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from inside his coat, then pulled two thin pieces of kindling from the woodpile. “I’m going to toast my cheese. Care to join me?”
    Hot food. Realizing she was ravenous, she sliced the cheese into several chunks and handed half to him. “I’ll cut the bread rolls so they can be toasted as well.”
    “Excellent thought.” He passed the rolls so she could slice them. “That’s a handsome knife. You didn’t have time to pull it out when you were captured?”
    “I didn’t have it then.” She held the knife on her palm so he could see it more clearly. “I took this from a smuggler who tried to stab me when I was escaping.”
    Mackenzie looked appalled. “I’m not sure which is worse—knowing you could have been stabbed, or knowing that you might have stabbed me. The mere thought of my blood being spilled makes me feel faint.”
    She laughed. “So far, I’m glad I didn’t stab you.”
    Half her roll was toasted, so she removed the bread and stuck the cheese on the sharp end of the stick. When the pale lump of cheddar began to melt and smell delicious, she smeared it onto her toasted bread and took a bite.
    The tangy bite of the melted cheese contrasted exquisitely with the crisp toast in a symphony of texture and flavor. She gave a soft moan of pleasure. “It’s ambrosia! ”
    He took a bite of his own toasted bread and cheese, savoring it. “Nectar of the gods indeed. Nothing like cold, rain, hunger, and fear for one’s life to make even the simplest of meals taste divine.”
    “I’m definitely glad I didn’t knife you,” Kiri decided. “If I’d done that, I wouldn’t have had food, drink, and shelter.”
    “I have my uses.” He started toasting his other piece of bread. “How did a very competent young lady like you fall into the smugglers’ hands?”
    She sighed, remembering what had brought her to the wrong place at the wrong time. “I was visiting in the country and by accident overheard something that was—very distressing. I left for Dover immediately with the intention of catching a coach home from there. But I blundered into the smugglers moving their goods and they feared I’d give them away. If Chieftain and I had had running room, I could have escaped, but we didn’t. A bird net was thrown over me before I could get away.”
    “Bad luck,” he said sympathetically. “You borrowed the horse to ride to Dover?”
    “A stickler might say I stole it,” she admitted. “But I was so furious! If I’d stayed, I might have hurt someone. So I took Chieftain. I’ll send him back from Dover.”
    “I have no trouble believing you might damage someone,” he said with a lazy, admiring smile that did strange things to her insides. “But if you hadn’t overheard that conversation, I wouldn’t have met you. I’m selfish enough to be glad our paths crossed.”
    “So am I, since I might not have escaped without your help.”
    “How did you break the manacle? Was it rusted through?”
    “There was some rust.” She held up her right hand and the diamonds flashed in the firelight. “I also used the stones in this ring to scrape the metal until I could break it.”
    “You really are the most amazing female,” he said with warm admiration.
    She dropped her gaze, feeling shy. “I’ll see you’re paid back after I return to London.”
    His lips curved in a smile. “I can think of another payment that would do.”
    Her hand tensed on her knife. If he thought that she would lie with him . . . !
    “Not what you’re thinking, my warrior maiden,” he said with a grin. “But I would certainly enjoy a kiss.”

Chapter 5
    Carrie Ford did not react to his request with the outrage of a virgin, nor with the sensual assessment of an experienced woman. Instead, her eyes narrowed like a cat’s and she studied him as if he was an intriguing artifact of uncertain origin. “A kiss might be interesting.” She stabbed the knife down through the hay beside her. “But only one.”
    “Then I