Page 54 of The Pleasure in Persuasion

Either that, or she was dreaming.

Rather than pinch herself, she kissed her betrothed again, delighting in the sweet press of Frederick’s lips, the hungry caress of his hands at her back.

No. This was no dream.

“How am I so lucky?” Lily whispered, gazing up at Frederick with something akin to wonder.

“I’m the lucky one,” he said huskily, cradling her face in his hands. “When I think back over everything I did to get here—every sin I committed, every mistake I made—I understand now that all of it was necessary. Because all of it led me to you.”

Tears welled in Lily’s eyes, and she laughed sheepishly. “Now look what you’ve made me do,” she whispered. “I’m crying. I hate crying.”

“Forgive me,” Frederick said, wrapping her in his arms, his smile so tender it made her want to cry more.

He kissed her brow, her nose, her mouth, lingering there, and the sweet, gentle press of his lips on hers deepened, intensified, until Lily was weak in the knees, and tingling all over.

“Tell me,” he said several moments later, “exactly how long will this long engagement be? One week? Two?” His teeth grazed her earlobe, making her shiver.

“I thought, perhaps, three months?”

“Three months.” She could hear his throat working as he swallowed. “Is that number negotiable?”

Lily leaned back and arched a brow. “You said you would wait. However long I need you to.”

“You’re right. I did.” He swallowed again. “It is only that I want you so badly. I want to be with you. But, of course, I will wait for as long—”

Lily kissed him, cutting off his words. “I only said I want to wait three months before we marry. I said nothing about waiting for anything else.”

Frederick’s eyes darkened and his mouth captured hers, as surely as he’d captured her heart. They kissed in Mr. Richardson’s field to the sweet scent of wild grass beneath the soft haze of a late-October sky.

“Oh, dear,” Lily said sometime later, scanning the empty field around them. “Blythe is gone. We’ll have to find her again.”

Chuckling, Frederick touched his forehead to hers. “Remind me to give that gorgeous cow an extra carrot when we get her back to the inn.”

“Whatever for?” she asked with a smile.

“For bringing us together, of course.”

Lily eased back to gaze into his eyes, her heart brimming with so much love it ached. “For that, I think she deserves two extra carrots, don’t you?”

“Two extra carrots,” he agreed with a smile. “Every single day for the rest of her hopefully very long life.”

And after stealing one more kiss from her husband-to-be, Lily slipped her hand in his and, not for the last time, the two set off in search of their wayward bovine matchmaker.