Claimed by Her Viking Wolf by Doris O'Connor Read Free Book Online Page A

stupidly asked for a quote to replace her old windows. In the
end, that salesperson had annoyed her so much, that she’d told him to stuff it,
but having got hold of her details they wouldn’t leave her alone—until Asger’s intervention.
    He walked over to her A ga and sniffed the food. She got used to him doing that
now. It was a subtle move most folks would probably miss, but she recognized
the widening of his nostrils, followed by the tiniest of nods that signaled his
approval. The fact that he liked her cooking really shouldn’t please her quite
so much, should it? She was becoming far too fond of having him around the
place. That was dangerous thinking, because he couldn’t, wouldn’t stay. He was
a freaking Viking. A wolf shifting one at that. He needed to get back to his
own time. The sooner the better, before she did something stupid like throw
herself at him. He would be a hard man to forget as it was. It would be nigh
impossible if she’d actually had sex with him. She didn’t even want to think of
any other implications that might have.
    While she didn’t know how that whole becoming a
shifter’s mate worked in real life, the connection she already felt to him
scared her half to death. Best to stay well away from temptation.
    “ Hello?”
Kim managed to answer the phone before it rang off again. The deep voice of her
boss rang in her ears.
    “ Finally,
girl. Look, I know you said you needed some time off, but we’re several guides
down, and we have a huge party booked tomorrow. I really could do with your
help. I dread to think what would happen to them if they managed to wander off,
so…”
    Ignoring Asger’s frown
and the threatening rumble of his wolf, Kim turned her back on the impossible
Viking and nodded.
    “ That’s
okay, Richard. I’m free, so I’d love to help out.” That rumble got even louder.
Kim held her breath as Asger stepped up behind her.
He was so close that the heat of his body seeped into her back. The vibrations
of his wolf’s growl traveled up through the soles of her feet. Lordy me. He sounded furious, and he had
no damn right to be. This, right here, was why she couldn’t act on the
attraction between them. Being mated to some overbearing alpha type of guy was
damn hot to write and read about, but in real life it would be a pain in the
ass.
    Kim had her life to lead, and no over-possessive
Viking was going to stop her from doing so.
    “ Is
it thundering at your end or something?” Richard’s baffled question made her
grin. She elbowed Asger in his rock hard abs, swung
round to glare at him, and shook her head, when he took a step to close the
distance again.
    Fire flashed in Asger’s brown eyes, as they bled from his wolf’s yellow back to the molten chocolate of
the man. He murmured something under his breath that she didn’t quite catch. To
her utter relief, he stepped back however, sat down at the kitchen bench, and
opening the ledger started to read. The deep frown pulling his eyebrows
together, made a ball of apprehension form in her belly, so much so that she
startled when Richard spoke in her ear again.
    “ Kim?
Are you okay? You’ve been acting strange this past week.”
    Kim took a deep breath in and forced a smile on her
lips for the benefit of her boss.
    “ Yes,
I’m fine, sorry. That was just a heavy goods vehicle thundering past. I really
do need to do something about my windows I think. You can hear everything. I’ll
be there tomorrow, bright and early. Can’t have you killing the tourists now,
can we?” Richard laughed, and his deep baritone instantly soothed her nerves.
Richard was more than just her boss. Twenty-five years her senior, he’d taken
her under his wing, after her father had died in a climbing related accident,
while working for him. Kim had hated having to lie to him about the reason of
her absence, but she couldn’t betray Asger’s secret.
    “ I
haven’t killed the darlings yet. I’ll pick you up at first light. We can