The Wolfe (122 page)

Jordan was shocked. She could only
stare at Giselle, dumbfounded, when suddenly laughter bubbled up from her lips.
She choked on it and William coughed, covering her blunder and covering his own
shock as well. Quickly, Jordan coughed again as if she was clearing her throat
and hoped to God that Giselle didn’t catch on.

“Excuse me, please,” she coughed one
more time for good measure. “This weather is affecting me.”

Giselle nodded, obviously buying her
excuse but it was evident she was waiting for an answer. Jordan swallowed
uncomfortably, thinking of a reply, but she could truly see nothing in the
woman’s expression other than openness and honestly. Mayhap since they were now
sisters-in-law, Giselle felt that such a topic was not taboo. But Jordan was
mightily embarrassed.

“Truly, my lady, we have no method,”
she replied. “We have simply been blessed.”

“Of course you have,” Giselle
replied. “You are young and healthy, but I thought I would ask anyway. You are
not showing your condition at all.”

Jordan smiled weakly. “Just wait
another month or two and I will be as round as a pig.”

William decided to step in and save
his uncomfortable wife. “I understand you are here in London to do some
shopping,” he said to his sister-in-law.

“Oh yes, William.” she exclaimed and
Jordan sagged with relief. “We have ordered the most lovely furniture, and new
trenchers from the silversmith emblazoned with the Wolverhampton crest.”

At that moment, a tinkling bell
resounded in the room and Giselle immediately rose. “Ah, dinner,” she said as
she took Jordan’s arm.  “I do hope everything is to your liking, dear. I know
women in the family way are sometimes prone to sickness with certain foods.”

Much to Jordan’s dismay, she began
to prattle on about pregnancy again. Jordan shot her husband a disbelieving
glance and he returned it helplessly as they were led away to the dinner table.

***

Later that night, after making
passionate love to each other, Jordan lay wrapped in William’s arms and he was
just drifting off to sleep when suddenly he felt her shake. Concerned, he
lifted his head to gaze at the back of her blond head.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered.

She shook again and suddenly burst
out with the most robust, gut-busting laughter he had ever heard her utter. She
tried to speak to him, but every time she opened her mouth more laughter
screamed forth until she was literally crying. William grinned, waiting until
she was rational enough to speak but was dying to know what was so funny.

“Oh, I am sorry, English,” she
cried. “I shouldna laugh at Giselle, but….” She was off again in gales of
hysterical laughter.

Then he understood. With a groan,
his head flopped back down onto the pillow. “I am glad you think it is funny,
for I was most embarrassed for you,” he said. “God, I could not believe the
questions the woman was asking you.”

She rolled onto her back. “Truly, it
was pathetic, but I found it so funny that she was entirely serious that it was
all I could do to keep from laughing.” She wiped her eyes. “But when she asked
me if I conceived the twins on top of you or beneath you, I nearly slid to the
floor in hysterics.”

She put her hands on her face,
laughing as she had never laughed before. He began to laugh, too, for her humor
was catching. It was no time before they were both screaming with laughter, for
every time they would look at one another they would start anew. William’s ribs
began to hurt.

“And do you rinse your passage with
egg white and vinegar to make the man’s seed stick?” he repeated his
sister-in-law’s ludicrous questions and Jordan had to sit up or she would choke
to death on her own laughter. She could not catch her breath.

“Stop it, stop it!” she ordered him
between gasps. “No more! I canna take it!”

William lay back on the pillows,
wiping tears from his eyes. “And did you walk around for three days with a cork
from a fine bottle of burgundy shoved up you to hold in the male seed so that
it could not escape?”

She was laughing so hard no sound
was coming forth and she had to stand up to get herself breathing again. She
sagged against the wall, hand over her mouth and tears streaming down her face
while her husband lay on the bed and giggled like a hysterical woman. Never had
they laughed so long and so heartily together. Lord only knew, there had been
so little to laugh so freely about.

Jordan wiped at her cheeks, trying
to catch her breath and attempting to control her uproar. William’s gasps of
laughter died down as well and Jordan was returning to the bed when he started
up again.

“Did you wear a Bible strapped
between your legs to bless your loins before the seed was deposited?” he asked,
his voice cracking.

That was the end of it. Jordan fell
to her knees, absolutely hysterical, her head resting on the edge of the bed.
She was so weak with laughter than she lacked the simple strength to stand.
William was so overcome with laughing fits that he slowly, lethargically moved
to where his wife was kneeling beside the bed and put a shaking hand on her
head. God, his face hurt from all of the laughing and he thought he might
literally get sick.

Kieran and Jemma appeared in their
room, having heard the strange sounds of gasping and wheezing. With the door
gone, thanks to William and Kieran’s strength, there was virtually no sound
barrier.

Jemma saw Jordan on her knees next
to the bed and was beside herself. “What’s wrong?” she cried.

William lifted his head and the two
of them were seized with terror when they saw the tears until Kieran realized
his liege was laughing. He smiled, puzzled.

“What in the hell is so funny that
your wife is hanging off the bed?” Kieran asked.

William had to catch his breath
before, haltingly, he told them of what had transpired at dinner with his
brother and his wife. Jordan was so weak she could not even join in the tale
and listening to her husband repeat it brought frail giggles again. By the time
William was finished, both Jemma and Kieran were far gone with convulsions of
mirth.

Jordan had regained enough of her
control to climb back into bed beside her husband as Jemma and Kieran laughed
at Giselle’s expense.

“My God, Jordan, how did ye keep a
straight face with her asking ye all those questions?” Jemma demanded.

Jordan sagged against the pillows. “Oh,
lord, it wasna easy,” she admitted. “My face hurts. My stomach hurts.”

William sagged next to her,
thoroughly weakened from his fits. “Mine, too,” he said. Then he flicked a hand
at Kieran. “Get out of here, both of you, and quit harassing us. We leave come
the dawn.”

Kieran, still giggling, obeyed
silently by pulling his wife to him and ushering her from the room. William
watched them go, a smile still playing on his lips, and was seized with the
urge to make love to his wife again.

He turned to her, his arm reaching
out to suddenly stop in mid-air when he saw, predictably, that she had fallen
into a deep, exhausted sleep.

CHAPTER SIXTY TWO

Deinwald and Aloria were two
lovebirds the entire ride back to Northwood. Neither one would let the other
out of their sight, and Jordan thought it was sweet while her husband merely
shook his head. Deinwald actually left Jemma alone and Jordan thought her
cousin looked a little lonely without all of the attention.

The return trip was fast. They
traveled quickly, without all of the excess military baggage, and made
excellent time back to Northwood. William had brought with him six knights, all
men that had fought with him in Wales and men he trusted. Four would stay at
Northwood as a replacement for the knights that were going with him to
Questing, and the remaining two would accompany him. Sir Henry Ethelredson and
Sir Philip de Jonet were proud and pleased to be devoting their service to The
Wolf.

On the last day of the ride,
Jordan’s stomach was troubling her greatly and the party had to stop frequently
to allow her some relief. They were drawing near to Northwood toward late
afternoon when Jordan asked William to stop again. It was the eighth time for
the day, but he neither questioned her nor hesitated. Raising his hand and
reining his destrier to a halt, he lowered his wife to the ground and followed
her into a bank of trees.

Jordan hadn’t been sick her entire
pregnancy and was distressed that the symptom had decided to rear its ugly head
now. She knew everyone was eager to reach Northwood and she felt guilty that
she was feeling so rotten.

Much to her relief, there was a
small stream in amongst the trees and she knelt down, plunging her hands into
the cool water. The day was warm and humid and only added to her discomfort,
even though she wore the dress of gauzy linen that was very cool. Her husband
removed his helmet, eyeing her as he swabbed at his brow.

“Too damn hot,” he muttered. It was
the first time she had ever heard him complain about his personal comfort. “I
shall be glad to see the boys again. I bet they’ve grown an inch since we’ve
been gone.”

“We’ve only been gone three weeks,”
Jordan reminded him, standing up. “I need a moment of privacy.”

She walked into the woods and he
watched her, waiting patiently for her to finish her business and hoping she
felt better come the morrow. He hated to see her ill. When she finally emerged
from the trees, he noticed her face to be a bit paler than normal and
attributed it to the fact that she probably just vomited up her nooning meal.

“Better, love?” he asked her with a
smile.

She looked at him and he was
concerned to note that her face was almost gray. “We’d better get back as soon
as we can, English,” she said dully. “I fear…I fear something is wrong.”

He studied her face intently, a slow
horror gripping him. “What is wrong?”

Her eyes met his. “I have got…I mean,
there is some blood,” she lowered her voice. “We’d better get back.”

He went cold. “Oh, God. Is there a
lot? Are you in pain?”

“No pain,” she assured him. “But my
stomach does hurt and I am terribly tired.”

He swept her into his arms without
another word, so horribly frightened and concerned he started to shake. God, if
something happened to her or to the baby…he swallowed hard, praying harder than
he ever had. When things were going so well, why this? He found himself angry
at God and praying for help all at the same time.

The last leg of the trip was slower
for William did not want to jostle his wife. He blamed himself for her
condition. He could have prevented her from the hard trip to London but he
didn’t simply because he wanted her with him. Selfish, of course, so all of
this was entirely his fault.

If something happened…oh, God, if
something happened he prayed his wife could forgive him. He prayed he could
forgive himself. His wife and his children, born or unborn, were everything to
him. This new babe was barely four months old in her mother’s belly and had
already been through hell. With Jordan’s kidnap, the ensuing battle, and now a
lengthy trip, it was a wonder the babe had survived at all. Until this moment.

Northwood’s turrets loomed ahead
shortly after dusk and relief swelled his chest. Jordan had long since fallen
asleep in his arms when he motioned Deinwald to him.

“Ride ahead and summon Byron to my
chambers immediately,” he said softly. Deinwald deposited Aloria with one of
the other knights and was gone.

Kieran rode up next to William, Jemma
fast asleep in his huge arms and looking like a small child.

“She will be fine, William,” he
assured his liege. “Jemma went through the same thing. They vomit a lot but it
passes.”

William looked at him, the setting
sun red against his skin. “She is bleeding, Kieran.”

He could see the color drain from Kieran’s
face. “Sweet Jesu,” he muttered. “Is the babe…has she…?”

“I do not know,” William’s voice was
a whisper. “That’s why I need Byron.”

Kieran felt sick for his friend. He
only knew the pain too well. When the party entered the gates of Northwood, he
took over for the baron and allowed William to tend his sick wife, praying
furiously for the safety of their babe even as he continued to bark orders.

Byron and Sylvie were waiting for
them. After William lay Jordan upon the bed and helped her remove her clothing
down to her shift, the little physician chased him out and told him to stay put
until he was summoned. Worried and sickened, William began to pace in the
antechamber.

Paris joined him barely ten minutes
later, having been apprised of the situation by Kieran. Without so much as a
greeting, he joined William in the pacing.

Thomas, Matthew, Ian and Cord soon
appeared at the door. They had come to greet Jordan home, but soon found themselves
desperately worried right along with William when he informed them that Jordan
had taken ill. All six men took up the antechamber with their pacing, leaving
no room for Kieran when he came to see what was happening.