“With all my heart.” She might have said more, but in the very next instant, his head lowered to hers, and he captured her mouth in a slow and thoroughly devastating kiss.

Heat sparked in her veins, flooding her body with knee-weakening warmth. There was nothing she could do but circle her arms around his neck, stand up on the toes of her muddied half boots, and kiss him back. Softly, sweetly. A deep, clinging kiss that left them both breathless.

He made a sound low in his throat. Rather like a growl.

She smiled against his mouth. “If we haven’t yet caused a scandal, I suspect we’re about to.”

He nuzzled her cheek. “No one can see us.”

“That we know of.” She slowly drew back from him. “It’s a wonder Mrs. Atkyns hasn’t asked what I’m doing here.”

“If she does, we can t-tell her we’re engaged.” He took her left hand in his. “I must buy you a…a ring. Something bright and beautiful, just as you are.”

She blushed rosily. “A plain wedding band will suffice.”

“You deserve the best.”

“It’s lovely of you to say so, but truly, I don’t require anything expensive.” She twined her fingers through his. “You shall see, I can live as cheaply as you do, and will be quite content to do so, in the rooms above the stable, or wherever you choose for us to settle. I’m accustomed to being frugal.”

His brows lowered. He searched her face. “What about here?”

She gave him a questioning look.

He turned her attention to the paddock. The ponies were still standing, grazing in the mist. In the distance, the clouds had parted, and a faint rainbow shimmered in the sky.

Clara inhaled a breath of wonder. “Do you know, with all the rain in Devon, I’d have expected to have seen one sooner.”

“Haven’t you?”

She shook her head. “This is the first. And it’s fitting, isn’t it? To see such a thing in this magical place, and on such a day as this.”

“You find the farm magical?”

“With the moors, and the mist, it seems an enchanted landscape. I do believe it could be the setting for an epic romance.”

“Perhaps it will be.”

She turned to look at him, her pulse quickening.

He looked steadily back at her. “But only if you want it. Only if…if you approve.”

“Of course I approve. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. But…” She could think of no delicate way to put it. “The expense is too great. We couldn’t possibly afford it.”

“No,” he said. “Not to buy. But to lease, yes. Easily.”

Easily?

“But how?” she asked.