Gentle Rogue question

Hi, I am looking for the name/author of a historical romance novel that both my, now deceased, sister and I loved. I think we read it in the late 80s early 90s. One part I remember at the end of the book was that the main character is working in a garden with another female and her love (a ship captain) comes walking up/finds her. I just cant seem to remember the name/author of the book