It really was ten times juicier
Epilogue
Because I hadn?t the heart to leave him like that .
?Boy!?
Allan a Dale must have been lurking nearby, as he often did whenever his master was thinking of taking his clothes off, because he appeared in seconds. ?Fetch a couple of warm bodies, and get this girl carried back to the kitchen. And Allan -- don?t drop her on the way, like you usually do with them, or Mistress Pennyecuike will stop your grog.?
?What?s with you and La Pennycuike, anyways, Giz? You sure got her eatin? out of your hand. She got a leather thing goin? on or summat???
Sir Guy snorted. ??Just do as you?re told. Talking is not in your job description. Thinking is not in your job description...?
*
He sat on in the fast-cooling water till everyone had gone, then clapped his hands together imperiously.
?Author!?
?You yelled, my lord?? A shadowy figure formed out of thin air, and came over to stand by the bath. ?Another one bit the dust, I see,? she said, quizzically. ?Poor Tansy. It was unkind of you to stand up.??
?The wenches of my day have no staying power? he grumbled. ? You?ll have to finish me off.?
She choked. ?You really should do more work on your twenty-first century idioms, Messire de Gisborne.?
?? Don?t prevaricate. Give me a towel, ?? he ordered, stabbing a now rather wrinkled finger at the pile the hapless Tansy had abandoned on the hearth. ??So,?? he went on, as she bent to retrieve a couple and hand him one for his hair, ??Tell me. What is a..? his lip curled, disdainfully, ?? ?disco stick???
She gulped. ?Er.. something like a maypole, I should think.?? Had she just said that?
He looked up at her from under his Maybelline lashes and smirked. ?A maypole, indeed????
Hoist on the petard of her own big mouth, she held up the bath sheet rather higher and wider than necessary, to cover her blushes, and gave it a tentative waggle. ??Um?Are you are ready to come out now, my lord of Gisborne??
?Patience, woman. Don?t you want me to say the magic word?.??
?My lord ! And humiliate myself in front of the faculty members? Besides, you are already more than fashionably late.? She held up the big towel for him again, squeezing her eyes tight shut in the name of discretion -- and her own sanity.
??You are wrong?? he growled, ?about my lack of twenty-first century research.? Eyes still closed, she heard the slosh of the water as he stood up and stepped into its folds. And as she reached to tuck it round his waist, he began to sing, very softly,
?Doncha wish your boyfriend was hot like me??
Fin