After a morning with Lady Russell in the lower part of town, Anne found herself walking back to Camden Place alone and suddenly desiring marchpane. She entered Molland's around twelve o'clock and immediately found Frederick sitting at a table. He had been at the shop since it opened, eventually taking a seat and consuming vast quantities of tea as an excuse to remain there. He acted surprised and greeted her, she quickly made her purchase, and he gallantly offered to escort her home.
Once outside, they found a comparatively quiet and retired gravel walk, where the power of conversation would make the present hour a blessing indeed. After all the delays and disappointments, Frederick wasted no time raising the one subject occupying both their minds. He turned to face her, his eyes piercing into her soul.
"Anne, you alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. I was a fool to not come back for you earlier when I had the chance, and I do not want to go another day without you by my side. Will you do me the greatest honour of becoming my wife?"
He stood a bit stiffly, an underlying current of uncertainty flickering across his handsome features. Though her recent actions, along with the delight currently awash over her face, should have given him full confidence, he could not help remembering the disastrous results of his first and second proposal. In truth, he would not be at ease until they were irrevocably joined in holy matrimony, but he still felt a great weight lifted when she replied,
"Yes, Frederick, I will. Nothing would make me happier."
For a few moments, they lost themselves in each other's gaze, ecstatic to be reunited. It would be difficult to say who was happier: she, in receiving a third proposal from him, or he in having it accepted.
Soon, however, a look of uneasiness, perhaps even embarrassment, passed over her face.
Recalling her change in countenance that preceded his dashed hopes in the shepherd's hut, Frederick asked tensely, half afraid of the answer, "What is it, Anne?"
"I… I hope you did not find my behaviour last night too shocking. I wanted to tell you how I felt, and did not know what else to do."
His face immediately softened and a chuckle escaped his lips. "Not at all. I must confess I enjoyed your boldness."
"You did?"
His eyes grew playful and, watching for her reaction, he leaned closer and whispered, "I hope you continue to be bold when we are married."
A flush spread up her face and a thrill ran down her spine. That he did not disapprove of her behaviour but actually liked it was liberating. Buoyed by her success at the concert, a newfound confidence rushed through her, and she barely recognised her voice when she said,
"Must I wait until we are married?"
"What do you mean?"
Adrenaline flooded into her veins. Paying no heed to the passersby and the complete impropriety of her actions, she lifted herself onto her toes, placed her hands around his neck, and pulled him towards her. Leather and sandalwood enveloped her once again, and she sighed contentedly as her lips found his. She felt him respond with a deeper kiss, his tenderness and passion sending waves of pleasure down her back and into the tips of her fingers and toes. When he moved his hands to her waist, the heat from his palms flowed through her dress and radiated into her body, igniting a new desire within her.
Feeling overcome by the sensations coursing through her, she drew back and said breathlessly,
"I have been wanting to do that for a very long time."