Page 10 of The Shipwreck
It was too awful to contemplate.Her daughter was all she had now.
She took the lid off the churn to show Kimbery how all her hard work had magically separated the cream.She poured the buttermilk off into a small cask and wrapped the lump of butter into a piece of dried kelp.
But then she needed to think up a new task to keep Kimbery occupied while she collected the rest of her scavenge.She plucked a small piece of cool charcoal from the fire and gave it to the little girl, along with the pale, flat slate they used for writing.
“Why don’t you practice your letters?”she suggested.Avril’s father had insisted Avril learn to read so she’d be better able to manage Rivenloch.Avril was determined to pass the skill on to her daughter.
Kimbery picked up the charcoal and, pressing her lips together in concentration, drew a straight vertical line.
“I’m going out again,” Avril told her.“I’ll see what you’ve written when I come back.”
It took three more treks to collect the store of driftwood.Satisfied with her haul, which she stacked beside the cottage, she dusted off her skirts and opened the door.
“Look, Mama!”Kimbery squealed, hopping down from her stool.“Look what I made!”
Avril studied the slate.Kimbery had printed the letters D and A, and beneath was a primitive sketch of their prisoner, bound with rope, with her doll nestled in one arm.
Avril wanted to be perturbed, but it was admittedly a decent drawing for a four-year-old.“That’s very good, Kimmie.Now why don’t you draw a picture of a starfish?”
“Nay!”she said, covering the slate with her arms to keep Avril from wiping it clean.“I want to show him.”
“But he’s sleeping.”
“He’ll wake up.”
Avril wondered.She hadn’t put that much powder in his drink—certainly not much more than she did on occasions when her monthly courses became unbearable—but opium could be risky.
His arm looked awful.It was still swollen, and the skin of his forearm had a bluish cast.If he’d been someone she cared about, she would have set it and made him a splint so it would heal straight.But it seemed like a waste of time and effort when she wasn’t even sure she was going to let him live, let alone recover from his injuries.
As it turned out, he slept through Kimbery’s afternoon nap and their abalone supper.When Kimbery crept into bed with a huge yawn, he was still sleeping.And he hadn’t awakened when Avril blew out the candles and made her way to bed.
But in the middle of the night, she was roused by the sound of scuffling in the next room, and she crept out to investigate, a dagger in her hand.
By the dim light of the banked fire, she saw the Northman beginning to wake.His movements were sluggish, and his eyelids flagged as he struggled to sit upright.
She moved forward to get a closer look, hunkering down beside him.
When his gaze alit on her, a look of wonder came over his face.His eyes lit up with pleasure and relief.“Inga,” he breathed.
She frowned and opened her mouth, intending to correct him.But when she saw the affection in his eyes, she found she didn’t have the heart.
“Inga.”He smiled, his eyes twinkling.
She gulped, reluctant to break the fragile thread of his happy delusion.
He reached up with his bound hands and took her chin in gentle fingers.Before she realized what he was doing, he tilted his head and captured her lips with his.
For an instant she froze, stunned.Swiftly, the softness of his mouth, the warmth of his touch, the sweetness of his kiss enthralled her, and she melted into his welcoming embrace.He tasted of the sea and adventure and passion.And for one sliver of a moment in time, it was possible to believe he had feelings for her.
Then she remembered who he was and that he’d called her by another woman’s name.
With a soft cry of resistance, she tore free, covering her mutinous mouth with the back of one trembling hand and holding her dagger out before her.
Oblivious to her blade, he mumbled something in his own tongue then and, with a peaceful sigh, slumped back into slumber.
Avril scrambled back, scrubbing at her lips.God’s eyes!How could she have let him kiss her?He was a Northman—a savage, a barbarian, a dog.His kind were rapists and plunderers.Shite, she should have killed him while she had the chance.
Yet even though she steeled her heart against him, his taste lingered on her lips, taunting her.Returning to bed, she found it impossible to get back to sleep as unsavory memories rose to the surface of her thoughts.
