Vanquished by the Viking Read Online Free PDF

be more sore than you realize for a day or two.”
    Two days? Two hours seemed like a more appropriate recovery time given the potential rewards. She tugged on her garments instead, careful not to rock the boat overmuch.
    “Is it truly my healing that concerns you?” she asked as she smoothed her tangled curls from her face. “Or are you already contemplating what happens now?”
    She wasn’t one to hide from her problems and not discussing the obstacles ahead would not make them go away. She had fled from his brother and her home, leaving behind everything she’d ever known. Would Reinn take her to a neighboring town where she could find shelter? Or, a skeptical part of her brain wondered, had he merely slowed their progress this morn to give the search parties time to catch up to her so Gunnar could drag her back to the Welsh stronghold?
    “I think you know what must happen next.” The conquering Norseman tied his braies quickly, moving with smooth efficiency now.
    Had their encounter affected him so little that he could forget about it so soon afterward? Her limbs felt languid and heavy, her skin still sensitized to every brush of fabric.
    “You give me too much credit for knowing your mind.” She did not understand the ways of men, no matter that she’d grown up with too many of them surrounding her. Warriors thought differently. “I have no notion what is on your mind, although it seems there is a great hurry to go about whatever you plan to do next.”
    He stopped in the middle of lacing his tunic.
    “Eva. I would linger all day and night here with you if I could, but they will be searching for you. My own men could come upon us at any time since I told them to follow me on the morn and it is long past sunrise.” He squeezed her hand, then lifted it to his mouth to kiss the backs of her fingers. “While my men are loyal first to me before Gunnar, I am more afraid that Gunnar will be scouring land and sea for you by now. He cannot rule the keep without you at his side.”
    Fear returned to chasten her. She should not have tarried here for so long.
    “Then we must make haste to Cledemutha.” She nodded, seeing the wisdom of it even though a part of her heart wished for another option that would allow them to dally in this newfound pleasure.
    What if she never knew his touch again?
    “Nay.” He tensed, his whole body going rigid. “Eva. You are mine now. We must return to your keep to claim it for our own.”

Chapter Four
    “You’re what?” Her voice was a ghost of a whisper as a chill chased through her veins. “You cannot. Must not.”
    The newborn sun could not begin to dissipate the cold.
    “You are terrified of my brother from the stories his men spread about his treatment of his wives,” Reinn reminded her, reaching for his sword. “I have turned a blind eye to his cruelty for too long and I have realized that he is not fit to rule under my family’s banner. I have fought for him when he has called upon me, but I keep my own men because Gunnar and I do not see eye to eye.”
    “Surely you do not challenge him because of my fears.” She would not be responsible for a potentially deadly rift between the brothers. Moreover, she could not help a rising worry that she was a pawn in a tactical game between territorial warriors.
    What if she was simply a convenient excuse for Reinn to attack Gunnar? In truth, she did not know him well. Had taken a grave risk in trusting him with so much.
    “I knew when he released the dogs to chase you down that he needed to be confronted. He used to fight with honor. Now he has been tainted.” Reinn’s cold voice betrayed no hint of mercy, even when he talked of fighting his own brother.
    “Why must you face him now when we have just...” Discovered happiness .
    Was she the only one who’d felt transformed by what had happened between them? She had experienced such tenderness toward him. He had become a cold stranger before she’d finished lacing the