Page 87 of Robin and Marian
“I guess you could,” Tuck mused.
Little John fixed him with a glare. “That’s crazy—you’re crazy!” He was just gettingthat?
Tuck’s face fell as he stared at the screen on his cell. “Ugh, my phone just went dead.”
“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” Little John shouted. He turned his wrath on Robin. “You know what’s happening while you’re in here? Lionel and Natalie are drawing up papers to sell off their property to Guy. The negative coverage got to them. They’ll sell to Jana because she isn’t new money. The twins aren’t far behind them. They’re defeated.”
“Old Man Pete would never sell!” Tuck defended his greatest friend in the town, but it was a given anyway—the old guy thought he was in a war zone.
“What about Elinor?” Robin asked.
“She hasn’t said anything yet. But Nottingham will fold if you just quit. We can’t let Guy win again.”
Robin pointed to the tether on his leg. “What do you suggest I do?”
“Fight! Rob, I know you. You’ve never been beaten.”
He didn’t know what he was asking. Robin felt his patience snapping. “Do you care about Scarlett at all?” he asked. “If either of us makes a move to stop Guy, he releases information that will frame her for what Guy did to Nottingham four years ago. It doesn’t matter if I already did the time for it. She’ll go to prison… like I did. Okay?” Little John straightened, his mouth working, but nothing coming out. The truth sucked him dry of arguments. “So now you see?” Robin said, finding no pleasure in it.
“No, no,” Little John wasn’t ready to give up. “We just have to make Richard see that Scarlett is the only one who can inherit his business. I’m telling you… we figure out how to bring the crowds back to Mayfair and give her the credit for it.”
“I’m afraid that if that happens… she’ll get hurt,” Robin said. “Guy would make it look like an accident.”
“So, we kill him?” Tuck asked.
Little John let out a roar of frustration. Whether they tried to get help or defeat Guy on their own, Scarlett would go down. The only way to get through this unscathed was to accept defeat… or resort to murder and they’d all go to prison. Little John knew they were finished, but he wasn’t going to say it, and so, casting Robin a scathing look, he plunged blindly out of the room. He didn’t bother going through the window.
Robin’s gaze alighted on Tuck, who hadn’t moved. His jittery friend jerked to attention. “Oh, is that my cue?” Tuck asked. “Am I supposed to storm out too?”
“No,” Robin began, but Tuck obliged him anyway.
Marian’s hands landed against Guy’s chest and she struggled against his kisses. It didn’t seem to affect his ardor—just his aim—but she couldn’t play this game anymore. “No!” she gasped. “I can’t do this.”
He lifted his head from hers, looking hurt and angry. He squeezed her arm in a vise grip, holding her as much a prisoner as he did Robin, and shook her. “You want to help your boyfriend?” he asked, as though this was just a bothersome interruption, “And his little sister too? I willburyScarlett if you don’t watch yourself.”
He pulled out what looked like a credit card from the pocket of his coat. “Is this what you came for? The key to the safe?” She had no idea what she’d been after, but yeah, she wanted that cardnow. “You’ll see that I never part with it anymore, especially after you pulled that little stunt with those jewels thatIgave you. That wasn’t very nice.” He slipped it back into his vest and pulled her closer to him again so that it rested between them. “But if you work with me, I’ll destroy it. How about that?” He nodded as if the matter had been settled and his eyes darkened on hers.
Out of the corner of her eye, Marian noticed a movement in the bushes. It was Midge. He held a toy sword in his hand and shook it menacingly. Grunting, she waved her hand behind Guy’s back to stop the boy from doing anything stupid.
Guy stared down at her and she quickly shifted her attention to him. “Why are youhisMay queen, when you were always meant to be mine?” His accent was thick with emotion. “I watched you at the maypole with those flowers in your dusky hair.” He stroked her cheek. “So beautiful. You don’t have a partner tonight. I suppose I’ll do it. Someone has to carry on the tradition as the Green Man. How about that?” he murmured softly, almost to himself. “It’ll be such a beautiful scene with us floating down the lake, all alone.”
Well, he certainly didn’t need her to confirm this dreamy scene that he’d already composed in his mind. Now Marian was absolutely certain Guy was insane. She tried to divert him. “You don’t even like the Mayfair!”
He sighed. “Yes… but Richard is obsessed with it. I still need to convince him that I’m the one to inherit. At least until he’s signed it all over to me. And so we play our parts. Me, the dutiful grandson, and you my beautiful and intrepid employee—you cover the story like you were meant to do.” At that, he squeezed her extra tight. “Convince your aunt to work with me, and…” He reached out and pushed a tendril of her hair behind her ear, “—be my May Queen. I’ll play the fool who dreams that our act might turn into something more.”
So he wasn’t entirely out of his mind. She couldn’t figure out how much he was toying with her with this mad talk. “How can I be sure that you will destroy that keycard?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me.”
That wasn’t good enough. She still knew the keycard was between them. If only she’d been a pickpocket. Sure, she happened to know one, but she doubted he’d ever be in as close proximity to the key as she was. Still, she couldn’t bear to stay there a moment longer and so she planted both her hands against Guy’s chest and shoved him away. She noticed that Midge backed into the trees when she did so. The kid really was going to clobber his unruly nephew with that wooden sword.
Guy watched her with all the adoration of a lovesick teenager. “I will leave the King family alone,especially Robin, if you do as I say.”
Through the leaves of the bushes ahead, she glimpsed Tuck and Little John heading through the garden to where she was. That meant wrapping this up. It was all about getting that key now, and she got the glimmer of an idea. “If you’re to play the Green Man,” she said, “you’re going to have to dress the part. It always made me angry that Robin never could get the costume right.”
His expressive mouth split into a grin. She only hoped that meant he wasn’t on to her.
Robin would’ve gone back to throwing the racquetball against the wall, but the sound of Little John’s words pounded through his head instead.“Fight! Rob, I know you. You’ve never been beaten.”
