Tingles immediately swept over her as he deepened the kiss, not drawing back for a good few moments, although since he immediately drew her against him and kissed her again, it turned into several minutes of being soundly kissed by a man who’d certainlybeen a bit modest when he claimed he knew how to kiss because ... good heavens.
A sigh escaped her when Owen’s lips finally left hers, and she opened her eyes to find him grinning back at her.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m of the belief we’re more than compatible,” he said.
She returned the grin. “Too right we are.”
“Perhaps we should triple-check,” he suggested before he was cupping the sides of her face with his large hands, and then he was kissing her again, sending additional tingles rushing through her and leaving her feeling rather weak in the knees.
“He shore ’nuff is kissin’ her,” Camilla heard Nems call out, which had Owen’s kiss stopping in a heartbeat as he drew back and caught her eye.
“You sure you’re up for living amongst interfering people like Nems, Meemaw, and Aunt Elma?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t want to live any other way.”
“Could you tell if they was enjoyin’ that kissin’, Nems?” Elma yelled.
“Shore seemed like it to me, Miss Elma,” Nems called back.
Owen turned his attention to where Nems had wheeled his chair into the hallway. “Could you go away?”
“Miss Elma and Miss Beulah done ordered me to come check on matters,” Nems returned. “You know they turn terrifyin’ if they’re thwarted, so I’m stayin’ right here until I can tell them the two of you is surely gettin’ hitched.”
Camilla took hold of Owen’s hand. “I think the only way we’re going to get through to the whole getting hitched part is if I take over.”
“What doestaking overmean? That you’re going to ask me to marry you because ... I wouldn’t feel right about that,” Owen said.
“I was only intending to tell Beulah, Elma, and Nems to stop interfering for a moment because I would think you’d want topropose to me without an audience, but...” Her eyes widened. “You were thinking about proposing to me just now, and before getting Elma’s approval?”
“I’m a grown man, Camilla. I don’t actually need my aunt’s approval to ask you to marry me.”
“Huh” was all Camilla could think to say to that.
Owen smiled. “Now you’re starting to sound like me, but to return to proposing, maybe I should wait until I can do it properly.”
“Defineproperly.”
“I was thinking you might like it if I escorted you through a field of daisies, stopped right in the middle of them, got down on one knee, and asked you to marry me, but only after I told you I love you, of course.”
“What in tarnation is keepin’ the two of you so long?” Elma bellowed.
Camilla bit back a grin. “Clearly, Elma is getting restless, so I’m thinking your field-of-daisies option is probably not going to happen.” She reached up and touched Owen’s face. “I can picture that scene perfectly in my mind, though, and it is truly romantic, especially since we’re surrounded by daisies, you’re down on one knee, but more importantly, you’ve just told me you love me.”
Owen took hold of her hand. “And what is your response to that declaration?”
“I love you as well,” she didn’t hesitate to say.
“You love me?”
She stood on tiptoe, pressed her lips to his, then smiled. “You, Mr. Owen Chesterfield, are the only man I would have ever abandoned my vow of spinsterhood for because you are my perfect match in every way, and with you, I know I will live that happily-ever-after I’ve always dreamed of living but never thought I’d experience ... until I met my match in you.”
Epilogue
TWO MONTHS LATER
“I must admit I never expected your mother to get along so well with Owen’s family,” Hubert Pierpont said as he and Camilla strolled around the lawn of the country house Camilla and Luella had decided was best left simply called Chesterfield Manor, since any other name they might come up with would undoubtedly be turned into something worse than Moonshine Manor. “I don’t believe your mother, Beulah, or Elma have stopped talking since the wedding earlier this afternoon.”
Camilla’s gaze settled on where her mother was, indeed, chatting with Beulah and Elma, having been joined by Betty Lou, Owen’s mother, who’d promptly moved home after Luella sent her a telegram telling her she didn’t want to miss out on the excitement happening in Wheeling.
