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

murmured, aching to help the girl, but not wishing to step beyond what was her right as Roden's third wife.

"That is foolishness. Ye are family. I do not ask that ye speak for me or take sides, only that ye come with me to ensure that our tempers do not make this more of a woe than it is."

With an inner grimace, Elaine thought of the confrontation to come. It would be loud and the language blunt, perhaps vitriolic. She had always known that Roden was a man of strong emotion, but in her short time at Hagaleah she had come to realize just how strong. His children were as he was. Even the worst of outbursts was tempered by love, however, and slowly she was adjusting to the abundance of life at Hagaleah, to all that unfettered emotion. She did not know if she was ready for as great a confrontation as this one promised to be, but she nodded, willing to face it for Storm's sake.

Storm smiled in relief and gently teased, "One would think ye are afraid, Elaine."

"I am some. Not of ye or Roden, but I am unused to your ways as yet."

"You mean our bellowing and ranting."

Elaine laughed softly. "Mayhaps I do. I am not yet accustomed to such honesty of emotion."

"It can be difficult. Shall we go and put this confrontation behind us?"

They reluctantly went to speak to Lord Eldon. Neither doubted how he would react to such news. The only question they had was whether or not they could stop him from racing to Caraidland, a sword in his hands and blood in his eyes, eager to spit any MacLagan that came to hand.

A thousand words tumbled through Storm's mind as she faced her father, but they refused to form into coherent and clever sentences. Her father had never spoken to her of her stay at Caraidland, except to have her assure him that she felt no need for vengeance, had not been treated cruelly in any way. He did seem to wish to ignore the fact that she had been Tavis MacLagan's lover, even though he must have been told. Now she would have to tear away those blinders, tell him that there was proof of her dishonoring that a blind man could not ignore. It hurt her to think of how it was going to hurt him.

For a brief moment she thought of Tavis, then inwardly cursed. He had made it very clear that he was done with her. It was past time that she was done with him. The man had brought her only trouble and woe and now that woe was going to reach out and pull in the rest of her family. A bastard was a hard thing to hide.

But it did not have to be a bastard, she suddenly thought. She was fairly certain that she could count on Colin MacLagan to support her if she demanded the MacLagan name for her child. Things might not be as dismal as she had thought. It would be hard to be Tavis's wife in name only, but for the welfare of her child she would do so. Even though he would be a Scottish man's child living amongst the English, it would be better than being a Scottish man's bastard in the same place. The fact that his grandfather would be Lord Roden Eldon would help a great deal. "Did you come here to speak to me or just to stare at me?" Lord Eldon drawled, smiling a little at his wife and only daughter, who had entered the small room he often used to confer with his steward, a servant he lacked at the moment. "There is a reason for this visit, I presume?"

"Aye, Papa," Storm said quietly. "I fear there is a reason, and ye will not be liking it much."

Eldon tensed. Looking closely at the women made him tense even more. There was only one thing left that could happen to Storm. He had not forgotten how her time at Caraidland had been spent, and now he felt sure that she was about to tell him that they had not been able to leave that woe behind when they had ridden away.

Storm could see the realization harden her father's face. "Papa, I am with child."

"I will kill the bastard. Slowly."

Elaine and Storm put themselves between him and the door when he made to leave. Storm thought he looked very much like a raging bull as he stood before them. She felt sure he would never hurt her or Elaine, but it was unnerving to stand firm before so much fury. The extent of his anger made her fear that nothing she or Elaine could say or do would quell it.

"And what will that accomplish, Papa?" she asked softly.

"It will avenge this loss of honor."

"How? I doubt not that it might make ye feel better, but I will gain naught from it."

"This insult to us cannot go unpunished," he growled as he began to angrily pace the room.

"Spilling blood will not gain me back my lost maidenhead nor take this babe from my belly. All it will do is kill men, mayhaps ye or Drew or someone else I love."

" 'Tis the way of things to avenge insult with bloodshed," he bellowed.

"I do not give one pile of cow droppings for the way of the world," she yelled back.

"Curse you, girl, the man abused you ..."

"Seduced me."

"What matter? He ..."

"And he did not have to seduce me too hard," she finished softly. "Hardly at all."

Whirling about, he stared at her. "What say you? You willingly bedded him?"

"He bedded me. My unwillingness was that I asked him not to. That is all. I but tried to stop what could not be stopped. If he had but waited and wooed me, he still would have had me. He only rushed matters."

"Was he the only one?" he asked tautly.

"Aye, Papa. The child I carry is Tavis MacLagan's. It can be