“What is this?” he asked, but she knew he wasn’t really asking her what they were doing. Instead his question seemed to imply, how it could be happening.
Lashes fluttering upon the tops of her cheekbones, she shook her head. “I wish I knew.”
A hastily clearing throat broke them apart guilty. Feeling the burn of cheeks flooding with blood, Nixie took a giant step back. Scratching her bicep, which wasn’t in the slightest bit itchy.
“And ‘ere ye go, princess.” The vendor’s throaty voice was a grating burr in Nix’s ear.
Giving the woman a weak smile, she made to reach for the full to bursting potato sack, but Robin got to it first.
Taking the bundle, he handed the woman five very large, flattened pieces of gold and silver.
The merchant’s eyes nearly bugged out of her hand when she snatched them up, taking a quick moment to smack a loud kiss to one of them before burying the whole lot down her boobs.
“Thank you, Prince. A thousand times, thank you!” Her enthusiastic chirping snagged the attention of some of the nearest vendors, who turned eagle eyes on them, including a pair of knights dressed in white and red regalia.
Nix had no idea what the costumes were called, although here they weren’t really costumes. But they looked straight out of Medieval Times, with their knee-length slips and buff-colored tights.
She should be much more terrified than she currently felt, considering these men were part of Crispin’s guard and she was presently rubbing shoulders with a man who was wanted more dead than alive. But it was really hard to take anybody seriously when they looked like they belonged in Monty Python’s quest for the Holy Grail.
Giving a courtly wave, Robin latched on to Nix’s arm and murmured hotly in her ear, “Time to go.”
Chapter 11
“Look away,” she said, tapping her sandaled foot.
Robin chuckled. “You told me, back in the forest, that Marian was mine. By your own admission, you are now Marian. If that is the case, then surely I’ve the right.”
She sighed, causing the black ringlets draping over her shoulders to bob most enticingly upon her breasts. Robin was no saint, he’d bedded wenches aplenty in his life, but none had held him enthralled in the way this dark sorceress did. With just one look, one smile, she’d ensnared him like a beast caught in a trap.
They hardly knew one another, but she was becoming a constant source of distraction for him.
To be sure, Robin’s focus hadn’t shifted in the slightest from doing everything in his power to ruin his brother, but now there was a second desire preoccupying his thoughts.
How to make her his.
The way her bronze skin gleamed like molten metal in the sunlight, it made his pulse race to an almost violent pitch. Made his lust and needs rise within him.
How she’d felt in his arms, the taste of her skin… He blew out a heady breath, willing the blood pooling between his thighs to settle down.
“I should never have told you that about Marian. And I never said I was yours.”
Feeling emboldened by the sudden spark of fire in her cheeks, he took a step toward her and brushed his knuckle down her cheek.
“So damn bloody soft,” he murmured.
Her burgundy hued lips parted with a soft puh sound and his gut clenched, his lips twitched.
He wanted to kiss her. Wanted to hold her again. Touch her again. Robin took a step back, the cool breeze feeling suddenly oppressive and hot. Licking his front teeth, he stared at the rolling green hills spread out before them.
“I’ll stand guard. Go, pet, change into your clothes. We’ll be there soon.”
She turned, walking back into a thick grove of trees.
Closing his eyes, Robin listened intently to every rustle she made. The swishing of grass blades underfoot. The slide of fabric as she slid it up those supple thighs he’d had his hands all over yesterday.
He swallowed hard, adjusting the front of his pants.
“Well?” she asked, her husky voice coming from just behind him.
Twirling, his eyes slid up and down her body. The dress covered her up completely. As was the style in his realm. But the hunter-green fabric made her chocolate-brown eyes gleam and already her rich inky hair looked even more lustrous. And though he couldn’t see half the amount of skin he’d been able to before, the dress clung to her body in a way the genie garb had not.
Each line and curve of her body was on full display to his ravenous gaze.
“Where are your other clothes?” he asked with a voice grown hoarse.
She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “Hidden in the trees. I wasn’t sure it would be wise to bring them along, just in case anyone stumbled across them. It would make my true identity totally obvious.”
“Probably right.” He stared at the lump in his shirt where he’d hidden her lamp.