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“Good to see you too,” he murmured.
If I hadn’t been so busy holding him, I might have laughed out loud. King Richard could have shown up at my door, and I wouldn’t have been as relieved.
I took a deep breath, calming myself. Or maybe that was Tuck doing the calming. Because, wow. His arms were corded with muscle, his chest a hard plate of armor. But his voice, like his touch, was gentle.
“Everything all right?”
I straightened my dress awkwardly as he put the spare key back in its spot. “Yes. No. Possibly…”
He cocked his head, waiting the way Snow did. Patiently. Loyally. As if my wish was his command and he was ready to jump into action.
I motioned to the main door. “What do you think of Father Benedict?”
He frowned. “He’s strict. No sense of humor. Prays a lot. Like everyone else here, I suppose.”
I snorted. “Well, he’s the first to lock me up in here.”
Tuck’s eyes went wide. “What?”
I told him about the whole blink and you’ll miss it encounter.
“He took both keys — front and rear doors. Now I’m really locked in.”
Tuck’s eyes went dangerously dark, and when he muttered Benedict’s name, the stubble on his chin thickened — his lion side prowling toward the surface.
“Why would he do that?”
I pursed my lips. So far, I’d been careful not to tell Tuck much. But it was time to come clean — at least, with a few basics. My deepest family secrets, I would never reveal.
“Because there’s a price on my head.”
He blinked. “Like Robin Hood?”
I laughed. “Nothing that exciting, unfortunately. Prince John is after me, but for entirely different reasons.”
“Reasons like…?”
I made a face. “I’m Marian, only daughter of Lord Newton, loyal follower of King Richard.”
“So, Prince John wants to eliminate a potential enemy,” Tuck surmised.
I laughed. Ah, to be a man and think only of such trivial matters.
“He wants more. He wants me.”
Tuck stared a moment, then clenched and unclenched his fists.
“He wants…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but he did glance at the bed.
The reminder sickened me, but it was nice to see Tuck outraged. Most folks just shrugged and counseled me to accept my fate. As a woman, I was merely an asset to be traded or discarded. Enlightened men like my father were a minority, and I feared it would take decades for our backward society to change.
But, hell. I planned to do my best to speed things forward.
“Prince John has asked for — no, demanded — my hand in marriage. I have until the feast of Saint Matthias to marry him.”
Tuck scratched his jaw. “Saint Matthias, patron saint of carpenters, tailors, and smallpox victims?” Then he blinked in surprise. “Wow. I’ve actually learned something here.”
“What else about Saint Matthias?” I prompted.
