He drew his head back to look at me properly, then shook his head, his face losing its lightness. He brought one hand up and brushed it across my cheek. I shivered.
“You are more beautiful than all the jewels in the world, Maryanne Warren. More attractive than anyone I’ve ever known and every time I look at you, I can’t catch my breath. But your beauty is by far the least desirable thing about you. You’re smart, and brave and caring, too. And I love all those things more.”
My breath caught. Rob always knew how to say the exact thing that would stop me in my tracks.
His grin returned. I guess he’d seen my blush in the moonlight. Or he just knew me well enough to know that when I looked at my feet, I was hiding my cheeks. “Now, will you let me kiss you?”
“That depends.” I needed a moment to rebalance myself.
His smile grew wider. “Does it now? On what?”
“There’s this guy, he’s a bit of an idiot at times. He told me that we needed to come to some sort of arrangement before I could kiss anyone tonight. I’m just not sure we came to that arrangement.”
“Oh, you did.” His eyes were flitting between my mouth and my eyes.
“Really? And what was it?” Actually, I was over this conversation. If he just wanted to cut to the chase and kiss me, I’d be good with that. Didn’t need an answer.
Rob leaned in a little more and I thought he was going to do exactly that, but he stopped short of my lips. “It was that you could kiss him, and only him, tonight, tomorrow night and any night of your choosing.”
I swallowed. “What if I choose never to kiss him?”
Rob’s head shake was so minute, it almost wasn’t there. “Oh, you won’t.”
His confidence made my knees weak. He put his arm around my waist, holding me up and drawing me closer, then filled the rest of the distance between us, leaning in until our lips met. My breath caught immediately, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I’d wanted this since the day I returned, had day-dreamed about it from my own time. And even when I’d been pushing all those thoughts away because I thought he had someone else, they were still there. And the kiss I’d dreamed of had never been half as good as this.
He tilted my head back, and I dragged my fingers through his hair, arching into him. This was all the things we hadn’t said since that first kiss, all the things we had yet to say. He ran his hands up my back, grasping the hair at the base of my neck. Tingles erupted along my spine, fanning out across the rest of my body.
Despite what he’d said, he’d used some sort of fragrant soap today; he smelled like lemon, and smoke from the bonfire. He smelled like Rob.
When I didn’t think I could draw another breath due to my racing heart, he pulled away. He gave me a shy smile, his breath coming in quick bursts. “I’ve wanted to do that for forever.”
“I hope it was worth the wait.” I wasn’t stupid enough to think I was the only girl he’d ever kissed. I saw how the women in the carriages looked at him. I was at the low end of experience and I didn’t want him to be disappointed.
“Are you kidding me? I’d wait that long again knowing kissing you would feel that way.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
He wrapped his fingers through mine. “We should get back. I poured whiskey out of Miller’s mug earlier. Better go check he hasn’t found any more.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Something woke me the next morning while it was still dark. I wasn’t sure what. I just knew it wasn’t a bad dream. I hadn’t had a nightmare in days. I lay still and listened, waiting to see if there was another sound that would tell me why I’d woken, but there was no noise apart from the sounds of sleep.
We’d slept at the village last night. By the time Rob and I found Miller, he was already passed out in some unsuspecting family’s home—must have found more whiskey after he’d seen Rob and me. It was too difficult to carry him back to Kings Cave, and Tuck, John and Alan wanted to stay. So, we did, sleeping on the floor of an empty home, John slipping in after he walked Josephine and Luke back to Clipstone. We would leave here at dawn so as not to cause any problems for the villagers should soldiers arrive.
I listened to the steady breathing of my friends. They might all be asleep, but I was now wide awake and desperate to relieve myself.
Pulling on my boots and wrapping my cloak around my shoulders, I crept outside. The village was deserted, muffled snores coming from every hut. It was cold out, and after I used the communal outhouse, I headed for the remains of the bonfire, the last coals still glowing in the darkness and hopefully giving off a little heat.
Last night had been amazing and I was happier than I could remember being in a long time. Certainly, since Josh’s accident. Probably since before that. I had good friends who listened to me, a place in their group, somewhere to live. And Rob. Thinking about the way he kissed me last night still sent tingles up my spine, even now, all these hours later.
It was that I focused on as I settled beside the embers of the bonfire, drawing my cloak tightly around me.
Everything had worked out. Rob was living in the forest again, and my dreams were gone. Yet, I still didn’t feel safe. We hadn’t heard a thing from Gisborne since Eliza helped him escape. He was too quiet, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was coming next.
Light slowly chased away the night. In the village behind me, the sounds of people rising wafted out on the wind, and the birds began to chirp.
Down at the bottom of the field, at the place it almost disappeared into forest, a man walked away from the village. Not just any man. Rob. Even this far away and in the low light I could tell by his cloak and the color of his hair. I stood up, ready to wave the moment he turned this way. He could come and sit with me beside the bonfire embers while we waited for everyone to wake. He turned slightly and time slowed.
The field in front of me was suddenly the field I’d seen in a hundred dreams. A thousand.
Nausea welled inside me.
This was the place.
I’d seen it so many times in my head. How was it I’d been here since last night and only just realized?
Because we’d arrived in the dark to lanterns and a bonfire. Only now the light was coming could I see it plainly.
“Rob!” I screamed his name, picked up the hem of my cloak and sprinted down the slope toward him. “Rob! Run!” The dreams might have stopped but there was no way I was sitting here waiting, watching and doing nothing, even if there was no danger coming.
My thoughts flew in every direction as I sprinted, panicking and yelling his name. The only way for him to be safe was if he didn’t stay here. He had to move. Go back to the village.
“Rob!” My scream hurt right down into my chest, but still he didn’t look up. Or even turn. Why didn’t he hear me?
I ran. Faster than I’d thought possible in boots and a heavy cloak. If I could get there first, make him move into the forest, we might be all right. Because it never happened in the forest. It always happened out here. Right at the edge of this field, with the birds singing and a river bubbling somewhere nearby.
The uneven ground stole my footing. I stumbled, landed on my knees in the damp and frosty grass. Wetness soaked through my dress. I jumped up, Rob’s name on my lips. Just like in my dream, I felt entirely helpless.
The thwang of the bowstring sounded as I screamed his name. An arrow flew from somewhere over my right shoulder. A moment later, it buried in Rob’s back. He made a surprised grunt and fell forward, just as I’d seen him do a million times before.
“Rob!” My legs moved but I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.
Horses hooves pounded into the earth behind me. I braced for the same treatment as Rob, for an arrow to pierce my body. But they passed me by. Ten. Fifteen horses. And bringing up the rear, the magnificent beast that belonged to Sir Guy of Gisborne.
They formed a semi-circle between Rob and me. Gisborne slid down from his horse, less g
raceful than I’d ever seen him.
“Gisborne!” I screamed, racing toward them. How was he well enough to ride?
Gisborne turned slowly then indicated to two of his soldiers on horseback. They nocked their arrows and pointed them at me. “I would stop, Lady Maud, if I were you.” His movements were stiff, his elbows tucked in beside his ribs. He was still hurting from Rob’s arrows.
One of the soldiers let his arrow fly. It landed a centimeter in front of my left boot. I stopped short. “Leave him alone!”
Gisborne glanced over his shoulder at me. “Sorry, but no.” He reached down and twisted the arrow in Rob’s back, pulling until it came free. Rob’s body convulsed and he contorted in pain. I screamed, too, and ran.
An arrow landed between my feet.
“Consider that your final warning, my lady.” Gisborne barely glanced my way. He ordered one of his men to pick Rob up and lay him, face down, across a horse, strapping him there with a long piece of rope.
“You can’t take him away!” My voice was shrill in the morning air, the only tool I had to keep Rob safe. He couldn’t take Rob from us. From the world. From me. I felt like I’d only just got him back.
“How is it you intend to stop me?”
I shook my head, wishing I’d killed him with that rock. Or Rob had killed him with his arrows. This morning I had no weapon, nothing to fight with. Hadn’t taken a single thing when I left the others sleeping. How had I been so stupid? I’d been so wrapped up in memories of Rob’s kiss that I hadn’t even bothered to consider the danger. I couldn’t move toward him, not without receiving an arrow through my leg. Or heart. I couldn’t do a goddamned thing. Just like in my dream.
Gisborne smirked. “Smart girl.” He climbed onto his horse. “I have some fun times planned for the two of us. Unless he dies. Then he’ll receive a shallow grave and a party.” He glanced over my shoulder, up the hill to the village. “Word has it, your father is due to return home. Because I have no way of knowing if that is true, I’m not going to take you as well. This time. But don’t worry, my lady. I’ll be back. And we’ll have all sorts of fun once I return.” He made a clicking sound and kicked his horse’s sides.
And they were gone. Back into the forest where they’d come from mere moments ago.
Behind me, footsteps pounded down the hill. Voices yelling. At me. At Rob. At Gisborne. Tuck’s the loudest of them all. I heard them. Didn’t turn. Was watching the place Gisborne’s soldiers entered the forest. The place they’d taken an injured and probably dying Rob.
I was sick. Sick of being the victim. Sick of feeling like I was shattering into a million pieces. Sick of it always happening because of an arrow. Gisborne didn’t get to threaten me, to take away people I loved, to hurt them, without ever having any recourse on him.
I no longer cared about rules, or laws, or following procedures. I didn’t care that Rob saw his mother in that man. Because next time I had the chance to kill him, he was dead.
All I wanted was to find my way back to the place I’d been last night. The place where I’d been happier than I’d ever known.
If Rob died today, I had nothing to lose. If he didn’t, I’d do everything I could to get him back.
Either way, Gisborne should be terrified.
He wasn’t coming for me.
I was coming for him.
___
To be continued in book three of the Sherwood Outlaws series:
OUTlASTED
___
THE SHERWOOD OUTLAWS SERIES
Outlawed
Outplayed
Outlasted
Outcast (prequel)
Get the Sherwood Outlaws prequel novella FREE.
Thanks for reading Outplayed.
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Acknowledgments
Outplayed was the hardest book in this series to write. Don’t ask me why—I couldn’t tell you. I just know it took a lot more effort than the other books to get it to the place it’s at now.
So, I need to thank a few people.
Melissa, thank you for editing this book. It would have been something completely different—and terrible—without you.
Kat, thanks for reading this and suggesting changes. I will always be grateful for all the time you give me when you could be writing your own books.
Mum, Dad and Kelly, thanks for being the supportive cheerleaders of my work that you always are.
Hayden, Jacob, Ashleigh and Zach—there’s just one more book in this series. Once that’s released, I promise to put aside the laptop for a while.
To everyone who read this book—thank you. It means so much to have amazing readers like you.
About the Author
Hayley Osborn lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, with her husband and three children, cat and dog.
Online, you can find her at:
www.hayleyosborn.com.
To connect with her on social media, you can find her on Facebook at HayleyOsbornAuthor, or on Twitter at @Hayley__Osborn. Or if you prefer to make contact via email, you can contact her at [email protected].
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