Iron Seas 03 - Riveted

attraction to a man, but only—” She cut herself off, hesitated before starting again. “In general, I think women are more appealing in appearance.”
    “So do I,” David said, and was gratified to see her quick smile. Her expression lost some of its petrified rigidity.
    She looked up, met his gaze. “What I told you is true—I want to love someone first. Man or woman, I don’t care. I want to feel as if my guts are riveted together, to feel as if I would do anything just for a kiss, or a touch, or to see them. I want to feel as if I can’t live without them, and if I have to…if I have to live without them, I want to feel as if every moment I had with them was worth a lifetime of love. And I want to be loved that way in return.”
    Her words gripped his heart, twisted it hard. That was what he wanted, too.
    Annika caught her lip between her teeth again, watching him—uncertain again, he thought. “Does that sound like a foolish dream?”
    “If it is, then I’m a fool, too.”
    This time her smile came more easily, appeared less brittle. The ring of the ship’s bell sounded. She startled, glancing back at the deck and blinking.
    “I’m due below again.” She backed away from the rail, her eyes still on his. “So will you think on it?”
    He didn’t need to. But he doubted that she would believe an answer given so quickly. “I will,” he said. “And you’ll give me your answer tomorrow, too?”
    She nodded, her gaze holding his for another long second before she turned. David watched her go, then looked out over the bay. Movement near the shoreline caught his eye. Two figures in a boat, rowing north.
    Camille and Lisbet.
    His heart gave a heavy thud. He studied the mountains across the water again, then the conical peak that rose even farther in the distance, and remembered Annika’s faraway expression as she’d gazed in the same direction.
    David would have wagered anything that the burial site he sought lay up there, somewhere. But he would wait. Camille had asked him not to follow them, so he wouldn’t take advantage of the path he saw them travel now. And to tell him all that she had, Annika must have begun to trust him—or discovering his reaction before he met with Hildegard had been worth the risk she’d taken. So he would wait for his aunt. If she didn’t come, then he would look to the northern peninsula again.
    And he would wait for Annika’s answer tomorrow. It was incredible, but despite the satisfaction of his work, the imminent fulfillment of his promise to his mother, any future happiness seemed to be riding on the thin hope of continuing their friendship.
    David thought his heart was riding on it, too.

Chapter Six
    Annika had told David to think on it, but throughout the night and the next morning, it was she who thought of nothing else. Whether stoking the engine or lying in bed, she recalled the stunned incredulity in his expression when he’d realized the truth. No revulsion had followed, but that might come as his shock receded.
    Anxiety kept her company through the hours. If he felt disgust, that would be the end of their acquaintance. She would send word to Hildegard, and try to forget that she’d ever thought well of him.
    And try not to feel devastated, wondering how she could have been so wrong .
    If he didn’t believe they were all suffering from a foul sickness, however…she simply didn’t know what her own answer would be. Continuing to correspond with him would imperil her heart, and Annika wasn’t adventurous. She’d always known what her life would be—and though the search for Källa had thrown a spanner into the works, as soon as that was over, Annika planned to continue as she’d started.
    Her attraction to him threatened to disrupt everything. She’d have been content in Hannasvik. Even if she’d never fallen in love, she’d have found a daughter and raised her alone as her mother had done. She’d have been satisfied.
    But it was true that when she’d left her village, she’d hoped to find a woman who stirred her passion. None had—and she hadn’t met any men to do it, either.
    Until David. Annika still didn’t know if she was attracted because of his sex, or if it was just him . But he had been the only one to affect her so deeply—and she believed it could easily become more. If she turned away his offer of friendship, however, Annika would lose this opportunity forever.
    If he didn’t desire her in return, the opportunity