She liked him. It came as a complete shock. Ted Folley. She could hardly believe it. The boy she and her friends had always laughed at, back when she had friends. She’d thought his tender feelings for her were an embarrassment, that they would fade with time, but there they were on a Friday afternoon, hiking to the top of one of the hills overlooking Lake Brynswater, Ted carrying a picnic basket, a smile on his face. The friends she’d had in school had long since abandoned her as a hopeless cause after being chased away too many times by her father when they’d come calling, but Ted, apparently, had never given up.

“What about here?” he asked as they reached the crest of the hill, near a sprawling oak tree. “It’s a pretty view.”

“Yes, it is,” she said. Her voice was quiet and small under the weight of her uncomfortable thoughts.

Ted set the picnic basket in the grass, then reached out for the blanket she’d been carrying. Together, they spread it in the shade, then sat. Ted opened the basket, and they unpacked it together, setting out their meal. June didn’t have a clue what to say.

“I think Oliver was happy to be left in charge of the pub,” Ted said as they started eating.

“You think so?” June nibbled at the corner of the pasty she’d made as part of a batch for both the picnic and for the pub earlier.

Ted nodded, swallowing the bite he’d been chewing. “He’s an ambitious young chap. I have half a mind to give him more responsibility. Maybe that way the two of us could have more free time.”

Free time. June stared at him, barely grasping the concept. Old, tired suspicions tried to flare up in her, urging her to question his motives and the consequences for her. Instead of indulging those thoughts, she forced herself to take a slow breath and say, “I haven’t had free time in nearly fifteen years.”

Ted had been staring out at the lake, but he turned to her, his brow inching up. The surprise in his expression left June wondering if he understood just how much effort she’d put into taking his comment for what it was. “It must feel strange not to be up to your eyeballs in work.”

Something seemed to uncoil in June’s chest, stretching as if awaking from a deep slumber full of bad dreams. “Yes,” she admitted. “I don’t know what to do with myself. This is all so…unfamiliar.”

Ted reached for her hand, giving it a simple squeeze. He didn’t laugh or argue with her or tell her she shouldn’t feel the way she did. He didn’t say anything at all. He just kept eating his pasty.

“I’m going to put on a few pounds,” he laughed several minutes later, after finishing his pasty and picking up a second one. “Your cooking is simply delicious.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. It wasn’t a beaming smile, but it felt good. In all her life, her father and brothers hadn’t complimented her cooking once. But Ted had said something gracious at every meal. More than that, the pub’s customers had fawned all over the pies and stews and other dishes she’d made for Ted to sell. She’d never dreamed that men could be so appreciative.

“Did your mother teach you to cook?” Ted asked after another long silence.

June nodded. “She started teaching me when I was barely big enough to hold a spoon. It’s a good thing too. Her death was so unexpected, but I knew enough to pick up right where she’d left off.”

Ted’s expression grew soft. “It was sudden, wasn’t it?”

June nodded, lowering her head. “She didn’t say anything, but I think she was with child, and something went wrong when she lost it. She was over forty, after all.”

Ted hummed sympathetically, nodding. “I missed you terribly when you stopped coming to school,” he said.

The odd feeling in June’s chest intensified. “I don’t know why. I was never very nice to you.” She lowered her head, lashed by old guilt.

To her surprise, Ted chuckled. “No one in school was particularly nice to me. I can’t say as I blame them, really.”

She snapped up to meet his eyes. “Why?”

Ted shrugged. “Children can be cruel when someone doesn’t fit in. I grew faster than everyone else. My ears stuck out. I kept tripping over my feet and knocking things over because I didn’t know how big my hands were. I didn’t know how to talk to anyone, and I didn’t understand the way the other kids were.”

“Still, we should have been nicer to you,” June insisted.

“You were nice to me,” Ted said, surprised.

“No, I don’t think I was.” She glanced away, remembering a dozen times when she’d laughed at him or played pranks on him with her friends.

“You gave me your pencil when I broke mine,” he told her. “You shared your lunch with me every time my mother forgot mine. You kicked Bert Norris in the shin when he made fun of me that time my pants split.”

Heat rose to June’s face. She hadn’t remembered any of those things until he reminded her. All she’d remembered was how awkward and grubby Ted had been, how everyone had made fun of him for being poor. But she supposed she had stood up for him a time or two. He’d embarrassed her, but she’d felt sorry for him. At least until her mother died and she hadn’t had time to feel sorry for anyone but herself.

“I used to sneak by your house on the way home from school, after you stopped coming,” Ted went on, his cheeks going pink. “Just to make sure you were all right. I left flowers on your windowsill a few times.”

June’s eyes went wide. “That was you?” Her throat squeezed tight. Ted nodded. “I used to think my mother sent those flowers to me from heaven, to keep me going.” She blinked away the tears that stung her eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

Ted answered with a bashful smile. He reached for her hand to give it another squeeze, but this time she caught his fingers, refusing to let him go. It didn’t make sense to her, not one bit. Why anyone would look out for her so steadfastly when she was so lost to anything other than the prison of her family was beyond her, but Ted had been there all along. It wasn’t just the flowers or the way he always offered to help her drag her father and brothers home from the pub. The more she thought about it, the more she realized how often she’d seen him passing by their house when he had no business in their part of town, the way he’d been there to help her carry parcels after she’d done some shopping, the way she’d sometimes felt someone was watching out for her when she was alone in the dark. It could have been coincidence or the part of her that knew better now imposing on distant memories, but she wanted to believe she hadn’t been alone.

And now he’d given her something she’d never imagined she’d have. She thought she’d fallen out of the frying pan into the fire when he barged in and married her over the price of a bar tab—if they truly were married—but what he’d really done was freed her. And she could keep that freedom. All she had to do was go along with the ridiculousness of their mock marriage. She could make it real and stay with him forever.

“Ted,” she began, lowering her eyes, her heart and stomach quivering with uncertainty. “The banns will be read for the third time this Sunday.”

“Yes,” he said, his grip tightening around her hand, leaning closer to her, his gaze dropping to her lips.

“I think I’d like to—”

“There you two are.”

Tension slammed back into June at the sight of her father rounding the top of the hill, all three of her brothers trailing behind them, that it caused physical pain. She yanked away from Ted and stood so fast she felt dizzy. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

Ted leapt to his feet by her side, shielding her with one arm. “You’re not welcome here. My wife and I are having a picnic. Alone.”

Her father made a snorting noise that turned into a wheeze as he came to a stop a few yards in front of them. He bent over to catch his breath for a second, her brothers doing the same once they reached her father’s side. They all looked terrible—dirty, unkempt, their clothes filthy. Billy looked pale and miserable.

“I’ve had enough of this farce,” her father said at last, pushing himself straight. “Stop playing around and come home.” He made a move to grab June’s wrist.

Ted stepped between them, glowering. “Don’t touch her,” he barked. “Go away at once.”

“Who do you think you are to keep me from my daughter?” June’s father shouted.

“Her husband,” Ted answered.

Her father scoffed. “No, you aren’t.” He tried to step around Ted but didn’t get very far. Ted kept himself firmly between them. Her father’s patience snapped far faster than June would have expected it to. “Tell this oaf to get out of my way. You’re coming home at once.”

“And why do you think I’m going anywhere?” June asked, crossing her arms. If she were honest with herself, she rather liked the way Ted was acting as her shield. She shouldn’t use him that way, but it was nice to be protected.

“Please come home,” Billy pleaded, stepping forward. “It’s just awful without you.”

June rolled her eyes and let out an impatient breath. “It’s been almost a fortnight. Have you still not learned how to take care of yourselves?”

“It isn’t a man’s job to keep house,” Wat insisted, glaring at her. “That’s woman’s work.”

“It’s the work of whoever has to do it,” Ted insisted.

“We shouldn’t have to do any of it,” June’s father said. “It’s your place, not ours.”

“And it’s not fair that you’re cooking for half the town now while we haven’t had a decent meal since you’ve left,” Chaz cut in before June could reply to her father.

“I say you should sell your food to people so that we can get that money, not him,” Wat added, sneering at Ted.

“Especially with the summer festival tomorrow,” Chaz agreed. “You at least have to bake your pie so we win the prize.”

“Enough of this,” Ted silenced them just as they looked to be gaining steam. “We’ve been over all of it before. You’re wasting your time by constantly pestering us. June is not going back with you.” He paused, then turned to her. “Are you?”

A strange, fluttery feeling passed through June’s heart and gut. The moment had come for her to put her foot down one way or another. The decision was hers.

She let a long silence go by before stepping out from behind Ted. “I’ll not deny that you are my father and you are my brothers,” she said, meeting each man’s eyes one by one. “We are family, and nothing can ever change that.”

Her father grinned as though he’d scored a victory. “See? She’s ours, not yours.”

“I am not yours,” she said, voice firm, squaring her shoulders. “If you’d been even the least bit kind to me since Mother died, I might have felt otherwise. But I’ve fulfilled my duty to you. You handed me over to Ted yourself, whether you thought it was a joke or not. You should have thought things through if you didn’t want me to leave.”

“We’ll be kind to you,” Billy blurted. “Come home and we’ll be so kind to you.”

“Yeah,” Chaz said, giving Billy a worrying sideways look. “We’ll treat you nice, as long as you help us.”

“We’ll be perfect angels,” her father agreed, though June knew the shifty look in his eyes a little too well. Billy and Chaz might be on the verge of understanding just what had driven her away, but her father was too conniving, and Wat was simply too mean to care.

June huffed out an impatient breath, shaking her head. “I’m sorry that you’re not happy. Maybe you three should start looking for wives of your own if you’re that miserable.” Though she wouldn’t honestly recommend her brothers to any woman.

“Why should we look elsewhere when we’ve got you?” Wat asked, scowling.

“Because you don’t have her,” Ted said, shifting back to stand between June and her family. “Now go away.”

“Aww, but June.”

“It’s not fair.”

“You belong with us.”

“Go away!” June shouted over the chorus of complaints. It was long past time she put her foot down for good. “If I ever lift another finger to help you, it’ll be because I felt sorry for you, not because you twisted my arm or begged or did anything else to show me how pathetic you are.”

“So you’re saying you would come back?” her father asked. “If you felt sorry enough?”

“I’d have to feel very sorry indeed,” she said. “Now go.”

“You heard her,” Ted said, taking a step toward her father. “June wants you to go, so go.”

“All right, all right.” Her father held up his hands, backing away. “We can see when we’re not wanted. But you are wanted, June. We want you sorely. We truly can’t get by without you. Our lives just aren’t the same. We’re beyond hopeless. But we’ll go.” He hung his head and turned away, pushing her brothers in front of him.

June pressed her lips tightly shut, watching them go through narrowed eyes. She knew when her father was up to something. He’d tried to pile guilt on her shoulders with his last speech, but it was all an act, she could see. Just another way he was plotting against her.

When her family was well and truly gone, Ted turned back to her. A look of deep worry creased his brow. His shoulders were tense, and he studied her with uncertainty. “If you do want to go back to them, I won’t stop you.”

She let out a breath and shook her head. “Right now, I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to sit down on this blanket and let the afternoon sun bake me.” She turned back to their picnic and sat stubbornly, unwilling to let anyone ruin the first peaceful day she’d had for a long time.

As she gathered up the pieces of their picnic, putting the food they hadn’t eaten back in the basket, Ted came to sit with her. Uncertainty rippled off of him. That irritated her as much as anything else, not because he was uncertain, but because her father’s words had unsettled him. Ted didn’t have enough experience with wicked and conniving men to know when he was being manipulated. And there was something she liked about that. Ted was guileless.

On a whim, as soon as the picnic was repacked, she set the basket aside and scooted to sit right next to him, her hip touching his. She looped her arm through his and pecked his cheek before she could think twice about it. Ted’s eyes went wide, and he stared at her in disbelief.

“Thank you for defending me,” she said. “Not just now, but every time in the past too. I’m sorry that I didn’t always recognize that’s what you were doing. It’s hard to see kindness when you’ve been surrounded by nothing but…that.” She nodded in the direction her father and brothers had gone off in.

“June, I love you,” he said, quickly and with emotion. His declaration was so sudden that her breath caught in her lungs. “I’ve always loved you. I love you even more now. And I…I….”

Instead of words, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, slanting his mouth over hers. It was her turn to be surprised. His kiss was so unexpected and so ardent that she didn’t even think to push him away. She couldn’t think of anything but how powerful his arms felt around her and how tenderly his lips parted hers.

It had been ages since she’d been kissed, and even those kisses had been nothing more than childish pecks. Ted’s kiss seemed to touch more than just her mouth. It sent her blood racing through her body, igniting every part of her as it went. The urge to melt into him was powerful, so powerful that she didn’t even think of ending their kiss or pushing away. In fact, she wanted more. She wanted to be enveloped in the heady sensation of desire that flooded her. Nothing had ever felt so intimate or so wonderful.

Too soon, he broke their kiss, pulling back, tension hardening his muscles. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was too much too fast. I shouldn’t have thrown myself at you like that.”

“No, no,” she protested, breathless, chest heaving. “I liked it.”

His brow shot up. “You did?”

She nodded, her skin still prickling, the swooping, swirling sensations caused by being in his arms increasing. “It was good.” She could have winced at herself for such idiotic, simple words. Instead, she said, “Kiss me again.”

“All right,” he said, surging into her.

His mouth closed over hers once more, and the urgent sensation of pleasure overtook her for a second time. She had never imagined that kissing someone could feel so good, or that it could lead to deeper sensations. She wanted something from him, wanted to be a part of him. It would have been easy to call it animal instinct, but there was more to it than that. In all her years of misery, whether she’d known it or not, Ted had been her one constant of hope. Now that she knew it, she wanted more, much more.

She gripped the fabric of his shirt in her hands, throwing herself into intimacy with him. It felt so right, as if his embrace was what she’d been waiting for without even knowing it. Her world tipped sideways, and it took her a moment to realize Ted had rolled her to her back. He continued to kiss her, his body poised over hers, and the soul-deep need she felt for him increased a thousand-fold.

“Yes,” she whispered, pulling at the hem of his shirt so that she could touch his bare skin. “This is what I want.”

“Are you certain?” he asked, panting and restless. It was only when she realized his restlessness was because he was trying to peel his shirt off with one hand that she recognized how ready she was for everything that was happening so suddenly between them.

“Yes,” she repeated, helping him tug his shirt over his head.

She spread her hands across his chest as he tossed his shirt to the side. He was every bit as well formed as she’d imagined he might be the day they’d been working in the kitchen together. Better still, the way he kissed her again, his body poised above while his mouth worked magic against hers, was surprisingly confident for him. He wanted her as much as she suddenly wanted him, but she somehow knew that his need ran much deeper and had lived with him for far longer. Knowing that, knowing how his heart must be rejoicing to have her in his arms at last, was even more exciting than their bodies’ desires.

The excitement built and built within her. Regardless of banns and church services, she would truly be his if they completed this mad journey they’d rushed into. And more than anything, in that moment, she wanted to be Ted’s, beyond any shadow of a doubt. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, in his arms, his life, his bed. She wanted to be known by his name, to give all of her efforts to his pub, to bear his children, and spend the rest of her days thanking him for never giving up on her, for never abandoning her.

She wriggled beneath him, parting her legs and pressing her hips against the stiff evidence of his desire to signal to him she was his for the taking. Part of her worried that he would be too good, too pure to understand what she wanted, or that he considered her something fragile that shouldn’t be touched. But to her surprise, he let out a groan of acceptance as she moved against him and reached for the hem of her skirts.

A whole new sort of breathless excitement filled her as they worked together to hike her skirts and petticoats up over her hips. Anticipation sizzled through her at the thought that, within seconds, they would pass the point of no return. Her life would never be the same, and yet, knowing that, she reached clumsily for the front of his trousers, helping him undo the buttons and push them down over his hips.

It happened so fast that she didn’t have time to worry about whether it would hurt or whether she would like it. He pushed inside of her, filling her tightly. The sensation was hot and intimate, and she moaned with the pleasure of it. The sounds he made as he moved inside of her matched her uncontrollable gasps of delight. Her body seemed made for him to inhabit. He embraced him, digging her fingertips into the flesh of his back as he moved more and more insistently inside of her.

It was more than just the friction of their bodies melding. Her heart felt as though it’d been set free from a cage and was now growing bigger and bigger as the sensations mounted inside of her. Ted was hers and would be for the rest of their lives. Everything she was feeling now, with him inside of her, could be hers whenever she wanted. The sheer joy of it, the feeling that this was not just his reward for waiting so long, but hers for suffering so much made everything ten times more potent.

She was certain they were on the verge of losing their minds together when the coil of pleasure that had been building inside of her snapped, sending wave after wave of bliss through her. She cried out at the beauty of it, and within moments, Ted responded with a heart-felt sigh of his own. His body tensed and heated, and for a moment she had the glorious sense that they were one person for a moment, and that one person was a being made of love.

Even as the climax of their passion crested and began to fade, she was left with a feeling of peace and harmony, and above all, safety. It didn’t matter that they were out in the open on the top of a hill. They could have been snug in their bed in the middle of the night and she still would have felt as though they were the only two people in the world. At last, after what had been an interminable night full of sorrow, she felt as though the dawn were breaking.