Juliana dragged herself along the halls to her rooms, tired and worried. She'd been so stupid as to undersestimate the sheriff, and now she feared for those who meant the most to her. She dragged her mind back over everything she'd done up to that point. She tried to think of any loose ends she may have forgotten, but nothing. She knew she'd lay awake all night trying to think of any little, seemingly insignificant thing she may have overlooked.

"That's what you get." she mumbled to herself as she turned the corner of yet another long hall, still miles away from her room it seemed. "You were too arrogant, that's what it was. How could you be so stupid?"

She noticed a servant now and again give her an odd look as she went along mumbling to herself, but she didn't care. She had to think of something, or someone, she could use against the sheriff.

"Why does he have to be such a selfish, hateful, evil little..." she trailed off as she ran into one of the chamber maids, who was eyeing her suspciously.

"They're all mad." she heard one of the servants say. "I think the money and power that lot has sends them into madness."

Groaning, she finally reached her room and swung the door open. She needed to put all thoughts of revenge on hold so she could try to get some sleep. If she went too long, she would be mad indeed.

Stopping long enough to remove her slippers, she tossed them near the fireplace where a nice warm fire burned welcomingly. She continued to mumble to herself, debating what she should do. Did he have anyone she could use against him? Perhaps she would have to create something. She was imaginitive, her brothers and sister-in-law were good at putting her ideas into action. Yes, perhaps that was the way to go, she thought as she pulled a ribbon from her hair before moving next to her bed to change into her night clothes.

"You're not very observant when you're chatting with yourself." Guy's voice said with a laugh.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, looking over to the chair that sat near the fireplace and saw him holding her slippers with a grin.

"I needed to speak to you." he said simply. "Rather offended that you didn't even notice me." he added, acting as though his awkward discussion with her at Marian's had never taken place.

"I'm not accustomed to finding men in my bedchamber as I dress for bed." she said as she fastened the few buttons she'd undone.

"Before or after though?" he smiled again.

"You said you needed to speak to me." she said rather peevishly.

"Earlier, you said you wanted a chance to speak to me, as well," he reminded her. "Before your little meeting with the sheriff."

"Does he have any family?" Juliana asked. "Any true friends? What all do you know about him?"

"The sheriff and I are cousins." Guy answered, rather confused by her sudden flurry of questions. "What is all this about?"

"I need dirt on him." she said, pacing around the room. "He threatened people. I'm an idiot."

"Who did he threaten?" Guy asked. "Why are you an idiot?"

"I just assumed I could get my brothers in here without any trouble, but he knew." she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "And he kept calling me Miss Whitney."

"That's your name, isn't it?" Guy asked, not even attempting anymore to figure out what she was talking about.

"Yes." she nodded. "Of course, you don't know about any of that." she looked up. "You don't, do you?"

"I haven't a clue about anything you've said since you came in." he assured her. "Will you please sit still. Can you try to explain?"

"How do I know that whatever I tell you, you won't just report back to him?" she asked. "You are his most trusted man after all."

Guy stared at her, truly hurt by those words, though he tried not to let it show.

"I promise I won't say a word to him." he said. "I would like to think you trusted me as much as you think the sheriff does." he added as he came to stand in front of her.

"I do." she said, looking up at him. "At least, I think I do." she added, finding herself short of breath both from her tirade and his close proximity to her.

"I would like to be your most trusted man." he said, staring at her intently.

"You weren't nearly so chatty at Marian's." she said, swallowing hard.

"No, I've haven't had the best of luck there." he said. "That, and I didn't know when Marian would suddenly pop back into the room."

"And when I tried to speak to you earlier?" she asked.

"Wasn't the right time." he shrugged. "But now that we're alone, and not at Marian's..."

A knock sounded at the door. Juliana bowed her head as she recognized the knock. Her brothers.

"Hide. It's my brothers." she said, pushing him towards the door to the ante room that ran between her own chamber and a sitting room.

"Why do I need to hide?" Guy asked, looking back over his shoulder. "They know that I'm helping you..."

"And how would you explain to my three brothers what you're doing in my room at this hour?" she asked as she opened the door. "It's nearly midnight."

"Had to speak to you concerning our plans." he suggested.

"No." she shook her head, pushing him into the ante room. "For your own safety, it's best that they don't know you're here. Marcus is very good with that dagger of his."

"Say no more." Guy said, closing the door, remembering how the man wielded the weapon as he cut up an apple.

"Come in." Juliana said, opening the door.

"What took you so long?" Marcus asked.

"I was about to drift off." she lied. "It's been a long day."

"What was so important that we had to have this little rendezvous?" Christopher asked.

"The sheriff knows about us." Marcus answered as Juliana opened her mouth to say those exact words.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"How?" Christopher asked.

"I'm an idiot." Juliana answered.

"No arguments here." Marcus said with a smile. "But, we'll forgive you, little sister."

"How kind of you." Juliana replied dryly. "I underestimated him." she answered.

"So he let you set those servants up?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know if he knows that I did that." she replied. "He knows you're all here and he knows your my brothers. And he knows about Rahimah."

"He threatened us, too." Marcus added as he pulled out his dagger and began to clean his nails with it. "And Edward and Marian."

Juliana stared in horror as Marcus continued, worried he'd mention Guy as well, but he only winked knowingly when the others turned their attention back to her.

"And he has an idea about what happened to mother." Juliana added.

"How the devil would he know?" Christopher asked.

"I haven't a clue." she shook her head. "But, he has suddenly taken to calling me Miss Whitney."

"So. what do we do to counteract?" Daniel asked.

"We need to dig up anything on him we can find. Seek out his weakness." she answered.

"And if we can't discover any?" Marcus asked.

"We make some up." she answered.

"We create some lies, spread them about, to the most important people, of course." Christopher added, seemingly reading his sister's mind.

"You use that fertile little imagination of yours," Daniel said. "We'll put everything into motion."

"You'll have to be careful." Juliana said. "He knows you're here, and he has ways of finding out that we're looking for dirt on him."

"We all made it through the Holy Land in one piece." Christopher said. "I think we can handle a pompous sheriff." he added as he gave her a quick squeeze before gesturing to the others it was time for them to leave.

Guy entered the room when he heard Juliana's brothers leave and saw her pacing once again. Sighing, he leaned against the wall and watched her for a moment before speaking.

"My presence has been forgotten again, I see." he said, half joking.

"I'm sorry." Juliana said, stopping and staring at him. "I'm just worried about my family."

"I told you that I'd look after them." Guy said, standing up straight and walking to her.

"Even if it means going against an order from the sheriff?" she asked.

"Wouldn't be the first time I'd gone against him." he shrugged.

"Thank you." she said. "I just hope I can find something to use against him. It would be more effective than making something up."

"From what I've seen though," Guy said, smiling. "If you had to make something up, you'd do it very well and no one would be the wiser."

"I do have a knack." she agreed with a smile. "One good thing that's come from having that miserable old man for a father."