Page 82 of Robin and Marian
“You don’t say.”
He didn’t seem to catch Robin’s sarcasm—but that was usually purposeful. “On the front page next to yours. See? Who knew he was so beloved?”
Marian dragged the paper closer to her, almost too angry to see the words:Guy King is the man his grandfather, Richard King, has always been. The founder of Ziannd Empires has speculated that Guy will be named next CEO of King Enterprises…”
Robin snatched the paper from her and threw it into the fire. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Tuck said. He picked up his bike and faced it the opposite direction.
“Where are you going?” Robin shouted at his back.
“I’ve got to go drum up business. You ruined my advertising. The Mayfair is a ghost town this morning.” So Guy had won? Marian couldn’t believe how gullible everyone was. Robin leaned his head back, staring up at the canopy of branches woven above them. “Oh, by the way, you made me lose a bet,” Tuck said over his shoulder. “The sheriff’s coming to arrest you.”
Robin shot to his feet as Tuck cycled out of sight.
“You should’ve just gone with Jana,” Alan was saying behind them. “If Guy wants you, he’ll get you.”
What was he talking about? His words sent a chill down Marian’s spine. Robin gave him a scathing look. “How long have you been living like this? I don’t get why you never came to me.”
Alan laughed mockingly in return. “Don’t take it personally, but I don’t trust you.”
“You?Don’t trustme?” Robin went to his hammock and began packing everything up. “Scarlett?” he called. “You’re coming with me.”
“What?” His sister took an uneasy step towards him. “Why?”
Marian didn’t care anymore. She knew something was off and she was leaving too. She went into her lodge and pulled out a bag to throw her clothes in.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Alan yelled at his wife. “You can’t run!” Shrill desperation curdled his voice.
Robin’s own rose in response. “Don’t you talk to her like that!”
“You’re both scaring me.” Scarlett’s eyes darted from one to the other. “We’ll just talk to the sheriff. We don’t have to make a big deal out of this.”
Marian was scared too. Throwing as much as she could in one bag, she hauled it out to the front steps where she saw Robin pleading with his sister. “Scarlett? We need to go now. Where’s Midge?”
Alan watched Robin darkly, looking from him to his wife. His shoulders were bent and he looked sweaty and uncomfortable… and angry, but he’d gone silent, like he was afraid… of what? She didn’t know. Scarlett turned to her husband. “I think we’d better go.”
“No.” Robin drew himself up. “Nothim.”
All Marian’s worst suspicions since the moment she’d seen Alan with Jana were confirmed. But did it also mean that he was guilty of everything else too? Alan’s attention shifted to where the sheriff came striding up the pathway. He wasn’t alone. He’d brought a posse of three men. Guy was with them too. He wore a long white jacket that swung around his legs, and as he neared, she saw his purpling eye was swollen shut. Her heart sank even further.
“I told you,” Alan said. “You’re not going anywhere.” He seemed resigned to it.
Robin’s hand balled into a fist and he turned his back on the approaching officers to face Alan. “How long have you been working with him? Long before this, huh? Huh! That was you who tipped him off that night we were paying off those loans. That’s why he sent the sheriff out early to evict those people. You were trying to stop us.”
“Why would I do that? I signed over my Engler F.F., you idiot!”
“That was Scarlett’s—it had nothing to do with you,” Robin hissed. Alan’s blue eyes turned stormy, but Robin wasn’t through with him. “I don’t care how attached to it you were. That’s the breaks of living a double life. You lose everything.”
“I’m not the only one!” Alan breathed in deeply, talking low and fast before the sheriff could get to Robin. “Don’t say anything else… it’s the only way to keepherout of what Guy’s doing. You might not understand it, but I’m on your side.”
Marian’s eyes narrowed on him as she tried to piece it all together. Somehow Guy was using Scarlett against Robin like he had before. And Alan knew way too much about it.
“Robin!” The sheriff called out.
Robin’s back was to him and his shoulders tensed. They all knew what was coming. “Scarlett,” Robin said softly. “I need you to stay with Marian.”
“No need for that,” Guy said, his accent especially thick and syrupy as he moved between them. “So dramatic. You can all stay with me. Marian—” he gave her an assessing grin, which came off threatening with his swollen eye. Marian’s hand shot self-consciously to her neckline. “You look… charming,” Guy drawled. “Is this a new dress?”
Robin’s jaw tightened.
