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air. Careful not to make a sound, Tiny nudged a stool into her path. Sebastian flinched as her shin slammed into it.
    “Excuse me, sir,” she said.
    She felt her way around the table with a crescendo of convincing thumps. Just as her hand reached the back of the chair, Jamie snatched away her gown and held it gleefully aloft. Silver hairpins tinkled to the floor. He picked one up, bit the pearl, then tucked it between his lips.
    Prudence felt each rung of the chair back, frowning with great perplexity. “I’m sure this is where I left my gown to dry.”
    Jamie tossed the velvet into her face. “Here ye go. Must have slipped off.”
    “Thank you,” she said, her voice muffled.
    She pulled the gown over her head. All three men watched avidly as she buttoned the bodice and tugged on her damp shoes.
    Straightening, she clasped her hands together. Sebastian’s spirits sank as he realized what she was waiting for. If only the cantankerous cat would wander over and brush against her ankles. Tiny spotted the kitten at the same moment Sebastian did. It crouched behind one of the table legs, a cottony puff of a tail quivering in anticipation of pouncing on Tiny’s boot.
    Tiny bent double and shoveled the creature into his palm. He held it up to eye level, peering at its disgruntled whiskers.
    Prudence squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back tears. She did not dare protest or reveal she knew he held Sebastian. He could easily snap the animal’s neck between two fingers.
    A low rumble filled the hut. Her eyes flew open. Atfirst, she thought the massive man was growling at her cat, then she glimpsed the grin on Kirkpatrick’s face. Tiny was purring.
    He rubbed the kitten’s belly against his bristled face, his eyes narrowed to blissful slits. “I love cats. Me mum always kept one at the hearth.”
    “I love ’em too,” Jamie said. “When there ain’t nothin’ bigger to eat.”
    Prudence shuddered.
    “Do the wee beastie have a name, lass?” Tiny asked her.
    “Sebastian.”
    Jamie snorted. “That’s a silly name.”
    Sebastian winced. “Give the lady her cat, Tiny. Jamie, take her to the road. Take her
directly
to the road. Then come straight back. Do you understand?”
    Jamie doffed his shapeless cap with a mocking bow. “I ain’t daft, me laird.”
    Tiny tucked the kitten in Prudence’s arms.
    “Thank you ever so much, Mr. Tiny.”
    Prudence had to take one last chance. She felt her way along the wall until her toe touched Sebastian’s pallet. She knelt beside him, painfully conscious of the two pairs of eyes boring into her back. Her vacant gaze gave her the perfect chance to study him. She did not need to study him. His face was committed perfectly to her memory. She would see it each morning when she awoke and each night when she closed her eyes. Sunlight revealed tiny crow’s feet, but robbed nothing from his devastating good looks. She touched his cheek, committing its texture to her memory as well.
    “Thank you for your kindness, sir. It will not be forgotten.”
    He gave her hand a quick, hard squeeze. “That it won’t.”
    She turned away before the tears could well in her eyes. Jamie offered her his arm. She stood there stupidly, ignoring it until he linked it in hers.
    “Did ye ever hear the joke about the blind whore and the armless sailor?” he asked as he led her to the door.
    Sebastian watched her go with a sense of triumph. Then the doorway was empty. The sun lost its sparkle, settling into the dull cast of mid-morning. He grimaced, deepening the brooding lines around his mouth.
    Tiny propped his hip on the table. The wood groaned under his weight. “I feared for ye, lad, when I checked the old oak fer a note, but found none. I thought the law had got ye.”
    Sebastian refused to meet the other man’s measuring gaze. Tiny knew him better than anyone did. They had run the moors together when they were boys. Tiny was the only one who had ever had the courage to place himself between