It had been a joke. 

He had meant it as such, certainly. Galt was forthright (for a thief), but he wasn't so forward when it came to something as serious as matrimony. He felt Silke would wave it off and get her impeccable mind to calculating some sort of scheme that would get her out of her predicament, and yet... and yet she looked at him meaningfully. She looked at him in a way a woman had never looked at him before. In the way that drew him in, and he realized at that moment he wanted her to gaze upon him like that for the rest of his life. 

The thought struck him like a hammer pounding an anvil. He didn't think one could read his mind by his small flushing. Like as not Silke would think he was embarrassed by her staring, or they were simply sharing another one of their lingering looks they so often gave one another but never spoke of. Weeks ago he had convinced himself he had been the only one interested, that it wasn't mutual. If she fancied him at all, she fancied him for being new, and perhaps his exciting rise to station piqued her interest, but nothing more surely. Now, however, he realized he had been an idiot. 

He decided to play along, guiding out his chestnut steed as she began a pleasant fiction of him attempting to get out of learning his lessons. He smiled somewhat ruefully, trying to grapple with his thoughts and thinking of nothing else but just how clever she was. He even laughed at the joke, though her comment on how attractive he was set his heart racing. By the time she finished, he had stopped his horse, and it was entirely noticeable to Silke. He took a moment to gather himself, though he did not even know that was what he was doing. It was almost like he was watching someone else in his own body. He wrapped the reins of his steed around his arm so his hands were free, and he approached her. 

Galt took her hands in his, his calluses against her soft skin, and only then was he aware of what he was doing. And he committed, though he felt as if he was only moments from shaking. 

"If I became your husband, you could teach me everything you wished to and more, whenever you wished. We would...eat dinner together and laugh together, and there would be nothing that we could not accomplish. I..." He ran his thumbs over her slim hands, his dark eyes lifting up to bore into hers. He was already drowning in her eyes. He had never felt his flight response more than this moment, and somehow he also wanted to never leave this place.

"Let's make that announcement. Let's let the people gossip and complain and fret." He ended that last word in a short breathy chuckle, as if he couldn't wait to hear what ridiculous things people had to say. "Ever since I became a lord, all the money and food and luxury has not been what's run through my thoughts. It's been you." Galt fell to a knee on the grass. They had always done that in the tales, and somehow it felt right. Gods, what was he saying? It was a miracle he could breathe. "And if you would have me, Silke, I would be honored to be your husband."