His Bonnie Bride by Hannah Howell (the beginning after the end read novel .TXT) 📕

Maggie was prepared for Storm's tears when they came. She had heard them in the girl's voice, and had cleaned her hands of flour. Now she stepped over to Storm, put her plump arms around her and let the girl cling to her as she wept. It came easy to Maggie to mother the smaller, younger Storm. There was no thought to Storm's heritage or her far higher station. There was simply a frightened, heartsore young girl who needed some motherly comfort, something Maggie was very adept at.

"I never cry," Storm said, her voice muffled because her face was pressed to Maggie's ample bosom.

"Weel, then, it means 'tis more meaningful when ye do. 'Tis true and frae the heart of ye." Maggie handed Storm a cloth to dry her tears and poured her some ale, lacing it with whiskey. "Drink this now, lass. 'Twill stiffen ye up. Aye, I wish there was something I could say, some hearty words tae gie ye hope, but ..."

"But there are none." Storm sipped the potent concoction, deciding it was oddly tasteful. "I know that, but of late I seem to be so much less brave. Tears threatened at the slightest turn."

Those words made Maggie's eyes sharpen, and she gave Storm a thorough looking-over as the girl drank from a slightly battered tankard. Considering how long Tavis had shared Storm's bed, the thought that the girl might carry his child seemed a logical one. That the same thought had not yet really settled in Storm's mind was also evident. Maggie decided to keep her suspicions quiet. They would only add to the girl's worries and, if she was pregnant, there was little that could be done.

Storm accepted another tankard of the potent mixture while the two women talked of the similarities and differences in foods either side of the border. Storm decided as she left that visiting Maggie had been a good idea after all, for she did feel less depressed. Her greeting to Tavis as she met him leaving the keep as she was entering was blindingly cheerful.

"But, Tavis," she protested as he took her by the arm and led her back outside, "I was after a small repast."

He held aloft a covered basket. "How convenient, m'lady, it just so happens that I have a bountiful feast hidden in this basket. 'Tis my plan to find a secluded spot where we can feast and"—he looked at her with a very suggestive glint in his eyes—"talk."

"It has been a long time since we have talked," she said demurely as he set her upon his horse.

"Aye," he drawled as he mounted behind her, "but now ye are healed and I intend a verra long discussion."

Leaning against him, looking up at his face and batting her eyelashes, Storm purred, "How enlightening that should be. I much prefer long discussions to short chats."

Laughing, Tavis urged his mount to a fast trot. Standing in the bailey, his family watched them go with a mixture of emotions. It was good to see Tavis shed some of that hard, solemn air he had donned in the last few years, but they wished some other young lovely was the cause. There could only be pain at the end of the road he was now riding.

Storm rested against the hard length of the man behind her and enjoyed the ride. The countryside had a wild beauty all its own, a beauty she realized she had come to love. If things were not bad enough, she realized she was beginning to think of Caraidland as home. It was a depressing thought and, with the lingering assistance of Maggie's tonic, Storm easily shook it away.

The spot Tavis stopped at certainly looked secluded to Storm. It was a small clearing at the edge of a stream. Trees and the gentle slope of the surrounding hills seemed to enclose it. The fact that it was so well suited for what Tavis had in mind made Storm look at him with suspicion.

"Ye can just cease looking at me like that, lass. I found this place when I was a lad, but it only just occurred to me to put it to use for—er—conversing with a lovely lass," Tavis drawled as he saw to his mount. "Do ye nay have a thinking spot at Hagaleah?"

"It used to be where ye found me with Sir Hugh. 'Twill no longer be private, I am sure."

By the time he had finished seeing to the needs of his mount, Storm had shed her shoes and stockings, hiked up her skirts and was dabbling her toes in the clear, somewhat chilly water. Strolling over to her side, Tavis thought she looked very young when in such a pose. He wondered fleetingly if she would always have that carefree air, that touch of innocence that made her so intriguing.

"Can ye swim, Storm?" he asked, looking at her sideways.

"Aye." She also glanced at him sideways, knowing he was about to suggest a swim in nature's own.

He simply quirked a brow, knowing she was fully aware of what he suggested. Storm read it as the dare it was. She looked once at the water, then at Tavis and then began to unlace her gown. It was a bold move that brought the color rushing to her cheeks, but Storm was determined to follow her own and Maggie's advice. With time so swift and so precious, she was going to enjoy what was left, pack as many experiences with Tavis as she could into each day. If nothing else, she would ensure that she was the one he never forgot.

Tavis shed his clothes slowly, his gaze never leaving Storm. He never tired of looking at her, and it was so rare for her to be bold that he relished the change, meant to miss nothing. His breath caught in his throat when she stood naked, slowly undoing her hair. He knew she