A Battle of Wills - Chapter 7 (The End)
Marian woke up and shielded her eyes from the bright sun dawning on the horizon. She glanced around and saw her clothes hanging on a piece of yarn suspended between two thick branches.
Marian realised that Guy must have removed her wet clothes to stop her from catching a chill. A blanket was knotted around her shoulders. She blushed just thinking about him touching her bare flesh, wishing that she had been awake to explore his body.
She left the small drift-wood shelter he had erected and walked around the remains of a small fire. Marian was surprised and thrilled at how liberating it was to let him take care of her; to admit to Guy and to herself that she was in love with him.
“Guy?” she called, standing up and padding away from the shade of the jungle. “Guy?” Marian’s feet were soon caked in warm sand as she searched for him on the deserted beach.
Suddenly, she saw him standing out in the water. She realised that he was hopping from rock to rock, pulling in the crates that held blankets and other supplies from the wrecked ship.
As she drew closer, she watched Guy using a rope and a piece of driftwood to haul a trunk in from the reef. The muscles of his tanned chest and back strained and glistened in the sunlight.
She called his name again, but as he turned to face her, he tripped and fell into the water. Marian began to panic, running out there from the shore.
She was up to her knees before he resurfaced, swimming easily back toward the shore. Marian stopped and waited for him. She felt foolish, because she would not have been able to rescue him, even if he was drowning.
When Guy saw the deep concern for his safety crumpling her features, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her back towards the beach.
“What are you doing in the water, my love?” he growled in her ear, before nipping at it. “Do you want me to have to save you again?”
Marian protested that she was not playing at being the damsel in distress, but then saw his smirk and realised that he was merely teasing her.
“Thank you for looking after me,” she murmured, gripping his broad shoulders tightly as they bobbed in the waves. “Thank you for still wanting to hold me, after all I put you through.”
“That’s what you do when you love someone,” Guy murmured, placing her down on the beach.
Marian looked down at their interlocked fingers and the shapes that their bare feet made in the sand. As each wave rolled in, and they slowly sank, she tried to think of how to express all that was in her heart.
Guy misunderstood her nervous and grave silence. He dropped her hands and stepped back. He did not want to touch her if she was repulsed by him.
“Why did you jump?” Guy asked tensely.
“I didn’t want to lose you,” Marian whispered.
“The pirates didn’t hang around to see if we had survived the storm. King Richard, Carter and the crew will be on their way to a Greek port. Hopefully, your beloved Lionheart will send a scout back to look for us.”
“You seem angry with me and...”
“You should have stayed on the ship,” Guy muttered, “You would have been safe.”
“I wanted to stay with you,” Marian replied, gazing into his eyes and trying to convince him that she was telling him the truth. “You’ll stay with me, won’t you, you’ll ‘stay and make this place bearable’ until we are rescued?”
“There’s hardly anywhere else for me to go, is there?” Guy snapped and then she realised why his temper had suddenly flared, “You’re waiting for Hood and his gang to rescue you, aren’t you? You were just being impulsive, angry at Carter for his violent duplicity? You jumped because you always run after the underdog! I will not be your pitiful little puppy!”
Guy strode away, but Marian refused to let him keep his distance.
She yanked on his arm and he stopped walking. “I... don’t want to be on any other island...any other ship...with any other man.”
Guy turned and locked eyes with her, “You’re telling me that if Hood were standing right there, you would choose me over him? Perhaps you’re just telling me what I want to hear, because you regret jumping, because now you need me to keep you safe!”
“I’m not just using you!” Marian cried, jabbing him in the chest to make her points. “I chose you, Sir Guy of Gisborne! I took the plunge! I opened my arms wide and I dove into that water, knowing that if you did not catch me, I would drown! Don’t you see? We’re both broken people! I’m not as pure as people think and you’re not as cruel as they think. We’re both broken, but if our hearts were to be united, we would be whole!”
Guy’s mouth crashed onto hers and she wrapped her knees around his torso. Her hands stroked his warm skin as his fingers tangled in her hair.
Guy kissed her like no man had ever kissed her before. Waves of passion spread through her body. Marian reached down to tug at his hosen, wanting to give herself to the man who made her feel complete.
“Not like this,” Guy suddenly murmured in her ear and stopped raining kisses on her neck. “I don’t want it to be an act of desperation.”
“I don’t know what you think you mean!” Marian said indignantly, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re playing with me! You’re punishing me for taking so long to realise that it is you that I want!”
“I’m not punishing you. I don’t want to make love to you straight after that argument. I just bellowed at you and you think you’ve got something to prove. I want to make this special.”
“Oh,” she mumbled, “I... I thought you were rejecting me.”
“Hardly,” he snorted, tilting her face up so that he could gaze into her beautiful blue eyes, “I don’t know how someone so ravishingly desirable, could be so insecure?”
“Look who’s talking,” she whispered, “My body is throbbing with desire for you.”
“Now, you’re not fighting fair,” Guy grumbled, leaning down to claim her lips. He straightened up and grabbed her hand.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they walked into the jungle.
Guy held the green fronds and branches out of her way. “I... I went for a walk earlier looking for fresh water... and I found a special spot... I want us to consummate our vows there.”
“Oh,” Marian said, feeling excited by the romantic gesture.
The blanket snagged on a branch in the undergrowth and she stooped to unhook it. Guy waited, running through every fantasy he had ever had about their first time together.
This, of course, would be so much better. They had a true understanding of each other. Their love had survived his cruel attempts to manipulate her and her vain and hurtful lies. Now, he vowed, they would survive any dangers that this island could throw at them together.
“You’re very quiet,” Marian murmured, wondering if he was worried about his sister. “I... I’m sorry that you shall have to wait even longer to help Isabella now.”
“I’m trying not to think about that,” Guy replied, “I... I just hope that Raello was right, and that she will only be killed if I refuse to serve Prince John when we return...”
Marian drew herself up to the tips of her toes and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. “I love you, Sir Guy of Gisborne. Whatever the future holds, we will face it together.” She hesitated, hoping that he would not tease her and then said, “I... whole...wholeheartedly... promise before God to be your loving and faithful wife; in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in health; as long as we both shall live.”
The lines around his eyes and mouth crinkled with delight and awe. It was the most radiant smile she had ever seen light up his eyes.
Guy’s mouth crashed onto hers and he picked her up. He stumbled towards the lagoon, which he had found earlier.
At one end, there was a kind of waterfall. The water bubbled up out of a spring on the rocks above it and cascaded down into the beautiful lagoon.
Guy placed her down on the bank and dove into the cool water. He whooped and hollered, thrashing about in ecstasy at her declaration of love.
Marian untied the blanket and lay on it, waiting for him to make love to her. She had not understood his intentions, however. Guy pulled off the hosen and tossed them up onto the bank. He then playfully kissed her legs and feet before pulling her into the water.
“What are you doing?” Marian burst out; giggling at his antics.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” he assured her, delighting in the way she yielded to his touch.
He carried her over to the mossy bank closer to the waterfall. “I want to ease some of the pain you will feel the first time, my love.”
She almost wept with joy at how truly considerate he was. “Thank you.”
Guy propped her up against the soft moss, caressing her body and kissing her between syllables. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered, arching her back, wanting his hard manhood, to fill her throbbing loins.
“Do you feel that water rushing against your legs?” Guy asked.
“Yes,” she murmured, stroking his chest as he held her.
“I love you more than every drop of water in this lagoon,” Guy said hoarsely, tightly holding her naked body against his own, “More than every drop of water in the ocean.”
She fisted her hand in his hair and arched her back as he entered her. He forced himself to be careful, slowly pushing in his girth.
She cried out as he pierced her maidenhead and he slowed his rhythm, raining tender kisses on Marian’s sweet breasts.
She ground her hips against him and leant further back, giving him greater access to her body. Guy obliged her, thrusting into her again and again until, almost they both reached a frenzied and mutual peak.
Guy began to pull her back down further into the water, but she protested, moaning that she still wanted to feel him inside of her.
He was overcome by his emotions as he gently wrapped his arms around Marian, leaving his now flaccid member within the tight folds of her flesh.
It was an ecstasy to hear her pleasured sighing of his name and to feel her lips and fingers, even her knees struggling to touch him; to keep hold of him.
As they embraced in the early morning light, they had no way of knowing that Allan and Little John would soon spot the wreckage of the ship and steer a rowboat ashore to rescue the survivors.
They had no way of knowing that it would take two perilous months for them all to escape back to England.
They had no way of knowing that their son, born while they waited in hiding with Guy’s sister for the King’s ransom to be paid, had been conceived in that very lagoon.
What they did know was that they loved each other. What truly mattered as they pressed their chests against each other was that their hearts now beat as one. No one and nothing could separate them.
The End.
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