Marian darted from Knighton Hall into the stables clutching a basket of apples under her cloak. A steady downpour of rain kept the horses inside, and she wanted to give them a treat, hoping to lift her spirits as well as theirs.

Shaking the rain off her, Marian pulled back her hood and approached Vesper, offering an apple.

A hand shot out of nowhere, seized the apple, tossed it into the air, and caught it, all before Marian could recover her breath from the shock.

Robin took a bite, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, chewed and swallowed, then cockily said, "Thank you, Marian. I was just thinking how much I missed your father's fruit."

"What do you want?" she asked coldly, angry from having been startled.

"What makes you think I want anything?" he asked, smiling charmingly down at her. "Can't a man drop by, merely to pay an old friend a visit?"

"You don't show yourself for days upon end, then suddenly appear out of the woodwork, during a downpour? You want something."

Robin couldn't hold back his sunny smile. He couldn't help it...he loved it when she was angry at him like this, now that he believed she still cared.

"So, you noticed I was gone," he said smoothly, fueling her anger. "Can it be that you missed me?"

He'd uttered the wrong words. Had she missed him? All she could think of was how he'd left for war near the eve of their wedding, and had been gone nearly five years. The day he'd come to tell her he was leaving had been stormy, too, just like today.

Picking out an apple, Marian threw it, hitting him forcefully on his breastbone.

"Ow!" he objected, the expression on his face more wounded than he was.

"There are more apples in this basket, if you persist in your flippancy," she warned him, feeling somewhat better. "And my aim is true, as you can bear witness."

Robin chuckled good naturedly. "How did you get so good?" he asked, remembering how her hairpin had saved his life the day he became an outlaw.

Using his own boast concerning archery, Marian smiled proudly and answered, "Plenty of practice, and plenty of skill."

Robin's smile widened and his heart skipped a beat, just to see her smile return.

"I love it when you quote me," he told her, drawing closer by a step.

Marian stopped his approach with a stormy glare. "That's what you love? Hearing your own words shot back at you?"

Immediately, she regretted her words. She wouldn't beg. Besides, she felt so angry at him again, she didn't want his love. She certainly didn't need it! There probably wasn't room in his heart for her anyway, considering how full it was of himself!

Turning away with an exasperated sigh, she lifted an apple from her basket and held it out for Vesper.

The tickle of her horse's whiskers against her palm, and the eagerness of the animal to eat the apple, went a long way to cheer her.

"Now," Marian invited, her voice purposely sounding clipped and formal, "the sooner you admit to me why you're here, the sooner you can go."

"You wouldn't send me off in this weather, would you, Marian? Not after I came all the way from Stoke to see you!"

"Stoke?"

Marian couldn't hide her surprise. She blushed all the way up to the roots of her hair, inexplicably feeling guilty, and embarrassed, lest Robin had learned of her short lived relationship with Roger.

Robin chuckled again at her reaction. He was having so much fun in Marian's company, and loved having the upper hand. "Now you know why I haven't been to see you these past four days, not that anyone's counting. I wasn't neglecting you, Marian. I simply needed to deposit Cecily in a place where she'd be safe and happy, and she asked me to take her to Stoke."

"Cecily's gone?" Marian asked, vastly relieved. "Your men must be celebrating! Though I hope you won't mope too much, missing another one of your legion of female admirers."

"I was hoping I might pass her on to my good friend Roger," Robin joked, eyeing Marian carefully. "He has very good taste in women, so I've been told."

Marian drew her breath in sharply, blushing angrily.

Unable to speak, she handed an apple to her father's grey gelding.

Robin chuckled again at her reaction. Chuckled infuriatingly, to Marian's mind.

"Roger of Stoke has far too much sense to fall for 'Sess,' " she fumed at last. "Only fools succumb to her obvious, insincere charms."

"But you know what they say," Robin countered, stepping closer. "Love is blind."

Love again. Why did the fool insist on taunting her with the word, so insincerely, when he couldn't use it in the only way that mattered?

Marian turned to face him, her face accusingly angry.

"Five!" she almost shouted at him. "It's been five days, not four."

Five days...five years... Why must it always be five with him? Spent from emotion, she sighed, turning away again to face the horses. "Not that anyone's counting," she added, repeating his words for the second time that afternoon.

Robin grew serious, dropping his smugness in the face of her honest emotion.

Letting the breath out of his cheeks, he haltingly began, "I was angry when I faced Roger the other day, Marian. Jealous. I'd heard rumors about the two of you, and I needed to learn the truth."

"And what gave you the right to be jealous, Locksley?" Marian asked, still not looking at him.

Robin shrugged, but not casually. He felt tense and nervous and excited. This, he felt, was about to be another turning point in their deep, long lasting relationship.

"Does a man need a right to feel anything?" he asked sincerely. "Feelings aren't bestowed by a king or a liege lord, Marian. They come straight from the heart, I think."

His voice had grown soft and confiding. She remembered its velvet caress from years gone by, and despite her resolve not to feel, her knees went weak and her mouth grew dry.

Suddenly, the stable doors flew open, emitting the dripping wet form of her father.

Sir Edward stared at the two of them, then ordered Marian back to the house.

"Young man," he said firmly. "It is long overdue that I had a talk with you."