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

she had said. Unable to stop himself, he began to weep, for he saw with agonizing clarity all he had just let ride away.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Storm glared at her reflection in the mirror. It told her exactly what she did not care to know. Her hand rested over the swell of her abdomen and then clenched into a fist. She could no longer hide the truth. The pregnancy she had fought to conceal now defeated her, her belly rounding more every day at a nearly alarming rate, or so it seemed to her.

Suddenly, she was swept by a wave of desolation. She sat on the edge of her bed and covered her face with her hands as she fought the urge to weep. The man who had planted the seed, the man she loved, ought to be with her. She should not have to hide the fact that she carried his child, should not have to fear making the announcement to her father. It should be a time of joy and anticipation. She found it easy to curse Tavis for stealing that from her as well.

It was with great effort that she put aside what she felt was harmful self-pity. There was too much to do and she needed strength to face it all. If nothing else, her father would at least gain a good reason for why she had refused two attractive betrothal offers, begged him not to make the arrangements, and continued to dampen the interest of any and all young men who looked her way. She was lucky she had a father who allowed her such scandalous freedom in the matter of choosing a husband.

She grimaced as she thought of those young men. There had been a few who had thought her free for the grabbing, but mostly it seemed her stay with the MacLagans and her undoubted loss of chastity was accepted as a battle casualty. She suspected her family's wealth and power had a great deal to do with that unusual tolerance. So, too, the fact that her father let most any man court her if she had no objections, asking only that the man she chose be a good man. Many a landless knight saw what a rare opportunity that was. The tolerance was nice all the same, no matter what lay behind it.

She had, however, not even tried to soften toward one of the suitors. Although any could accept that she had lost her chastity, she was certain none of them would accept a MacLagan bastard. Neither could she take a husband when her heart and passion were still held captive at Caraidland.

Straightening her shoulders, she told herself firmly to cease dawdling and tell her father. She did not get very far before she decided to speak to Elaine first. It would not hurt to have an ally.

A faint smile touched her mouth when she found Elaine with her young half-brothers. The woman spent as much time with them as possible. Lady Mary's two sons were already accepting her as their mother, soaking up the love they had never gotten from their own mother.

Within a week after their return from Caraidland, her father had wed Elaine, ignoring the sweet woman's plea to wait for a decent mourning period to pass. Despite her time as Eldon's mistress, Elaine was a very modest, proper lady. What she had done had been out of love, aided by the certainty that Eldon's marriage was no real marriage at all, that she was not stealing a man from a woman who loved or even wanted him. Her acceptance at Hagaleah had been immediate, and she did not bemoan the hastiness of her marriage any longer.

After a brief tussle with her brothers Storm gently sent them from the room. She stared at a curious Elaine for a moment as she searched for the right words. Announcing that she was carrying a MacLagan bastard was no easy thing to do. Storm doubted that there was any way to break such news gently.

"I am with child."

Elaine stared at her husband's eldest child. As the meaning of Storm's words slowly penetrated. Elaine's soft gray eyes began to widen. She paled slightly, for she could already hear the crash of swords as Eldon and MacLagan hurled themselves at each other.

"Are you certain, child?"

"Very certain, Elaine." She took the woman's hand and placed it upon her belly, smiling faintly when her increasingly active child moved beneath Elaine's touch and the woman gasped.

"Oh dear God, this cannot be."

"So I have said, over and over and over again, but my belly continues to round. I must tell Papa."

"Aye, but how? He has not e'en spoken of what must have happened to you. Methinks he tries to ignore it. This will ensure that he cannot. That no one can."

"He will be in a rage. There is no doubting that. I was hoping you would aid me in the cooling of it."

"Can it be cooled? This is no small thing, child. He will wish for blood to avenge the shame."

"Please, do not say shame." Storm's hands covered her belly as if to protect her child from hearing the words. "My child ..."

Putting her hands over Storm's, Elaine said quietly, "I speak not of the child. The child is innocent, though many think not. I speak of the abuse of you, an innocent hostage."

"I was not abused, Elaine."

For a moment Elaine stared at Storm, then she asked softly, "Did you go to the man willingly?"

"Nay, not truly. I asked that he leave me be. Only asked, though, Elaine, for I knew that I had no will to push him away. I asked that he show the strength I did not have, is all."

"You love him?"

"Aye, though he feels not the same, is naught but a wencher. I looked to him when Father came to get me, but he said not a word, just let me go. Will ye speak to Papa with me?"

" 'Tis not really my place," Elaine