“When you bellow at her, mayhap you could do it softly.”
“What say you?”
“Well, her head will surely ache for a time.”
After staring at his son for a moment, Thayer laughed. “A gentleman does not bellow at a lady.”
Bek briefly returned Thayer’s grin before exclaiming with boyish enthusiasm, “Did you see them run?”
“Aye, the dogs were easily routed,” Roger said.
“I did not mean the men, Sir Roger. I spoke of the ladies.” He smiled when the two men laughed. “I did not know that ladies could run so well. Why, I would wager they could outrun a few here. Aye, more than a few.”
“Aye, they were swift. There’s a thought. Mayhap,” Thayer drawled, “we could set them to race and earn ourselves some coin.” He burst out laughing at the look of shock upon his son’s face. “I jest, lad. Go now and fetch us a meal. I shall eat ere I see Gytha. I just saw Edna fetch some food. Gytha must have roused by now.”
While Bek hurried to obey, Thayer went to see to a chore of his own. He aided in the shrouding of the two dead men. At the first churchyard they reached, he would see to their internment. He felt sorry about their deaths, yet glad that neither of them had been with him a long while or were close to him. After a brief word with the wounded, assuring himself that none was too badly hurt, he sat with Roger to eat his meal.
There was a lengthy silence before Roger murmured, “You are sunk deep in thought, my friend.”
“’Tis but the lull after the storm.” He could see the doubt upon Roger’s face and grimaced. “How does a man stop himself from softening towards a beautiful woman?”
“He does not. Cannot if it is meant to be.”
“What was meant to be was Gytha wed to William.”
“Mayhap not. Who knows how God and fate work?”
“None of we poor mortals, to be sure.”
“I should not let it gnaw at me. Enjoy her. For all the trouble and pain such feeling can bring, there is still none to equal it.”
“You sound as if you speak from experience.” Thayer could not recall Roger ever mentioning such a problem before.
“Aye, I do, though it has been many a year. There was no hope for it. I was a landless knight and as poor as I am now. Short-lived though it was, t’was glorious.”
“And from that you learned naught of how to hold back such feelings?”
“I have no wish to. What I did learn was to see where it might be stirred. Then I might avoid a like happenstance.” He took a deep breath, knowing he would touch upon a sore spot with his next words. “I knew my love to be a fruitless thing ere I gave it. Aye, and as I gave it. The lady made no false promises, but always spoke true. When what little we had was ended, the pain was shared. She dealt out no scorn. Her heart may not have been as enslaved as mine, but she gave me no sign of it. She never found my feelings a source of amusement and play.”
“And therein lies the difference,” Thayer murmured and Roger nodded.
“Aye, therein lies the difference. Mayhap you could ponder that a little.”
Promising himself he would, Thayer retired to his tent and quickly ushered out Margaret and Edna. For a while he thought Gytha asleep. Then he caught her peeking at him. Like a child, she sought to hide behind closed eyes to avoid his wrath, a wrath he no longer felt. Snuffing the candle, he shed his clothes, slid into bed, and tugged her slightly tensed body into his arms.
“How fares your head?” he asked, brushing a kiss over her forehead as he felt her relax a little in his hold.
Gytha knew he was no longer furious. She had felt like a coward feigning sleep to avoid the anger he had every right to. However, she had dreaded hearing it. She had known, deep down, that if any of his words were cutting she would bleed freely.
“It aches a little but not overly much.” She slipped her arms about his waist.
“You were foolish to rush off alone.”
“I did not rush.” She felt his broad chest tremble faintly with his soft laughter.
“Gytha, I am lecturing you. Be silent and heed me closely.”
“Aye, my husband.”
