“True. Yet he is a man of much need.” She smiled faintly when Margaret blushed. “After a battle, he is very ardent and I doubt the king let Thayer’s sword go rusty. He seeks to prove he has survived, and I guess a man can think of no better way to do so than to bed a woman, something that pleases all a man’s senses. Thayer had many a night with an empty bed.”
“So did you,” Margaret interrupted, then dimmed her bluntness by blushing again.
“Aye, so I would like to think he will not turn to another each time we are apart for any length. Or have had a fight. Still, I believe I can understand—at least this time. We are not talking about some small tiff.” She sighed. “I just pray that it was not with Lady Elizabeth.”
“Because of what was between them?”
“Because of what may still be between them. He has never said he does not love her—only that he avoids her.”
Margaret vigorously shook her head. “Nay, he could not love a woman like that, not when he has you.”
“Now you know the heart cannot be led. It will go where it will.”
“Then he is a fool.” Margaret crossed her arms under her breasts and nodded.
“That is as may be.” She briefly exchanged a grin with Margaret, then grew serious again. “I should certainly like to know if he does still love her, although it could sorely grieve me.”
“Aye, but you would know where you stand, know what must be fought.”
Gytha nodded and held out her hands in a gesture revealing the helplessness she felt. “For now, I do not know if she stands between us or if I let my fears guide me.”
“Well, I am still not sure I agree with your methods, but I do see that something must be done. Marriage is a bond that cannot be broken, and yours held such promise. Aye, ’tis worth a fight.”
“There is that. There is yet another reason to mend this breach and quickly—I am with child.”
Margaret gasped, her eyes widening as she fixed her gaze upon Gytha’s abdomen. “Are you sure?”
“I suspected it, and Edna just gave me her learned opinion that it is so.”
Briefly, Margaret hugged Gytha then stepped back, her expression changing rapidly from joy to concern. “Oh, Gytha, then you must not get him angry with you.”
“’Tis a fearful sight to behold, but he will not hurt me. Unlike some men, he knows what strength lies in his arm, so he is careful where he swings it. Aye, I may get a bruise or two, but I know he will never strike me. I have said this before, Margaret. You must trust me to know.” She could see that Margaret was still not confident of it.
“I do not know where you find the courage to even think of such a thing.” Margaret sighed as they started towards the great hall. “Mayhap he will feel sorry enough that he will not be spurred to anger.”
Laughing softly, Gytha hooked her arm through Margaret’s. “Guilt or no, Thayer can always be stirred to fury if prodded enough.”
Watching Gytha enter the hall with Margaret, Thayer braced himself for what he knew could prove a very trying time. He swore he would control his ready temper. It was he who deserved to be raged at, not Gytha. Yet, when she greeted him in the same polite tone she used on Roger as she joined them at the head table, he realized that keeping his temper was going to take more strength than he might have.
He suddenly recognized that she was talking to him as she had the fawning courtiers—with courteous indifference. It made him clench his teeth. There was no hint of a tone of wifely intimacy. He had not really noticed it before, but now that it was gone, he sorely missed it. Watching her warily as they took their seats and were served, he saw little hope of regaining it.
After a few moments of heavy silence, the soft sounds of eating all that disturbed it, he ventured, “You have accomplished a lot.”
“Aye, but there is still a great deal to do.” She took a long drink of wine.
“I have finished my forty days of service to my liege. Now I may stay here to lend a hand.”
“As you wish.” She was not really surprised to see his hand curl into a fist where it rested upon the table.
Thinking he might divert himself so as to cool his already rising temper, Thayer turned to Margaret. “’Tis good to see you are recovered from your illness.” He wondered idly why Margaret looked so nervous.
“Thank you, m’lord. I had a skillful nurse in Janet.”
Using his ignorance of who Janet was, he managed to keep Margaret talking for a few moments. His temper did cool slightly, even though his thoughts stayed centered upon his aloof wife. He grasped for another subject to speak to Gytha about. It had never been so hard before, and he realized that it had always been Gytha who had kept the conversation going, gently freeing him of his usual reticence. Now he was left to fumble along on his own. It was proving to be extremely difficult.
“There has been no trouble?” he asked, inwardly cursing this as a poor gambit.
“Not a murmur. More wine, husband?”
