Gossip had quickly turned it into the latest social contest. The Lady Miranda of Thurgarton had been the first to boast of her misfortune in the Sherwood, so the rumors went, and her account of the thief with a knight’s physique and a gentleman’s tongue had titillated the envy of many. The handsome outlaw plucked only a collection of thin silver bracelets from Thurgarton, but when he stole both the earrings and a kiss on the neck from the daughter of Lord Maunsfeld, the challenge was met countywide. In the previous week, restless ladies fabricated any number of reasons to visit Nottingham by way of the Sherwood Road, taking their joyrides and picnicking needlessly into the forest. Lady Delaney had fashioned bells to every rein of her eight-horsed carriage to make herself a more obvious target. “He only needs an excuse to find me,” she said, tracing her neck with her fingertips, “although if I have nothing for him to steal, I fear he may take something else entirely.”

The ladies blushed and pretended to encourage her while they all schemed to be the first to bed the outlaw.

Arable had to bite her lip to bear through their chatter. William had explained how his friend Robin of Locksley was embedded with the thieves, attempting to domesticate them. Frivolous escapades with the county’s ladylings seemed domesticated enough, but Arable worried something more was growing.

“Geoffrey insisted we take more men to protect us,” Delaney was laughing, “but I was able to convince him otherwise. And he never asked why I needed to wear so much jewelry!”

“Perchance I’ll visit you in Oughtibridge,” a vacant-eyed ladyling mewed to Delaney. She held a few wispy shawls up to her face. “Which color do you suppose Robin Hood prefers?”

They giggled and each purchased one, threatening to ride into the forest before the others with increasingly few servants. By the time they would be done, their offers would involve walking into the forest alone, entirely nude but for a single diamond necklace. Only Lady Margery seemed to share Arable’s disdain for their twattling banter, but she was much better at hiding it.

Arable sighed and counted the hours before she would be free. She coveted the time she’d been assigned to William each day, and had grown very fond of having a room to herself. They usually spent those hours together if William was not otherwise indisposed, despite his original promise that they were a gift for her to enjoy on her own. She enjoyed spending them with him, and a flattering suspicion told her he had hoped as much when he made the arrangement.

A commotion was brewing between a Guardsman carrying grapes and a stranger in a loose brown tunic. “What’s the matter, you deaf?” the Guardsman barked, blocking the man’s path. “Move along or we’ll move you along.”