She turned her head to give his shoulder a pecking kiss, then rolled away.

“Why don’t you stay here and I’ll get the soup?”

She tossed a look over her shoulder as she walked to the closet for the robe she’d finally gotten around to buying. “Clever of you to suggest that after I was already up.”

“I thought so. And since you caught me, I’ll throw some clothes on and come out and give you a hand.”

“Fine. Bring out that wet heap in the bathroom while you’re at it.”

Wet heap? It took him a minute to remember, so she was already out of the room when he leaped out of bed and snatched up his sodden pants from the floor. Digging in the pocket, he let out a breath as his fingers closed around a small box.

She had a round loaf of bread on a cutting board and was ladling up wide bowls of soup when he came in. She looked so pretty, so at home in her soft pink robe, he thought, her feet bare, her hair a little mussed.

“Nell, why don’t we let that cool a minute?”

“We’ll need to. Do you want some wine?”

“In a minute.” Odd, he thought he’d be nervous, at least a little. Instead he was rock calm. He laid his hands on her shoulders, turned her, then ran them down to her elbows. “I love you, Nell.”

“I—”

It was as far as she got before his lips silenced hers.

“I thought of different ways to do this. Taking you for a drive one night, or a walk on the beach next full moon. Or for a fancy dinner at the hotel. But this is the right way for us, the right place, and the right time.”

The little flutter in her stomach was a warning. But she couldn’t step back. She couldn’t move at all.

“I thought of different ways to ask you, what words might suit best, and how I should say them. But the only ones that come to me right now are I love you, Nell. Marry me.”

The breath that she had been holding released as joy and grief waged a helpless war inside her. “Zack. We’ve been together such a short time.”

“We can wait a while to get married if you want, though I don’t see the point in it.”

“Why can’t we just leave things the way they are?”

Of all the reactions he’d been expecting, the hitch of fear in her voice hadn’t been among them. “Because we need a place of our own, a life of our own, not pieces of yours and mine.”

“Marriage is just a legality. That’s all.” She turned away, reached blindly into the cupboard for glasses.