"M'lady Claire I think that you can read my mind," She had spoken exactly what he had been thinking. Not since his brief encounter with Eve did he feel toward a woman the way he felt toward this glorious fair lady on his arm. He stopped them, turned her to face him and mustered up the same sort of courage that had served him in war and his life as an outlaw.
"It would be my fondest wish, and deepest desire to be the man who has the honor of protecting and providing for you for the rest of my days." He took both her hands in his and gently caressed the backs of them with his thumbs, his smile was determined to grow as he spoke. "I do realize we are nearly strangers to each other and I will not rush you, nor press for things...but you, beautiful Claire, will have me at your side with only a word, when the time is right."
He recovered some of his humor after such a deep admission, and turned to move them once more toward the venders of the park. One smiling older lady in a shawl pushing a basket to his arm. The weighty woven thing smelled of food a blanket peeked over the edge of one corner. "So then...to the lake?"