“I want to go,” she said earnestly. “All I’ve ever wanted to do is help my people.” Maybe her sorrows and hardships had all been part of the training for the greater things God had in store for her to do with Joseph. For so long she thought God had abandoned her. Was it possible He’d been there all along, even through the difficulties, making her stronger, working things out in His way so that eventually she’d be ready to go back?

“What about the scandal of our being together?” she asked. “I don’t want to be causing you to lose your good name and reputation.”

“It doesn’t matter what others think,” he stated. “Besides, I have a feeling we’ll be too busy with the work God gives us to care about such things.”

She hoped he was right. Even if they spent their time in the slums, she hoped she could lay claim to Mrs. Moresby’s situation and learn to be the kind of lady Joseph might need from time to time. Whatever the case, she knew she couldn’t let anything stop them from being together this time.

“Are you sure you don’t have your heart set on having a new life here?” he asked.

“I want to work by your side, Joseph. Wherever that is, I want to be there helping you every day.”

The velvety brown of his eyes caressed her. He shifted his lips against her fingers, moving down until the warm curve of his mouth connected with the soft flesh of her palm.

Without taking his gaze from hers, he pressed his mouth against her skin more fully as if making a claim upon her.

She sucked in a sharp breath. “Is this a yes to my marriage proposal?”

“No,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist and sliding her closer. “This is.” His mouth found hers, covering and consuming her.

She let her fingers glide up his torso along the hard contours of his chest and shoulders and gave herself over to the pleasure of the kiss. This was where she wanted to be, the place she never wanted to leave. With him, in his arms, and by his side. Forever.

With a soft sigh, he broke the kiss and drew her against his body. The rapid rise and fall of his chest and the erratic thump of his heartbeat told her he was just as affected by their kiss as she was.

“Mercy?” he whispered.

“Hmmm.”

“I love you and want to marry you today.”

She pulled back to look into his beautiful eyes. She couldn’t help but smile at the eagerness there. “Today? On board the steamer?”

“I’ve just decided I’m not leaving on that steamer.”

“You’re not?” She tugged away a little further, needing to put more distance between them so she could think clearly.