wasted no time on amenities. ‘‘Well? Will she marry you?’’
‘‘Your Majesty, she says not. She says she’s returning to America today, as planned—and alone.’’
‘‘You used all your skills of persuasion?’’
Finn nodded. ‘‘I am ashamed, Your Majesty, to admit they were not enough, not at this point. She is too wary. I need time.’’
The king’s usually kind eyes grew hard as agates. ‘‘She’s leaving, you said. That means you have no time.’’ Osrik began to pace back and forth between the leaded windows and the archway to the antechamber. Finn and Medwyn waited, deferentially silent, until he chose to speak again. Finally His Majesty stopped and turned. ‘‘Liv is too proud. Too opinionated. Her tongue is as sharp as the beak of a raven. There is, in the end, no reasoning with a woman like that.’’ Those dark eyes leveled on Finn. Finn met them, unblinking.
The king said, ‘‘You will have to take her. I regret the necessity for such a move, but I see no other way. My grandchild will not be born a fitz. Have her car waylaid en route to the airport and transport her to a tower room at Balmarran. Keep her there until she agrees to the marriage.’’
Finn felt a tightness in his chest. Regret. ‘‘She will hate me.’’
‘‘It can’t be helped.’’
‘‘As soon as she gets the chance, she’ll divorce me. Our own laws make it so.’’ No Viking woman could be held to a marriage against her will.
‘‘Keep her at Balmarran until the child is born. Then let her do as she pleases. Your child will be legitimate, and that’s what matters above all.’’
‘‘Your Majesty,’’ Finn said respectfully.
The king looked at him, narrow eyed. ‘‘I don’t like the sound of that.’’
‘‘I would prefer, sire, to capture my wife in my own way.’’
‘‘What way? With Liv, there is no other way than force.’’
‘‘Sire. I assure you. There is a way.’’
Osrik waved a dismissing hand. ‘‘Come now. Listen to your king. Distance has not kept me from watching over my daughters as they grew to womanhood. I know their lives, the choices they’ve made, the men who swarm around them, like bees to hollyhocks in high summer. Liv’s men? Every one of them, soft and giving. Tender as women themselves. They talk with her of changing the world—and they do as she tells them to do.’’ The king’s look turned crafty. ‘‘Did you know she’s got one of those poor fools squirming on the hook of her considerable charms right now?’’
‘‘Yes,’’ Finn said dryly. ‘‘Simon Graves is his name. She spoke of him once or twice in our time together.’’
Osrik strode to his desk and lowered himself into the velvet-padded, intricately carved chair behind it. He laid his hands flat upon the inlaid desktop. The bloodred ruby in the ring of state caught the light streaming in the beveled windows behind him and glittered like fire in a dragon’s eye. ‘‘Finn, we all know that no woman can resist you. As a rule, they don’t even try. But Liv is not a woman in the sense that any true man can understand.’’
‘‘I know that, Your Majesty.’’
The king studied him for a long, uncomfortable moment. ‘‘She’s not like Elli, who understands her womanliness in the deepest way. And not like Brit, who is wild and willful, yes, but still knows herself as a woman and glories in the fact. Liv’s spent her life training herself to assume high office, shuffling her womanhood aside. And that means this may be one game of love you can’t hope to win.’’
‘‘My lord, that’s altogether possible.’’
‘‘You’ll end up with the ashes of regret in your mouth, bitter that you played at all.’’
‘‘Perhaps so.’’
But Finn didn’t feel regret right then. Right then, his blood raced and his mind was clear and sharp as the edge of good sword. He knew his king, could see where this interview was going. He would have His Majesty’s blessing to seduce Princess Liv. To go after her and run her to ground, armed only with his wits and his quick tongue. He would outtalk her—and yet he would hang on her every word. He would touch her, kiss her, caress her—only when she allowed it.
Until she begged for his kisses, pleaded for his touch, yearned only to have him, once again, inside her.
Until she moaned beneath him.
And writhed on top of him.
And crawled all over him.
Whenever he wanted her.
Until he said, Marry me.
And she cried out, Yes! tears of joy streaming from those blue, blue eyes.
It was what he did best.
And he did love a challenge.
Osrik was watching him. The king shook his proud gray head. ‘‘You would be wiser to take her and be done with it. In the end, you’ll have to do it, anyway.’’
Finn said nothing. He’d already made his intention crystal clear.
Medwyn spoke then, from behind Finn. ‘‘Remember, my lord, how this situation came about. Two nights ago, Princess Liv did surrender. She can be seduced, and Prince Finn is the man to do it.’’
Osrik’s expression turned thoughtful. He was nodding, but then he frowned. ‘‘We mustn’t forget that was Midsummer’s Eve. A night when all the rules are broken. Also, there were large quantities of ale involved—is that your plan, then, Finn? To get her drunk and keep her that way?’’
‘‘No, my lord. My plan is to marry her. By her choice. When she makes that choice, she’ll have all her wits about her, else the game would not be fairly played.’’
‘‘Hmm,’’ said the king.
‘‘I believe,’’ said Medwyn, ‘‘that if any man has a chance at this impossible task, it would have to be Finn.’’
Osrik looked right at Finn again. ‘‘You’re absolutely determined to try to win her—on her ground?’’
‘‘Sire. I am.’’
‘‘You will allow me to aid you in one small way?’’
‘‘No force,’’ Finn insisted.
The king smiled and crooked a finger. ‘‘Approach.’’ Finn strode to his side and bent close. His liege whispered of the aid he offered.
Finn stood back.
The king said, ‘‘I can’t guarantee it. But I shall make the call. Deaf ears sometimes hear again, when blind eyes begin to see there is no other way but to learn to be flexible. And the news of the baby will help. If I succeed, you will have not only an important ally in your quest, you’ll also be positioned properly, in a place where Liv will find it difficult to ignore you. What do you say?’’
Finn nodded, ‘‘Yes, my lord, if you would. Such aid would be greatly appreciated.’’
Brit came breezing into the suite at a little after four that afternoon, a flush on her cheeks and her arms full of packages. She dropped them all by the door when she saw that Liv was still there. ‘‘Okay, what’s happened?’’
Liv didn’t bother with the TV or the radio. If her father was listening in while she told Brit what a rat he was, so be it.
Besides, she’d had several hours to ponder Finn Danelaw’s cleverness in hinting that the suite might be bugged. It had given him a perfect reason to sit next to her, to whisper in her ear and capture her hand over and over again—to remind her with his closeness of the forbidden