The Wild Hunt (43 page)
Judith's gaze flicked down to her bosom. 'I suppose I ought to make the most of it before the rest catches up,' she sighed with false regret and smiled as they left the room and began to wind their way downstairs. 'No, Guy doesn't know. I suggested to him that the best way to handle my waywardness was to get me with child, and he took me at my word ...' The smile became a giggle at her weak pun, but then she sobered. 'I conceived at Thornford some time between Lady Mabel's death and the second siege. In a way, I suppose it is a new beginning, a light out of darkness and all the more precious for being so.'
She found Guyon standing alone by the riverside, watching the reflection of the flames dazzle in the water, and picked her way carefully over to him across the autumn grass. Hearing the rustle of her approach, he turned quickly, then his expression relaxed into a smile and he held out his hand.
'Brooding alone?' she asked in a light voice, but with a qualm, lest he was mulling over the private losses of the last year.
'Not now,' he answered easily enough, drawing her close. Their breath frosted the air and mingled. The water lapped near their feet, tipped with light. 'I was wondering what will happen in Normandy now that de Belleme is banished there.'
'It is not our concern now.' Her fingers anxiously tightened in his.
'No, but I cannot help but pity Duke Robert and the rest of the Norman lords. He will eat them alive.' And then Henry would interfere and there would be war again, but in Normandy, not England.
'I do not care, just as long as he leaves us alone.' She was fully aware of everything that he was not saying. He had been very ill after the battle for Thornford - not unto death as the last time, thank Christ, but enough for Bridgnorth to have fall en and for Miles to have negotiated his treaty with the Welsh before he was capable of taking the field again and, in her ignored opinion, it had been too soon. He still tired easily. He had been at the bitter siege of Shrewsbury, one of the barons present to witness Robert de Belleme and his brothers ride away to exile in Normandy. For the nonce at least, they were safe.
'Are you weary?' She rubbed her cheek against his cloak.
He shrugged. 'A little.'
'Perhaps we should retire,' she suggested, then looked anxiously up at him as she felt him shudder, only to realise that he was laughing.
'Before the bride and groom? Shame on you, you hussy.'
Her lips twitched. 'Yes,' she sighed meekly.
'Shame on me.'
'Judith, you are never seeking to agree with your husband?'
'Well , if I am, it is all your fault.'
'Mine! Why?' he gave her look filled with indignation.
'Why else should I grow soft and doting?' That stopped him as if he had walked into a keep wall . He gaped at her like a peasant drunk on rough cider. 'Late spring, I think,' she added, eyes wide and guileless. 'Aren't you pleased?'
Guyon took her by the shoulders. A wondering smile gradually replaced the dazed expression on his face. '
Cath fach
, I love you,' he murmured.
She put her arms around his neck. 'Show me,' she said. 'I want to know.'
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