He hesitated. ‘What would you say if I told you that I don’t want to stay on Glenmore?’

She lifted a hand to his face, gently exploring the roughness of his jaw with her finger. ‘I’d say that’s fine. And I’d ask you where you want to go.’

His gaze flickered from her face to the boat. ‘I want to sail. Just the two of us. And when you’re too pregnant to move around the boat, we’ll find some dry land and make a home.’

She felt the lump building in her throat. ‘That sounds good to me.’

‘You don’t mind leaving Glenmore?’

‘I want to be wherever you are.’

He closed his eyes for a moment and then lowered his head so that his forehead brushed hers. ‘If you’ll do this, if you’ll trust me with your heart, I swear I won’t let you down, angel.’

‘I know you won’t let me down.’

His breath warmed her mouth. ‘I don’t deserve you. You’re such a good person.’

‘Actually, you’re wrong about that. I have an extremely bad side,’ she murmured, giving a soft gasp as his lips brushed the corner of her mouth. ‘Several less-than-desirable qualities, in fact.’

‘Name a few.’ His body was pressed against hers and it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate.

‘I’m useless at gossip.’

‘That’s a quality.’

‘I’m insatiable in the bedroom.’ She tilted her head back and gave him a wicked smile. ‘The problem with good girls, Conner MacNeil, is that when they discover what fun being bad can be, they never want to stop.’

‘Is that right?’ He curved his hands over her bottom and brought his mouth down on hers. And then he suddenly lifted his head and cursed softly.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘What does a person have to do to get privacy on this island?’ He stared over her shoulder and Flora turned to find what appeared to be the entire population of Glenmore gathered on the quay, watching.

Several of them held torches and Flora blinked as the beam from one almost blinded her.

‘Well?’ It was Jim who spoke and his voice carried the short distance across the quay. ‘You can’t expect to make a declaration like that in the Stag’s Head and not tell us the ending. What’s the ending? Has she said yes?’

Conner shook his head in disbelief. ‘I can’t believe this,’ he muttered. ‘The first and only time I propose to a woman and I have to do it with an audience.’

‘You should be down on one knee, Conner MacNeil,’ Ann Carne said primly, appearing at the front of the crowd, and Flora’s heart stumbled in her chest.

‘You don’t have to propose—I don’t want you to feel smothered by all this. We can just live together and—’