Hello and welcome! This will be a multi-chapter fiction based around one night, just one. I promise angst, fluff and lemon. Let me know what you think : ) Hope you enjoy!

Definitely some raunch in this here chapter ; ) I reckon the build-up is worth it. I definitely enjoyed writing this one, although the computer's stubborn belief that Marian's name was, in fact, martian, did rattle me a little...

EDIT: Renewed a few typos here too. Sorry! Thank you very much to Bast and Twinklecut87 for your lovely reviews and to Bast to bringing attention to the typos : ) I hope I can hear from other readers soon. Hope you enjoy!

Nocturne (In The Night)

Chapter 2: Wildfire and Memories

Guy

Guy sat at the end of his bed, watching the snow-white crescent moon and the peppered stars out of the small square window on the wall opposite the door that led to where Marian was preparing herself. At least, she was supposed to be. He could not be sure. He was in a large room, the bed and the fireplace the only apparatus. The rest of the room was spacious. He had removed several trunks and trinkets when he had remembered how once Marian had declared that she could not feel comfortable surrounded by objects whilst others so nearby suffered and starved.

His chest was bare, muscled and auburn by the firelight, hands held in his lap, legs dressed in cotton braes. So many times, Guy had expected things of Marian, had tried to predict her course of action. But it was a futile exercise. She was not- as Guy had learnt the hard way- a tamed creature, despite her courtly training and upbringing. Today had been the second ceremony he had held with her. Today, all had gone to plan. Almost. For all he knew, she had escaped, had humiliated him once again. He smirked sardonically at the thought and imagined a third wedding in the distant future, where one more step could be taken towards a legitimate marriage. He had realised- after lying to the Sheriff about the Nightwatchman's identity- that he would do anything to secure her happiness. As for tonight, it was a joint joy, a shared pleasure, their happiness that he sought.

Several times, sitting there minute after minute, Guy had to close his eyes and fist his hands in an effort to restrain himself from storming into Marian's chamber. The fantasies that had been born a thousand times in his mind roared through him like wildfire and memories of those dewy green eyes, of her graceful, skilled hands- hands that had masterfully fought against him when she had been behind that mask- flickered through his imagination. Her smiles, her frowns, her disappointed glances and stony disposition. The stars that befell her eyes when he had truly pleased her, the way the sunlight caressed her skin...

The way she argued. Her disobedience. Her power as a warrior. Her morals. Her voice, honey-like and rich, not glassy and high-pitched like the ladies at Court...

Those thin brows, how sternly they framed her face sometimes, her intelligence... Guy stared at the navy night sky.

It all intimidated him. It all inspired him. It all-

"I cannot do it. I cannot start anew." Guy did not move. He waited. More. "We... we are what we have lived through. Both of us have pushed the other near the brink of death at some point. But... but it has made us stronger." Guy smiled softly and closed his eyes once more- her voice was so unsteady and yet it seemed to smooth over his stresses like some buttery balm. She, the woman who had escaped, attacked and tricked him time and time again... "That we have both survived- surely... surely that is a sign." How like Marian to speak at length at such a time, at such a time when words should be hushed for sounds, for treasured breaths... "A sign that we should be locked. Wedlocked, we are now, but time has shown how twined we are to be..." Enough.

Guy sprung up, did not sacrifice a single second to absorb her appearance, did not pay heed to her frightened steps back as he advanced. In four swift strides, he held her face in his hands and swooped down to kiss her. She did not recoil. In fact, neither of them moved for many moments. It was a frozen pause. A sweet-tempered peace graced the air as rain began to pitter-patter outside, eventually sending a slight chill into the room.

Marian felt the cold instantly, even though the fire in the hearth was hearty, and pulled back from Guy with a minor moan- as if to speak again- but Guy persevered. He stroked her cheeks and stroked the silk of her neck with his knuckles as he kissed her again, trembling a little with his constraint; he mustn't spook her.

She tried again to disconnect.

"Guy, I-"

"Marian." It was a whispered warning and in it came the proof of how much older he was than her: nine years. His words tingled against her lips. "I know the past. What I want is to earn your... forgiveness, your blessing and to rectify my reputation so that I may be a husband worthy of honour-" he stroked away a stray tear from her eyelash and inspected her beauteous face- "and a man our... our children can learn from. I want to be a man of the future. With you."

"Guy..." Marian sighed, stunned. He had not yet looked into her eyes for fear of forgetting himself, losing himself and succumbing to pure lust. Instead, he gently curled her loose hair behind her pink ear and stroked down her arms.

"I have left Vasey. I have..." He sighed. "I have offered my services to the Queen."

Guy watched as Marian's rose-red lips popped open and he swallowed with thirst. With hunger.

"But this is for later, Marian," he murmured, dancing his fingers between hers, rubbing the centre of her palms with his thumbs. Steadily, she held his hands with a light pressure that made Guy ache all the more for her timid disposition, a rare, precious form of her capriciousness. He could sense, almost smell, her innocence, her virtuosity and he grew hard at the thought of their potential ecstasy.

The rain fell a little harder now, a rush of natural music that brought a cool air, which had brought both of Marian's teats to peak against his torso. The musky, fruity scents of hay and apples drifted in too. He would have closed the window if it weren't for the fresh, calming effect it also seemed to cast upon both of them. Her warm breath heated his lips, their faces a mere inch apart.

"Please," Guy suddenly whispered in a darkly desperate tone, squeezing her hands a fraction too tightly. "Please let me..." he took a few breaths and embraced their bodies together. It soothed an unnameable ache inside of him to have her in his arms so intimately, to feel like he could protect her... teach her...

His forehead rested on hers as he sighed, his frustrations deeply audible.

"I know you do not love me..." She did not utter a word to this, only sighed and gulped quietly as his hold strengthened and his fingers travelled suspensefully across her lower back. "Let me..." he repeated- but he could not finish his sentence. With a firm resolve Guy recognised with a thrill, Marian kissed him with a sigh that sounded so passionately satisfied that Guy groaned with no inhibition whatsoever. He gripped her with an almost wild power and her hands- cold for some unearthly reason- held his face as he journeyed back towards the bed. A drenched, black cat pounced up onto the windowsill and began to groom itself, but it went unnoticed.

Her fingers scratched his stubble again and again and by the urgency and those small, small sounds she made, Guy could tell that she enjoyed the texture. He couldn't help but let that arrogant little smirk of his escape from its confines as he fainted backwards and she fell on top of him, his hot tongue momentarily escaping too and flicking teasingly against her's.

Once fallen, Marian's energy faltered. Guy's chest rose impressively as he smiled kindly and took control. History had shown them to be equals in combat, but this was Guy's element, his true talent if he was completely honest with himself (which was surprisingly rare).

Marian's shift had flared outwards with the force of their fall and Guy could feel her sex, warm and soft and wet, through his thin braes. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed and her hands landed on his wide, defined chest. Guy was sure she could feel him too. He sniffed- as he was prone to do when he was pleased with himself- and raised his torso. Delicately, he slipped her shift over one shoulder and warmed her skin with his mouth, grazing her skin afterwards with his stubble and hardening even more- it felt like- when she sighed and shivered. He kissed softly up her neck and behind her ear, shuffling a little underneath her so as to provoke adequate stimulation for them both. She settled atop him admirably but there was a tension that had not yet dissipated.

As he nuzzled into her hot hair, his hands glided under her shift and up her thighs. There were small rough areas of skin amidst the silkiness but truthfully, nothing could have deterred him then. He licked the most delicate features of her ear and bit her earlobe, gaging her capacity for pain. Bu the way she scratched down his bulky arms, she enjoyed a fair amount and he growled indulgently. It was not so much that Guy wanted either of them in pain, more that he knew what was to come might be more than a discomfort for Marian. He needed to know he was not going to hurt her.

He rested his hands at the tops of her thighs- his and Marian's bodies dappled with a myriad of temperatures- and pursued the kissing of her neck and throat, which she seemed to intensely revel in. He would lick up her throat as she inhaled then pause, effectively forcing her to hold her breath and then, at the most critical moment, he would squeeze her thighs gently and kiss and nip his way back down. After a minute or two of this, Marian suddenly clutched at his black, black hair and drew him up to kiss her mouth. He obliged only too willingly, but she whimpered slightly and- not really aware of her actions only her desires, which pleasured Guy to no end- she rocked her hips forward as she tried to coax his tongue out with her own, though her technique was obviously inexperienced. Guy tensed everywhere as she ground against him, a carnival of joy coursing through him as he chuckled lowly, breaking away from her. He was relieved, too, to have been allowed to get this far.

"What?" Marian inquired breathlessly, almost angrily. He smiled that wolfish, half-cocked smirk and stroked down her inner thighs and round to stroke up her back. Angling his head in a very precise manner, he whispered,

"Like this," and then re-engaged their kiss. Slowly, he sort of tamed her frantic tongue and guided her until she began to catch on to the optimum style, growing ravenous quickly.

"Okay," Guy murmured, arousingly soothing. "Okay..." They continued in this way for a while but when Guy grew bigger, he secured Marian to him with one strong arm and bucked up to get more comfortable. Marian cried out in surprise and he sent her a cunning and knowing sort of smile before reaching under to shift to feel her spine as it arched, straightened then re-arched into him. He soon lost all patience for the shift and only just controlled himself. Bunching the hem of it in his hands, he looked into Marian's eyes and was momentarily hypnotised by the way they sparkled- had he made them do that? He swallowed.

"May I...?" He tugged a little at the shift. He felt her stiffen and he sighed as she clenched her jaw and began to regain her apprehension: he could see small creases above her eyebrows that told him so. Slowly, he leaned forward and breathed into her ear,

"It will be good. I promise you." He felt like he should have aded that he would stop at any time, but he did not think he would be able to stop himself now. The rain continued to prance and spit outside.

Marian's hands fell from his shoulders to his wrists limply. Something was not right.

"How many...?" she suddenly asked. Her tone and the situation explained what she meant. Guy felt a little uncomfortable.

"I don't know." He was being honest in the kindest way and thankfully she seemed to sense it.

"Many?" Guy's face became serious.

"Not recently, no."

"But-"

"Yes." Yes, he had been with many women. This seemed to greatly displease Marian and before Guy could catch her, she unsaddled herself and walked across the room though mercifully nowhere near the door. By the dimming fire, Guy could just about perceive the shape of the back of her body under that shift, which was currently his greatest enemy. It was a voluptuous body, though still petite in many ways.

"You enjoy it, don't you?"

Guy fell back against the bed, exasperated and frustrated in more ways than one. Marian was panicking, it wasn't hard to tell.

"Yes," he replied, patiently.

"You change when... well, you changed just now..."

"I can change. I am changeable." Guy resisted gritted teeth- if things were to go well, then Marian had to be comfortable and if this relaxed her then so be it.

"Do they enjoy it?"

Guy exhaled through his throat without opening his mouth, deciding how to reply as tactfully as possible.

"I heard once." Marian's words shocked him a little and he raised himself on his elbows. She had turned around by now and as Guy admired her figure, he caught her observing his chest and arms. He sniffed. Before Guy could do or say anything to the knowledge that she had heard him with another woman, she looked away from him and raised her shift at the same time.

Then it was off.

And she was coming towards him.