His Bonnie Bride

by Hannah Howell

Chapter Twenty-Six

  "Papa! Ye are back early!"

  "Aye, but not early enough," Lord Eldon growled as he strode over to his daughter.

  "Quite right," she said calmly, although, inwardly, she was trembling. "We are now wed by a priest."

  "I should still cut the bastard's heart out. Aye, and a thing or two more." Lord Eldon's brown eyes glittered with icy rage as he and Tavis faced each other over the length of their swords.

  Storm rolled her eyes, revealing a woman's disgust for this male posturing. Grabbing the nearest object to hand, which happened to be a many branched candelabra, she brought it down hard on their swords. She watched calmly as the swords were knocked from their hands, as much by surprise as from her blow, and they both swore softly but colorfully. Their glares were turned upon her at this sign of disrespect for a man's business, but she ignored them.

  "Ye cannot kill him, though I must say there is a part or two of him I'd not mind seeing cut off."

  Tavis wondered a little wildly if everyone at Hagaleah had the desire to go about threatening a man's private parts.

  Lord Eldon's lips twitched, but he kept his tone cold. "I told you not to do this." He looked at her cohorts in the escapade. "And you lot. Trooping along after her as always. You look ridiculous."

  At this, Lord Foster stepped up to speak in the group's defense. " 'Tis a good guise, Roden. Worked well."

  "So it did," Lord Eldon said dampeningly. "It got Storm here so that she could wed this rogue." Taking his sword, which Lord Foster had picked up for him, Eldon pointed it at Tavis again. "I will still kill the bastard."

  "Ye cannot, Papa. Tavis is kin now. He is your son-in-law." She almost laughed at his expression.

  "B'God!" he bellowed, waving his sword around dangerously. "Eldons have fought MacLagans since first we set eyes upon each other. We have been spilling each other's blood for generations."

  "Then 'tis time ye ceased," Storm said loudly, trying to be heard over the sudden swell of voices. "I am certain ye can each find someone else to clash swords with," she said into the equally sudden hush.

  "You are an impertinent wench and I did not beat you enough," drawled Eldon, but Storm ignored him.

  Glancing around, Storm became aware of a definite mixture of feelings. Men were plainly creatures of habit and the idea of ceasing what they had done for generations was not an easy one to contemplate. Some men looked confused, some looked mildly belligerent and some looked as if they did not care one way or the other, but were vastly interested in the confrontation. There was no real dispute between the families other than one of nationalities. Storm decided it was not too much of a deprivation for the two families to cease hacking at each other.

  "Just think on this," she said, looking at her father but speaking to everyone. "An I have a son, your grandson will be heir to Caraidland, a future MacLagan." Again she almost laughed, for the shock on a number of faces showed that not many had thought of that. "Why, if none of your sons has sons, the son I may bear could well inherit both Caraidland and Hagaleah, Think of that." She looked around briefly at the sound of laughter, and saw that its source was Colin and Iain.

  "That's enough out of you," growled Eldon.

  "I was merely elucidating," she murmured. "These things should be thought about."

  "Aye, and speaking of things to consider, you should ne'er have been on a horse."

  " 'Twas fine, Papa. We went at a nice, easy pace."

  "You should have waited 'til the babe came instead of risking your wretched, impudent neck."

  "I wanted a name for my child. It will not be named bastard," she snapped.

  "You are as bad as your mother was. She came traipsing o'er from Ireland in the dead o' winter for the same reason. Naturally her daughter must needs gallop o'er the countryside but weeks from her lying in.

  She had little defense save the one she had already given, so Storm tried another tactic in hopes of dimming her father's rage. "Ye should not bellow so at a woman in my delicate condition," she said weakly, placing one hand upon her abdomen and the other on her forehead.

  "You will get nowhere with that ploy," Eldon scoffed, halting Tavis's concerned move toward Storm. "You are as healthy as a horse. I have had three women bear me seven babes, so do not try to fool me."

  Storm recovered immediately. "Leave it to a man to insert boasts of his prowess into every discussion."

  She jabbed a finger at Tavis. "Ye and your new son-in-law should compare. He may top ye."

  "Now, Storm," Tavis protested, "I havenae had any bairns. 'Tis my first that ye carry."

  "Hah! The way ye dabble about, ye probably have dozens."

  "Nay. Nary a one. I was muckle careful about that." He immediately wished the words unsaid as both Storm and her father leveled murderous glares upon him.

  "Phew!" breathed Sholto. "I think the ale still addles Tavis's brains. He's nay thinking too clearly."

  "Nay," Colin agreed in a voice choked with laughter. "The lad's digging a muckle great hole for himself."

  "I suppose I should feel blessed," Storm hissed, thinking immediately of all the women he had probably been careful with.

  "If ye can save the rest of your anger for a bit, Papa, I wish to go home."

  "Storm." Tavis caught her arm as she started to move away. "Stay awhile. We should talk."

  "Should have done a bit more talking and a little less of the other," muttered Eldon, but his eyes were studying Tavis and he was swiftly noticing a few things that altered his outlook on the situation.

  Wrenching her arm free of his hold and furious over how much even his most casual touch could affect her, Storm snapped, "We have naught to talk about, MacLagan."

  With as much haste as she could muster without looking ungainly, Storm headed for the door, her cousins and friends falling into step around her. She wanted to get away as quickly as possible. Just seeing Tavis had brought back all the feelings she had thought she had begun to bury beneath the pain. Every time her baby stirred, she recalled how it had been created. When it happened with him but a step away it only heightened the aching emptiness. She had had enough.

  Tavis strode after her and grabbed her by the arm again. "Just a few minutes is all I ask."

  Whirling around to face him. Storm's hot words were stopped by the sight of what hung around his neck. "My amulet."

  "Do ye want it back?" His hand drifted toward it as if he would prevent its retrieval.

  "Nay," she whispered, and met his gaze. "Nay. I want it no longer. Toss it away, Tavis MacLagan. Throw it aside as ye did all it stands for." She yanked free of his hold and strode away.

  Lord Eldon paused before Tavis and with one look at the young man's pale, desolate face had his suspicions confirmed. It was not a case of a man using a maid as he pleased, then tossing her callously aside. He had no idea why Tavis had let Storm go, beyond the very obvious, such as who they were, but it was plain that the man loved her. This day's work would not put an end to the affair. Lord Eldon briefly touched the amulet, knowing well what it said about his daughter's feelings for Tavis MacLagan and for an instant recalling where and when he had first seen it. Shaking away a brief sadness for precious things lost, he looked straight at Tavis, seeing clearly the haunted look in the younger man's eyes.

  "I should still kill you. Last thing I need 'tis another fool in my family." His gaze fell upon his son, Andrew, still attired in monk's robes and hovering in the doorway. "Take that cursed robe off. You look ridiculous and 'tis no doubt near to sacrilege for a depraved soul such as yourself to wear it." He strode out of the hall.

  Andrew hastened after his father even as he struggled to get the robe off. " 'Tis unfair of you to call me such."

  "Hah!" came Lord Eldon's voice. "Ever since that wench in France, you have had your backside bared to the sky more than you have put your mind or hand to any work. You'll wear it out, lad."

  Lord Foster stepped up to Tavis, the only one not laughing, although the ghost of a smile touche
d his lips. Foster knew he was neither as hot-tempered nor as clever as his longtime friend Eldon, but he, too, could read Tavis's look. Understanding how a woman could hold a man's soul, Lord Foster sought to give the young man hope.

  "The Eldons are ones of strong emotion. 'Tis the hair, mayhaps. They are not above forgiving, though."

  At his side, little Matilda stared at her father, her eyes wide. "Papa, Storm would not like you telling him that. She says he is a rutting bastard whose braes unlace at the mere sight of a wench."

  Over the laughter, Lord Foster took his daughter by the hand and started out of the hall, saying, "I foresee a great deal of trouble with you." He paused by Colin. "I cannot say I will miss fighting with you."

  "Ye go as the Eldons go?" asked Colin as he strode out into the bailey with the Fosters.

  "Aye. It has ever been so." Lord Foster led his daughter to her horse as Eldon stepped over to Colin.

  Glancing at Tavis, who stood a short distance away, his eyes fixed upon Storm, Eldon said, "I think 'tis not the end of this, that there is a great deal more to come ere 'tis finally settled."

  Colin nodded. "Aye. Shock, ale and the knowledge that he carries the blame for any pain has dulled his wits, but 'tis a man of action Tavis is. Though pride may bring a hurdle or twa, he will soon be fighting for her. I will be urging him on. There's nay another I'd be so proud to have carry my grandchild."

  Lord Eldon bowed his head in acknowledgement of the compliment. "Hold off until the babe comes. It could do her harm to suffer an upset now. Little fool should ne'er have tried this escapade."

  Tavis had stepped closer in hopes of speaking to Lord Eldon without a sword in his face, and he quailed at the man's words, for they played upon his concerns for the woman he loved. "Is there aught amiss?"

  "Nay, though she is small and she carries large. 'Tis ne'er good to cause a woman with child distress of any sort. She will be fine. Storm's strong, healthy and an Eldon," he added.

  "And an O'Conner," piped up Phelan, who had come to say farewell to Colin and the others.

  Rolling his eyes, Lord Eldon drawled, "A fact you will ne'er let me forget." After Phelan had said his farewells and left Lord Eldon said musingly, "I will have to try and foster the boy out again after Storm has the babe."

  "Ye have trouble finding ones to take the laddie?" asked Colin, genuinely interested.

  "Aye, he is Irish and few want him for that." Lord Eldon shook his head over that thought.

  " 'Tis a clever, healthy lad he is. Aye, and he has spirit. A little training and he'd be a fine fighting man. 'Tis said the Irish and the Scots share a common stock," Colin drawled, one brow quirking slightly.

  "Is it now," murmured Eldon, his eyes showing that he understood Colin very well.

  "Aye. Mayhaps we can discuss it further after the bairn is born. Suspicion it will have red hair."

  Lord Eldon grinned. "You could do with a bit of color in the clan. The sky holds a warning. We had best be on our way." He looked at Tavis. "I will send word when the babe is born." He went to the horses and mounted behind Storm, ordering one of the men to take the reins of his mount.

  "I can ride perfectly well by myself," Storm protested indignantly. "Ye need not guide me as a babe."

  "You have no more sense than one at times," Lord Eldon said dampingly as they started off, and he observed how she strove not to look back at the man who was now her husband. "You should never have wed the rogue, but you have, and now you ride away from a husband. You will not give the marriage a chance?"

  "Nay. There is naught there to work with," she said quietly, forcing herself to believe her own words. "He will be glad to be left free. I would only hamper his wenching and I will not stay about to watch it."

  "Wenching, is it? 'Tis not like you to accuse a man without proof."

  "I have proof of his wenching. 'Tis no idle charge I make. Katerine was there. She was his mistress for two years and she turned me o'er to Hugh to get me out of Tavis's bed. She has ne'er stopped trying to regain her place."

  "Lass, you were not about for a long while and did not look to be returning. Celibacy ill suits a man."

  "I know that. There was naught said betwixt us when I left so I did not expect faithfulness. A man needs more than a memory. When I rode back into Caraidland I think I hoped that now we would speak of things, that the child I carry would bridge the chasm betwixt us, the chasm of birth and history. Still, 'tis different to actually see him at it." She did not see her father wince. "But, curse it, fool that I am, I think I could have ignored it an it was not that bitch, Katerine. What does that groan mean, Papa?"

  "It means I understand. Recall the time Elaine was called to her father's side?"

  "Aye. Oh," Storm breathed, "and my brother Tristram was born nine months later to Lady Mary."

  "I nearly lost Elaine for that and could not understand. With a man's logic, I had not seen it as being unfaithful to use my wife. Elaine eventually listened and explained how she saw it. A whore in the village is naught but a convenience, an unknown vessel for relief much as a chamberpot, but my wife was one she knew and one who would do her utmost to see that Elaine ne'er forgot I had lain with her." He laughed softly. "Not that Elaine was very fond of me using some tuppence whore. An I think I cannot last another day, I ride to where Elaine is no matter how far. Saves a lot of trouble in the end."

  Storm laughed softly. "I can hear by your voice that ye do not really understand. Aye, ye see how it can matter about what woman, but not truly about the other. Ye see it as naught, for ye do not give of the heart, soul or mind, only your body. 'Tis a simple easing of an ache. Would ye want Elaine to do the same, to seek an easing of an ache?"

  "God's teeth, it ain't the same for a woman," he growled. "Elaine is my woman. No one else shall have her."

  "Then 'tis strange that ye cannot understand how she can feel the same, that 'tis painful for her to think of ye in the arms of another e'en if only briefly and in callous use. She cannot see it fully as a meaningless thing, for 'tis not that way for her. Elaine sees only the pleasure ye give her and cannot bear to think of ye giving that to another while she lies alone. When ye return to her arms she must wonder whose breasts your lips have touched and whose curves your hands traced and did you find more satisfaction there than with her. Just as ye would wonder if she had lain with another. Ye would wonder when that man would try to take her, for surely she gave him the pleasure ye thought solely yours, and that mayhaps she would go, for he had found a way to pleasure her better. Mayhaps she was e'en comparing the two of you as you loved her."

  Lord Eldon scowled at the back of his daughter's head. "A woman does not need as a man does."

  "That is foolishness, Papa. If she enjoys the bedding, then why should she not miss it? Do ye think a woman's passions fade upon request? God alone knows I wish they could. Do ye think a woman has no memory, does not lie alone in her bed and remember, feeling her blood stir yet again only to know that ache that comes when there is no one there to cool it? Do ye not think that after so many nights of knowing that unfed hunger that a woman does not turn her eyes to another man and wish that her heart and mind would not question right and wrong and that she could just use him to fill some of that void? Ye want us to be on fire when ye are about, but ice when ye are not. Ye also expect us to suffer as ye do, but not complain when ye seek the relief ye deny us."

  "Is that how you feel, princess?" he asked softly.

  For a long time Storm did not reply, then said softly, "Aye, and I could kill him for that." She drew a deep, shaky breath. "Tell me, Papa, does the pain e'er fade?"

  "Aye, it will fade, though you might still get a pang if you think on what might have been."

  Storm thought that a mere pang would seem heaven next to the agony she now felt. Leaning against the strength of her father, she closed her eyes. She was so tired and she felt all torn up inside. The edge of her memories, which had begun to dull, would now be razor sharp again. She did not savor the bleedin
g that would cause.

  Later, as Eldon lay in his bed, Elaine snuggled up in his arms, Storm's words echoed in his mind, stirring his curiosity as to the depth of their truth. "Elaine?"

  "Mmmm?" She lifted her head from his chest to look at him. "I thought you were asleep."

  "Nay." He brushed the hair from her face. "Answer me true, Elaine. Do not fear that I seek to judge. Storm said something on our return from Caraidland, and her words prey upon me. I need to know if 'tis really true."

  "Then ask what you will, Roden. You will have naught but the truth from me."

  "When I am not with you do you want me in the night? Do you feel a need for my loving and ache because 'tis not there? Do you hunger, and does it grow until you could bed another man, any man, just to ease the hunger if only your heart and mind would let you? Do you think on the loving and ache for it?"

  "Aye," she replied quietly. "Did you think I would cease to want simply because you were gone from me? Aye, Roden, I ache, I burn and I hunger until I fear to go mad." She smiled a little when he enfolded her in his arms, holding her tightly. "I can judge how bad I have grown by where my eyes rest whene'er I see a man." She laughed with him, relieved that he saw the humor of her remark.

  Eldon grew serious again. "When I return do you wonder whom my lips have tasted or my hands have touched? Do you think that I have found greater pleasure mayhaps with some other woman? E'en if you know 'tis but a whore and my use of her callous, does it hurt to think another has held me if only briefly? Do you think upon me easing a base need but see it as me giving another pleasure, the pleasure you crave but cannot have because you lie alone?"

  "Aye, and I could kill you for it at times," she said softly. "Then when you return I fear to show you the full strength of my hunger, thinking 'twould repulse you just as I fear you will not be able to meet it, for you have eased your own while you were away." Her hand idly caressed his broad chest as she spoke.

  "Since the time I almost lost you there has been no other woman, none, not even when we have been long apart. I have feared that I would frighten you with the strength of my hunger so have held back," he said in quiet wonder, and then tossed her onto her back. "Just how hungry are you now? 'Tis my first night home for days and ere that you had your woman's time."