He looked out over the fields and down the lane, spinning his wheat stalk between his fingers like a pinwheel.
“Marcus,” she began.
“You left without even a note.”
“I was going to send one,” she rushed to say.
He nodded. “Milly told me. She refused to give me one. Said I would ruin you.”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “You ruined me a long time ago,” she admitted.
He chuckled. “And I thought I was the one ruined.”
She chucked his shoulder with hers. “We’re a sad lot, aren’t we?”
He put a hand to his chest. “I’m not. I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’m sitting in the land of the fae with the woman I love.” He smiled at her. “What do you want to do today?”
What had she planned today? She couldn’t remember, so she shrugged instead. “What do you want to do today?”
He threaded his hand beneath the hair at the back of her neck and pulled her so close that his next words brushed her lips, as surely as any kiss would. “I want to take you somewhere we can be alone, and then I want to hold you close and never let you go.”
She nodded, her nose brushing against his, they were that close. “All right.”
***
Marcus held her close to him, so close he could feel the beat of her pulse in the air between them. She’d said, “all right,” like he’d made the most reasonable request in the world.
“I’m going to marry you,” he warned.
“Don’t ruin the moment,” she whispered with a grin. “Just let me enjoy it.” She held up a single finger. “One day. Give me one day.” She poked that finger into his chest. “One day with you.”
He nodded and pulled her to her feet. It was one day that would start the rest of their lives. “One day,” he repeated like an idiot as he walked side by side with her down the lane. She turned around backward and walked that way, looking at him like he’d hung the moon and the stars.
“Am I forgiven?”
She smiled and shook her head. “Don’t ruin it,” she warned.
He held up both hands as though in surrender. “Not ruining it. Yes, I nearly forgot.”
“Where are we going?” she asked, her grin cheeky and infectious.
“We’re going to take a walk in the woods until we get to my grandfather’s hunting lodge,” he said. He could barely speak past the lump in his throat. But she was so damn beautiful walking backward in front of him, all of her attention focused on him, her smile so bright that it outshone the sun.
“Then what?”
“Then we can play cards.”
She frowned, her lip turned down in a pout.
“We can organize the cabinets and wardrobes in the lodge?”
Her lip poked out even farther, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss it. But that would come later.
“We can walk in the woods down by the stream and watch the sunset.”
Her pout disappeared. She liked that idea.
“We can lie on the settee and take a nap.”