Miss Debenham's Secret (The Husband Hunters Club 5.50)

She peeped up at him, and he was smiling down at her. He bent his head to brush her lips with hers, so gently, as if she might break, or reject him. She kissed him more firmly, just to make sure he couldn’t still believe she didn’t want him, or that he was a burden.

“Do you know,” she murmured, “I still have that fossil I found, that day under the cliffs. I’ve kept it all these years.”

“We will revisit Lyme,” he announced, “and I will take you sailing. I miss the sea. Where I live now there is a lake, but it isn’t the same.”

“And will you capsize the boat again?” she teased.

He kissed the tip of her nose. “If you wish.”

Clarissa laughed. “I wonder what my pupils must think.”

“Your stern reputation will be shattered forever,” he sighed, and then laughed too. After a moment he said, more seriously, “Will you marry me, my love? Will you be my wife? I promise not to be a burden on you, indeed I am quite well off these days. I inherited my uncle’s estate and we do quite nicely.”

Clarissa thought a moment. “There is my school,” she said, with a little frown, “but I have been thinking lately that Annie would make a fine headmistress. I could safely leave it in her hands. And do you know, I miss the days when I ran the village school in Lyme. Is there somewhere . . .”

He gave her a quizzical smile. “You are amazing, Clarissa, and yes, there is somewhere. My estate has a great many families who need their children schooled. If that is what you truly want, my love? Believe me, I do not mind sharing you with this place. I have learned to compromise at last.”

“Then yes, I will marry you,” she announced, “and I do not want to waste a moment of the time we have left together.”

“Neither do I, my bonnie lassie,” he murmured, his voice deepening, as he leaned forward for another kiss.