“How could you have mentioned it when you considered it mad, did not understand what we were talking of? Here, let me put Everard in his cradle.” He carefully took the sleeping child up in his arms.
Watching her large, strong husband handle their child so well, so tenderly, made Gytha feel weak inside. He was going to be such a good father. She had seen it in how he treated Bek. He was the best man she could have found to entrust her children to. As she forced her mind back to the matter at hand, she hoped that knowledge would give her the strength to keep trying to prove to him that he was all she could ever want.
“If I had thought such idiocy would serve me, I would have thought of it.”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took her hand in his again and half-smiled at her cross reply. She was right. When it concerned something necessary or wanted, Gytha showed more wit than any woman he knew. It had simply never occurred to her to go to William. She held firm to her vows, vows spoken to him, not to William. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm, touched by the soft look in her eyes.
“Am I forgiven then, wife?”
“For being so stupid?” She decided that one secret she would never tell him was what he could do to her with those magnificent dark eyes of his.
“You should not call your husband stupid.” He bit back a smile, knowing by her tone of voice that all was forgiven.
“Of course.”
“Very disrespectful.”
“I know.”
“Am I forgiven then?”
“Aye, I forgive you for being so dim-witted.”
He laughed and brushed a kiss over her mouth. “Get some rest. I will have Janet place our son in the next chamber. That way those who wish to see him will not disturb you. You need to sleep. Do not try to tell me otherwise. I can see the weariness in your face.”
“I told you I would be fine, that you did not need to worry over me. T’was not as hard as I had thought it would be.”
“You shall not make me believe it was easy.”
“Oh, nay, not easy. Simply not as hard as I had thought.” She yawned again, then smiled at Thayer. “Mayhap it was because I was so angry at you I forgot to worry about it. My thoughts were crowded with what I wished to say to you. You shall have to make me furious with you each time I give birth.”
“Each time?” He laughed with a hint of surprise. “I should think another child would be far from your mind right now.”
“Well, ’tis not too near. That is true enough. But this has not frightened me into wishing to have no more. I do not mean to have so many children that I am old before my time, but I do hope God and”—she winked at Thayer—“my husband will allow me more than one child.” She briefly squeezed his hand. “Which should tell you that I mean to linger with you, so mayhap you will cease to think I am about to walk away at every turn.”
“And nothing could please me more, except mayhap,” he murmured, pausing briefly to signal Janet to come in when she peeked into the room, “to give you back all that has been lost, all you deserve and should, by right, have.”
Something about those last words struck Gytha as ominous. She had no chance to press him on the matter, however. He kissed her, gently ordering her to sleep, then saw to moving the baby to the next chamber. She promised herself that she would get an explanation the first chance she had. Instinct told her Thayer was getting some strange male idea in his head, one she would not like at all.
Thayer crouched by his new son’s cradle and watched the baby sleep. Gytha had given him the greatest of gifts, yet he had nothing to offer her. But hours before she had borne his son, he had been returned to his landless, titleless state. It was no longer a tolerable one. Not only did Gytha deserve more, but so did his sons—so did whatever other children she blessed him with. Recently the king had hinted that some reward other than honor was long overdue for his service. Thayer decided it was past time to stop murmuring thanks for such hints and press for what they promised.
Chapter Seventeen
“You are leaving. Do not try to deny it again.”
Gytha glared at her husband over her nursing son’s head. She had seen the preparations despite his obvious attempts to hide them and to keep her confined to their chambers. Shifting slightly against the pillows he had set behind her back, she watched him closely, silently daring him to lie to her. He had neatly avoided the subject, sometimes even avoided her, but she could tolerate that no longer.
Thayer sighed and sat down on the side of the bed. Cowardly though it was, he had hoped to keep her ignorant of his plans until just before he rode off. He did not want to lie to her, but instinct told him not to tell her exactly why he was leaving. When he returned victorious with the rewards he sought would be time enough.
“I had hoped to keep you from worrying for as long as possible.”
“And you did not think all this stealth would set me to thinkingandworrying?”
“My hope had been that you would fail to notice.”
“I began to notice something soon after my family and William left. ’Tis hard not to notice something when so many men ready themselves to ride off to battle. That is what they are doing, is it not? You leave soon to fight somewhere.”
“Aye, to Scotland. Well, the north at least. The Scots are sorely troubling the area again.”
