Read Online Everything I Do: a Robin Hood romance (Rosa Fitzwalter Book 1) by M.C. Frank - Free Book Online

feelings for her? If not, how else could she explain his covering her absence so that she could go on an excursion to the Sherwood Forest? Especially since he had made known his thoughts toward Robin Hood with so much vehemence last night. In fact, she had asked him just that. Instead of a response he had looked straight into her eyes, his own light blue ones poring into hers with so much intensity in them that it had silenced her.
    “Might I ask you a question too, fair lady?” he had said after a moment. “Why do you not leap to your noble hero’s defense when I so often abuse him? I confess, a few times I thought to provoke you. But you seem hardly to notice it. That isn’t the case, however, is it?”
    “Well… the truth is, Sir Hugh, I hardly think it worth the trouble.” She had said it calmly and smilingly, as if it hardly upset her at all.
    “I see.”
    “You are so obviously the very opposite, by character and birth… And your loyalties certainly do not lie with the true king-”
    He had interrupted her angrily at this.
    “True king be damned! He has abandoned this country to God’s mercy, running away like a coward to have his fun in the East. I tell you, this outlaw of yours, who you think is so devoted to the true king, along with those ragtag half-wits that follow him, they are all hypocrites. Do you really think for one moment that he has accumulated all this wealth merely to distribute it? Talk about gullibility!” he had caught a glimpse of her outraged look and checked himself. “Look, I know you believe my actions and plans with the Sheriff to be… traitorous at best. But have you stopped to consider, this country is bereft of a king, true or otherwise. We are merely seeking to remedy this.”
    Rosa had narrowed her eyes at him.
    “Do you want me to be so naïve as to think that the good of this land is the only thing you plot about? Please, do not ask me to believe this of my father, however well you may seek to present your suit to me.” Disgusted, she had made to leave, but he sprang to his feet and lightly touched her arm to stay her, his eyes beseeching her understanding.
    “I do not pretend ignorance of the Sheriff’s own plans. But I really thought you would be generous enough to separate me from such ulterior motives. I beg you to understand, I beg you… Are you indeed blind to the situation king Richard has abandoned England to?”
    Rosa had studied him for a while, trying to see him in the light his surprising statements implied. It was rather obvious that he was trying to separate himself from her father’s base and selfish motives, but with what motive? She was reluctant to trust his misplaced goodwill for her country.
    “In truth, Sir Hugh, I may not agree with the king’s present choice, namely, to be so long absent from his subordinates. However, he is the rightful and only king of this land. That alone is enough for him to earn my lifelong loyalty and devotion,” she had replied, choosing her words carefully, but speaking them with firmness and conviction.
    “Well, I cannot fail to admire that,” he had said and suddenly took her hand and brought it to his lips. He had kissed it long and passionately, his eyes tightly shut, and then slowly released her.
    Afterwards, however, he had told her she was free to go visit the forest if she liked and that he would say that she was with him the entire time, implying they were engaged in secret and intimate rendezvous, which wouldn’t be hard for everyone to believe. Her eyes had grown round with surprise at this, and to her obvious question, he had answered, with his customary sad half-smile:
    “I wish, more for your own safety than for anything else, that you wouldn’t go there ever again. However, I seem to have a great weakness for your happiness. And it seems to me that this is the only thing that would make you so. I can’t… I can’t bear the look of unhappiness in your lovely eyes. Now go, if you must, go before