Sharpe woke up when he felt Grace's head move on his shoulder. His eyes moved over to the small crack in the doorway, where during the day sunlight would pour through the cracks in the wood. Right now there was no light coming into the room. So it was still night.
He must have moved or shifted for he heard Grace whisper into his ear. "I know you're awake," she said.
"Sorry," he murmured back. "Did I wake you?"
"No," she said. Sharpe could feel her smiling into his skin. "I think I woke you."
Sharpe smiled even though he knew she wouldn't be able to see it in the dark light of the cabin. "Don't worry, you didn't," he said.
"Then what did?" she asked. "Was it the mat?"
The mat, the mat they had arranged to sleep on the floor since they couldn't both fit on the little hammock hanging on the rafters above them.
"Sorry we can't go up to my cabin," she said quietly, thinking of the bed with high quality bedding. "There are better sleeping arrangements up there."
Sharpe shrugged his shoulders. "It's not the worst sleeping arrangement I've had," he said.
"Oh?" Grace said. And if there was better lighting in the cabin Sharpe bet she would have one of her eyebrows raised in that questioning look she sometimes wore. "And what would the worst have been?"
"Let's see," Sharpe thought. "There was the time I was in an Indian prison, I didn't even have any blankets in there," he said as he pulled the blanket around Grace's shoulders up further.
Grace snuggled deeper into Sharpe's chest, burying her head in the space between his shoulder and head. "That sounds terrible," she said, her voice muffled.
"There was also the time in Flanders," Sharpe began. "Not even the blankets we had could warm us up any. And we were still on the hard frozen ground there, as well."
He felt Grace tighten her arms around him. "How did you ever survive?" She asked.
He chuckled, pulled her tighter against him, and whispered into her ear. "You've seen how strong I am, haven't you? It will take a little more than poor sleeping arrangements to take me out."
She laughed out loud then, but was quickly silenced as they heard footsteps right outside the door. A couple moments after they hadn't heard anything more, Grace pinched his back and whispered sharply. "Don't get us caught now, Richard."
"Alright, then," Sharpe said as he pulled her into a kiss, silencing her.