“Me, too.”
Stanley barked just then, startling Grace. She’d almost forgotten the little dog was there, so lost was she in the moment.
“I’m glad you’re here, too, Stanley,” Ryan laughed.
Stanley spun in a circle, clearly thrilled, and then barrelled along the trail as far as the lead would allow him to go, before pausing again to sniff at the base of an old tree trunk. As Ryan squeezed her hand and the birds chirped in the branches overhead and the sunlight slanted through the leaves and cast a golden glow on the woodland trail before them, Grace felt filled for the first time in a long time with joy and contentment.
And with something that felt a lot like happiness.
Ten minutes later, they emerged from the woodland and followed the trail past an old church that rose up from the sloping grassland on the edge of the next rise. The church was small and long abandoned, its roof gone and its stone wallstilting into ruins. Frost-heaved gravestones marked the final resting places of the dead who were buried in the churchyard, and a clutch of wild apple and cherry trees huddled along its western edge, their leaves dancing in the summer wind.
A short distance beyond the old ruined church, they found a weather-worn wooden bench nestled beneath an oak tree that stood at the crest of a gentle incline, and which offered views across the undulating chalky grasslands. Grace and Ryan headed towards the bench and sat down, while Stanley got to work sniffing around the trunk of the oak tree. The sound of the breeze moving through the branches and leaves of the grand old tree was peaceful and soothing.
“These views are spectacular,” Grace said, gazing out across the verdant grassland to the pastures beyond. Shielding her eyes from the bright sky, she focused on the far distance, where a deep blue sliver of the Solent could be seen shimmering beneath the sunlight. “I can just about make out the coast from up here.”
Ryan lifted his hand above his eyes and also gazed out to the horizon. “You’re right. It’s a clear day. Perfect for this sort of thing.”
“Your grandma is missing a great view.”
“She won’t mind.”
Ryan dropped his hand from his eyes and threaded his fingers through Grace’s. The sensation of his hand covering hers was nothing short of wonderful. The soft expression on his face as he looked into her eyes made her breath hitch.
Grace had never been the sort of woman who experienced silly physical flashes such as these when in the presence of a man she found attractive, and she couldn’t help wondering about the rash of them she was having right now. Perhaps it had just been so long since she’d been in the company of a man she found attractive that she’d forgotten what it felt like.
Or perhaps it was simply that Ryan was unlike any man she’d ever known before. Being close to him like this, with their hands clasped together while surrounded by this beautiful countryside, felt incredibly special.
“I think I have a confession to make,” Ryan said.
“That doesn’t sound very promising,” Grace replied, smiling but also hoping she hadn’t been romanticising a situation that was about to blow up in her face, depending on what Ryan was about to tell her.
“I had a suspicion my grandmother was up to something before we drove here this morning.”
Grace released the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, and relief mixed with amusement as she nodded for Ryan to continue.
“After I told Grandma that you’d been in touch to say you wanted to join us for a walk after all, she suddenly decided to change the destination we’d opted for. Last night, she picked out a few places she might like to go, but had settled on one of the other choices. She said she’d simply changed her mind, but when we were in that café and she suddenly started talking about how her friend ran the gift shop across the road, I started to wonder if she was up to something.”
Grace nodded. “You looked quite suspicious when she was talking on the phone to her friend.”
“That whole phone conversation she had with the woman from the gift shop sounded pretty strange to me, and just a little rehearsed. I think Grandma might have been in touch with the woman before we even got here, and planned this whole thing so she could leave us to our own devices. Making sure she had a local confederate who was nearby and free to spend time with her gave her the perfect excuse.”
“It’s all rather crafty of her. But sort of sweet, too.”
Ryan smiled and gave a nod of agreement. “Although I was suspicious, I didn’t want to say anything while her whole charade was unfolding. It would’ve been embarrassing to rumble her.”
“And a bit mean of you, too. She did go to quite a bit of trouble to make sure we ended up on this walk by ourselves.” Grace smiled and ran her fingers across the back of Ryan’s hand, savouring the sensation of his skin beneath hers.
“My annoying grandmother might have left me cringing with her meddling antics, but this…”—he lifted their joined hands—“this is what I wanted. And it’s what I hoped you wanted, too.”
His sweet words left Grace’s mind spinning, and the emotional moment set her pulse racing. She looked up from their joined hands and into Ryan’s eyes and saw the heat in his gaze.
Ryan moved closer and ran his hand across her cheek in a gentle caress before tilting her chin and dipping his lips towards hers. His kiss was soft and tender and Grace’s heart beat so hard she felt sure he must have felt it from where he’d drawn her close to his body.
Beneath the shade of the ancient oak tree, and with dappled sunlight dancing across the grasslands spread out around them, Grace sank into Ryan’s embrace and let his kiss carry her away.
