Seducing the Sheriff of Nottingham, page 43
part #5 of A Kinda Fairytale Series
“And a natural blonde.” Clorinda agreed without a drop of humility. “But, fine. If you’re determined to only focus on yourself, consider this: You could have died, just now. Slashed to pieces by this weak, crybaby, social-climber.” She absently gestured towards Bagheera. “Do you really want to leave this mortal coil without bedding the large, pretty man who’s obsessed with you?”
Marion’s brows drew together, as she considered that sage advice.
“You need to seduce the Sheriff of Nottingham, Marion. As your kinda-sorta friend, I absolutely insist upon it.”
“I’m working on that, but…”
Clorinda cut her off. “Working on it?” She echoed in derision. “No. Get it done. More than anyone, you should know that wasting time is a lousy idea. Get his pants off and get him into bed. Tonight.” Clorinda turned back to her and gave a decisive nod. “You’ll thank me later.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Secrets, secrets, secrets!
Celebrity psychics spill the beans on everything Nottingham’s biggest names have been hiding!
Alan A. Dale- “Nottingham’s Naughtiest News”
Only Marion would get into a fistfight with a panther.
Nicholas shook his head in exasperation. Oore and Boulder had lugged Bagheera’s unconscious body off to the dungeon, while he went upstairs to talk to Marion. A brawl in the ladies’ room was a minor occurrence for a woman who lived and breathed creative villainy, of course. She’d been blasé about the entire event, insisting that she was unhurt and just needed to go fix her hair.
Nicholas believed that much, at least. Since their conversation about Hood, he was suddenly doubting a lot of other shit, though.
Marion had lied to him.
The thought filled him with dread and pain and fear and loss and rage, because why had she lied? For Hood? What else was she lying about? Did she still love the man?
Nicholas’ jaw clenched, pushing down the festering jealousy that had been his constant companion for fourteen years and banged a hand on her bedroom door. “Marion, it’s Nick.” He was surprised at how normal his voice sounded.
“Who else would it be?” She called back. “Come in, pudding-fish. I’m almost done.”
“You used ‘pudding-fish’ before.” He entered the room and scanned around the interior, even though he’d been there with her less than six hours before. Now, he was scrutinizing it with new eyes.
Marion was sitting in front of the vanity, re-pinning her dark hair around her May Day Queen tiara. “I used ‘pudding-fish’ before?” Her nose wrinkled. “You sure?”
“You were topless on my lap, when you said it. Believe me, I remember the moment vividly.”
That earned Nicholas a laugh. Her laugh had always been the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. “Well, do you like that name any better this time around?”
“No.” His gaze searched over the walls and furniture, not seeing anything suspicious.
Nothing seemed out of place. No evidence she was secretly plotting with the most heroic bastard in Nottingham. Of course, Marion was smart. She’d never leave anything incriminating out in the open.
“Guess what?” She said without a care in the world. “Clorinda and I have become kinda-sorta friends. She thinks I should seduce you. I told her I’m working on it.”
Nicholas gave a skeptical grunt. Seducing him would literally take one crook of her finger, even now. He went to look out her window for signs of Hood climbing up the trellis. There was nothing. Was he hiding out there in the darkness? Hoping to see a glimpse of her, like Nicholas had done, so many times in the past?
Marion watched Nicholas in the mirror, confused by his restless prowling and lack of reaction to her news. “Anything wrong?”
Just let this go. Don’t do anything to jeopardize what you have. Who cares if she still loves Hood? So what if she’s lying? At least, she’s with you. That’s enough.
No. It wasn’t enough. Nicholas wanted everything from her.
“Nick? She prompted, when he didn’t answer her.
He turned to look at her.
“Why are you acting weird?”
He leaned one shoulder against the wall and began asking questions that might destroy him. But, he didn’t have a choice. With Marion, he’d never settle for anything that wasn’t really real. “You got that crown yesterday evening.”
“And I’ve flaunted it ever since. I’m going to wear it to our wedding. I’ve already decided.” Talking about her extravagant wedding plans always delighted Marion. “We can attach the crown to my veil. It’s ninety-two yards of lace made by an extinct kind of singing worm. Super expensive. And it hums “Here Comes the Bride!” Wait until you hear.”
“Hood escaped custody and went out the skylight yesterday afternoon.”
She made a face, like that was a bizarre thing for him to mention. “What does he have to do with my humming lace? Oh! Before I forget, have you ever heard of Pecos Bill, the country singer? Because I feel like…”
Nicholas cut her off. “You said Hood was bitching about you wearing that tiara.”
Marion froze, finally putting together what he was getting at.
“How did Hood mention your tiara to you, if you got the tiara after you last saw him?” Nicholas finished anyway.
Marion squeezed her face up in the expression of someone who knows they’ve just made a dumb mistake. “Shit.” She muttered and turned from the vanity to frown at him. “Have I mentioned how annoying it is when you go all sheriff-y on me?”
Nicholas waited.
“This is not a big deal.” Marion assured him earnestly, seeing he was upset.
He arched a cynical brow.
She studied his face for a moment, her mouth thinning. “You’re standing exactly the way you were on the night I first arrived.”
Was he? He hadn’t noticed. It didn’t matter. “Have you spoken to Hood today?”
“No.”
Nicholas said nothing.
“Really?” She bounded to her feet, like he’d just escalated things into a full-blown argument with his silence. “You really want to do this, Nick?”
No, he absolutely didn’t want to do this. He wanted to toss her on the bed, and make love to her, and hear her talk about the damn extinct worms, and marry her tomorrow. Instead, he was desperately hoping for a semi-logical explanation for her lies. He’d even accept a vaguely logical explanation. Logic adjacent. Anything.
“Think very hard about what you’re about to say next.” Marion warned, jabbing a finger his way. “Because, I see you thinking things that are guaranteed to get your ass kicked, if you say them to me.”
He shook his head at the way she was turning this all around. “This isn’t my doing. This is you, Marion. I’ve done nothing wrong.” If you discounted the kidnapping that had set this all in motion, obviously.
“I’ve done nothing wrong, either!”
“So, explain how Hood knew about the tiara.”
“Why bother?” Marion scoffed. “You’ve clearly got it all figured out. I’m secretly pining for Robin…”
Nicholas felt himself flinch.
Marion was busy ranting and didn’t notice. “….so I destroyed the document that proved he was king and let you give me four orgasms in a row. It’s a fucking master-class in planning, alright.”
His body sagged with relief at the sarcasm. “You said yourself Robin likes you better since you’ve been pissing him off.” He got out, not ready to quit. “Whatever you’re doing, it seems to be working well.”
“This is all a big sadomasochism game? That’s your great theory?”
“I don’t know what’s happening!” Nicholas bellowed, his calm façade crumbling. The loud sound of his own voice added to the chaos in side of him. “I just know you lied to me!”
“I did not lie to you! I haven’t seen Robin today. The last time I saw him was with you, in the foyer.”
Nicholas tried to think. “Explain how Hood knew about the tiara.” He ordered, because he was willing to listen to any halfway plausible excuse she offered.
“I don’t have to explain anything.” She crossed her arms over her chest, defiant and on the offensive. “There’s plenty that you don’t tell me, Nicholas.”
His teeth ground together at the name. “Not about some other woman. Not about my True Love.” He emphatically shook his head. “Whatever I keep private, it’s not the same as when you lie about Hood.”
“I am so sick of talking about Robin!” She threw up her hands. “Is he really that interesting?”
“You tell me. You’re the one who bought a wedding dress and planned to marry the son of a bitch.”
Brown eyes narrowed like lasers of icy death. “Do you have something to say about my perfect tulle gown?”
Nicholas wasn’t stupid. Insulting that dress was a nonsurvivable event. “No.” He said quickly. “Of course not.”
Marion watched him, like she was trying to decide how mad she should be about this situation. He wasn’t sure why she was mad, at all. He was the one on the brink of life-ending heartbreak and eternal solitude.
Marion’s brain didn’t work like everybody else’s, though. It was sharper. Less predictable. She was fully capable of leading him down some tangential pathway, so he was distracted and she got to keep all her secrets.
He took a deep breath and tried again. “I believe you didn’t see him today.” He’d believe anything she told him. “Would you just explain how Hood knew about the damn tiara, please?”
“Oh my God, you’re asking me?” She mocked. “Instead of just barging in here and accusing me of being some undercover floozy for Sherwood?”
“I never said that. You’re making this…”
“You didn’t say anything!” She interrupted. “You stood there and looked at me like I was guilty of a crime. Do you not trust me?”
Oh, that was rich… “Shall we talk about trust, Marion? Shall we talk about how you can only count on yourself and never me?”
Her lips parted in growing outrage. “You’re the one who told me that, asshole!”
“No, I didn’t.”
“The other-you did.”
“Well, it’s not fucking true.”
“Isn’t it? The first chance you get, you’re accusing me of lying to you!”
“You did lie to me.”
Marion didn’t see it that way. “Why are you doing this?” Brown eyes met his and he saw she was on the brink of tears. “Do you really believe I’ll go back to Robin? Seriously?”
Nicholas hesitated, every doubt in his head slamming to the forefront.
Did he believe that? Hood was her True Love and now the rightful king. Anyone with a positive-digit IQ would see that he was a better groom than a socially-phobic, wickedly-inclined gargoyle. The last few days had given Nicholas just what he always wanted, but they were an aberration. Marion’s journey through time had altered her perspective, but it could all change back again, just as fast.
Did he honestly --deep in his heart and soul-- believe that Marion would choose him over Robin Hood forever-after?
Marion’s mouth tightened when he didn’t come up with an answer fast enough. “Fine.” She bit off. “I’ll show you the solution to your big mystery.” She headed over to the trash can and began rooting around in the discarded papers. “Ridiculous man.”
Nicholas watched her, his brows compressing. “What are you…?”
“Robin left this one for me, this morning.” She came marching back to him, holding two carelessly crumbled pieces of paper. “There was another one on Monday, too, filled with rants about how I’m mistreating him. I already got rid of it.” She shoved the larger of the pages into his hand. “Here.”
Nicholas blinked, his eyes automatically scanning the note. It was nothing but bullshit excuses for not rescuing Marion, and promises to marry her soon, and bitching about the tiara. He didn’t even need the signature to know it was from Hood. This was… it? This was the whole answer to his question?
Oh, thank God.
The relief that went through him drained the strength from his body. He had to sit down on the edge of the bed, overwhelmed with gratitude that Marion wasn’t plotting to leave him.
“This note,” she passed him the smaller piece of paper, “was attached to the arrow shot at my head. Different handwriting. You see? Robin didn’t try to kill me with the puppets. Just like I said. He’s a moron, but he doesn’t want me dead.”
Nicholas’ gaze flicked from one page to the other. She was right. The Wraith must have targeted her without Hood. He wasn’t sure what that meant exactly.
“I didn’t mention Robin left me notes, because I knew you’d make them a big damn deal and they’re not.” Marion continued. “I just tossed them away and got on with my life.”
She’d ignored Hood’s pleads to return to him. Nicholas had the evidence of that right in front of him. In the letter, Hood was begging to make her his literal queen. Instead, Marion still proudly wore the plastic tiara Nicholas had placed on her head. It was crystal clear and fully rational.
He felt like he’d just been saved from the darkest pit in Nottingham and dragged back into the sunlight.
Marion wasn’t done. “I had no idea you were going to make it this big a deal, though.” She took a step back from him. “I had no idea you were still so unsure about me.”
That made him frown. “I’m sure about you.” His love for her was the bedrock of his life.
“Apparently not! You think I might run off with another man, meanwhile our wedding is tomorrow morning.”
Marion was hurt and furious, with him and he couldn’t stand it. The words of that damn dragon came back to him: “Robin Hood can’t change her mind about you. Only you can.” Trevelyan was right. Nicholas needed to fix this.
He tried to think of something to say, but nothing brilliant came to mind. “I’m not unsure about our relationship.” He tried, hunting for words. “I’m unsure of your relationship with Hood.”
“Because you don’t trust me.” She began pacing around in agitation.
“It’s not distrust. I worry you’ll change your mind and things will go back to normal. It’s… I can’t go back to you with him…” Nicholas waved a hand towards Sherwood, trying to articulate his jealousy. “For so long, I’ve watched you with him smiling up at him and loving him and being his girl.”
“That was years ago, Nick.”
“It was days ago, for me. Time has passed for you that hasn’t passed for me, yet. It’s hard for me to go from kidnapping you on Saturday to marrying you on Wednesday, without some questions about why.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “You want to postpone the wedding?”
“No.” The answer was emphatic. “So long as you show up at the church, we’re getting married. I just have trouble keeping up, sometimes. …And I don’t like you lying to me about Hood.”
“I didn’t lie.” She sniffed, choosing a hill to die on. “I just didn’t tell you everything.”
Nicholas wasn’t going to let that go unchallenged. “So, you’d accept that, if I tried it as an excuse?” He stood up, again. ”You’d be okay with me not ‘telling you everything,’ if my ex was lurking around and I was lying about her?”
“What ex?” She demanded hotly. “You have an ex? Who is she?”
“No, you’re missing the point.”
Marion was too enraged to listen. “If I find out some other woman is after you, there will be blood in the streets…”
“There is no other woman!” He interrupted. “But, if there was, you’d be just as troubled about her, as I am about Hood.” At least, he hoped so. The frantic rush of emotions made it hard to think logically. “Hell, you had that dragon put a tracker on me!”
“That’s to protect you. So, I can find you, if you’re in trouble.” She defended righteously. “Saying ‘strategic wildflower supplies’ isn’t always going to be enough of a failsafe. You’ll thank me when you survive to see the weekend.”
The woman was unbelievable sometimes. “So, you can protect me, but you panic when I say I’ll take care of you?”
“I don’t panic!”
“Bullshit.” And since they were having this discussion… “And what the hell do you mean you trust Hood?”
“What? What are you even talking about now?”
“Downstairs, you said you trusted Hood not to kill you with puppets.”
“Because he didn’t try to kill me with puppets! I just proved that to you! Jesus! I obviously wouldn’t trust Robin with anything important.”
“Only your literal life, it seems.”
She shot him a glower. “It’s like you invent problems.”
“You should trust me and never him.” Nicholas thought that was extremely reasonable.
Marion didn’t. Her temper went incandescent. “Until you’re standing at the altar, realizing that no one is coming to rescue you, you don’t get to judge me for my lack of blind faith in anyone!”
“I would come to rescue you. You should have faith in that.”
“You’re the one who kidnapped me in the first place! Then you died and left me all alone!” Marion grabbed a lamp from the nightstand and threw it at him. Well, in his general direction. If Marion had wanted to hit him, he’d be picking lamp pieces out of his hair. Instead, it shattered against the wall about four feet from him.
The breaking porcelain seemed to startle her. Marion’s whole body jolt, as she blinked at the destruction in shock. For a brief moment, she was seeing something else. Some other time. Her defenses slipped, her anger fading.
Nicholas saw his opportunity and seized it.
“I would never leave you willingly. The other-me didn’t either.” He said quietly, trying to articulate what he was certain the former-him felt. “I promise you, I wanted to stay. Leaving you was the hardest part of death.”
Wet eyes met his.
“I fuck-up a lot, yes. Like I did just now and I’m sorry. I am. I’m not great with words or emotions.” Nicholas ran a hand through his hair. “But, I’m trying. I want you badly enough to risk everything, Marion. I’ve bet my heart and soul on you. So, I’m all in.”
