EXCUSE ME NO ONE TOLD ME THAT IAN AND BARBARA KISS IN THE CRUSADERS NOVEL
Okay in the tags everyone is like “WHAT OMG” so here you go:
(To put this into context, the story is roughly the same as the serial until the end. Instead of escaping from El Akir a second time, Barbara is flogged and Ian intervenes and saves her, then they escape with all the other girls and ride off. Everyone else leaves while Ian and Barbara are about to make their way back to the Doctor and Vicki.)
“Barbara looked across at Ian, stretched out a hand and held his. A dozen unsaid words hung between them in the understanding of that moment. Modern people though they were, they had stepped into a world of chivalry and barbarism and Ian had not failed her. She had needed him and he had come for her. She knew, whatever the age, whatever the place, whatever the circumstances, he would measure up to her every expectation.
She leant across from her horse, put her arm around his neck and kissed him softly on the lips. She sat back again, her heart beating a little faster, a slight tinge of pink at her cheeks, holding his eyes with hers.
Then they rode towards Jaffa.”