The memory of how that mouth had felt as it moved over hers—warm, gentle, and with the faintest hint of demand—flashed into her mind, and a nearly overpowering longing swept over her.
She could have that again. All she had to do was lose the dare. Her pride winced at the thought, but she slowed her chewing nonetheless. What could it hurt—aside from the obvious answer of her pride? She could make do with a thinner blanket, and McAlistair struck her as being too sensible to ignore the reality of a matchmaking scheme for very long. And even if he were convinced of the ruse this very moment, it was too late now to turn back and find the others. No matter how it had come to be, they were stuck together for the remainder of the trip.
She slowed her chewing further, and poked a bit at the remainder of the meat.
“Problem?” McAlistair asked.
She made a show of choking down the food in her mouth. “Not at all.”
She picked at the meat, tore off a small piece, and stared at it. Making sure he was watching her, she tore the piece in half, then in half again, then—
“That’s not a bite, Evie.”
“It is.” She put the now miniscule piece in her mouth and made a show of chewing once. “You see? I bit.” She might have swallowed as well; the piece had been too small to say.
“Doesn’t count.” He gestured at the remainders of the piece. “All of it.”
“That’s more than four bites.”
“Can’t you do it?”
“Of course I can.” She really could. Bland or not, her belly would be more than happy to have the meal. The rest of her, however, wanted something else. She pushed the pieces with the tip of her finger. “It’s a bit bland, that’s all.”
“Should make it easy to swallow.”
“You’d think,” she agreed in an absent tone. “But the idea of it…” She poked a bit more.
“Think of something else.”
She shot a glance at him. He was awfully encouraging. Did he want to lose the wager? She wasn’t in a position to judge, mind you, but her losing on purpose meant she would be kissed. His losing on purpose meant he didn’t want to kiss her—bit insulting, that. And odd, as it had been his idea.
“What if I were to eat the remaining two bites at once?” she inquired. “Would that count?”
“I’ll accept it.”
She hid a scowl at his quick agreement. He did want to lose. “Well, how much would that be?”
He reached over and tore off a piece—a gargantuan piece that equaled nearly double her original portion.
Very well, he didn’t want to lose.
“I can’t fit the whole of that in my mouth at once,” she told him with a laugh.
The corner of his mouth hooked up. “Then don’t.”
“That’s not two bites, which is what I owe you. It’s not even four bites. It’s a six-course meal and after-dinner snack.”
He jerked his chin at the tiny bits of meat she’d torn a moment ago. “The penalty for cheating.”
“I don’t cheat.” Some might argue she was cheating right now, but she wasn’t one of them. “I’m simply not hungry.”
“You’ve had little to eat today.”
“I had lunch with Mrs. Summers, or part of a lunch at any rate, and the remainder of it only a few hours ago.”
And she was still hungry, but a few hours’ fast would be more than worth the chance to kiss McAlistair again.
He flicked her a cool glance. “You made the bargain, Evie.”
She certainly had. And she wouldn’t have been arguing except that it would be expected of her, were she trying to win that bargain.
She played with the meat while McAlistair ate.
“I can’t do it,” she lied when he had finished. “I just can’t.”
He was silent and still for a long moment. And then, to her complete astonishment, he said, “You tried. We’ll call it a wash.”
“What?” She wasn’t certain if she should laugh, cry, or throw her food at him. “You can’t do that.”
“You want to lose?”
“That would be silly of me, wouldn’t it?” she asked, by way of avoiding the question. “But you said it yourself. We made a bargain, a wager, and—”
He reached for the watered beer. “I’m releasing you from it,” he said after a long drink.
“That is insulting to both of us.”
His brows rose at her cool tone. “Care to explain?”
She opened her mouth, intent on delivering a scathing lecture, but in the end decided on a simple, “You wouldn’t offer to release me of the wager if I were a man.”
His lips twitched. “Wouldn’t have made the wager if you were a man.”
“That is not the point.” She turned to scowl into the fire. McAlistair’s decision to release her from the bargain disappointed her for more reasons than the lost kiss. “You imply I am not to be held to the same standards. That leniency is required, as if I were incapable of fully understanding the bargain, or that my word is of less value than a man’s. I find that attitude insufferable.” Very well, she was going to lecture. “Furthermore, it shows you to be a small-minded individual who places little worth in—”