Isabella of Gisbourne boldly studied the woman whom she considered her rival with a defiant, sneering glare.
Lady Locksley, nearly six years her junior, was the only woman whose beauty Isabella felt triumphed over her own. The lady's thick, dark, softly curling hair had been carefully coiffed in a becoming style, hiding the fact it had recently been hacked off. Her nearly flawless skin was creamy, appearing smooth and silky to the touch, with a small mole just beneath her lower lip and another just under her collarbone, as if to tease a man's senses. Bravery, intelligence, and character flashed out of beautiful clear blue eyes, fringed in thick dark lashes. In fact, the woman's entire heart-shaped face was doll-like in its perfect beauty, with its tiny seashell ears, soft red lips, and strong proud chin.
"What a silly little nose she has," Isabella gloated privately to herself, "so vastly inferior to my straight, elegant profile!"
Even with Marian's belly and hips rounded from pregnancy, Isabella felt especially threatened by the woman's strong, young body. The exquisite carving of her shoulders, the lovely gracefulness of her shapely arms, the plump fullness of her firm round breasts, all caused the Queen of England to gnash her teeth in a jealous rage and wish Marian dead.
"I wonder," Isabella began, just after Robin had complied with his wife's wishes by removing Ellen from the room, "just how often you think of my brother, when you're lying here in bed making love with Robin? Does it excite you to remember the times you secretly lay here with Guy?"
"I never!" Marian protested, shocked and embarrassed by the false allegation. "Not every woman is as free with her body as you are with yours."
"I disagree. Women hide their indiscretions, but that doesn't mean they don't engage in them, if they're beautiful enough to be desired. Preserve your good name behind your ladylike demeanor all you like, but you and I both know your little secret. You enjoyed having two strong handsome men heat up your bed and fight over you, while you weighed your options. It was only when you found yourself with child, that you were forced to make a choice. And in the presence of the godlike Richard, Coeur de Lion, who wouldn't finally choose Robin of Locksley over Guy of Gisbourne? After all, Richard was bound to triumph over Sheriff Vaisey! Richard, who'd never lost a battle! But I still ask myself, whose brat was it in your womb, that Guy killed? Or do you even know?"
"Get out," Marian ordered. "I wanted to speak with you, but just being around you is far more poisonous than any of your potions."
Isabella wandered slowly to the massive bed and began sensually running her fingers up and down the coverlet on Robin's side of the bed.
"Don't touch!" Marian snapped.
"The truth is always hard to stomach," Isabella slyly continued, "when we're so good at deceiving others. And you are good at it. Even Robin knows what an accomplished liar you are. Isn't that what made you such a good spy?"
"Why did you come here? To taunt me with your own lies? Or to torture my husband's conscience? Leave Robin alone. He already feels bad enough."
"Good. Poor Annora. He killed her, you know, just as surely as if he'd pushed her from the battlements."
"Are you sure it wasn't you who pushed her?"
Marian's accusation, a mere guess she hardly believed, wrought a change in Isabella. Immediately, the queen stopped stroking the bed, and turned like a tiger on her accuser.
"You'll never prove it!" she shrieked. "And I still mean to have your husband!"
"You pushed her?" Marian gasped. "Is that why you're running from the king?"
"No, you naïve, goody-goody toe shoes! You have no idea how inflicting pain can excite a treacherous man! My first husband, for all the agony he caused me, can't hold a candle to John! You know nothing! Has Robin ever branded your back with a hot iron grid, and forced you down, naked, on your hands and knees, so he can play chess on you?"
Marian, with all her hatred toward Isabella, couldn't believe what she'd heard. "Oh, you poor thing," she breathed, stepping forward to protectively fold Isabella in her arms. "We'll help you," she promised soothingly. "Don't be afraid."
Robin, stepping through the doorway, stopped in midstride when he spied the two women embracing. His eyes questioned Marian's, but he didn't see the look of evil triumph on Isabella's face.