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vigorliTitle: A Summer Place
Author: Ariel Tachna
Type: RPS
Pairing: Viggo/Orlando
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Just sex
Disclaimer: I don’t know the actors. I just make up stories when I get bored. Any real places or historical figures are represented to the best of my knowledge and with nothing but the most profound respect.
Feedback: Please.
Beta: the irreplaceable namárië120
Summary: In protecting a local blacksmith from a murderer, overseer Viggo Mortensen meets the love of his life. Does he dare to claim that love for his own?
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mesnica
Chapter 5
Rage filled the blue-gray eyes. The whelp had escaped him somehow, disappearing to parts unknown, leaving the man to vent his frustration on the solid wood door of the pervert’s house. The wood had splintered in places, but the metal that ran through and behind it had held, only adding to his anger. So the sheriff thought he could hide the sodomite away somewhere. Let him try. Bean was not as smart as he thought he was. He would find the sodomite and when he did, he would eliminate another link in the chain of depravity that was taking over the island. Bloom and Leto would be next. Then he would have to find out who else the two had been associating with. No trace could be allowed to remain.
********
The heavy wagon made its way slowly toward town, pulled by two irascible mules. Viggo was perfectly content to let Bana handle the animals. Depp managed the supplies, Bana managed the animals, and all three of them helped him manage the men. Casting a sidelong glance at the blacksmith sitting beside him on the wagon bed, Viggo wondered how much more difficult their job would be this summer because of Bloom’s presence. Some of the men he usually hired had very strong opinions about homosexuality, one of the reasons Viggo had been so careful to keep his own preferences a secret. The blacksmith had no secrets any longer, at least not in that arena, and it could well complicate matters. The overseer suppressed a sigh. They would just have to deal with problems as they arose. At least his three crew bosses seemed willing to accept Bloom regardless of his past. They would help set the tone and silence whispers that Viggo might not hear until it was too late.
They had barely entered the town when the blacksmith was hailed by a stout blond man. Bana looked back at Viggo questioningly. The overseer nodded, indicating that he should stop the wagon.
“Orlando,” the man said again, slightly out of breath as he reached the wagon. “I heard the news. Are you all right?”
Orlando shrugged. “I’m fine, Sean,” he replied diffidently. “It was a shock, for sure, but I’d already said everything I had to say to him that night in the tavern.” He flushed at the memory of the very public confrontation he and Jude had engaged in a week before Jude’s murder. “I decided to take a job out at Cleftstone for the summer, so that’ll keep me too busy to think about anything else.”
“Sean!” A woman’s shrill voice interrupted them. Sean turned around with a guilty look on his face. “I have to go,” he told Orlando. “Christine doesn’t want me associating with you anymore. I’m sorry, Orlando. I hope everything turns out for the best.”
Before Orlando could reply, his friend – his former friend – was hurrying back across the village green to his disapproving wife’s side.
“Good riddance to him if he doesn’t have more spine than that,” Karl murmured in Orlando’s ear as he watched the scene unfold.
“He’s a kind-hearted man,” Orlando replied, defending his friend automatically. “He befriended me when I first arrived on the island and no one wanted anything to do with the penniless orphan boy. His wife never liked me, even before she found out about Jude. This is the latest in a long series of attempts to keep him away from me. He won’t stand up to her openly, but he’ll sneak away whenever he can to help me out.”
Johnny shook his head at the exchange. He understood the islander’s reaction – he would have done anything Vanessa asked and then some – but he also knew how much it must hurt Orlando to be shunned by a friend that way. He only hoped the other villagers would be more tolerant. If not, they were in for a very long summer.
Seeing that the conversation was over, Eric urged the mules forward again, driving to the mercantile in town that supplied everything from lumber to ladies’ undergarments. Jumping down from the buckboard, he tied the reins to the hitching post and waited for the others to join them. As they stepped onto the boardwalk, they were accosted by two of the local ladies.
“Mr. Mortensen!” one of the women called out. Eric turned his head in their direction, recognizing them but not sure which one had spoken. He avoided them, and all the local ladies, as much as possible. They were far too mercenary for his gentle soul. Besides, his heart was already set on a girl back home. He just had to wait for her to turn eighteen so they could wed.
Viggo turned at the sound of his name, repressing a sigh when he saw the Misses Blanchett and Otto bearing down on them. He touched his fingers to the brim of his hat respectfully. “Ladies.”
“We heard you were back in town for the summer,” Miss Blanchett began, hooking her arm through Viggo’s proprietarily. “We wanted to welcome you back and to make sure you heard the news.”
“News?” Viggo asked, not even feigning interest. The cousins were inveterate gossips and he was sure he knew what they wanted to tell them. He also knew what else they wanted, but he had even less interest in their persons than he did in their gossip.
“Why, yes,” Miss Otto replied, taking Viggo’s other arm. “We had a murder last week, and we wanted to make sure you knew about it.”
“A murder?” Viggo affected surprise, knowing he could not afford to act too uninterested in the ladies. They were lovely girls, if one liked the type, blond with long curls, elegantly attired and coiffed, slender, with curves in all the appropriate places. Unfortunately for them, those curves held no appeal for the overseer, their slender limbs no enticement. Revealing that, to them or to anyone, though, would be the end of Viggo’s career on the island, and he had a few houses to build still.
“It was quite the shock,” Miss Blanchett related confidentially. “Why, just the week before, the dead man was involved in a scandalous scene at the tavern. It seems…” she lowered her voice “… that he and the blacksmith were lovers.” She paused for effect.
“Stop carrying tales, Cate,” Orlando scolded harshly, stepping from behind Eric into the women’s view. “I know you don’t have anything better to do with your time, but tell your stories to someone who cares.”
Cate and Miranda both turned to face Orlando, glaring daggers at him. “Orlando,” Miranda gasped, “we didn’t see you there.”
“Like hell they didn’t,” Karl muttered, but Orlando ignored him.
“What else were you going to tell Mr. Mortensen?” Orlando demanded of the two women. “That I killed Jude in a fit of pique? That instead of being heartbroken over his death, I’d moved on to some other man? Or some other made-up tale?”
“We’re drawing a crowd,” Viggo murmured, extricating himself from the women’s grasp. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse us, we’re here to buy supplies for the summer. We really should go inside and make our selections.” He tipped his hat again, gesturing with his head for the other men to precede him into the store.
Cate and Miranda continued to glower at Orlando’s retreating back. When the door to the store swung shut behind the men, the two women’s eyes met. They did not speak – they did not have to – their thoughts were clear. They would not drag Mr. Mortensen into their gossip since they still had hopes for catching his eye, but the other man who had spoken was misogynistic enough to suit their purposes perfectly. A few well placed words and everyone in town would know that Orlando had a new lover.
Inside the store, Orlando tried not to scowl. He had not held any real hope that his employer would be interested in men. That would have been too good to be true. To find, though, that the overseer’s taste in women ran toward the cousins they had just met was almost more than Orlando could stand. Surely Mr. Mortensen had better taste than that! With a sigh, he resigned himself to a summer of long, lonely nights, dreaming of something that could never be while resisting the image of his fantasy-made-flesh cavorting with the bitch queens of the island.
“Mr. Mortensen, welcome back!” the shopkeeper’s voice broke into Orlando’s thoughts as he watched Mr. Weaving cross the store to shake the overseer’s hand. “And I see you brought your usual crew with you again.” His eyes strayed over the group. “And a new addition this year.”
“The sheriff recommended Bloom’s work to me,” Viggo replied firmly.
“And so he should,” Hugo agreed. “Quite the artist he is. We’d miss him if he left the island. Now, what can I do for you today?”
Viggo pulled the list of supplies they had made over breakfast from his coat pocket and handed it to the store owner. “It’s quite a list this time.”
Hugo scanned down the list. “I’ll have to order some of the things, but I have most of it here already.” He started around the store, gathering items and setting them on the counter. “I imagine you’ll be hiring a crew again for the summer.”
“Yes,” Viggo agreed. “The plan is to finish up Cleftstone Manor this summer, so I’ll need plenty of willing hands.”
“I’ll put the word out for you,” Hugo promised. “Will you be needing a cook again? Katrina just asked me the other day if you were back on the island yet.”
“We will need a cook. If Mrs. Weaving would be willing, we’d gladly have her and your daughter cook for us again,” Viggo replied with a smile.
“They’re willing. When shall I have them start?” Hugo asked.
“Tonight!” Johnny replied with a laugh. “Otherwise, they’ll have to suffer through my cooking again.”
“Don’t let him fool you, Mr. Weaving,” Orlando interjected, the shopkeeper’s kind words emboldening him. “Johnny’s a good cook. Mr. Mortensen just needs him for other duties.”
Hugo chuckled. “It’s just the five of you for now?” he asked Viggo. When the overseer nodded, he continued, “I’ll let her know. I’m sure she can whip something up for this evening.”
“Thanks,” Viggo replied. “The pay’s the same as last summer.”
“That’s more than generous,” Hugo accepted. “My son may come out to the site with her tonight. He’s sixteen now and eager to work. He hoped you might let him swing a hammer.”
“Harry’s sixteen?” Viggo asked with a shake of his head, remembering the little boy he had met his first summer on the island. “Time does fly, doesn’t it? Have him come out. We’ll see what he can do.”
Hugo gathered the last of the supplies and added everything up. Viggo paid and the five men started carrying everything out to the wagon. The others had started back inside to get the rest as Orlando bent to set down the load he was carrying. Just as he did, a shot rang out, the bullet embedding itself in the side of the wagon an inch from Orlando’s ear. He dropped flat against the wagon bed, covering his head with his hands. He was not carrying a gun and knew he would be no match for a gunman unarmed. All around, people started screaming, seeking cover and searching for the assailant.
When no more shots were fired, Orlando raised his head, peeking above the edge of the wagon. To his relief, he could see Sean elbowing his way through the crowd. “Are you hurt, lad?” the big blond asked when he reached the blacksmith’s side.
“No, just scared,” Orlando admitted. “Nobody’s ever shot at me before.”
“They shouldn’t have gotten the chance today,” Sean retorted. “What’s Mortensen thinking, letting you come to town alone?”
“He’s not alone,” Viggo replied from behind them. “He came to town with the rest of us because we needed supplies and it seemed safer to bring him with us than to leave him at the site alone. I didn’t expect somebody to shoot at him in broad daylight in the middle of town.”
Sean had to acknowledge the truth of that statement. Turning around, he faced the gathering crowd. “Did anybody see anything?” he asked in stentorian tones.
Back near the edge of the crowd, Miranda looked at Cate again. “Somebody tried to kill Orlando,” she whispered, her voice revealing her shock.
“Do you suppose it’s because…” her gesture, a nod of her head toward the tavern where the argument between Orlando and Jude had played out, filled in the missing words.
“I don’t know,” Miranda answered, “but maybe we shouldn’t spread any gossip about Orlando and the other construction worker. Even if it isn’t, I wouldn’t want the sheriff thinking we had anything to do with it.”
Cate nodded her agreement. Gossip was one thing; being responsible for someone’s death was something completely different.
********
From his vantage point across the square, he watched with barely suppressed glee. No, his shot had not succeeded, but it had let everyone know the blacksmith was next in line. The sheriff would do his best to protect the deviant, but he knew where the buggerer was hiding now. It would take time to lay his plans, but he had time. Let the whelp think he was safe among the construction crew. He would learn better soon. Pasting a concerned look on his face, he joined the crowd gathered around the wagon.
Author: Ariel Tachna
Type: RPS
Pairing: Viggo/Orlando
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Just sex
Disclaimer: I don’t know the actors. I just make up stories when I get bored. Any real places or historical figures are represented to the best of my knowledge and with nothing but the most profound respect.
Feedback: Please.
Beta: the irreplaceable namárië120
Summary: In protecting a local blacksmith from a murderer, overseer Viggo Mortensen meets the love of his life. Does he dare to claim that love for his own?
Banner by
mesnicaChapter 5
Rage filled the blue-gray eyes. The whelp had escaped him somehow, disappearing to parts unknown, leaving the man to vent his frustration on the solid wood door of the pervert’s house. The wood had splintered in places, but the metal that ran through and behind it had held, only adding to his anger. So the sheriff thought he could hide the sodomite away somewhere. Let him try. Bean was not as smart as he thought he was. He would find the sodomite and when he did, he would eliminate another link in the chain of depravity that was taking over the island. Bloom and Leto would be next. Then he would have to find out who else the two had been associating with. No trace could be allowed to remain.
********
The heavy wagon made its way slowly toward town, pulled by two irascible mules. Viggo was perfectly content to let Bana handle the animals. Depp managed the supplies, Bana managed the animals, and all three of them helped him manage the men. Casting a sidelong glance at the blacksmith sitting beside him on the wagon bed, Viggo wondered how much more difficult their job would be this summer because of Bloom’s presence. Some of the men he usually hired had very strong opinions about homosexuality, one of the reasons Viggo had been so careful to keep his own preferences a secret. The blacksmith had no secrets any longer, at least not in that arena, and it could well complicate matters. The overseer suppressed a sigh. They would just have to deal with problems as they arose. At least his three crew bosses seemed willing to accept Bloom regardless of his past. They would help set the tone and silence whispers that Viggo might not hear until it was too late.
They had barely entered the town when the blacksmith was hailed by a stout blond man. Bana looked back at Viggo questioningly. The overseer nodded, indicating that he should stop the wagon.
“Orlando,” the man said again, slightly out of breath as he reached the wagon. “I heard the news. Are you all right?”
Orlando shrugged. “I’m fine, Sean,” he replied diffidently. “It was a shock, for sure, but I’d already said everything I had to say to him that night in the tavern.” He flushed at the memory of the very public confrontation he and Jude had engaged in a week before Jude’s murder. “I decided to take a job out at Cleftstone for the summer, so that’ll keep me too busy to think about anything else.”
“Sean!” A woman’s shrill voice interrupted them. Sean turned around with a guilty look on his face. “I have to go,” he told Orlando. “Christine doesn’t want me associating with you anymore. I’m sorry, Orlando. I hope everything turns out for the best.”
Before Orlando could reply, his friend – his former friend – was hurrying back across the village green to his disapproving wife’s side.
“Good riddance to him if he doesn’t have more spine than that,” Karl murmured in Orlando’s ear as he watched the scene unfold.
“He’s a kind-hearted man,” Orlando replied, defending his friend automatically. “He befriended me when I first arrived on the island and no one wanted anything to do with the penniless orphan boy. His wife never liked me, even before she found out about Jude. This is the latest in a long series of attempts to keep him away from me. He won’t stand up to her openly, but he’ll sneak away whenever he can to help me out.”
Johnny shook his head at the exchange. He understood the islander’s reaction – he would have done anything Vanessa asked and then some – but he also knew how much it must hurt Orlando to be shunned by a friend that way. He only hoped the other villagers would be more tolerant. If not, they were in for a very long summer.
Seeing that the conversation was over, Eric urged the mules forward again, driving to the mercantile in town that supplied everything from lumber to ladies’ undergarments. Jumping down from the buckboard, he tied the reins to the hitching post and waited for the others to join them. As they stepped onto the boardwalk, they were accosted by two of the local ladies.
“Mr. Mortensen!” one of the women called out. Eric turned his head in their direction, recognizing them but not sure which one had spoken. He avoided them, and all the local ladies, as much as possible. They were far too mercenary for his gentle soul. Besides, his heart was already set on a girl back home. He just had to wait for her to turn eighteen so they could wed.
Viggo turned at the sound of his name, repressing a sigh when he saw the Misses Blanchett and Otto bearing down on them. He touched his fingers to the brim of his hat respectfully. “Ladies.”
“We heard you were back in town for the summer,” Miss Blanchett began, hooking her arm through Viggo’s proprietarily. “We wanted to welcome you back and to make sure you heard the news.”
“News?” Viggo asked, not even feigning interest. The cousins were inveterate gossips and he was sure he knew what they wanted to tell them. He also knew what else they wanted, but he had even less interest in their persons than he did in their gossip.
“Why, yes,” Miss Otto replied, taking Viggo’s other arm. “We had a murder last week, and we wanted to make sure you knew about it.”
“A murder?” Viggo affected surprise, knowing he could not afford to act too uninterested in the ladies. They were lovely girls, if one liked the type, blond with long curls, elegantly attired and coiffed, slender, with curves in all the appropriate places. Unfortunately for them, those curves held no appeal for the overseer, their slender limbs no enticement. Revealing that, to them or to anyone, though, would be the end of Viggo’s career on the island, and he had a few houses to build still.
“It was quite the shock,” Miss Blanchett related confidentially. “Why, just the week before, the dead man was involved in a scandalous scene at the tavern. It seems…” she lowered her voice “… that he and the blacksmith were lovers.” She paused for effect.
“Stop carrying tales, Cate,” Orlando scolded harshly, stepping from behind Eric into the women’s view. “I know you don’t have anything better to do with your time, but tell your stories to someone who cares.”
Cate and Miranda both turned to face Orlando, glaring daggers at him. “Orlando,” Miranda gasped, “we didn’t see you there.”
“Like hell they didn’t,” Karl muttered, but Orlando ignored him.
“What else were you going to tell Mr. Mortensen?” Orlando demanded of the two women. “That I killed Jude in a fit of pique? That instead of being heartbroken over his death, I’d moved on to some other man? Or some other made-up tale?”
“We’re drawing a crowd,” Viggo murmured, extricating himself from the women’s grasp. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse us, we’re here to buy supplies for the summer. We really should go inside and make our selections.” He tipped his hat again, gesturing with his head for the other men to precede him into the store.
Cate and Miranda continued to glower at Orlando’s retreating back. When the door to the store swung shut behind the men, the two women’s eyes met. They did not speak – they did not have to – their thoughts were clear. They would not drag Mr. Mortensen into their gossip since they still had hopes for catching his eye, but the other man who had spoken was misogynistic enough to suit their purposes perfectly. A few well placed words and everyone in town would know that Orlando had a new lover.
Inside the store, Orlando tried not to scowl. He had not held any real hope that his employer would be interested in men. That would have been too good to be true. To find, though, that the overseer’s taste in women ran toward the cousins they had just met was almost more than Orlando could stand. Surely Mr. Mortensen had better taste than that! With a sigh, he resigned himself to a summer of long, lonely nights, dreaming of something that could never be while resisting the image of his fantasy-made-flesh cavorting with the bitch queens of the island.
“Mr. Mortensen, welcome back!” the shopkeeper’s voice broke into Orlando’s thoughts as he watched Mr. Weaving cross the store to shake the overseer’s hand. “And I see you brought your usual crew with you again.” His eyes strayed over the group. “And a new addition this year.”
“The sheriff recommended Bloom’s work to me,” Viggo replied firmly.
“And so he should,” Hugo agreed. “Quite the artist he is. We’d miss him if he left the island. Now, what can I do for you today?”
Viggo pulled the list of supplies they had made over breakfast from his coat pocket and handed it to the store owner. “It’s quite a list this time.”
Hugo scanned down the list. “I’ll have to order some of the things, but I have most of it here already.” He started around the store, gathering items and setting them on the counter. “I imagine you’ll be hiring a crew again for the summer.”
“Yes,” Viggo agreed. “The plan is to finish up Cleftstone Manor this summer, so I’ll need plenty of willing hands.”
“I’ll put the word out for you,” Hugo promised. “Will you be needing a cook again? Katrina just asked me the other day if you were back on the island yet.”
“We will need a cook. If Mrs. Weaving would be willing, we’d gladly have her and your daughter cook for us again,” Viggo replied with a smile.
“They’re willing. When shall I have them start?” Hugo asked.
“Tonight!” Johnny replied with a laugh. “Otherwise, they’ll have to suffer through my cooking again.”
“Don’t let him fool you, Mr. Weaving,” Orlando interjected, the shopkeeper’s kind words emboldening him. “Johnny’s a good cook. Mr. Mortensen just needs him for other duties.”
Hugo chuckled. “It’s just the five of you for now?” he asked Viggo. When the overseer nodded, he continued, “I’ll let her know. I’m sure she can whip something up for this evening.”
“Thanks,” Viggo replied. “The pay’s the same as last summer.”
“That’s more than generous,” Hugo accepted. “My son may come out to the site with her tonight. He’s sixteen now and eager to work. He hoped you might let him swing a hammer.”
“Harry’s sixteen?” Viggo asked with a shake of his head, remembering the little boy he had met his first summer on the island. “Time does fly, doesn’t it? Have him come out. We’ll see what he can do.”
Hugo gathered the last of the supplies and added everything up. Viggo paid and the five men started carrying everything out to the wagon. The others had started back inside to get the rest as Orlando bent to set down the load he was carrying. Just as he did, a shot rang out, the bullet embedding itself in the side of the wagon an inch from Orlando’s ear. He dropped flat against the wagon bed, covering his head with his hands. He was not carrying a gun and knew he would be no match for a gunman unarmed. All around, people started screaming, seeking cover and searching for the assailant.
When no more shots were fired, Orlando raised his head, peeking above the edge of the wagon. To his relief, he could see Sean elbowing his way through the crowd. “Are you hurt, lad?” the big blond asked when he reached the blacksmith’s side.
“No, just scared,” Orlando admitted. “Nobody’s ever shot at me before.”
“They shouldn’t have gotten the chance today,” Sean retorted. “What’s Mortensen thinking, letting you come to town alone?”
“He’s not alone,” Viggo replied from behind them. “He came to town with the rest of us because we needed supplies and it seemed safer to bring him with us than to leave him at the site alone. I didn’t expect somebody to shoot at him in broad daylight in the middle of town.”
Sean had to acknowledge the truth of that statement. Turning around, he faced the gathering crowd. “Did anybody see anything?” he asked in stentorian tones.
Back near the edge of the crowd, Miranda looked at Cate again. “Somebody tried to kill Orlando,” she whispered, her voice revealing her shock.
“Do you suppose it’s because…” her gesture, a nod of her head toward the tavern where the argument between Orlando and Jude had played out, filled in the missing words.
“I don’t know,” Miranda answered, “but maybe we shouldn’t spread any gossip about Orlando and the other construction worker. Even if it isn’t, I wouldn’t want the sheriff thinking we had anything to do with it.”
Cate nodded her agreement. Gossip was one thing; being responsible for someone’s death was something completely different.
********
From his vantage point across the square, he watched with barely suppressed glee. No, his shot had not succeeded, but it had let everyone know the blacksmith was next in line. The sheriff would do his best to protect the deviant, but he knew where the buggerer was hiding now. It would take time to lay his plans, but he had time. Let the whelp think he was safe among the construction crew. He would learn better soon. Pasting a concerned look on his face, he joined the crowd gathered around the wagon.
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Date: 2006-09-08 09:47 pm (UTC)Loving this!
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Date: 2006-09-08 09:50 pm (UTC)