Bound By Honor: An Erotic Novel of Maid Marian by Colette Gale Read Free Book Online Page B

much prefer to seek my own chamber this night. ’Tis been a difficult day of travel and I am quite exhausted.” She said it in the same tone Queen Eleanor might have done: as if she expected him to care.
    “Then I am most honored that you’ve attended me,” John replied in his smooth voice. His dark eyes missed little, scanning her with interest.
    Marian bowed again, and her hair, which had loosened sometime since they’d left the hall—likely when Will had shoved his fingers into it during the kiss—sagged over one shoulder. “Then you will permit me to take my leave, my lord?”
    “Most certainly,” John replied. Will felt Marian gather herself up to thank him. Before she could speak, the prince continued. “But you must stay for a bit. I should not want you to leave my private chambers”—he emphasized those words delicately—“without having been suitably entertained.”
    The prince’s gesture directed Marian’s attention to the other side of the solar. She’d been facing John since entering the room, so Will knew it was the first time she’d looked there. Her breath caught audibly and she took a step back.
    He didn’t have to look to know what she was seeing, and he caught at her arm from behind. His fingers closed around it tightly in warning, but that was all he dared do.
    “Come, let us join them,” John said, rising from his chair.
    Will tugged Marian back from the prince’s path as he moved to the other side of the chamber. She bumped into Will, and half turned. The expression on her pale face was no more than he’d expected: a combination of loathing and horror.
    “Be glad you are my guest and not his,” he hissed into her ear, then directed her forward.
    “Mayhap you would like to join me for a game of chess, my lady?” asked John, sweeping his hand to the side. “Or would you prefer to simply watch the entertainment?”
    Will had become fairly inured to the sight of activities conducted in this chamber, but when he propelled Marian toward the cushions and chairs at the other side, he saw them from her point of view. Certainly she knew what passed between a man and a woman—she’d been married for three years, and Harold had not been an elderly man—but God help her if she didn’t.
    Yet, John’s proclivities ranged far beyond what normally occurred in a bedchamber, and the sights that Marian would experience were unblemished examples of that. Although, surprisingly, this night the whips were out of sight, and the manacles and other restraints hung empty on the far wall.
    The largest bed Will knew of stood before them, not obscured by its bed hangings or curtains—they were pulled wide, the better to view the activities within. The soft mattress currently boasted three naked women. One of them had red-tinged eyes and nose from crying, and was likely the cause of the snuffling Will had heard earlier. He recognized none of them, which confirmed the fact that they were serf women, a small blessing that meant that Marian wouldn’t—at least yet—be recognized by her peers.
    “Chess, my lady?” John asked again when Marian remained silent. “Or mayhap you’d prefer to watch Nottingham and me play. He is quite good.”
    She stood rigid and unmoving next to Will. He swore he could feel the sharp, hard pounding of her heart all the way through her body. When she looked over at the chess game, he felt her shock rise anew. The heavy wooden board rested on the back of a naked woman positioned on her hands and knees.
    Will knew how that particular game was played, and he was in no mood to participate. “Mayhap Lady Marian would simply prefer to watch anight,” he said, giving her a little push toward a pile of cushioned seats far from the chess game and the bed.
    “She does seem a bit shy,” John said easily, his eyes scoring over her yet again in a way that put Will on his guard. “I do hope you’ll relieve her of that propensity sooner rather than later.”
    Shy, but not the