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I tried to laugh at him, but it came out as a wheeze. Another quiver speared through me and I tensed to fight off the orgasmic aftershock. “You’re a barbarian, Will Scarlet. An absolute peril to my life.”
“Thank you, little thorn.”
Finally. The first thanks I’d gotten from him . . . and it came when I called him a savage and a danger to my safety. This fucking man. Absolutely unhinged—his soul unsalvageable. I thought he had a hint of decency in him when I saw him interacting with his father. Now I know I was mistaken. This is the true Will Scarlet. This gloriously dark, wicked, siege machine of a man.
And I absolutely loved every bit of it.
Chapter 35
Robin
Ipromptly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Will Scarlet had fucked the nightmares and dreams out of my head. I woke in the early morning feeling well-rested, sore—again—and content.
I rolled onto my back and stretched my arms over my head with a squeak. At least he’d had the decency to drape the dress over my body, because Friar Tuck barged into the carriage a moment later.
I yipped and curled into a ball, hiding my naked bits from the chaplain.
He frowned, folding his arms over his chest, standing below the step outside. “Naked again. At least you weren’t arriving this time when I came in.”
“You need to learn to knock!” My cheeks turned cherry-red.
“I didn’t know you were sleeping in here, honestly.” He shrugged, then tilted his head with a small smile as his eyes ate me up. “My, but you do seem to have the most exciting mornings.”
“It’s my nights that are exciting,” I groaned. “Not the mornings.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah.” Clapping his hands, he reached into the carriage to grab my strewn-about clothes, and unceremoniously tossed them at my face. “Had we more time, perhaps I could corrupt your morning routine, too, little heathen. Alas, we have places to be, things to do.”
“And you call me the heathen.”
“Oh, did I say corrupt? I meant enlighten.”
Was I a madwoman for feeling a twinge of sadness? I had been wondering what a man of the cloth might be—
“You’re losing your grip on your sanity and sanctity, sister,” Robert said in my mind, killing the moment.
My sanity has been in question ever since I started chatting with you, brother. My sanctity? After Little John stole my chastity and Will Scarlet bludgeoned it to death, I’m not sure I have anymore sanctity left in me.
Perhaps Friar Tuck can rediscover the holiness inside me?
“No!” Robert yelled. “Quit your prodding, woman. Find Mother and Father and Uncle—”
Only teasing, dear Robert. I smiled wickedly. But you are so easy to rile up, you know.
A moment later, his words sank in and my face turned serious, lips thinning into a frown.
“What’s that look for?” Tuck asked.
“Just remembering what I have to do today.”
His expression turned pitying, as if he wanted to say more—tell me how my parents would be happy to see me again, or some other such nonsense.
I hated his pity. I cut him off before he could feed me any false hope or tender words. “Out. I’ll change, and then we’ll be on our way.”
He exited with a sad nod, gently shutting the door behind him.
If nothing else, the Merry Men had steeled me to the rigors of life in a way no one else had before them.
I hoped, as much as Little John, that I’d be able to find my way back to them, so they could teach me more and awaken the slumbering giantess resting inside me.
