With ale in hand

Dante didn't have long to wait. In about fifteen minutes, he heard the barn door slide open a bit and soft footfalls crossed the barn to the base of the ladder to the hayloft. The ladder shifted and clanked a bit on the ledge of the loft as someone climbed. In the darkness, Dante could see a darker shadow of a head come up over the edge behind the ladder.

"Hello, I came as soon as I could. Daddy went to bed just after you left, and I snuck out after I heard him start snoring," Jenna said in a breathless whisper. "I brought some ale, like you asked. I couldn't hold the cups on the ladder, so take the pitcher and I'll go back down to get them."

He crawled over to the ladder and took the clay pitcher from her hand. Her silhouetted head disappeared again below the edge of the loft. In another minute, it reappeared, and she handed him the two earthenware cups. She climbed the rest of the way up and crawled onto the hay. Dante led the way back to the little nest he had dug out of the hay.

Jenna sat next to him; he could feel the warmth of her body just inches from his. He heard the splash of liquid being poured into a cup, and then she said, "Here."

He reached out his hand and found her arm. He ran his fingers up to her hand, feeling his way in the dark. She giggled at his touch and used both hands to put the cup into his. Then she poured herself some ale. He took a big gulp of the fine ale.

"So, what rich gossip do you have?" she asked after she had sipped her ale.

Dante thought for a minute and decided on some gossip that he knew personally. Something that would appeal to her romantic notions. Something that would get her in the mood for something more.

"Well, I can tell you the gossip of the Lord Nasher of Neverwinter's Chief Sorceress. She was a powerful sorceress and very beautiful as well. She was so busy with the affairs of state that she never took the time to have a little fun herself. One day she met a bard while walking through the streets of Neverwinter." Thus began Dante's romantic retelling of his escapades with Zira the Sorceress. He was the bard in the story, but he didn't reveal that to Jenna. Neither did he tell her that Zira never worked for Nasher, but lived five hundred miles away in the mountains. But the details of the story were true.

While he talked, Jenna refilled his cup and had more herself. After a bit more story, she got cuddled up to him to keep warm, putting her head on his chest and her arm around him. When he got to the part where the bard kissed Zira passionately, Dante leaned over and kissed Jenna.