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“Heh.” Such an articulate response, but it was all that Griff was capable of at the moment. He was still scratching his neck, quite unsure as to how to answer her. The fact that she presumed he had been in love with the woman in question was further proof of Caitrin’s naivety, something he didn’t want to spoil. He also didn’t particularly want to lower her view of him anymore, if that was possible of course. “Love wasn’t really the issue...” he trailed off. This was really making him look good. “Rather the lack of it...” He needed to change the subject and quickly before her opinion of him was beyond repair. “Anyway, as I said, it’s not important. And it’s really not that interesting.” He was pretty sure that her curiosity would not be satisfied with that for an answer, but she would just have to cope as that was all she was going to be given.

If her words didn’t show her anger, her body language certainly did. He’d noticed that about her, whether it was intentional or not her actions always mirrored her words and he presumed her thoughts. He watched her as she spoke, focussing more on her actions than anything. There was, however, something she said in particular that caught his attention.

"How do you expect me to change my attitude towards you if you keep acting so inconsistent?"

It was a very good question, as questions go, and he was having to think very carefully about his answer. He wasn’t being inconsistent at all. His goal was always the same, the motive was the same, it was only the methods that changed. He could change between charming and chivalrous, and flirtatious and inappropriate as easily as he changed his shirt. But it was all for the same outcome and it was all a facade. “Because it’s a lot more fun.” He replied with a grin and went back to the tree he had been leaning against, standing in the same position – one foot pressed against the trunk, only this time his arms, instead of being folded against his chest, were behind his head, further emphasising his arrogant nature. He was finding his feet again, as it were, the temporary return of his own insecurities was quickly being pushed away, because they were hardly attractive features. “Would you rather be angry or,” his voice dropped slightly, a purely conscious action on his part, “would you rather just enjoy the moment?”

It was certainly amusing to watch Caitrin becoming increasingly annoyed and trying to regain control of the situation. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Griff had already managed to get her flustered and blushing, it would be no hard task to do it again. It would be quicker and easier too, but this was far more fun. He had to admit she did look incredibly attractive when she was angry. He would have voiced this opinion but it probably would have earned him a slap. Again.

“You won’t be too disappointed when I leave?”

Was this the second time she had something to this effect? It was all very well and good saying it, but as Griff had thought a few moments before she had had ample opportunities to leave, yet here she was, so it was unlikely she would just up and go now. Still, he would be disappointed. But seeing as she showed no signs of actually leaving it was not really an issue, so he remained quiet and merely continued to watch her with an increasing curiosity. He was beginning to figure her out, or at least thought he was, which was more or less the same thing. Lady Red was certainly headstrong and stubborn, probably not unused to male attention, but definitely unused to not scaring them off. It was a shame really; a little more male interaction would probably lighten her up.

It was clear from her body language that she certainly wasn’t expecting a reply like that. He liked being unexpected. What seemed like a suspicious and frankly odd offer to divulge his life story, should she ask him, was simply him indulging his narcissistic tendencies. There was no finer topic than himself and he would freely converse about it for hours. He was not a man who was easily embarrassed so felt there was no shameful past and he was more than happy to (slightly) exaggerate his angst-ridden origins. Even so, he was also acutely aware of the power of an air of mystery so he was just going to have to contain himself and keep his answers as ambiguous as possible. If nothing else her curiosity would be piqued and their conversation would last for a while. It was a win win situation. Well, for Griff anyway so that probably meant it wasn’t a win win situation but he was enough of a narcissist to think of it as such.

In answer to her question he shrugged and replied nonchalantly. “I was disowned by my father.” Now it was his turn to ask a question. He bit his lip as he thought and scratched just above his eyebrow. “All right. Why are you so determined not to like me? And don’t say that I’m one of ‘those men’. That’s not an answer. Why are you so determined not to like me?”

Hmm. Griff had thought the riding comment was too much shortly after saying it, still, there must be some way he could salvage the situation. He was finally getting to her so he was not going to give up now. Besides, she may be saying that she wanted to return to her uncle, but her body language was clearly betraying her. After all, if she was that determined she wouldn’t still be against the tree. It was safe to say, Lady Caitrin was no wallflower. If she really wanted to leave she would be doing so. As she wasn’t it meant everything Griff was doing was working.

It really was, increasingly difficult to try to hide his smirk, and he thought, given the circumstances, he was doing incredibly well at doing just that. On the surface he was the epitome of sincerity. He took a step back, not too far mind, he was rather enjoying their proximity, but enough to give Caitrin room to move. “If you wish to leave I have no desire to keep you against your will.” There was a flicker of movement in the corner of his mouth. “However, I remain unconvinced that you do.”

Just as he suspected she had remained still, although she no longer looked completely charmed by him, but irritated. Hmm, this could go either way. Her words caught him off guard, he certainly wasn’t expecting her tone to be quite so accusing and more a moment he was quite taken aback. He was, however, able to compose himself and, again with an air of sincerity about him, replied thus: “I told you: I like you.” It was a rarity, but Griff was actually telling the truth. Gosh. “And you’re not a complete stranger; I thought we’d already established that.” He was quiet for a moment, wondering whether or not that was a satisfactory answer. It probably wasn’t. He stepped back again, holding his hands out as one accused of a criminal act and protesting their innocence. “I simply enjoy your company. Here. Now.” He sighed, his hands dropped and he took a step towards her again. “I have been inappropriate with you, I apologise. I didn’t mean to cause you offence. Will you forgive me? And perhaps not leave me stranded here?”

Griff was rather offended that Caitrin didn’t seem to appreciate his name choosing for his horse. “It’s a good, strong name. Hector was a prince of Troy.” His reply was rather snotty despite his intentions for it not to be. It was a damn fine name! “It simply oozes status and...equine...something or other.” It was a rather weak reply as replies go, but he made his point. Not very eloquently, mind, but it was made all the same.

He waited for her to dismount before following suit; he wasn’t going to take any chances by leaving his horse and giving her ample opportunity to run off. Now she was just being ridiculous. First it was the undressing, then it was hair, now it was the leaning. She was no longer allowed to complain about any of his comments if she was going to act in such a way. And he was no longer accountable for his actions.

Griff found his own tree to lean on, but in a less seductive way, naturally. He stood opposite her, arms folded against his chest and one foot against the trunk. After she spoke it was a few moments before he replied. Firstly, because his brain had immediately found itself thinking things he definitely shouldn’t be, and secondly because he was too busy trying to work the woman out. In less than half an hour she’d gone from trying to run away from him, to almost slapping him to being very unladylike and terribly suggestive. Of course, he wasn’t complaining, he was just confused. Was this a trap? Probably, but he had a habit of getting out of bad situations so it really didn’t matter.

He pushed himself from the tree and walked rather slowly towards her. She was only an inch or so shorter than him, but he still had to look down to catch her eyes. Without saying a word he brushed a few stray strands of hair behind her ears and with a soft smile asked, “What would you like to do?”

“That’s not what I was talking about.” Griff said with a tone of sincerity so convincing he was almost having to remind himself that he was a self-proclaimed cad with no intentions of changing, the very thought of reform was too much for him. He just needed to get his head back in the game. All he needed was a nice, sharp slap in the face. Luckily he happened to know someone who appeared to be more than happy to administer such a slap, a simple insensitive comment ought to do the trick. He was quite the expert at the insensitive comment. With no subtlety whatsoever his eyes dropped to below her collarbone – how considerate she had been in discarding her cloak! – and said: “Not bad at all.” There, all was well with the world again and Griff was able to go back to being his obnoxious and narcissistic self.

She was laughing at him again, and it was rather irritating. He wasn’t used to anyone laughing at him, let alone a young woman who should be far too busy falling for his wondrous charms to find anything funny about his lack of woodland-highway knowledge. He was justify this ignorance to himself mentally, telling himself that he had only arrived in Camelot a few days ago, so of course he wasn’t going to know his way and if they were in Glouchedon she would be the one getting lost. It was a rather petulant thought but it was certainly making him feel better. “It was merely a suggestion.” He replied, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice, “I was rather enjoying the pleasure of your company and sought only to continue.”

And now she was riding off into the distance. This was certainly a new experience for him; usually it was the other way around. He didn’t like the experience one bit, and part of him had no intention of chasing after her whatsoever. But the other parts were reminding him that he was telling the truth about not knowing his way around and he really did want to stay in her company. So, ignoring his more stubborn and easily offended side he found himself in hot pursuit of Caitrin, and strangely, rather enjoying himself.

Hmm. No slap. This really was going well, so Griff allowed himself a moment of contemplation in which he felt rather pleased with himself. See, he knew all of his charm would work. He was amazing.

“You are not sharing my horse.”

That was an unexpected reaction. A very unexpected reaction. What was wrong with her? His confusion was written across his face but at present he didn’t really care because the universe wasn’t doing what he wanted it to do and it was both confusing and frustrating. As well as this, he was also rather offended that she would object to such a suggestion. He could think of plenty of women who would be more than happy to share a horse with him but he had to find the only one in a thousand who wouldn’t. This wasn’t even him being a cad, this was just him being inconvenienced and in need of a favour. All in all it was very poor.

And now she was laughing at him, it was hardly helping the situation. “Well usually I do.” His reply was said with a tone of annoyance. Before continuing he scratched his neck, something he always did when he was beginning to feel uncomfortable and explained the situation further. “I left in a bit of a hurry and wasn’t allowed my horse. Moving on.” Hopefully that information would suffice so he left it at that and followed her to find a horse.

The stable boy quickly handed him the reigns so he began to inspect the horse. He didn’t really know exactly what he was looking for in terms of horse quality but liked to give off the impression that he did. He must have been staring at the animal for quite some time because the next thing he heard was Caitrin wondering why he wasn’t being more proactive, especially as he had spent so much energy convincing her to let him accompany her in the first place. What was he doing now? He was staring at a horse. He mounted the animal easily enough, he had had far more than his fair share of experience at mounting horses quickly – they were his preferred mode of escape. Caitrin was once again looking at him with raised eyebrows, was she ever impressed? “Funny.” An idea occurred to him so he turned away from her, it was always a good idea to look in the direction one was going to be riding in, and with a grin said to his companion, “I’ll race you to the woods.” Before awaiting a reply both rider and horse had already set off.

“On the contrary, I have no intentions whatsoever of keeping you quiet.” Griff raised his eyes suggestively, and was quite surprised that he had gotten away with a comment like that, until-

She was going to slap him! He probably deserved it, he probably deserved at lot more but that was not the point. She could hardly look down on him because his lack of manners and then try to physically assault him. It was not the done thing. He was shocked and offended, and slightly turned on, but mainly shocked and offended. His hand automatically went to his cheek, despite the fact he hadn't been touched at all. “I was just being chivalrous...” It was a weak argument but it was the best he could come up with at present, besides, it was true. He had been being chivalrous.

He was in no mood to let her just completely disappear from his life, but clearly she was blind and despite his being utterly charming it wasn’t working. “Look,” he had one hand still on his hips and the other out towards Caitrin, using it to emphasis what he was saying. “This has hardly been the best of introductions, mainly on my part, but I simply cannot let you go because, well, for one it would not be gentlemanly at all and secondly,” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “I want to stay in your company. I like you.” There. If she wasn’t going to budge after that then she definitely wasn’t worth his effort, although he was quite sure that he was going to keep trying no matter what. He wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to stay her company, and he was far from above turning into a stalker. “So, what do you say?”

The women in Camelot were certainly a feisty bunch, Griff thought, but hopefully that would make his time in the city much more fun. Still, he’d made her blush, that was a small achievement in itself. He regarded her curiously for a moment, deciding how to play it. With some women he could be as obvious as he wanted and it made things so much easier. This woman however was clearly not going to be charmed so easily, and so he was going to have to rely on a more refined approach. Luckily he was well versed in both.

“Forgive me for being so forward. I find I quite forget myself when in the presence of such a woman.” He gave a polite and friendly smile before introducing himself with a small bow. “My name is Griflet Aubert, second son of the Duke of Glouchedon. To whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?”

That should do it, he thought smugly. It would not be long until she was completely charmed, it was a simple fact based on an almost flawless record. He had a gift with women, and this one would certainly not be the exception to the rule.

Gosh. A barmaid who wasn’t completely in his control after thirty seconds, this was a rarity and rather exciting. He gave the young woman about five minutes; after all, he really was that good. It wasn’t often that he had to pay for drinks after a line like that, and he was determined that today would not be one of those times. This simply meant he had to work a little harder, but her next speech played straight into his hands. Sometimes it was just far, far too easy.

“Well that all depends.” He replied, still grinning and copying her action of leaning towards forward. She could now further appreciate just how handsome he was. After a pause he tilted his head slightly. “Which one would you share with me?”

Now all he had to do was wait for the charm to work. Either he’d get a free drink or a late night, in fact, if he got a free drink it would end up in a late night eventually so either outcome was acceptable.