‘Oh …’ A smile, a real one, trembles into life as she turns to him. ‘I thought Papa told you to wait?’

‘He did, but we’ve done enough waiting, don’t you think?’

Elizabeth nods vehemently. ‘I do.’

‘Well then, as we’re here alone, and this is the place where you’re just Elizabeth, I say we forget about protocol,’ Philip says. ‘Let’s agree that we want to get married because it suits us and because we think we can make it work, and to hell with everybody else. We may not be lovers, but we’re friends and we can be partners.’

‘Exactly,’ Elizabeth says, wishing she could have put it that clearly. Perhaps it would have been nice to have been lovers as well as friends and partners, but there is no use in longing for the impossible and at least this way she will be with Philip. That is what matters.

‘In that case, let’s forget about what your father thinks and what the government thinks and what the public thinks,’ he goes on. ‘Let’s decide what we want.’ His hand tightens around hers. ‘Will you marry me, Elizabeth, and be my wife so that we can face whatever the future brings side by side?’

Relief and happiness are making Elizabeth feel giddy. ‘Yes,’ she says, smiling, curling her fingers to tangle with his. ‘Yes, I will, Philip.’

He throws back his head and laughs. ‘Well, that went better than I thought!’

‘You must have known I would say yes.’

Philip sobers at that. ‘I wasn’t sure. I know you don’t want to disappoint your father. They’re not going to like it,’ he warns.

‘This is all I’m asking for myself,’ Elizabeth says. ‘I don’t think it’s too much.’

‘I don’t either,’ he says. He eases her down onto the boulder. ‘And now all that’s agreed, can I kiss you?’

Laughing shakily, she slides her hands up to his shoulders. ‘I was hoping you would.’

Chapter 28

It is an enchanted morning, one Elizabeth tells herself she will remember for ever. When things are hard, as they will be, this is the memory she will turn to: the breeze, just enough to keep the midges at bay, ruffling their hair tenderly; the curlew calling in the distance; the mountains standing guard.

And Philip beside her. The warmth of his hand around hers, the way his eyes crease when he smiles. His mouth. That, especially. Thinking about the way it feels when he kisses her, when he touches her, sets a fine tremor going in the pit of her belly. It is a strange feeling, half thrilled, half languid, as if she is drenched in the sunshine that pours down and through her, seeping into every last inch of her and bringing a warm throb of happiness.

They won’t like it, Philip warned and Elizabeth knows he is right, but she doesn’t want to think about the difficulties ahead, not yet.

They sit by the loch, leaning against each other, talking in a way they have never been able to before. Because now everything has changed.