Crow studied Penelope for a moment when she turned down his offer to get away during the night. It wasn’t difficult to tell that she was feeling the effects of the herb he had slipped into the food, but he had been hoping that she would be tempted enough by the thought of escaping with him that she would be willing to do so. Thinking over the dilemma, he absently picked up some dried leaves and tossed them into the burning fire, watching as white smoke began to swirl off the plant matter.

If he wanted to sneak off during the night to fulfill his word to Jaxon, he knew he was going to have to pull it off during her guard shift. While he didn’t doubt that he would wake up on his own when Gavin roused her to take over the watch, he needed a way to nudge her into letting him go without knowing what was really going on. There was only one way that he could think of to do that.

“Come on,” he took on an alluring tone and leaned into her a little more, shifting to slide his arm around her waist so his hand rested against her hip. “Those thieves have no idea we’re even after them, so they don’t have any reason to come out of hiding to attack us. Besides, it’s not like we’d be gone for very long either.” He touched a kiss to her neck, just below the edge of her jaw, and then pulled back to offer her a reassuring smile. “If it makes you feel better, I can take over the rest of your watch tonight too. I’m not very tired, so I don’t mind doing it just this once.”