Page 20 of The Naiad's Lover

“Good morning, Mr Arnesson,” he said, and beamed. “I’m here for your swimming lessons.”

“Ah.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Is Mikko?—”

“Busy?” Ral cut in. “Yes. Far too busy. Can’t make it. I am here in his stead, sir. At your service.”

I could hardly turn him away. It was an hour’s walk from town, and he was doing me a great favour.

Besides, though he was a cheerful lad, I wasn’t fooled. There was a stubbornness to his expression that suggested he wouldn’t go easily.

“In that case, thank you, Ral. I appreciate it.”

His smile widened as he stuffed his hands in his breeches pockets, shooting me a curious glance from under his lashes. They were a startlingly dark brown, as were his eyebrows, making a strong contrast to his fair skin and the ash-blond mop of hair which was currently tied back in a short queue.

I caught a blur of movement in the trees behind him, and sighed. “This is Ral Jonasson. He’s here to teach me how to swim. Please don’t frighten him.”

“I beg your pardon?” Ral said.

Sayan was standing so close behind him that when he exhaled, the fine hair on the top of Ral’s head lifted. “I will not frighten him,” Sayan said, then stared with wide eyes when Ral yelped in shock and leapt away, crashing into my arms.

Sayan growled and plucked him away from me, lifting him off his feet and setting him back down a good two yards away. Then he positioned himself behind me, curling one arm low over my belly and the other high at the base of my throat.

Ral’s cheeks darkened when Sayan ducked his head and kissed my neck, opening his mouth over my skin and finishing up with a possessive nip.

I just knew that he was staring the poor boy down when he did it.

“All right,” I said briskly. “Ral, would you like to come in?”

His enormous brown eyes went from Sayan to me and back again. “Yes. Please. Yes, please.”

Sayan grunted and released me without being asked. He vanished into the cabin, and I watched with amusement as Ral’s attention fixed helplessly on the high, round arse bouncing its way into the shadows of the house behind me.

I stepped back and ushered Ral in, guiding him towards the kitchen only to bump into him when he stuttered to a dead halt as we reached the open doorway of the bedchamber.

Sayan had, predictably, draped himself over the bed.

It wasn’t even a seductive pose. Gods knew he had more than a few of those in his repertoire, and he wasn’t shy about using them.

He’d spread himself out until his long limbs covered as much of the bed as possible, giving us an unambiguous shot right between his legs. He stared as if unconcerned at the ceiling.

“Ral,” I prompted.

“Yes!” He strode ahead of me into the kitchen. “Sorry, Mr Arnesson. I didn’t mean to be nosy.”

“No need to apologise.” I gestured at the kitchen table. “Take a seat and I’ll make us some tea. And please, call me Erik.”

He picked a chair with its back to the door, and thus no line of sight to the shameless naiad all a-sprawl over the rumpled silk bedclothes. “Iamsorry, though,” he said. “It’s just…I wasn’t prepared to see your naiad here in your house, and he is…he’s…youknow.”

“Beautiful,” I said with a smile, setting the kettle on the stovetop.

“Yes. I’ll do my very best not to make an idiot of myself about it, though. Again. I was less overwhelmed by it today. He startled me, is all.”

The first time Ral had seen Sayan was back when Henrik had been attempting to entice me into courting one of his nephews, and had brought Mikko and Ral along for a surprise visit.

The three of them had caught us in a compromising position. Sayan had me on the ground as he often did before I’d coaxed him into my house and taught him about beds and sofas and soft rugs, and neither of the Jonasson boys had even given me a second look.

Of course they hadn’t.

Sayan had been designed by the gods to dazzle and seduce all who laid eyes on him, to draw them to him, wanting and ready to be showered with the pleasure that would, in exchange, sustain Sayan’s immortal life.

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