It reminds us all that God came to earth and lived as a man, just like other men. I was in Bethlehem too, and it's just a village, not much different from Hey Hamlet."
It was clear that Cuthbert didn't believe him, and even had doubts that Galeran had been to the Holy Land at all.
People's beliefs were chancy things and hard to change.
Some people believed Jehanne had killed her baby. . . .
Galeran took a deep breath and headed back toward the keep. He met Raoul at the base of the steps, and noticed his friend had clearly already availed himself of a bath.
"Took your mail off at last, I see," Raoul remarked.
"Believe it or not, nursemaid, I'd have taken it off hours ago if someone had suggested it. It had become like a second skin."
"I assumed you were doing penance."
"Why would I need to do penance?"
"I never said you needed to. Your father ordered me to make sure you didn't murder your wife, and then went back to spend the night in his tent.
Do you fancy a game of chess?"
"No. I'm going to have a bath."
Raoul wrinkled his nose. "You certainly need one."
"And my wife is going to bathe me."
"Oh-ho!"
Galeran gave him a look, and Raoul assumed an innocent expression. "In that case, do I have your word you won't drown her?"
"Yes. Go explore the maids here. I'm sure one will be to your taste. But don't interfere with Jehanne's women."
"Sets strict standards, does she?" Then Raoul immediately threw up his hands. "Don't gut me. I apologize."
"Jehanne is my wife and will be treated with respect. Complete respect."
Raoul grimaced. "Galeran, at risk of my head, I have to say you can't just ignore what's happened. Even the people here, who seem to admire her all in all, expect her to suffer some retribution."
"By the Cross and Nails, what do they want? That I tie her to a post in the bailey and flog her?"
Raoul shrugged. "A good beating might clear the air. Then if you get rid of the bastard - "
Galeran just walked by him and climbed the steps.
God knows, but there was a part of him that thirsted for that beating just as much as the castle people and his brothers did. Probably most of Northumbria was waiting to hear Jehanne scream.
But he couldn't do it.
He could never do it.
Nor could he imagine snatching Jehanne's child from her arms.
As he reached the door to the hall, he suddenly realized that he didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl.
He entered the large chamber and found it just as it had been most evenings of his life. Two of Jehanne's women sat in the window-light spinning and gossiping. They flashed him a look and spoke more quietly. Servants busied themselves putting up trestle tables for the evening meal, and a couple of men-at-arms sat at one dicing. Each person slid him a look, then concentrated on their own business.
Each person expected violence.
They'll be disappointed.
He hoped.
Would Jehanne have obeyed him and be prepared to bathe him? He thought she would. It was her duty, after all.
Raoul's plans for the evening prompted other thoughts, thoughts of sex with Jehanne. Galeran searched his mind, wondering if that was his intent.
Despite exhaustion, he was thinking of having sex with someone, or his body was. Approaching Heywood the previous day, he'd begun to release the tight control he'd kept on his desire, and like a stream undammed, it didn't seem possible to reverse the process.
He realized that his body had been smoldering in desire all day, and the flames were now licking higher and hotter. A plump, saucy maid slid him a sly glance, and seeing she had his attention, rolled her hips in subtle invitation, wetting her lips with her tongue.
Surely his vow no longer bound him. If one party broke a contract, the contract was void.
But he did not burn for a woman.
He burned for Jehanne.
He turned away from the wench and crossed the hall toward the solar.
Jehanne was his wife and still had a duty to serve his needs. More to the point, he had never truly desired any other woman and still didn't.
He stopped dead when he saw the guard at the door to the solar. That could mean only that Jehanne was there and that his orders to guard her were being taken literally. But, he suddenly realized, he was going to present himself to her in a state of rampant erection.