Page 33

I smiled where he couldn't see it. "The view improved."

Silence.

Oh.

That had come out considerably more flirtatious than intended. His head turned farther in my direction.

"The view?"

"I meant the tactical position."

"Of course you did."

I dropped out of the oak and came up with my bow already drawn, because old habits are the reason I am alive. His gaze found me immediately.

Then traveled.

Slowly.

Not crudely. Somehow that would have been easier. Guy Bisbane simply looked at me from boots to hood and back again with such deliberate attention that warmth crept beneath my clothes. When his eyes returned to mine, there was amusement waiting in them.

I pulled the bowstring tighter.

"You're getting brave, Bisbane."

"I've been called worse."

"You've entered my forest. Alone. Before sunrise." I kept the arrow level with his chest, and he made no move toward the sword at all. "Men have been hanged for less sense than that."

He shrugged. “I needed to speak with you."

"Most men send letters."

"The last letter I sent you got pinned to a tree and criticized."

Something in my chest wanted very badly to laugh, but I didn’t. Because I’d made him a promise about tomorrow and he’d made me one back. Of course, I’d spent four days waiting for him to keep it.

"You said you'd take the seal back," I said. "You said tomorrow."

"I remember."

"You're late."

His brows lifted. "Were you waiting for me?"

"No."

"That sounded very quick."

"I have an arrow pointed at your heart, Bisbane."

"And yet you haven't fired it."

His eyes stayed on mine. Something hot curled through my belly again.

"You've become awfully confident about what I won't do."

"Have I?"