Even in medieval times, romance can be found in the most sensuous of settings. Alas, an outlaw and a maid find themselves in a place beyond the castle walls where a silver key holds the power to express most deeply their passion and reveal their brave new world to one another.

Excerpt:

Virgilia smelled of jasmine and lilac. John nuzzled her neck and took in the aromas seldom found on the women beyond the castle walls—fresh, clean smells which were afforded to those with unsullied water and scented powders created by adept apothecaries.

John led Virgilia to the largest rock. The couple perched upon it and watched the brook slowly meander around several bends and froth over rocks as it made its way downstream where it pooled into eddies of calm water. Further along, it dropped over boulders and mossy rocks, and then cascaded into a small waterfall. The sound was delightful and refreshing.

They held hands and gazed past the stream to where the trees fell away to reveal grass as green as John’s tunic, meadows with yellow wildflowers, and fertile fields of brown earth which stretched across a valley. They pondered their secret liaison as a pair of dragonflies buzzed and darted over the glimmering wet stones.

“It seems so long since our last adventure, my darling John. I’ve counted the days and their number is too great. But at least we are here now, with only woodland animals to watch us.” Caught up in the liberation her reunion with John provided, Virgilia raised her gown above her thighs and hiked her feet up on the rock in a very unladylike manner.

She gathered small stones and tossed them, one by one, into the shimmering waters. Her lips curved into a satisfying smile as an erotic memory of John surfaced.

John studied her. “What wily thoughts lay inside your pretty head today, Virgilia?”

“Inside my head lies nothing but magical thoughts of thee, dear John.” She chunked another stone into the still pool. It skipped along the surface and over the edge of the waterfall. “My heart always flutters like the pebble upon the water when we are together. Then, like my heart, it drops into the abyss when we must part.”

She raised his rough hand to her lips and kissed his palm. “I was thinking of the first time you walked with me through Sherwood. You bribed my chaperone with a king’s ransom to keep her watchful eye at the trail’s entrance rather than upon us.”

“Nay, not quite a king’s ransom is required to turn your handmaiden into a sentinel. It was only the wealth stolen from a fat merchant on his way to pay tribute to the sheriff. A fair trade, I would say.”

Virgilia laughed and looked into John’s ice blue eyes. “Think ye that someday we might lay on satin sheets? You, dressed in the finest silks as the lord of the manor to which you are entitled?”