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Had he just sniffed her?
“Call me Allean.” He pulled her toward him.
Tarley tried to disengage but ended up deeper in the bush, thorns grabbing her clothes and pressing into her back. “Dr. Rufus. Stop.”
This suddenly felt familiar. As if she’d been there before.
“Our alliance would be a boon for you and your family. Just think how I can provide for you. For them.”
Her vision. The brambles. Dr. Rufus.
“Stop!”
Her vision! Like the vision of the queen! How many others had she had? Her mind raced trying to remember them while also wondering if she was in trouble. Is that what the visions were communicating? But there’d been one, the one she continued to see, of Lachlan standing near the green, smiling at her.
And as if she’d conjured him— “Tarley?”
Lachlan.
“Here,” she cried. She pushed harder against Dr. Rufus. “Speaking of Ollie. Here he is now.”
“You call him by his given name?” Rufus took a step away, releasing her, just as Lachlan broke through the brush.
Lachlan was grinning. “I’m surprised I was able to…” But the words dropped off when he saw that Tarley wasn’t alone. Now, knowing him better, she could feel him sorting through what he saw. His eyes narrowed. His smile broke, and Tarley was sure he noticed every detail. Like how close Dr. Rufus was standing. Where the doctor’s bag had dropped at his feet. How he’d shoved her into the bush. Her anger. The blackberries. The doctor’s unwelcoming frown.
“Who are you?” Lachlan demanded, surprising her. She expected his disarming charm, which she’d witnessed several times. Was he angry with her? He could have interpreted the scene incorrectly.
“Dr. Allean Rufus.” He offered Lachlan a slight bow.
Ignoring him, Lachlan strode across the meadow and helped her from the bush, looking her over. “Are you alright, Tarley?”
Relief flooded her.
“Miss Fareview,” Rufus corrected.
Lachlan’s gaze flicked to the doctor and back to her. “Tarley,” he said, and she knew it was to annoy Rufus. “Credence is looking for you.”
“Picking blackberries,” she said, raising the basket so he could see. “For Mrs. Barnwell.”
“And you are?” Dr. Rufus asked.
Tarley watched Lachlan turn, noted the aristocratic way he examined the doctor, as if he’d stumbled across something bothersome. She didn’t see Ollie, but a prince. “Ollie Berkman,” he said. His tone wasn’t pleasant.
Dr. Rufus hummed, then waited, as if he had more investment in what was happening near the blackberry bush than he did. His eyes returned to Tarley, and she imagined he looked… hurt. Maybe desperate, but the look slipped away.
“Well.” Dr. Rufus picked up his bag and placed his hat on his head. “I should be off. Pleasure, Mr. Berkman.” He tipped his rounded, bowler hat. “I’ll see you soon, Miss Fareview.” Then he disappeared down the trail through the woods.
Tarley turned and stared at the blackberries realizing that Dr. Rufus hadn’t just happened to have been walking in this meadow. She turned and looked at where he’d disappeared. He would have had to come from the road.
“What was that?” Lachlan asked.
His tone captured her attention, a tone that seemed to match her trepidation at the realization Rufus must have followed her. Though she’d dismissed the doctor as an oddity, she wasn’t sure she could anymore. He’d all but threatened her. What might have happened had Lachlan not arrived?
Lachlan was scowling.
Tarley turned to pick more berries. “You met him.”
“Why was he here? With you?”
