She stumbled upon a few pine cones strewn near the entrance of the folly and nearly whooped with joy. They were the best kind of kindling. Lastly, she removed the knife from her boot and found a flat stone that she struck the knife down. Her hands were trembling so badly, however, that she could barely manage a spark after a few tries.

“Let me,” Thornbury said, taking both from her. He replaced the stone and her knife with a box from his pocket that contained safety matches, and it wasn’t long before the small pile caught fire.

She shot him a baleful glare. “You had those in your pockets all along?”

“I wasn’t sure they were dry.” He grinned, his teeth shining in the firelight. “And I wanted to see what you could do. Quite intrepid of you, I must say.”

“Wonderful,” she replied drily at his tone. “I have earned the everlasting admiration of the great Duke of Thornbury. However shall I cope with the weight of all that shining esteem?”

“What did you say about sarcasm again? That it was the lowest form of wit?”

“Touché, sir.” She sat cross-legged in front of the small blaze, as close as she dared, and reveled in the delightful, if scant, heat. “How cunning of you to use my own words against me. I didn’t think you were paying that much attention.”

“I always pay attention.”

The way he said it made her pause, but then he started to remove his waistcoat and then untucked his shirt, making her frown.

“What are you doing?”

“Trust me, you should do the same. I know the heat feels good, but your clothes will dry much more quickly off your body, and you won’t catch a rotten, dangerous chill in the meantime.”

“Surely you don’t expect me to undress in front of you?” she asked, her cheeks flaming. Bronwyn had no reason to be mortified, especially when the dratted man had been inside her, but for some reason the idea of undressing seemed much more intimate than their impassioned interlude in the wood had been. Then, they had mostly been dressed, with the exception of one or two key areas. He opened his mouth and she lifted a hand. “Don’t say whatever it is you’re thinking.”

“How do you know what I was about to say?”

She huffed. “You have that look on your face, and your lip is curling in the corner the way it does when you find something amusing and no one else does.”