Realizing she needed some time, Arthur did not contact Mary for a while. After a couple days, he returned to find her sitting atop the hitching rail outside the barn, her feet dangling. He went and hopped onto it to take the space beside her.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did," Arthur said and chuckled as he caught himself, "with words this time."

"I knew everything you felt when you looked at me," she said.

He nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. It was a connection they'd shared for a while. "How you been?" he said.

She sighed as she looked at the horizon, trying to bridle the goosebumps that spread over her whenever she thought about the other day. "A little dazed," she chuckled. "But I've missed you. I'd just…never kissed a man like that before. Never done anything like that before."

He shook his head. "To tell you the truth, I don't even know how it got that far."

"I do," she said.

Surprised, he looked over to see her grinning. He nudged her with his arm as he guffawed, "Naw! Get outta here!"

"Is it so surprising to think that I might want you as much as you want me?"

"A sweet, buttoned-up gal like you?" He scoffed. "I can tell you right now that ain't possible."

"Don't be so sure, cowboy," she said with a gleam in her eye. "All it takes is the right man—a good man—"

"I've never been accused of being one of them," he said.

"To light the embers that start a fire, even for a 'buttoned-up' gal like me," she smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "It just amazes me that I let it escalate to that point. I've always been a person of certain convictions." She looked up at him and chuckled. "But strange things happen inside me when you come around, Arthur. I've never felt this way before about anybody." She turned towards him and rested her forearm across his leather-clad shoulder as he sat slumped in his usual manner. She reached back and ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck until her forefinger rested on the soft space behind his ear. She watched as his eyes began to close at her touch. "God, I love you, Arthur Morgan," she whispered. "But I almost lost myself in you the other day. I can't abandon who I am."

"And I would never ask you to," he said. "I love who you are, just exactly the way you are. Convictions and propriety and all. I'm sorry about what happened."

"Don't say that," she whispered. "I'm not."

He looked at her and tried to keep from grinning. When he saw the earnest yearning in her eyes, he took her hand in his, and his expression turned pensive. "But no matter how desperately I want you, I do desire to honor you, Mary. I hope you know that."

"I know," she smiled. "And I know you love me. Which is why I know you'll understand when I say that if you love me, we'll need to refrain from touching the way we did until we're married."

His eyebrows shot up, and he smiled. "Are you proposing marriage, Mary Gillis?"

"I am."

He leaned in to kiss her, feeling her soft, full lips and the warmth of her tongue against his. She brought her hands up to rest on his chest. He slipped an arm around her waist bringing her closer, and he felt himself starting to lose his breath, starting to lose himself in the kiss.

He pulled away and sighed. "You know…" he said as he raised a hand to the back of his neck and began rubbing it fiercely, "I'm not so good with laws, Mary. I might need some practical help with this whole…waiting until marriage thing."

She smiled. "I trust you."

"Well then…maybe we should limit the number of kisses until we get married."

She smiled and nodded. "How about…three kisses each time we see each other?"

"Starting now?" he said.

She smiled brightly as she leaned in to kiss him. "One… Two…" she said with each new kiss.

For the first time in his life Arthur was glad he'd actually paid attention in school during the numbers part.

Midway through kiss number three, he leapt up off the hitching rail and took two big steps backward, coughing nervously. He pointed at the distance between them. "Mm…maybe we should stand a few feet apart from each other," he said from underneath his furrowed brows.

Mary laughed.