Doing as she asked, Tavis inquired, "How can ye make me remember when I cannae?"
" 'Tis your sense of shame that hides your memories. You tense at the subject of that night, and thoughts cannot run freely when that happens. I will relax ye in a way I have oft used with my father when he wanted to think clearly. A Moor from Spain taught me this. He was in father's retinue for a time." She got a pot of oil from amongst the toiletries gathered for her use and then straddled him. "Now ye are to relax and let your thoughts drift unfettered by guilt and shame. Tell me of the smallest thing ye can remember of that night e'en if you think it of no importance. Would it not be better to know for certain at last? Be it good or ill?"
"Aye," Tavis said uncertainly, but her hands were already massaging away his tension.
Beneath her oiled hands Storm felt him begin to grow lax. "Start with the morning of that day."
"We went out on a raid," he replied in the tone of a man totally relaxed. "That feels good."
"Never mind that. Keep your mind on that day. Step by step ye must go through it." She was enjoying the gentle massage of his strong back, feeling each fit muscle relax beneath her ministrations, and smiling fleetingly over the way his voice began to thicken.
"It was a good raid, a success and only a few wounds to show for it. We put ourselves ahead for the winter. 'Twas reason enough for a celebration and the mead and ale flowed freely. Aye, and nay just a wee bit o' the uisge beatha. I ken I maun have drunk deep o' it all."
"Were Janet and the laird at this bacchanalia?"
"Aye, in the beginning. They retired fair early, for my father was suffering from a chill." He sighed as his eyes closed in pleasure. "He hasnae recovered yet. I fear he'll nay last much longer."
"Do not clutter up your mind with other worries now. Did ye stay much longer at this drinking orgy?"
"Mmmm. Much later. This would be muckle fine after a long ride or a battle."
"Father thinks so. When did ye go to your chambers?"
"I think 'twas far past midnight. I got undressed, nay, Alex helped me undress. Aye, Alex had to help me take me clothes off, I was that fou. Tucked me up in bed like a wee bairn."
"So," Storm drawled, ceasing her massage, "ye did not retire alone. Alex saw ye to bed."
"Aye, but I cannae remember a thing after that until the dawn. 'Tis the first time I have recalled Alex."
"Phelan, go get Alex."
"Why do that?" asked Tavis as the boy raced off. "Alex wouldnae have stayed with me long."
"Long enough to know just how able ye were of making love to a woman."
Tavis sat up quickly, sending Storm tumbling off him. "Of course! An I was in a drunken sleep, I couldnae have taken Janet." He pulled Storm into his arms for a hearty kiss. "Now that is tasty."
Pressing her down upon the bed, he indulged in another deep kiss, which led to several more. That was how Phelan and Alex found the couple. Phelan laughed while Alex loudly cleared his throat. Keeping an arm around Storm, Tavis turned to Alex, his smile indicative of his high hopes.
"Do ye recall that last raid ere winter set in?"
"Aye, Tavis." Alex grinned. "A muckle lot o' drink were consumed that night."
"Ye put me to bed, right?"
Alex nodded, his grin widening. "Ye couldnae e'en find the bed."
"So I was in no state to have me a woman," Tavis said in a thoughtful voice.
Laughing, Alex replied, "Nay. There isnae a woman on this earth could have found pleasure with ye that night. Ye were snoring loud ere I stepped out o' the room. Our enemies could've burnt Caraidland doon aboot your ears and ye would have slept on. Ne'er seen ye so fou."
"Thank ye, Alex," Tavis said, finding it hard to hide his elation. "Ye can go now. Sorry to drag ye up here." He pulled Storm deeper into his arms. "Aye, and ye can take Phelan with ye."
"I ne'er thought to see a man so pleased to hear that he was so disgustingly drunk," Storm said when they were alone. "Ye ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself."
Wrestling her beneath the covers, Tavis began to remove her nightdress. "An I wasnae so relieved I would find that bitch and make her pay dearly for putting me through such a torment. I cannae understand why, what game she plays."
"Ye can be very stupid at times. She wants ye. I think she hoped to weaken your resolve when she crawled into your bed and mayhaps felt that, if ye thought ye had already cuckolded your father, ye would no longer hold her at a distance. Are ye not flattered?"
"Nay. Disgusted. As I said, 'tis almost incest. Do ye think my father kens what she is about?"
"Mayhaps, though he has been ailing. He could be blind to it all." She caressed his face. "He would not have believed her if she had told him ye had lain with her." She smiled impishly. "Ye may be a bastard, but e'en I could not believe ye would act so dishonorably."
"Ye shall pay for that insolence, wench," he threatened, but his form of retribution was very much to her liking and her cries were of pleasure, not pain.
Much later, as he held her languid body in his arms, he murmured, "Thank ye, Storm."
"For what?" she mumbled, feeling sated and content as she snuggled close to his strength.
"For freeing me from my torment. I could almost think ye cared."
"More fool you. Go to sleep."
He laughed softly and had soon obeyed her teasing command. Storm determinedly fought her own tiredness. As soon as she felt him relax into a deep sleep, she eased out of bed. Donning her nightdress and his robe, she
