Thanks to all those sill following this story. :) Sorry for the late updates; nasty storms rolled through here and I'm only just now able to get back to this! Hope to resume the daily update schedule now...
Tom waited just out of sight of their camp. She knew John would follow. There were things they needed to say to each other, and she hadn't wanted an audience. What she felt for him – she didn't know what to call it. Not gratitude, though there was an element of it. Nor just safety, though she felt safer with him than anywhere else or with anyone else. No, it was much more than that.
His touch, even the lightest graze of his fingers against her skin, set her on fire. The one time he had kissed her, she'd lost all control of her faculties for several moments. Only once, and the memory was seared into her mind and heart.
But it was more than that. She felt empty when he wasn't around, she felt cold when he wasn't holding her. She felt complete with him.
She loved him.
She heard him come up behind her and said nothing, simply sat on the stony outcropping overlooking the forest floor and waited for him to join her, remaining silent.
He settled next to her again, slipped his arm around her, and just held her. She was precious to him, more precious than anything in the world, even more than his own life. He felt whole again, as he hadn't since he'd left his Alice to live in the forest as a dead man. He'd never expected to feel this again, and yet it was different. Not stronger; he'd love his Alice till the day he died. But what he felt for Tom was just as strong, even if it was newly found.
He brushed a kiss across her hair and stroked it lightly before tipping her face up to kiss her gently. She wound her arms around his neck, fingers idly running through the hair at his nape. She sighed softly and he deepened the kiss, laying her gently down among the leaves. He drew back, his big hands framing her face, watching her closely. "Do you trust me?" he murmured.
"With my life," she answered softly. She had come out here to talk to him, but this, this was much more to her liking.
"If you want to stop, we stop," he whispered against her lips. And at her nod, he kissed her again, this time more passionately. One hand slid down along her rib cage, finding its way under her tunic to stroke bare skin and she shivered into his touch.
He was gentle but he was thorough and she was nearly screaming with need by the time he moved over her. His eyes held hers for a long moment, asking the question, and she arched up against him with a cry.
He took her scream into his kiss as he thrust deep inside her and he stilled immediately, allowing her to adjust to the sensation. Her fingers moved to thread through his hair, tugging slightly to bring his lips to hers once more, letting him know she was ready, that she needed him to finish this. Slowly he began to move, picking up the pace as she responded once more, sighing, gasping, and moaning as her need rose with his movements.
She wailed as it took her, and John again captured the sound with his own lips. He followed closely after, spilling inside her with a ragged groan that sounded suspiciously like her name. Then he rolled them to land with her atop him and simply held her, his rough hands rubbing her back lightly.
He was a little overwhelmed. She'd fought so hard to keep herself from her husband – and she had freely given John everything. It touched him more deeply than anything in his life. But he couldn't say the words.
He kissed her hair gently. "We should go back," he said quietly. "We can't stay out here all night, it isn't safe."
He helped her to dress, helped her brush some of the leaves from her hair, stealing kisses whenever he could and enjoying her responses.
And when Djaq woke Robin for his watch, he found them curled up together on John's pallet.
(Nottingham Castle)
Gisborne knelt before Prince John, his eyes on the floor and his mind in turmoil. How had he come to this? "You, sir, do NOT love me," Prince John was saying angrily. His voice was a strangled scream of rage. "You let her go!"
"Sire, may I speak?" Guy kept his voice soft and respectful. He was already nursing bruises from where Vaizey had gotten hold of him in a rage, and he was nothing compared to the prince.
"You may not." Prince John rose and circled him, and Gisborne could hear his teeth grinding. "You do not understand, perhaps, why it's so important that you bring her back to your side, Guy." He leaned down and murmured in the knight's ear. "I trusted you to bring her in line, to teach her where her loyalties should lie. And yet you have not done so." One hand dropped to Gisborne's hair, caressing it lightly, and then suddenly tightening in it and hauling his head back until the knight's throat was bared to the knife that had appeared in his Prince's hand. "She is the one asset I possess that could bring me everything. I chose to give her to you. Have I made a mistake, Guy?" He dropped the knife and stepped back, watching Gisborne carefully as he arranged himself on the Sheriff's throne. "Explain to me why you have failed me, Gisborne."
"Yes, Sire." Guy didn't look up. He had to choose his words carefully and watching the Prince's face wouldn't help with that. He knew John desired the crown more than anything; it had made them kindred spirits, of a sort, until now. Now, Guy was beginning to learn that perhaps there was more in the world than wealth and power. Still, he had to play the part in order to stay alive. "My King," he began softly and watched from the corner of his eye as John preened in undisguised glee. Yes, that was the right note to take. "My King, she is... quite different than you described. Headstrong, willful, yes, but also quite reasonable when pressed. I did ask you asked and treated her with disregard for her needs and wishes and was stabbed for my presumption." The still healing cut on his belly twinged and he ignored it. "She returned, and I softened my approach somewhat. It changed nothing and I considered that perhaps you had been correct, and applied a firm hand. I will spare you the details but she had help to escape me then. She has fallen in with Robin Hood's lot."
That brought him a snarl of rage and a heavy blow that sent him sideways onto the floor. "And what of her last foray into Nottingham, you idiot? YOU HELPED HER ESCAPE! Tell me why and perhaps I will spare your life."
Gisborne blotted a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. "It was a way to earn her trust, as much as anything," he said simply. He rose no further than his knees, preferring not to antagonize John any more. "If she thinks she can rely on me to keep her safe if she comes here, she will come more often. And that not only puts her back within my reach, it brings Robin Hood as well."
John considered for a moment before nodding slowly. "You present a good plan, Gisborne, but you play a very dangerous game. Fail me again and you will die. Slowly, and in agony, I will see to it personally. You must bring her back, you must get an heir on her. Her lands and her gold MUST remain in our possession. They must not fall into the hands of those loyal to my brother." He drew close to Gisborne again, leaning down to murmur into his ear again. "Have you no idea why she is such an important piece to this puzzle?"
Guy didn't look up. He knew it was meant to tease him, to tempt him to forget his place. He wasn't about to do so. He valued his life too much. "None, my King," he said softly. He was beginning to have suspicions, but he'd not voice them.
John stepped back and flopped once more into the throne. "Oh, do get up, then. Come, sit. Have a drink, some food." Inwardly he was more than pleased with this man's devotion. Few would openly call him King, especially while his hated brother still lived. "And we can discuss just why my bastard sister is so important to our cause."
Gisborne nearly choked on his shock but forced the reaction down quickly. Oh, everyone knew that King Henry had left bastards all over the country, but he'd never considered this possibility. And he was married to the wench. "Why then don't you just kill her and be done with it?" he asked quietly as he settled himself across from the Prince. "The contract states that if she dies before she provides an heir, it all goes to me." He shrugged. "You are well aware of my loyalty."
"Yes, about that," John sneered. "If you were loyal, Gisborne, you would have settled this the first night, you would have broken her and this would all be unnecessary. As for killing her... it suits me far better to torment her. Now, how are you going to bring her back?"