Prologue

"Oh! So beautiful!"

Bj?rn frowned. Who was in the hayloft? A child, evidently, judging from the fluted voice but who? And who was she talking to? Silently, he crept forward and saw a young girl he didn't recognize crouched by the wall in the far corner. Ah. At least one of his questions was answered. She was talking to Barley, his tabby mouser, who had given birth two months ago. But who was she and what was she doing here on her own? She could not be more than two or three years old and did not live in the village.

He coughed to catch her attention. Surprised, the little girl turned huge amber eyes on him. Bj?rn inhaled sharply. He had only seen irises of that color once in his life. His heart started to drum, but before he could ask the question already on his lips, the little girl beckoned him forward.

"Come see, there are kittens here!" She said the word with as much enthusiasm as a gold panner would have reserved for his biggest flake. He could not help a laugh. Kittens did not elicit the same enthusiasm in him.

"I know."

"There are five of them!"

"I know," he repeated, kneeling by her side. "But you have to be careful. Barley, their mother, is very protective of her babies. Don't try to touch them. You wouldn't want her to hurt you, would you?"

"No." The little girl, who had already extended her hand to stroke the kitten nearest to her, froze. "How do you know her name?"

"She's my cat. I rescued her a few years ago when she got herself trapped in a hole in the forest. She was just skin and bones then, almost starving."

"You're a hero then!"

Bj?rn tilted his head in amusement. No one had ever called him a hero before and he quite liked it. "I don't know about that. But I certainly saved her life."

"What's your name?"

The change of topic caused a smile to bloom on his lips. With a heart-shaped face and a dimple on her right cheek, the girl was adorable.

"I'm Bj?rn. It means Bear." Why he felt compelled to add that detail, he had no idea. Perhaps because, unlike the children in the village, the little girl appeared to be Saxon, and therefore wouldn't know his name's meaning.

He sat back on his heels, wondering. Her not being of Norse descent made her presence here all the more mysterious. How had a Saxon child ended up in his hayloft?

"You are called Bear?" The little girl's eyes grew as round as coins. It seemed he had said exactly the right thing to attract her attention. His smile broadened and he nodded. "Oh, you are so lucky! I want to be called Bee, but Mama told me it was not possible to have an animal name! She calls me Dawn."

Bj?rn's heart resumed its drumming. Perhaps he knew what a Saxon child was doing in the Norseman village after all…

"Your mother. Is she here with you?" he asked, taking advantage of her willingness to talk.

"Yes. She is visiting her sister."

This time his heart leapt. That was exactly what he had hoped to hear.

In all his life he had met only one woman whose eyes were of a molten gold color and who might have a reason to visit the Norsemen village. A woman he had obsessed about for years. Could he dare to hope?

"What is your mother's name?" he asked the girl, trying not to sound as if his life depended on the answer.

But she had already lost interest and was trying to catch one of the little kittens, the one that was as white as snow.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Barley pounced. The little girl shrieked.

The opportunity was lost.