"A word with you Robyn?" The lord king Edmund called out to Robyn late one afternoon when the room was clear of lords and nobles who had come with business matters.

Robyn left his guard post and approached his king. "Yes lord?" He said, his head bowed just slightly.

"You have served me well for nearly ten years. I think it is time you were rewarded for your service."

"I ask no reward of you lord. It is my honor to to serve," Robyn gave as reply.

"Well, I wish to reward you all the same with a wife and lands in Nottingham."

"You do me great honor lord but lands and a wife will mean that I am bound to them rather than to you," Robyn protested. He didn't want to be a farmer. He wanted to be a soldier. Farm life would bore him to tears he was sure of that.

"And your lands will be bound to mine. Do me this service Robyn and once your wife is with child I will send you off to fight the Danes in some glorious battle. That is what you wish, is it not?"

"You know me too well, lord," Robyn said with a small smile.

"Lady Aeldreth will be here in a fortnight. I am told she is a kind and courteous lady and that she plays the lute."

"Is there anything else you can tell me of her, lord?" Robyn asked hopefully.

"I am told she is rather lovely in appearance," the king smiled. "Brown of hair and eyes and of medium stature for a woman. You will like her Robyn of that I am sure."

"I hope so my lord and I appreciate your great kindness," Robyn stated and king nodded his dismissal.

Robyn fled the room and went back to his chambers in the King's house. He shut the door to his room a little too harshly. He didn't want a wife. He liked women well enough. He had spent a night with a willing woman on occasion just as all the yeoman had. A wife though was another thing entirely. A wife would mean he was obligated to go home.

For the eighth day in a row Maerinn awoke in the bed of Guy of Gisburn. He had kept his word and had not touched her, at least not while awake. In sleep he had rolled closer to her once or twice and put an arm around her. By morning he was always back to his own side of the bed again. The bed was not overly large though and on this morning as other mornings Maerinn awoke nestled rather close to his side. She realized for the first time that she did not want to leave his side. Not that she wanted to stay with him forever in favor of going home but she did like the idea of spending a little more time in this bed with him and doing something other than sleeping. It surprised her a little that she could desire any man like that after what Ivar had done to her. Yet looking at him now she could not deny that it might be comforting to be with a man who could treat her gently like Aiden once had in the early months of their marriage.

She didn't like to think of Aiden. She didn't like to think of him because she had loved him once. No, truthfully she had never stopped loving him right up until the end but he had stopped loving her years ago. Aiden had only invited her to his bed during the times when Bridget was too heavy with child or too recently delivered of children and even then it was simply a deed done to meet his needs with no consideration of hers anymore. Not like it had been in the beginning. After everything she had been through it irked her to admit that she could want anything any man had to offer and yet the desire would not leave her.

Guy awoke after she did as usual but unlike the other times when she had moved to her own side of the bed before he woke, this time she stayed pressed against him.

"Maerinn?" he said her name with more emotion than usual and reached over to let his hand rest on her shoulder. He was wise enough to know that she had remained this close to him for a reason.

"I know you said you would not touch me," she told him, braving her way through the word. "But if you changed your mind I wouldn't object."

Guy searched her eyes for a moment and an emotion crossed his features that she could not interpret. "If I did that, I wouldn't have it in me to take you home. I would likely come to care for you in time and you'd never see your clan again. That can't be what you want." he told her gently and then before she could reply he tossed aside the covers and left the bed.

Maerinn got out of bed and went to the door before he could change and leave. She felt herself flushing red as he changed out of his clothes with his back mostly to her. "What are you doing there?" he asked her, noticing from the corner of his eye that she blocked the doorway. "If you think you can keep me from leaving, you are mistaken."

"You promised I would remain unharmed," she argued.

"I can remove you from a doorway without harming you."

"Without touching me?"

Guy turned to face her, shirtless and tunic in hand and saw her flushed reaction to his state of dress. He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose that would prove challenging….which is why you've placed yourself there...isn't it?"

"It might be," she admitted, still flustered.

He thought about her words for a moment, no doubt calculating his next move as was his way. Maerinn waited for him to make his decision. Finally, he approached where she stood, still shirtless, tunic still in his hand. "Hold this," he told her, passing her the tunic.

Once the tunic as in her hands, he stepped closer, close enough to press her back to the door with the weight of his body and he kissed her. The kiss was unexpected but not the least bit unwelcome. All too soon he was pulling away from her and tugged the tunic from out of her hands and slipped it over his head.

"Step aside from the doorway," he said a little huskily, "Or I will never do that again."

Breathless, Maerinn moved aside as he asked and watched him walk away until he was out of sight.