“Slay me?” Robin snorted. “How? You have no weapon.” He looked pointedly at Will’s simple attire.
“If I chose to put you in your grave, I would need no weapon. So I suggest you leave before your presence here is found out.”
“Mayhap Lady Marian shall accompany me back to Sherwood,” Robin said, moving now too. The next thing she knew, he had his arm around her belly, and the knife blade at her throat. “I trow I can keep her from the hands of John better than his cohort the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire.”
Marian wasn’t the least bit frightened of the dagger at her throat; it was Will and his black look she feared. For a moment, he looked as though he might lunge forward, knife or nay. . and then the feral light died from his eyes to be replaced by a malicious gleam.
“Aye,” he said. “If the lady is kidnapped and taken by the outlaw Robin Hood, not only will she be safe from the lecherous eyes of the prince. . but I shall also be obliged to gather up every able-bodied man to flush the outlaw and his band from the forest. I am certain you would wish for that.”
Robin’s fingers had slipped between the edges of the cloak, and she felt his warm hand on her belly. . and then up to brush over her breast. She snatched in a little intake of breath and resisted the urge to stomp his foot. Instead of trying to escape when cornered, he did naught but taunt his enemy and play games.
“But you know they will never find us,” Robin said, inching her a bit toward the door. “You may send all of the king’s men into the forest and never flush us out.” Behind the neatly trimmed beard and mustache beamed a sly smile, clearly taunting his opponent. His fingers brushed the underside of her breast, and a thumb slipped up over her nipple. She remained rigid, despite the fact that he caused a little tingle to rise.
By the saints, she knew how to put an end to this standoff.
“You are the veriest of fools, Locksley,” Will said in a biting voice. “You would risk the safety of your lady and her reputation by openly making her your consort, your accomplice. And would you then be willing to allow her to hang from the scaffold next to you?”
Judging the moment right, Marian pulled free from Robin-after all, his hold was more for show than for anything else-and whirled toward Will. ’Twas unfortunate. . or mayhap not so unfortunate. . that her captor had been holding the cloak more tightly than he’d gripped her person. The covering slipped from her body as she moved, leaving her once again clothed only in a swirl of hair.
“God’s teeth, Marian,” Will snarled as Robin simply stood there, holding the sagging cloak.
“Robin, you fool,” she cried, “go!” She flung herself at Will, knowing that while she had little chance of stopping him by force, she might befuddle him enough that Robin could escape. She slammed against him, causing nary a jolt to his stance, but knocking the breath from her lungs and acquiring the sharp dig of a wayward elbow. His hands automatically closed around her arms, steadying her.
“Blast,” Robin said lightly, indeed slipping past her toward the door, “ ’tis a hardship to leave that sight. But I am not the fool you think I am, Nottingham. Until the morrow, sweeting,” he said to Marian-and he was gone.
Will fairly shoved Marian away from him, but to her vast relief, he did not rush out the door after the outlaw. She would have launched herself at him if he had, little good though that would do.
“I should have sent you with him,” he said, looking down at her with a very different expression. “Marian, for the rood’s sake, cover yourself.” This time the command sounded more like a plea than an order.
Realizing she was not only breathing heavily but very naked, Marian backed away from Will and reached for a fur from the bed to gather it up in front of her. The fox felt silky and luxurious against her bare skin.
“Mayhap he is right. Though he is an outlaw, you would be out of the prince’s reach if you hid with them in the forest,” Will said in the softest voice she’d heard him use.
And then, without another word, he turned and strode out. “Lay the bolt,” he ordered, pausing in the antechamber, then exited into the passage.
Marian moved to comply, peeking out after him to ensure that Robin had gone, and that Will was not giving chase. The hall was empty but for the figure of a half-clothed Nottingham, striding smoothly away without a backward look.
She bolted the door, once again annoyed by the absence of her maid, and retired to the inner chamber.
Will’s words gave her pause. She could go with Robin. Stay with him, be with him. They would likely become lovers. . and she would leave behind the threat of the prince.
But Will would come after them, even more fiercely than before. He had the right of it: the gentry would be incensed by the abduction of a noblewoman by the bandits. And if she admitted her desire to be with Robin, not only would she then be regarded as an outlaw and thus subject to the reach of the law. . but she would no longer be in Ludlow, able to spy on John for the queen, and on Will, for Robin himself.
Not that, Marian admitted, she’d yet found anything of import to tell the queen. Or to help Robin. When in John’s presence, she’d spent more time in a state of unease or discomfiting arousal than anything else.
Nay, much as she might wish to be with Robin, she could not go. She must stay in the keep, within reach of the grasp of the prince.
And Will.
CHAPTER 9
Alys of Wentworth pulled the cloak’s hood up and over her head, hurrying through the hall. Empty of diners and drinkers, the vast room offered shelter to the half dozen hounds twitching and groaning by the fireplaces near the dozing serf boys charged with keeping the blazes going. A man-at-arms well beyond his cups slumped in one corner, and another, propped up on the trestle table by naught but his nose, snored loudly.
Long past vespers, hours since the evening meal had finished, the night was fading toward dawn. It had been a tiring day, and Alys was quite ready for her bed.
It had begun with the wild hunt, and all the gossip of Robin Hood. . and then for her to have been so unfortunate as to fall into the clutches of his men! Of all the things to have happened when Sandy threw a shoe. And then for the blackhearted rogue to steal a kiss from her. . but most of all, to believe she might actually welcome it!
She pursed her lips as her fury at Robin Hood and his silly games rose anew. A bandit with a love for himself so great that it threatened to explode his head! So foolish of him to have crept into the keep last night. Why would he travel into the nest of the very hawk that wished to devour him?
’Twas simple. . He believed he would not be caught! Well, he would have a fine surprise if he ever accosted her in the keep. Joanna of Wardhamshire might giggle and blush at his kisses, but Alys had no misconceptions. The man was an outlaw, and he must be made to face the laws of the land.
As had happened throughout the day since her escape from Robin Hood, Alys felt the anger boiling inside her. A slick, cowardly bandit slipping through the night, stealing from good people-why, her friend Lady Marian had nearly lost her belongings to the outlaws! And then to make light of it by-
A faint noise from the shadows startled her. She paused, heart thumping, and looked. . but saw nothing. Raising her chin at her foolishness, Alys continued on along the rear passageway of the keep toward the staircase that led to the second floor.
She had just turned the corner and seen the steps at the far end of the passage when she noticed a tall figure walking toward her.
The yellow light of a wall sconce cast illumination over his face and-saints! bare torso! — and Alys recognized him immediately. Nottingham.
He didn’t appear to see her moving swiftly through the shadows, for his head was bowed, as it had been earlier today when she’d found him near the same place. At that time, he’d seemed ill and out of sorts, very troubled. . and to see such a handsome, powerful man so vulnerable had tugged at her healer’s heart. Not to mention her womanly desires.
Now he merely paused at one of the window slits and looked out into the night.
She drew near, her heart thumping and curiosity dampening her palms. He was so very large and dark, with an aura of annoyance that most often put people off. . yet there was something about him that caught deeply at her. And she had seen the expression on his face earlier today; he’d looked disgusted, ill, and yet resigned. Now
