"I shall paint him blue," Storm continued as if he had not spoken. "Pale blue."
"Pale blue?" Maggie queried in a slightly choked voice.
"Aye. I have thought from the start that he was a bit too dark." She started laughing along with Maggie.
"Angus, I didnae ken that your wife had such a strange twist of humor just as my father," Tavis drawled with a glance at a chuckling Colin.
" 'Tis something I have tried tae keep a secret, much like a deformity."
"Angus!" Maggie protested laughingly. "Ye wretch tae speak o' your wife so. Oh! The guests."
Tavis's good humor fled immediately, although he was all that was polite as the MacDubhs joined them. The minute Alexander MacDubh's eyes settled appreciatively upon Storm, Tavis began to plan on a way to get her back to her room as soon as possible. Not once did he name the emotion he felt as the jealousy that it was, but called it a natural sense of possession. Storm Eldon was his until she was returned to Hagaleah and what was his, stayed his.
Storm greeted Lord and Lady MacDubh with all the respect due their position. She thought, irrepressibly that they looked like twins, both short, plump and silver-haired, although Lord MacDubh was a jovial, garrulous sort, while his wife was quiet and shy. Then she turned to meet their son, Alexander, and was stunned.
She did not think she had ever seen such a beautiful man and fleetingly wondered how the two plump, rather ordinary parents had produced such a tall god of a son. His fair hair was thick and wavy and crowned a face of such perfect proportions that it could have been cut by the finest artist from the marble his skin resembled. As tall as Tavis, Alexander's body was a woman's dream. His soft green eyes reflected appreciation as they met hers, and Storm felt herself blush slightly. He exuded sensuality and, to her surprise, for she loved Tavis, Storm felt a response stir within her. Here was a man who could stir a nun, she thought, and then silently apologized for her irreverency. Suddenly she thought that such abundance of perfection was almost repelling and felt herself no longer drawn to him.
No matter what he called it, the green-eyed monster was getting a firm grip upon Tavis. He saw the slightly glazed look on Storm's face and ground his teeth when she blushed. Alexander MacDubh's effect upon and success with women was nearly legendary. Tavis saw Storm swiftly joining those ranks. He ignored Alex's fleeting, sardonic glance as he put a possessive hand upon Storm's slim arm.
Although a little surprised by Tavis's action, Storm did not wonder about it long. She found it a little amusing that she and Phelan were being treated much like guests instead of the hostages they were. The MacDubhs were obviously too polite to point out the absurdity and joined in the game. Despite the way she was treated, who she was was not forgotten as the conversation over the meal soon proved.
Whenever any conversation about matters that could aid or interest her father was begun it was abruptly halted and another started. Storm thought she ought to feel uncomfortable but she did not. She had been invited, after all. However, she decided to retire to her room as soon as possible. It did not seem quite fair or polite to stay when she knew her presence restricted everyone in a way.
For once the women retired to a far corner of the hall at the end of the meal. Phelan joined the three ladies, sitting beside Storm on a settee before the fireplace. Storm quickly discovered that Lady MacDubh was not as shy as she had first appeared. Away from the men, Lady MacDubh lost some of her reticence.
"Do you really believe that your stepmother means to refuse to pay a ransom?" Lady Helen asked. "Would she not fear Lord Eldon's wrath when he discovered what she had done?"
"If he discovered. If he returns from France, would it not be easier for him to believe that some unknown fate befell me or that the MacLagans, for reasons unknown, have not stayed with the usual rules concerning hostages than to believe that his wife tossed his only daughter to the whims of fate?"
Maggie nodded solemnly. "No matter how failed the marriage is, he'd nay want tae believe that."
"But to leave you here to be, weel, Tavis is ..." Lady Helen stumbled to a blushing halt.
"Using me?" Storm completed. " 'Tis no secret in this keep, m'lady. I have little doubt that my father's wife finds that possibility something to savor. She was born a whore, if ye will excuse my blunt speech. My innocence was e'er an irritation to her."
Lady Helen found Storm's calm a curiosity. "But do you suffer no shame?" she asked with no reproach.
"For what, m'lady? What purpose would it serve? From the first night there was no return for me. I will ne'er be a maid again. I did not ask for the place I now hold, so why should I condemn myself? I did not throw myself at Tavis's feet, crying wantonly 'Please, take me.' " Maggie giggled and Storm smiled.
Storm sighed. "I was not safe within Hagaleah. My father's wife had chosen a husband for me, one of her lovers in need of a fortune." She nodded in response to the ladies' shocked gasps. "I naturally refused, but he planned to dishonor me, e'en get me with child, to gain his ends. Shameless it may sound, but as a ravisher I prefer Tavis MacLagan to Sir Hugh Sedgeway. Dear Sir Hugh has a liking to give more pain than pleasure."
"Oh. One of those." Lady Helen shook her head. " 'Tis hard for a woman with no protectors at hand." She frowned. "Has Tavis given no thought to the retribution Lord Eldon will try to extract when he returns?"
"The MacLagans and the Eldons have
