The Reluctant Viking - Sandra Hill, ebook
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THE RELUCTANT VIKING====================By==Sandra Hill======================================================================================CONTENTS========Chapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter EighteenChapter NineteenChapter TwentyChapter Twenty-OneChapter Twenty-Two===========================================================================The Reluctant VikingSandra HillLove Spell BooksISBN="0-7408-1381-1"Copyright 1994The Reluctant VikingSandra HillLove Spell BooksCopyright 1994 by Sandra HillThe Reluctant VikingA Peanut Press BookPublished by peanutpress.com, Inc.www.peanutpress.comISBN: 0-7408-1381-1 First Peanut Press EditionElectronic format made available by arrangement withDorchester Publishing Co., Inc.276 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10001The name "Love Spell" is a trademark of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.===========================================================================Other Leisure and Love Spell books by Sandra Hill:LOVE ME TENDERTHE OUTLAW VIKINGTHE LAST VIKINGSWEETER SAVAGE LOVEDESPERADOFRANKLY, MY DEAR...THE TARNISHED LADY===========================================================================For my mother, Veronica Cluston, who taught me how to be a strong womanlong before strong women were in vogue.And for my husband, Robert, who taught me how to be a coyote. May wealways howl together.===========================================================================Author's Note=============From 1976 to 1981, the York Archaeological Trust undertook one of themost impressive historical excavations of all time: Jorvik, the VikingAge town of York. More than 15,000 small objects taken from the site gavehistorians a clear picture of everyday Viking life and allowedspecialists to re-create a replica of the Viking city that flourishedthere under a series of Viking kings from 850 to 954 A.D.Archaeological studies, like the "Coppergate" dig at Jorvik, prove thatthe Northmen, who made a highway of the seas during the Viking Age,800-1100 A.D., weren't always the heathen rapers and pillagers portrayedby early historians, usually Anglo-Saxon clerics with biased viewpoints.They were, in fact, men of incredible bravery, daring, loyalty andtalent, driven by a ruthless hunger for new lands to settle as farms andtrading centers.The Vikings respected justice and, in fact, introduced the word law intothe English language. They created in their Things, or local courts, theforerunner of our modern jury system. Furthermore, the Viking sagas andskaldic poetry show evidence of a surprising wit, sensitivity andappreciation for culture.The Northmen began their extensive spearhead onto foreign soil at the endof the eighth century with small, hit-and-run raids that soon escalatedinto massive warheads, sometimes involving hundreds of ships andthousands of men. Over the next two centuries, they penetrated Europe,North Africa and Russia. They proudly served as hand-picked members ofthe Byzantine emperor's personal bodyguard in Constantinople. Somediscovered America.Yet, there is no Viking nation as such today. Why? It's because theNorthmen blended into the local societies they conquered, adopting thelanguage, customs and religion. Many of the noble knights of the MiddleAges were actually close descendants, even grandsons, of Vikings, such asthe "outlaw" Viking Hrolf (or Rollo), first Duke of Normandy, my owngrandfather thirty-three times removed. Hrolf also was thegreat-great-great grandfather of William the Conqueror.The monk-historians also ignored in their biased records an elite groupof Viking knights called Jomsvikings. The oaths of loyalty and reputedvalor of these great warriors were reminiscent of the earlier King Arthurand the Knights of the Round Table.Although the word Viking was not used until later years, I've chosen touse it for the sake of my modern reader. For the same reason, I usetwentieth-century names for countries.Finally, despite the barbaric reputation attributed to the Nordicinvaders, even the harshest critics never disputed their incrediblebravery, huge stature and remarkable good looks. No wonder women ofvanquished, pre-Medieval European countries were attracted to theseexceedingly handsome men who carried such fanciful names as Gudrod theMagnificent, Harald Fairhair, Thorfinn the Mighty, Halfdan of the WideEmbrace, Rolf the Marcher, Thorkel the Handsome, Sven Forkbeard and Cnutthe Great.No wonder my twentieth-century heroine, caught in a web of desertion anddespair, learns to love these proud, fierce people in her travel throughtime to 925 A.D. Jorvik, where living was more simple, but humanrelationships were just as complicated.===========================================================================Her brows were bright, her breast was shining, Whiter her neck than newfallen snow... Blond was his hair, and bright his cheeks, Grim as asnake's were his glowing eyes.-Rigspula c. 10th centuryChapter One==========="This is the first lecture in the 'Mind Over Matter' series. Before westart, clear your mind of all extraneous thought. Picture yourselffloating on a cloud high above the earth-floating... floating...floating...""Stupid, damn tapes!" Ruby Jordan complained aloud as she stomped intoher husband's study to turn off the machine. Rhoda, her ditzy cleaninglady, had probably touched the switches on the complicated deck whenshe'd dusted earlier.A killer headache pounded behind Ruby's eyes, and she knew it would getworse before Jack got home. Would there be another argument?Ruby stopped short when she saw Jack selecting some of his businessmotivation tapes and putting them into a briefcase."I didn't know you were home. Why didn't you-""Don't start on me again, Rube," Jack Jordon interrupted his wife, asilken thread of warning in his deep-timbred voice. "I've had it up tohere with the fighting." He slashed his throat emphatically with aforefinger to make his point."Me, too," Ruby whispered on a broken sigh, then noticed his suitcaseslined up next to the door. So, he really was leaving. She'd expected itfor weeks, but still tears welled in her eyes."Jack, are you sure you want this?" How many times had she asked thatquestion the last two weeks? What a fool to think the answer might bedifferent this time!Jack straightened from his bent position over the stereo, turned it offand rubbed his eyes wearily with the fingers of one hand before dartingan impatient glare at her. He still wore the dark blue business suit he'ddonned early that morning.Ruby knew that the recession-hit real estate market had put him throughthe wringer this past year. One month they'd even had to use her salaryto pay the bills-a walloping blow to his ego. Jack's wide shoulderssagged now with sadness and exhaustion. He probably hadn't eaten all day.For a moment, Ruby's heart softened and she almost asked him if she couldfix his dinner. Almost."Rube, our marriage sucks. We've been hurting each other for a long time,and I'm tired of trying anymore. I've got to get on with my life... weboth do. These arguments tear me apart... affect my work."Ruby listened with rising dismay, and a cold foreboding sealed her lips.When she didn't respond, he continued in a harsh, pain-raw voice, "I'mthirty-eight years old, and I don't want to spend the rest of my lifewith a woman who gets more turned on by her job and her clients than me.""Oh!" she gasped, stunned by his bluntness. "That's not true. It's justlike you to put a sexual connotation on everything.""Hey, that's about the only thing that works for us anymore, and eventhat doesn't happen all that often these days," Jack said with a wry grinand a shrug.His smile, as intimate as a kiss, could still make Ruby's heart docartwheels after all these years, and Ruby had to steel herself to hischarm before asking tremulously, "You're not saying you're leavingbecause of sex problems?""You know better than that." His smile faded as his bleak blue eyesstabbed her accusingly. "We could go upstairs right now and screw eachother's brains out, and it wouldn't solve a thing.""You are so crude!""Yeah, well, you won't have to put up with it much longer," Jack retortedhotly. His jaw tensed visibly, but then he softened, touching hertrembling lips with a fleeting, whisper-soft caress of his fingertips."I'm sorry, babe. I didn't want things to end like this. Can't we justpart amicably?"Ruby shriveled inside a little at his words. She tried to picture afuture without Jack in it. Anguish tore at her insides with steelyfingers, and she had to hold her knuckles to her mouth to hold back thepain."Is there... another woman?" Ruby persisted in a soft, faint voice thatbroke with the emotion she couldn't hide.Jack turned on her angrily. "No! I've told you that a dozen times." Hisglittering eyes challenged her. "You can be sure, though, that I intendto find a woman who won't consider me a male chauvinist just because Iwant to take care of her." Bitterness limned his voice as he took a deepbreath and continued, "I'll tell you something e...
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