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guards rebelling against the Entertainment.”
    “You did.”
    “And look where it got me!” she snapped. “I’ve learned to be smart, Torn.”
    “Not a fool like me?” He flung her own words back at her with such gentleness that anger eluded her.
    “I still think you’re a fool,” she whispered, “but a strong one.”
    “Because I can fight?”
    “Because I’ve never seen anyone defeat The Lady. How did you get caught, Torn? How did my sister’s guard capture you?”
    “I was passing through your land on my way back to the Order. Fire swept through a small village, and I stopped to help. A troop of your soldiers must have seen the smoke and rode up to investigate. I was in the middle of tending some of the burn victims when one of the guards noticed by my clothes that I was of the Ruby Order. That’s how I was taken.”
    “You said earlier you thought I could do something about the Entertainment. Why would you think that?”
    “It was the look in your eyes. You hated what was going on around you, and you’re strong.”
    “Like I said before, I was once…”
    He cupped her chin in his hand, though she didn’t know how he managed to find it so quickly in the darkness. “At first I didn’t think you were a prisoner too, but you are. When you offered me those herbs this afternoon, it was the most selfless act I’d ever seen. Thank you, Honey Wine.”
    The sound of his voice caressing her name made her tingle. You’re becoming a fool for this man, Honey Wine!
    “You were more courageous for not accepting them,” she said. “If I could have killed both of those bitches and gotten away with it, I would have, but we never would have made it past the guards. We have to find another way.”
    “Another way?”
    “To escape from here. You don’t really want to spend the rest of your life here, do you?”
    “No!” he answered so quickly she would have laughed if their situation hadn’t been so grave.
    “Then we’ll find a way out,” she said.
    “You’ve already risked enough for me. I don’t want you to be hurt any more than you already have been.”
    She blinked in the darkness. She’d been hurt? He was the one who’d resembled an embroiderer’s pincushion that night!
    “You won’t get away without my help,” she said. She knew one way or the other, this place would kill him, and he didn’t deserve to die here. “Besides, I’ve had about all I can take of licking my sister’s boots. One of these days, I really will kill her, and she’s always surrounded by guards, so where would that leave me? You can either help me get out of here or not.”
    “Where will you go once you get away?”
    She shrugged. “I’ll find a place.”
    “You’ll be safe at the Order, at least until you decide what you want to do.”
    “You’re asking me to stay with a bunch of Knights?”
    “Why not? You once stayed with your sister’s guard.”
    “Stayed with?” Honey Wine huffed. “I commanded my sister’s guard.”
    “If we escape, will you come home with me, Honey Wine?”
    “When we escape, I will.”
    “Honey Wine, please understand if I don’t speak again. I can’t in front of them. If I did, I might succumb –”
    “I understand,” she whispered. “It’s our secret.”
    The cloak had fallen off her shoulders, and she shivered in the coolness of the chamber. She pulled the garment over them and lay back on his chest. His arms encircled her, and she moved a hand over his hard pectoral muscles. She allowed herself to fantasize about what it would be like to make love with him, to have his tall, lean body dominate hers. What would it feel like to kiss that funny, sensual mouth of his?
    As if sensing her thoughts, his hand caressed her cheek, his fingertips traced her lips, and he tilted her face upward.
    His soft lips brushed hers, and she closed her eyes. He kissed her upper lip, her lower lip, and then full on the mouth. She entangled her fingers in his hair, opening her mouth to his