watching from outside himself. He couldn’t quite believe what had transpired. He was now the captain of not one fine ship, but two. He’d freed Ailinn and won her regard and attention. He’d killed two men and survived a violent storm.

Ailinn washed his wound using the wine and strips of linen she tore from the finely woven shift she wore under her kirtle. He was touched she’d used her own garment to clean the wound. Now that she was his, he would find a way to not only replace the shift, but all her clothing. She would be garbed in the finest fabrics available. He imagined her wearing a kirtle of Byzantium silk, a fabric said to be so sheer and delicate it revealed all a woman’s charms.

The thought aroused him, and the thrill of having Ailinn so near, touching him, made his passion burn even hotter. He felt little pain as she stitched the wound, only a hot longing to have her touch him elsewhere than his arm. For her to stroke his chest...and lower...lower.

When he sighed in longing at his imaginings, she thought his response meant she was hurting him. She halted with her needle poised in the air and furrowed her brow. He smiled at her and urged her to continue.

Around them, the crew was busy putting the ship to rights. Thorvald’s body was thrown overboard and the blood cleaned up. Whether someone said a few words commending the fallen man to the gods before Thorvald was sent to the sea, Magnus didn’t know.

There was a lot of shouting going on back and forth with the crew of the other ship, as details of the storm were exchanged.

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