Viking: Legends of the North: A Limited Edition Boxed Set by Tanya Anne Crosby, Miriam Minger, Shelly Thacker, Glynnis Campbell Page A

heart sank. As mad as it was, despite his broken arm, his banged-up nose, and the cursed dog collar around his neck, he’d rather enjoyed the past few days. Avril was a fascinating woman—spirited and passionate, sensitive yet strong, and her daughter was delightful. Now that the opportunity for escape was at hand, he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave.
    The way she was looking at him made his heart melt. Ever since he’d lost his wife and children, there had been a deep, hollow abyss in his soul. Losing his ship and his men had thrown him farther into the chasm and made it seem impossible to ever reach the surface. But between Avril’s kindhearted honor and Kimbery’s innocent adoration, he’d started to believe that he could climb out of that hole, that he might be capable of caring and loving again.
    Kimbery pushed away from her mother suddenly and galloped across the room into the bedchamber, announcing, “Look at me! I’m a Valkyrie!”
    Avril looked askance at him, and he lifted one corner of his lip in a sheepish half-smile.
    She came to hunker down beside him then, to tell him what he already knew. “I’ve decided I won’t turn you in.”
    He waited in silence, not sure he wanted to hear the rest.
    She turned in profile to him and lowered her eyes. “My father taught me not to judge a man by the sins of his brothers.” She took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “You may have Viking blood in your veins. But you have nothing in common with the man who attacked me.”
    He held his breath, like a felon awaiting his sentence.
    “I’m not sure what I’m going to do with you yet,” she admitted, “but after all you’ve done for Kimbery…and for me…” Her glance flickered momentarily to his lips, and he knew she was remembering their kiss. He was remembering their kiss. He wished she would kiss him again. She tucked her lower lip under her teeth, then lifted love-soft eyes to his. “I vow I won’t let harm come to you.”
    The naked reverence in her beautiful amber eyes took Brandr’s breath away. No woman had ever regarded him with such forthright fondness or gifted him with such a heartfelt promise. The way she was looking at him made him feel he could do anything, even crawl out of his dark underworld into the light.
    He opened his mouth to blurt something in return—he wasn’t sure what—probably something foolish and maudlin. But Kimbery shot suddenly back through the doorway, and Avril steered her into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
    Part of him felt relief. He’d been racked with guilt all this time, cursing his misplaced affections for Avril as some weakness on his part. To know that she felt the same way about him—that her feelings went deeper than lust, that she recognized his good heart, and that she genuinely cared about him—lifted his spirits.
    But the other part of him, the rational part, realized that there was one thing he feared more than Avril turning him in. And that was Avril trying to keep him safe.
    Her trusting gaze filled him with dread. There had been much more than simple mercy in her expression. He’d glimpsed a dangerous combination of affection and determination in her eyes, the same unflinching adoration and steely will that had kept her daughter alive on this barren spit of shore.
    The fact was she didn’t want him to leave either. As improbable as it seemed, the two of them—captive and captor, mortal enemies—had somehow done much more than find common ground and an uneasy peace. They’d fallen in love. And now she naively believed she could keep him.
    But she couldn’t, not without endangering herself and her daughter. She couldn’t hide him. Anyone with one good eye could see Brandr was a Viking. She’d never be able to explain how he’d arrived here, where he’d come from, how they’d met.
    And he knew what would happen after that. Avril would be called a Viking sympathizer, branded a traitor, and probably executed. And Brandr wouldn’t