“But not like her!” Walter responded vehemently.
Robert looked at him in surprise.
“Can’t you see she is beautiful?” Walter asked.
Robert looked across the pavilions that separated him from his daughter. “Yes, I see she is beautiful,” he said with disgust. “But what is beauty? It fades in no time. Her mother once looked like that, and you see her now.”
Walter did not have to look back at the nervous, emaciated woman who sat on the edge of her seat, ready to spring should her husband decide to cuff her. He ignored Robert’s remark. “Why did you keep her hidden? What need was there to keep her from the world?”
“It was her mother’s idea.” Robert smiled slightly. “She paid for the keeping of the girl, and it made no difference to me. Why do you ask me these things now? Can’t you see the joust is about to begin?”
Walter grabbed Robert by the arm. He knew the man well, knew him for the cowardice of his actions. “Because I want her. Never have I seen a woman more desirable. She should have been mine! My lands ajoin yours. I am a fit match for her, yet you did not even show her to me.”
Robert pulled his arm away from the young man. “You! A fit match?” he sneered. “Look at the Montgomeries that surround the girl. There is Thomas, nearly sixty years old. He has six sons, all living, and all producing more sons. Next to hi
m sits Ralph, his cousin, with five sons. Then Hugh with—”
“What has this to do with your daughter?” Walter interrupted angrily.
“Sons!” Robert bellowed in the man’s ear. “The Montgomeries produce more sons that any other family in England. And what sons! Look at the family the girl married into. The youngest, Miles, won his spurs on the field of battle before he was eighteen, and already he has fathered three sons of the serf girls. Raine spent three years touring the country from one tournament to the next. He was undefeated and won a fortune of his own. Stephen serves now in Scotland with the king, and already he leads armies though he is only twenty-five. And last comes the eldest. At sixteen he was left alone with estates to run, brothers to care for. He had no guardian to help him learn the work of a man. What other sixteen-year-olds could do as he did? Most of them whine when they are not given their way.”
He looked back at Walter. “And now you ask why I give Judith to such a man? If I cannot produce sons that are strong enough to live, perhaps I can get grandsons from her.”
Walter was furious. He’d lost Judith merely because the old man dreamed of grandsons. “I could give her sons!” Walter said through clenched teeth.
“You!” Robert began to laugh. “How many sisters do you have? Five? Six? I lose count of them. And what have you done? Your father runs your estates. You do little, except hunt and tickle the serf girls. Now leave me and don’t cry to me again. If I have a mare I want bred, I give her to the best stallion. It will be left at that.” He turned back to look at the joust, dismissing Walter from his mind.
But Demari was not a man to be dismissed so easily. Everything Robert said was true. Walter had done little of merit in his short life, but that was only because he had not been forced to as the Montgomery men had been. Walter had no doubt that had he been forced, by the early death of his father, into a position of responsibility, he would have done as well or better than any other man.
He left the stands a changed man. A seed had been planted in his mind and that seed began to grow. He watched the games begin, the gold Montgomery leopard everywhere, and as he saw it glitter in the sun, he began to think of it as an enemy. He wanted to prove to Robert and to the Montgomeries, but mostly to himself, that he was everything they were. The longer he stared at the green and gold pennants, the more he was sure he hated the Montgomeries. What had they done to deserve the rich Revedoune lands? Why should they have what should have been his? For years he’d suffered the company of Judith’s brothers, yet had never taken anything in return. Now, when there was something he wanted and should have had, he was denied it because of the Montgomeries.
Walter left the fence and started walking toward the Montgomery pavilion. The growing anger at the injustice he felt gave him courage. He would talk to this Judith, spend time with her. After all, by rights, she was his, wasn’t she?
Chapter Eight
JUDITH SLAMMED SHUT HER CHAMBER DOOR SO HARD THAT even the stone walls seemed to shake. It was the end of the first day of her marriage, and it could easily qualify as the most horrible day of her life. It should have been happy, a day full of love and laughter—but not with the husband she had! There had not been an opportunity missed by Gavin to humiliate her.
In the morning he accused her of being a whore for his brothers. When he stalked away and left her to herself, she talked to other people. One man, Walter Demari, was kind enough to sit by her and explain the workings of the tourney. For the first time that day, she began to enjoy herself. Walter had a knack for seeking the ridiculous, and she greatly enjoyed his humor.
Gavin suddenly reappeared and commanded her to follow him. Judith didn’t want to cause a scene in public, but in the privacy of Raine’s tent, she told Gavin what she thought of his behavior. He left her alone to take care of herself, but when she showed any enjoyment, he took it away from her. He was like a small boy with a toy he didn’t want but made sure no one else could have it. He’d sneered at Judith then, but she saw with satisfaction that he had no answer for her.
When Raine and Miles came in she and Gavin stopped their quarrel. Later, she walked with Miles back to the tourney. It was then that Gavin truly demeaned her. As soon as Alice Valence appeared, he practically ran forward. Gavin looked as if he could eat her, devour her, yet at the same time he looked at her with reverence, as if she were saintly. Judith had not missed the sidelong look of triumph Alice gave her. Judith pulled her eyes away, straightened her back and took Miles’ arm. She would let no one see how she’d been publicly embarrassed.
Later, at dinner, Gavin ignored Judith, even though they were seated side by side at the high table. She laughed at the jester, pretended to be pleased when an extremely handsome jongleur composed and sang a song to her beauty. Truthfully, she hardly heard him. Gavin’s nearness had an unsettling effect on her, and she could enjoy nothing.
After the meal, the trestle tables were dismantled and pushed against the wall to make room for dancing. After one dance together, for the sake of propriety, Gavin had proceeded to whirl one woman after another in his arms. Judith had more invitations to dance than she could accept, but soon she pleaded fatigue and ran up the stairs to the privacy of her room.
“A bath,” she demanded of Joan, whom she’d dragged from a corner of the stairwell where she was intertwined with a young man. “Bring a tub and hot water. Maybe I can wash away some of today’s stench.”
Contrary to what Judith believed, Gavin had been very aware of his wife’s presence. There had not been a moment when he had not known where she was or whom she was with. It seemed she had talked for hours to some man at the tourney. She laughed at his every word, smiling up at him until the man was obviously besotted.
Gavin had pulled her away for her own good. He knew Judith had no idea how she affected a man. She was like a child. Everything was new to her. She looked up at the man with nothing hidden, nothing held in reserve. She laughed openly at what he said, and Gavin could see the man took her friendliness for more than she meant it to be.
Gavin meant to explain this to her, but when she attacked him, accusing him of all manner of insulting things, he would have died rather than explain his actions. He’d feared that he might wrap his hands about her lovely throat. At least Alice’s brief appearance had calmed him. Alice was like a cool drink for a man just stepped from the rages of hell.
Now as he held his hands on the fat hips of an unattractive young woman, he watched Judith mount the steps. He did not dance with her, afraid he might apologize. For what? he wondered. He’d been kind to Judith until that time in the garden when she’d started acting insane, making vows she had no right to make. He was right in taking her away from the man who obviously thought her smiles meant more than they did, but she made Gavin feel as if he were wrong.
He waited a while, danced with two more women, but Judith did not return to the great hall. Impatiently, he climbed the stairs. In those brief seconds, he imagined all sorts of things she could be doing.