After giving Marian a few minutes to calm down, Robin went in search of her.

He found her sitting on a fallen log, halfway to the middle of the pond where the outlaws bathed. She had left her boots on the bank, and was dangling her feet and ankles in the water.

"Mind if I join you?" Robin called from the bank. "After I make my apologies."

"Let's hear them first."

Robin grinned, and then began. "I'm sorry, Marian, that I shouted. I'm sorry I overreacted. You were brave to go to Nottingham, not that I want you to do it again. I'm sorry I doubted you concerning Gisbourne. I think that covers it?"

"Not by a long shot."

"I'm sorry I kissed Hannah?"

"Try again."

Robin pushed back his bangs, thinking.

"Here's a clue, Handsome," Marian said, kicking one foot hard in the water, sending up a spray.

Robin grinned again, his eyes twinkling. "I'm sorry I sent you for water when I didn't need it."

"Because...?" she prompted.

"You're a hard task master, Marian."

"You can't join me until you admit what you did."

"I didn't want you to know I was planning to go to Nottingham, in case you insisted on coming," Robin said. "There's irony for you."

"So that's it. I forgive you. And I'll make you a deal. I promise not to go to Nottingham without you agreeing to it first, if you promise not to exclude me from your gang. Do you agree to my terms?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Very well then..."

Robin's smile widened. Leaving his boots on the bank, he ran along the log and sat down beside Marian.

"It's cold!" he complained, when he plunged his feet under the water.

"I like it. It helped cool me off."

"It's been years since I've seen your feet, Marian. They're lovely."

She laughed lightly. "They're feet, Robin."

"But lovely all the same. I mean it. Of course, being feet, they're not as gorgeous as the rest of you."

"When have you ever seen the rest of me?"

Marian was amused to see Robin blush. She began blushing herself.

"A man can dream," he answered, snickering.

She wondered whether he did dream about her...like that. She'd heard him murmur her name in his sleep several times since she'd dwelt in his camp.

"Maybe you need to cool off, too," she teased, reaching one hand down toward the water to splash him.

Playfully, he seized her around her waist, turning her entire body until she sat facing him, on his lap on the log. It took her breath away.

His eyes turned smoldering as he looked into hers, his heart began to pound, and his breath came hard, with slow, deep, ragged breaths.

Marian closed her eyes. Her head dropped back and she lifted her lips.

She moaned with delight when he began to kiss her, gripping him hard. His kiss was measured at first, exploring, but quickly turned desperate. All his desire he had been dampering down poured out of him. His hands were in her hair as hers were in his, and they drank deep from each other as if they could never quench their thirst.

His lips moved to her chin, then burned a path down her throat.

He was moaning now as he kissed the base of her neck, and Marian was trembling against him. Gently, with hot hands, he lay her down on the log, and then, to her dismay, he rolled over into the water, sending up a tremendous splash that wetted her clothes.

Surfacing from under the water, he shook his head, sending a shower of droplets from his hair.

He was still panting, but smiling brightly at her.

"Wha-wha-?" she asked, trying to recover.

"Sorry," he said breathlessly, treading water. "I didn't mean to kill the mood, but it was absolutely necessary."

"You're right, Locksley," she agreed, rolling her eyes. "It absolutely was."

"Looks like we managed to salvage our day together," Robin said, pulling himself back onto the log. "Now that I've had a bath, what would you like to do?"