Father stood off to the side, arms folded and foot tapping in exaggerated impatience as he waited for the men to finish fussing over Baron.
Finally, the hubbub subsided, and Father approached. I had no idea what to expect. Was Father going to pull out his longbow and shoot Baron for kissing me? Would he give him a firm talking to in front of everyone? Punch him?
Father stared hard at Baron. Though Baron was significantly larger than Father, he looked nervous. “It seems that you’re interested in my daughter,” Father said.
“Yes, sir.”
“You may get to be his real father figure sooner than you thought, Robin!” One of the men called out.
“You had her chained to you for months,” Father continued.
Baron swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”
Father cracked his knuckles. “Did you make her do any of that when she was chained to you?”
“No!” I interjected hastily. It would be too much bother to explain that it was because of the only other time we’d kissed that the chains were taken away. And that I’d been the instigator in that circumstance.
But Baron was too honest to lie. “Well, actually, yes, but just once.” Then he hastily added, “And I didn’t force her!” He briefly told the story, with Father stopping him several times to clarify details until he was sure that nothing more than what we said had happened.
I glanced behind us and saw that all the men were seated on the floor in a cluster, an eager audience, watching the dialogue bounce back and forth between Baron and Father as if they were at a badminton tournament.
Father swiveled to look at me. “So,youstarted it the first time?”
Feeling defiant, I boldly squared my shoulders. “Yes. Yes, I did.”
“Like you did with the pimply kid when I first found you?”
“Ah, no. I mean yes, but no.” I fidgeted nervously and avoided looking at Baron. Suddenly, I felt that briefly kissing Sneeds in order to escape had somehow been unfaithful on my part. My palms felt sweaty and I felt distinctly hot under the collar. I inhaled deeply. “Yes, I started it both of those times, but I was just distracting Sneeds. I didn’t actuallywantto kiss him. I had, um, different reasons with Baron.”
I could have fried an egg on Baron’s face.
Dale had unearthed a large bowl of grapes from somewhere, and the men were passing the bowl back and forth amongst themselves, popping the fruit into their mouths as they watched the scene play out before them with rapt attention. Jamesleaned over to whisper something to Will Scarlet, and they both sniggered, holding their hands up to their mouths.
“Oh, I think we all know the reason!” piped up Will Stutely. “It wasprettyobvious!” I could have died of embarrassment on the spot.
I wanted to shoo all of the men away, but with this dramatic of a spectacle happening right in front of their eyes, I knew they would stoutly refuse if I tried. Instead, I frowned and shook my head at the men. Honestly. Sometimes they acted so immature, but they were not in the least bit abashed. Will Scarlet wiggled his eyebrows and gave me another enthusiastic thumbs-up before he popped another grape into his mouth and turned his attention back to the exchange.
I cleared my throat. “I think we all know the reason. Everyone saw,didn’t they?” I’d meant the last part to be a hint for them to be ashamed of spying on us, but there was no shame to be found in any of the keen onlookers.
“Shelooooooveshim!” snickered one of the men behind me, followed by an outbreak of giggling. I held my head high in dignified silence.
“Humor me,” Father said, staring me down. I couldn’t tell if he was playing dumb, messing with me, or actually leading an interrogation. A pox upon Dale for giving Father acting lessons!
“What do you want me to say?” I demanded. “Baron’s certainly better-looking than any of the rest of you slobs, and when I’m with him I—I mean, he’s…well… Well, I justwantedto kiss him, okay? And I’mnotsorry I did.”
Our audience gave an “Ooooooooh” in perfect unison. I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t a crime for me to be attracted to someone, regardless of what this self-appointed jury thought. They didn’t have to make such a big deal out of it.
“I see,” said Father slowly. Baron’s ears were steadily turning a deep purple color underneath his tan. I was sure that my facewas even more flushed than his and was surprised that I hadn’t already burst into flames.
“And Laurel, you said that this Baron tracked you down and bested you in combat three times?” Father asked.
I squirmed uncomfortably. I hated admitting I had lost. Baron stepped in and said that he didn’t feel like the first time should count since my legs had been completely numb from crouching all night in a tree, and he described what had happened. I expected Father to dismiss this detail and was therefore unsurprised when he waved away the comment.
“You caught her unprepared. You bested her. Circumstances don’t matter. Tell me what happened the most recent time.”
Father was flexing his fingers and tapping his foot very rapidly as Baron told his story. It looked like he was just itching to place his hands around Baron’s neck and begin squeezing the life out of him. I was apprehensive; I hadn’t seen Father agitated like this before.
“Well, you two leave me no other choice,” Father said in an angry tone, arms crossed tightly across his chest. “I have no other option than to”—he drew a deep, dramatic breath—“formally extend an offer to Baron to join our band of Merry Men.” He paused again for dramatic effect, then broke out into a wide smile. “Congratulations, young man.”
