Bluebeard and the Outlaw by Tara Grayce

Chapter 2

Yes, I know. It was a foolhardy plan to tie myself to a man known for killing his wives.

Oh, but it was a tempting, daredevil of a plan. And I wanted it with everything in me. A man might steal into a castle at night, dodging guards and making off with what he could carry. That was the stuff of legends, after all.

But I was a woman, for all I wore the disguise of a man. I could steal everything the duke owned in broad daylight by merely saying the two little words, “I do.”

* * *

At my announcement, John dropped his bowl. Will’s brow furrowed under the force of his glower. Marion started coughing on a bite of stew. Munch gaped while Alan just about fell off his log seat.

Tuck waved his ladle. “You can’t be serious.”

“Very serious.” I gestured around our little hideout. “We can keep doing what we’re doing, but it’s never going to end. We steal the tax money and give it back to the people, only to have the sheriff take back that same money the next day. But if I marry the duke, I will have access to all his riches. We can rob him blind.”

“Assuming he doesn’t kill you on your wedding night.” John scowled.

“Even better if he tries. Then I can be his widow and legally inherit everything. His riches, that fancy castle, all of it.” I couldn’t help but smirk at the thought. A long time ago, some duke more humane than the one ruling now had ensured that his particular dukedom could pass to daughters and even widows, even if it still was inherited by sons first of all. “If we pull this off, we’ll finally be able to save the village from poverty and never have to steal again.”

“You’d still have to marry the duke.” Will scowled and glared. Only a year younger than me, Will had always been my right-hand brother. “It isn’t safe. You could be hurt.”

“As if dropping from trees, robbing tax wagons, and attacking royal guards is safe. I could just as easily be killed that way.” I rolled my eyes. Safe wasn’t something any of us had been in a long time. Not since our parents had been murdered in this very forest.

Alan shrugged and flourished a hand at me. “Give it up, Will. Have we ever talked Robin out of a plan when she sets her mind on something?”

“No, but…but this is…” Will huffed out a breath and jabbed a finger in my direction. “You can’t seriously agree with the whole idea of her marrying the duke. He could hurt her.”

A tense silence settled over the clearing. The rest of my brothers glanced from me to Will and back.

Then Alan broke into chuckles, hunching over to rest his hands on his knees from the force of his laughter.

Tuck joined him next, followed by John. Marion and Munch gaped as if they had all lost their acorns.

“You’re worried for Robin?” Alan could barely pant the words between his laughter. “You realize what she’ll do to the duke if he tries to lay a finger on her?”

Will’s shoulders relaxed, and his mouth quirked into a smile at one corner. “Duke Guy doesn’t stand a chance, does he?”

“Nope.” I grinned and rested a hand on my quiver. What a lark this would be! I could beard the duke in his den, and he would never suspect a thing. I jumped down from the log and took my seat once again. “Listen up. Here’s how we pull this off.”

Tuck left the stewpot and his ladle to join the circle around the fire. The others set aside half-finished bowls of stew and leaned closer.

“First of all, we’ll have to convince him I’m a traveling noblewoman.” I rested my elbows on my knees. “Marion, do we still have that trunk of fancy dresses we took off that baroness a while back?”

Marion nodded and jabbed a finger toward the west. “It is still stashed in our storage cave deeper in the Greenwood. The dresses proved to be a hard sell here in the village.”

“Good. I’ll need several of them lengthened.” I tapped my chin as I thought through all the facets of my disguise. “Alan, you’ll pose as my elderly father. I’ll be your youngest daughter whom you are desperate to marry off.”

Still sitting, Alan hunched over and mimed leaning on a cane. “So dreadful to have an unmarried daughter of twenty-four still living under my roof. But she is such a comfort in my old age, you see. I would hate to part with her.”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Twenty-four?”

He gave a theatrical shrug. “You can pass for it, and you’ll sound more marriageable to the duke if we claim you are twenty-four instead of twenty-nine.”

He had a point, and I wasn’t offended. Twenty-four was old enough that an elderly noble father would be worried about having a spinster daughter still at home, but young enough to be appealing to a nobleman still in need of an heir. More appealing than my real age of twenty-nine, anyways. Yet, it was not so young that the duke, being in his low thirties, would think me too young for him.

Not that a man set on killing his wives likely cared. Perhaps he liked them young before he murdered them.

“Very well. Will and Munch, you’ll come along as our guards.” I waited until they nodded before I turned to the rest of my brothers. “John, you’re too distinctive, and I would rather have you out here in case the duke does realize we aren’t who we say we are. Tuck, you’ll stay with him.”

“What about me?” Marion all but bounced on his log seat.

I leaned even farther forward, lowering my voice. “I have a very special job for you, but you aren’t going to like it.”

“What is it? Why won’t I like it?” Marion’s mouth twisted between eagerness and suspicion.

He had good right to be suspicious, but I doubted he would realize what I had in store for him. “You’re going to have to wear a dress.”

“What?!” Marion reared back so fast he nearly tumbled from his log.

“I’m posing as a noble lady, and no lady travels without a maid, even if she is in the company of her father.” I pressed my mouth into a line, trying to hide my smirk. “As you are the only one without so much as peach fuzz yet, it has to be you.”

Even though Munch was a year younger than Marion, he already had more of a shadow of facial hair than Marion did. Something that Munch loved to rub in at every opportunity.

“But…but…” Marion glanced around at the others. Of course, they were all grinning with the sheer delight of this development. After a moment, Marion sighed and slumped. “Fine. I’ll be the maid. But I won’t like it.”

I gave him a solemn nod, still working to hide the chuckles building in my chest. “Your protest has been noted.”

Munch punched Marion’s shoulder. “Maid Marion.”

“Leave off.” Marion punched him right back, harder.

“Don’t tease him, Munch.” I waggled my finger at him. “You don’t have much for bristles yet either. I could still change my mind and make you the maid instead.”

That snapped Munch’s mouth shut in a hurry.

Will cleared his throat. “How will we explain our lack of horses or finery? Do you propose we steal everything we need to pull this off? We can’t guarantee another noble party will travel through the Greenwood in the near future.”

“We claim we were robbed by the outlaws of the Greenwood.” I rolled my shoulders in a shrug. “The duke will be so furious at yet another outlaw attack that he won’t question our story beyond that. And we know enough of our own methods to come up with a believable story of how we would have robbed a party like ours. We’ll have only the one trunk, stuffed with women’s things, to hide my weapons at the bottom.”

Will nodded, his eyes glinting as if he was starting to see how this plan could actually work. “Won’t the duke know the other noblemen of the court? He has been to the king’s court occasionally.”

That was a harder one to answer. I opened my mouth, but nothing came to me immediately.

“The lord of Loxsley is elderly.” Alan flourished his hand as if he still held an invisible cane. “I doubt he would have traveled to the king’s court often in the last number of years. He’s a very minor lord, not one that a duke would associate with even if they were visiting the king at the same time. It would also explain any level of shabbiness in our appearance and roughness to our speech.”

“Perfect. Thank you, Alan.” I should have realized that Alan’s nose for gossip would come in handy yet again. Loxsley was even in the right direction so that the duke wouldn’t question that the lord of Loxsley would pass through the Greenwood on the way home from visiting the king’s court. “Once I’m married to the duke, Will and Alan will continue on their way as if resuming their trip to Loxsley. The duke might offer horses or an escort, so you’ll have to go along with them until you’re off the duke’s lands. Munch and Marion, you’ll remain with me as my personal guard and maid.”

I shot a glance at Will, telling him with my look that, see, I wasn’t going to be entirely alone in the duke’s lair.

Will gave me a sharp look right back. As if to argue that my two youngest brothers wouldn’t be a lot of help if I got into real trouble. “How do you propose to signal us if you need aid?”

It was a good question. I might like to plan grand schemes for the best-case scenario, but Will was forever reminding me that I needed to plan for the worst as well. “I’ll tie a white cloth in the window of whatever room I’m given. I’ll put it up every morning, and take it down every night. If it goes up or comes down at any times other than dawn and nightfall, then you’ll know I’m in trouble.”

A white cloth in a window would stand out enough to be seen even at night. Besides, this system didn’t have to work for long. Either Duke Guy would try to kill him within a few weeks or I would find his piles of treasure and figure out a way to steal it.

All of my brothers nodded, but I turned to Munch and Marion. “I’m going to be counting on you to help me with the signal, especially you, Marion. As my maid, you’ll have free access to my room in a way even Munch won’t.”

That seemed to mollify Marion a bit, knowing how crucial his role would be.

“Does anyone else have any questions?” I glanced around the circle of them. This would be our final, big score, and I could see that knowledge written on each of their faces. If we pulled this off, we would finally win the war we had been waging from the shadows for many years.

I probably should have been elated at that thought, but something in me quailed. I lived for the battle, the schemes, the thrills. What would I have left once it was over?

I couldn’t dwell on that now. Right now, I was still the Hood. I was the daring outlaw quickly becoming a legend in my own time. I still had this one last heist to pull off, and it would be my most dangerous one yet.

Around the fire, all my brothers except for Will shook their heads that they had nothing else to add.

Will gave a shrug and a sigh. “I guess I have only one last question. When do you want to attempt this?”