Page 4 of Peregrine's Call
Tav leaned forward to kiss her, as he had nearly every time he’d seen her before. But then, once again tripping on the sheer difference of Robin now from Robin a year ago, he hesitated.
Robin blinked, her eyelashes fluttering.
He had to think quickly, so he reverted to humor. He stepped back and bowed, just as he would to a woman on first meeting her. “Not Lady Robin, but only Robin? You’re looking well, whatever you wish to be called today. The gown suits you.”Far better than the boy’s clothing you used to wear, he added silently.
Robin’s eyes narrowed a fraction, and he wanted to laugh. She heard him whether he spoke it out loud or not. Like that, their previous camaraderie was restored.
“I made it,” she said, “thanks to much instruction from Cecily.”
“I see you haven’t got a bit taller,” he said.
“I have too,” Robin said hotly. “Quite a bit.”
He grinned. Robin had always been little. At least he could tease her about that…and there was something gratifying about watching her gentian-blue eyes flash as she tried to think of a response.
“Well,” Cecily said, “you both can spar over supper. Robin, show Octavian to his chamber.”
“I know where it is,” he said.
“But part of Robin’s education is learning how to act as hostess,” Cecily countered.
Robin stepped aside to let him enter. “This way,” she said, smiling as she led him to the stairs and up to a chamber he’d stayed in a dozen times before.
Tav trailed after her. The silk of the gown rustled softly with each step, and the folds of the skirt rippled past her hips, drawing his attention to the curves he should most definitely not be so enchanted by.
“When did I see you last?” he asked, mostly to say something.
“Wasn’t it Easter of last year?” Robin looked over her shoulder at him, her face partly hidden by a few loose waves of hair. The move was unexpectedly, unknowingly alluring.
Tav swallowed. “A long time.”
“I missed you,” she said, in the blunt, honest tone he remembered. “You said you’d tell me about your visit to Cairo. And don’t think you may slip free of the obligation! I’ve been waitingagesfor that story.”
They reached the guest room, and Robin stepped in with him, looking around with sharp, appraising eyes. “Fresh water. Fuel for the fire. Three candles, just in case. Did I forget anything? The mattress was just restuffed,” she added, ticking off items on her fingers. “We had great luck earlier this autumn, hunting geese. I shot more than any other year, I think. We plucked so many, I was picking down out of my hair for a fortnight!”
Her report of shooting so many birds was no surprise. She’d always been a fine archer. But Tav was caught by the idea of running his hands through her glossy, unbound hair, and felt an accompanying jolt of desire that he quickly tamped down. No. This wasRobin.
“I have everything I need,” he said. “You should go.”
She looked surprised by his too-brusque tone, but gave him a curtsey. “You must be tired,” she said politely, sounding just like Cecily. “I’ll see you at supper.”
Robin turned to the door, but then paused. “You never kissed me. Alric and Cecily rate a kiss of friendship, but I do not?”
“An oversight. I was distracted.”
“Well, you may correct the oversight now.”
Before he could respond, Robin stood on her tiptoes and leaned forward to give him a kiss, the same friendly kiss of greeting she’d give to Alric or any of the knights when they arrived at Cleobury after a long absence.
He bent his head obligingly. But the moment her lips touched his, he slipped a hand around her waist, feeling the heat of her body beneath the sheen of the silk. The resulting rush of desire in his veins had nothing to do with friendship, and he raised his head once more, out of her reach.
“On second thought, it wasn’t an oversight.” It had been an instinct, warning him to stay away from her.
Robin stepped back, nearly losing her footing, except that Octavian took her by the shoulders to steady her. To judge by her expression, she was more than a little hurt.
“Robin,” he said, her name now sounding utterly unfamiliar on his tongue. He had to apologize.
But she’d already begun to blush, obviously embarrassed at how a routine greeting had gotten so complicated.
