A deep sense of insult added to her fury. He saw her as no more than part of an inheritance, no more than one of the stones in Saitun Manor. William had returned to claim the manor; therefore, Thayer felt his cousin should claim her as well. It made her feel little better than worthless to him.
She hit Thayer as hard as she could. When he cursed and turned to look at her in surprise, she hit him again. Then she scrambled out of bed, oblivious for once to how awkward her swollen belly made her.
Turning to glare at Thayer, she found William staring at her in open-mouthed surprise. His gaze was fixed upon her large stomach, shown clearly by her nightrail which was almost too tight now. Somehow he had failed to notice her condition before. She supposed Thayer’s bulk had hidden it. Gytha could not help but wonder furiously if Thayer had forgotten that she carried his child or if he planned to hand the babe over to William as well.
“You mean to toss me back like scraps to the dogs? Is that it?” she snapped. “Offer me on a salver to the returning heir? Well, William, since you have the manor and title back, why not take the wife too?”
“You misunderstand,” Thayer said, wishing he was dressed, for he felt a little foolish sitting naked in bed while trying to have a serious discussion with an obviously enraged Gytha. “The marriage contract—”
“A plague on the contract! Curse you, what am I? Some piece of goods to be toted along with the land? And what of this?” She patted her stomach. “Does the child stay with you or get tossed in the pile with the manor, discarded with his mother?”
“I am not discarding you!” be bellowed. “Why do you twist my words?”
“Twist them? Twist them? They were twisted when they came out of your fool mouth. What do you plan to do? Annul our marriage? This”—she pointed to her stomach—“might make that difficult. ’Tis clear to all who have eyes in their heads that this marriage has been well consummated. Do you think you can wave your hand and make me virgin again?”
“Now you are being silly.” He decided he could not continue the argument in bed, so roughly nudging William out of the way, he got up and put on his braies. “William understands the reasons for what has happened.”
“William has not yet been asked what he thinks,” William murmured but was ignored.
The gripping pain came and went again, and Gytha frowned. That one really hurt. Suddenly, she knew what was happening, knew why she had slept so poorly through the night. She glared at Thayer and decided to ignore the signs of impending birth. Berating her husband was far more important at the moment.
“’Tis fine that William is so understanding, but I fear I am not. How can you toss me about so callously, without a thought to how I might feel? Or what I might want? You just start ordering people about.”
“Calm down and listen. I but mentioned the contract. ’Tis legal, binding, approved by the king. Your parents wed you to me because they thought me the heir. ’Tis as if they have been deceived, though it was not meant so. This has to be discussed. You are a lady of gentle birth who was to have been wed to title and manor. I now have neither.”
“How odd. I had thought I was wed to a man.”
“You are being purposely difficult.” Although he was pleased beyond words to have her protest so vociferously, he also found it painful, wishing she would let matters go quietly along the course he felt honor demanded.
“I am being difficult?” She glared at her brothers. “Have you got nothing to say about this?”
Fulke nervously cleared his throat before replying. “Fact is, I have not had a clear thought since I saw William arisen from his grave.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Mad as it sounds, there may be some weight to Thayer’s words.”
The rich insult she was about to make concerning the state of her brother’s wits turned into a moan of pain. Gytha grabbed the bedpost with one hand, wrapped her arm around her swollen abdomen, and bent over slightly as a painful contraction tore through her. When she was able to think of more than that, she glanced at the men. They stood staring at her in dawning and horrified understanding.
“Well?” she snapped. “Do you mean to just stand there and gawk until the poor thing drops to the floor?”
Thayer took a hesitant step towards her. “Gytha? ’Tis the baby?”
“What do you think?” She decided, in what she recognized was probably a total lack of reason, that she was in no humor to have her childbirth start now. “Fetch Janet and my mother,” she ordered, and her brothers obeyed with alacrity. Even though another contraction gripped her, she tried to pull away when Thayer reached for her. “What are you doing?”
“Putting you back into bed,” he muttered as he picked her up and settled her back in the bed. “You should have stayed there.”
“I would have, if you had not been such a wooden-headed fool.”
Ignoring her, Thayer turned to William, saying, “Help me dress ere the women arrive.”
Even as he moved to do so, William asked, “Where is Bek, then? He is no longer your page?”
“Aye, he is, but he went to spend time with his mother’s people.”
Seeing the shock on William’s face, Thayer quickly told him about most everything that had happened in his absence. He was glad when William shared his opinion that it could only help Bek to be so gladly accepted by his mother’s powerful family, acknowledged as kin even as Elizabeth was very nearly disowned. It was hard to keep his mind on explanations, however, for his attention was fixed solely on Gytha. As soon as he was dressed, he hurried to her side, frowning when William moved to stand on the opposite side of the bed. He was relieved, though, when he took Gytha’s hand in his and she did not yank it free, only giving him a cross look. She quickly made it clear that her temper had not eased at all.
“You mean you do not intend to hand this chore over to William as well?”
Before Thayer could respond, William took Gytha’s other hand in his, ignoring the scowl Thayer gave him. “Gytha, do not be so harsh on my poor cousin. A marriage contract is a bond of honor. And if there is a man who values honor as high as it can be valued, ’tis Thayer.” He shrugged. “Mad as it may seem, there is a question of what is legal here.”
He winced when, as a contraction gripped Gytha, she squeezed his hand. “You are stronger than you look,” he told her admiringly.
