Comfortable with Penelope wrapped up in his arms, it wasn’t long before Crow began to feel himself slipping off to sleep. He yawned tiredly and nestled a little closer to the knight, finding her presence relaxing. In that moment, he no longer felt the rush of urgency and excitement that had coaxed him to be so physical with her before. Instead, the feeling was replaced with a peaceful contentedness that tempted him to let go of any guardedness and inhibitions to simply nap by her side.

He wasn’t sure how long he was asleep before he was roused by Gavin’s deep voice. The thief blinked dazedly and lifted his head to see that the knight was standing over them with a bowl of food in his hand. From his vantage point, he couldn’t see what was in the bowl, but the aroma that wafted down to him smelled sweet. It was far different than the rich and savory scents that usually came from the suppers that the knight cooked for them. He wondered what the man had made for them this time.

Feeling Penelope shift against his side, Crow loosened his hold on her to allow her to pull away from him so that she could sit up. He was just about to get up as well when he noticed something that made him stiffen with a pang of annoyance. He narrowed his eyes at Gavin, who had leaned over to rest a hand on Penelope’s shoulder when she had gotten up from the ground. Even in his drunkenness, it wasn’t hard for him to see what the knight was trying to do, and he didn’t like it.

While the other two began to speak—he noticed with another twinge of frustration that Gavin seemed to have tailored their supper to her liking—he sat up slowly and leaned back against the nearby tree again, observing them in quiet contemplation. Perhaps he was being a bit paranoid, but he wasn’t about to give the knight the benefit of the doubt. Gavin had made it perfectly clear that he believed Penelope would change her mind and go back to him after she’d had her fill of running around with a criminal. It didn’t take a sober mind to tell that all of this was probably part of his long game to win her back.

[i]He’s getting bolder,[/i] Crow thought as he watched Gavin walk away with a scathing look in his green eyes. He didn’t like how brazen the knight was being by putting his hands on Penelope right in front of him. Before, it hadn’t bothered him as much because she had needed help getting back to their camp, but now there was no more reason for him to keep acting this way. It was unnecessary and rather haughty of her former suitor to behave like she was still with him in the thief’s opinion.

“I don’ like ‘ow touchy ‘e’s gettin’ with you,” he growled once Gavin was out of earshot, refusing to take his eyes off of the knight in his frustration. “Cocky bast’rd… ‘e’s actin’ like ‘m not ev’n ‘ere.”