Rough and Ready (36 page)

Love

me forever?"

His eyebrows arched at some of her demands, but in the end, he said, "I will.

But can I amend my vows?"

Now her eyebrows arched.

"Will you let me paint your body whenever I want? Will you paint my body in return? Will you let me show you women's second favorite sexual position?

Will

you be my sex slave? Can I be your sex slave?"

She laughed and threw herself at him. He caught her in his arms and twirled her about in a circle, kissing her bare neck. "I love you, Hilda."

"I love you, Torolf."

"Now can we get this marriage over with so we can start the honeymoon?"

"Spoken like a true Viking."

Some people say that Torolf Magnusson created a new Viking spot that night, not to be confused with the modern G-spot or the Viking S-spot. The trick was that it could only be found with the tongue… and chocolate.

And some people also say that Hilda Magnusson gave her new husband a special present that night. It had been purchased at The Horny Toad, and it was made of gold and… well, that is another story.

Reader Letter

Dear Reader:

Many of you have asked for Torolf's story. What do you think? Did I do him justice? Was Hilda a good enough match for this rogue?

I often say that you've got to love a Viking, and to me it was especially true in this book. The biased cleric historians of that time painted a tainted picture of the Vikings as rapers and pillagers, but mostly they were adventurers and settlers, leaving an overpopulated homeland with little tillable soil.

Sure,

there were some bad ones… just as there were bad Saxons or bad Scots of that time. The world will always have its Hitlers, Saddam Husseins, and Steinolfs.

You have to admire this hearty race of Viking men that was bred in the hard and frosty climates of the north among wild mountains and fjords. They had to develop strong bodies, sea talents, and independence to survive.

Aside from their good looks, these Northmen had law codes that were the beginning of our modern judicial system. Their sagas were equal to the best of literature. And their sense of humor was evident in any writings of that time.

Old Norse is not the same as Norwegian. In fact, it is closer to modern Icelandic. During the tenth and eleventh centuries the Vikings speaking Old Norse were able to understand the Saxon English because of the similarities, and vice versa. In fact, many English words were derived from the Old Norse, like Woden's Day, Wednesday; and Thor's Day, Thursday.

I have an even greater reason for admiring these long-ago men of the north.

Hard

to believe, but I am a direct descendant of Hrolf, or Rollo, the first duke of Norsemandy… a Viking, for sure. I had been doing genealogy research years ago when that fact came up. It was only natural then that, when I turned from newspaper writing to novel writing, my first book and twelve subsequent books should be about Vikings.

That quote in this book about a soldier making love with his boots on came from an actual historical account.

And there is, indeed, an anonymous Hebrew proverb, "If a rogue kisses you, count your teeth."

Next up will be Pretty Boy and Britta's story in Down and Dirty. After that, what would you like to see? How about the dark and brooding Thorfinn? Do you wonder what happened to that lost baby of his? Could it somehow be found here in the future? And Cage probably should get his comeuppance someday, don't you think?

On the other hand, would you rather see a continuation of my other Viking series, straight historical? Like Jamie the Scots boy from The Blue Viking, all grown up and rogue to the bone? Or James of Hawks Lair, the sad Saxon son of Eadyth, the beekeeper in The Tarnished Lady? How about Alrek, the clumsy Viking from My Fair Viking? And Tyra's sisters certainly deserve a book someday.

Your opinions are always valued, and your continued support is appreciated so much. Come to my website for something free and to sign up for my mailing list.

website:
www.sandrahill.net

e-mail:
[email protected]

Glossary—SEALs

BUD/S. Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training.

Budweiser. The trident pin worn by Navy SEALs.

cammied up. Face and bare skin surfaces blackened to blend in with the environment.

civvies. Civilians.

Coronado (California). The West Coast site of the U.S. Naval Amphibious Base and the Naval Special Forces Center, where BUD/S are trained. The other SEAL

training center is located in Little Creek, Virginia. Coronado is also home to the famous Hotel del Coronado.

CQD. Close Quarters Defense, a system developed by Duane Dieter; an important evolution in SEAL training today.

DEROS. Date of expected return from overseas.

down range. Engaged in a live op; in harm's way.

friendlies. Nonenemy; indigenous people in a combat arena.

Gig Squad. A punishment inflicted during BUD/S where a SEAL trainee is forced to spend hours, after the evening meal and a long day of training, outside the officers headquarters, doing many strenuous exercises, including the infamous duck squat.

Hooded Box Drills. Duane Dieter, owner of a CQD school in Maryland, worked with SEALs for many years and developed this role-playing exercise in which a box is marked off—a space delineated by tape on a map or floor (in this case of , the floor plan of the safe house they would be invading). A curtain is dropped to cover the SEALs' view of the box. When the curtain is lifted, they are forced to react on the spot to the new situation laid out… sometimes with lethal force, sometimes with nonlethal force.

NSW. Naval Special Warfare.

OUTCONUS. Outside of the Continental U.S.

SEAL. Acronym for Sea, Air and Land, est. 1962.

sims. Short for simunitions, paint bullets that emulate live ammunition, down to short-range ballistics and cyclic rates of fire.

Smee. Subject matter expert.

SOCOM. U.S. Special Operations Command.

SOF. Special Operations Forces.

tango. Terrorist or bad guy.

light package. Military men surround the person they are protecting or bringing to justice.

UA. Unauthorized Absence, modern version of AWOL.

WARCOM. Warfare Command, as in Naval Special Warfare Command.

XO. Commanding officer.

Glossary—Vikings

Althing. An assembly of free people that makes laws and settles disputes. It is like a Thing but much larger, involving delegates from various parts of a country, not just a single region.

Birka. Market town where Sweden is now located.

Blood Eagle. A gruesome method of killing sometimes employed by Vikings whereby the ribs are slashed down the middle in back and the lungs pulled outside the body, like wings.

braies. Long, slim pants worn by men, usually tied at the waist; also called breeches.

break the raven's fast. To die.

drukkinn. Drunk.

gan dag. Good day.

ga ntt. Good night.

gunna. Long-sleeved, ankle-length gown, often worn by women under a tunic or surcoat or long, open-sided apron.

halberd. A combination spear and battle-axe on a stout pole.

Hedeby. Market town where Germany is now located.

Hesirs. Viking soldiers.

hird. Troop, war band.

Hordaland. Norway.

jarl. High-ranking Norseman, similar to an English earl or a wealthy landowner; could also be a chieftain or minor king.

karl. One rank below a jarl.

Jorvik. Viking-age York in Britain.

Jutland. Denmark.

motte. Steep-sided, flat-topped mound or hill.

nithing. One of the greatest Norse insults, indicating a man was less than nothing.

Norsemandy. Vikings ruled what would later be called Normandy. To them, it was Norsemandy.

odal right. Law of heredity.

sagas. Oral history of the Norse people, passed on from ancient history onward.

scramasaxes. Long-bladed, single-edged knives.

sennight. One week.

skalds. Poets or storytellers who composed and told the sagas, which were the only means of recording ancient Norse history, since there was almost no written word then.

straw death. To die in bed (mattresses stuffed with straw), rather than in battle, which was more desirable.

swale. A lowlying, often wet stretch of land.

sward. Large grassy area.

Thing. An assembly of free men called together to discuss problems and settle disputes; forerunner of the English judicial system; like district courts of today.

thrall. Slave.

vapnatak. Weapon clatter, the noise of banging on shields with weapons during a thing; a way of indicating a vote.

wergild. Compensation to be paid for killing a man.