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Watching him replace cobble stones, his sleeves rolled to display his tanned arms. Watching him cart loads of wood in the wheelbarrow, his shirt stretched across his muscular frame. Watching him lift pots for the wash, water sloshing on him so that everything stuck to him, watching the muscles of his perfect thighs in his perfectly fitted breeches.

Everywhere she looked, Lachlan manifested her fantasies, and all the ways she wanted to taste him, feel him, hear him ran through her head. She couldn’t get away from him.

She should have run away, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. Better yet, she should have left him in the woods, but the thought pinched her heart, leaving an ache in her chest.

But his charm and arrogance didn’t match with the words he’d shared in the dark.I’m not good enough.Her heart not only smarted from the idea of him not being there, but of him believing she didn’t think he was. If he only understood why she was keeping him at a distance. He barely had to do a thing for her attention, and that was horrifically dangerous in his favor.

She snatched a basket from the table to go pick berries for Mrs Barnwell and hurried from her bedroom, stomping from the inn’s yard. By the time she reached the meadow by the river, she finally found her breath coming easier.

What she hated more than anything was how close to the truth Lachlan had been—accusing her she was afraid. She hadn’t truly reconciled it, however, not until he’d said it. She’d rationalized she was maintaining her independence and power. But Lachlan’s words had been like a dart thrown into the bullseye.

Careful to avoid thorns, Tarley plucked some berries and dropped them in her basket.

She did like him, and liking him meant keeping her distance was the only way to protect herself. Only she wasn’t sure what she was protecting herself from anymore. Lachlan hadn’t once tried to take her agency. He’d misled her, but with good reason. He was honest and forthright in all the ways it mattered. She could feel herself softening toward him more and more each day, and that was what she was afraid of—falling for him.

It wasn’t just the physical. It was the way he tried even when he knew he’d fail. The way he could have admitted he was the prince to her mother and hadn’t. The way he spoke to her in the dark, the vulnerability he expressed, even if he was telling himself lies. The stories. The laughter.

There was the errant possibility she would fall in love with the man she’d been asked to marry, but he might never feel the same. He’d never claimed to love her—or that he could.Royals marry to beget heirs.They were an arrangement. Where would falling in love with him leave her? That imbalance of her heart would leave her at a clear and painful disadvantage.

“How is he?” a voice interrupted.

Tarley jumped and spun, her hand at her throat. “Dr. Rufus.” She hadn’t heard him and shuddered at her carelessness. “You frightened me.”

Dr. Allean Rufus bowed slightly at the hips, his hat, and black bag in hand. His dark jacket and trousers were a stark contrast to the shades of the forest around them. “My apologies,” he said. “The patient?”

She wasn’t sure to who he was referencing. The queen? But she knew no one had been told. “I’m sorry?”

“The man you saved in the woods.” He straightened.

“How–”

“It’s all over the village, Miss Fareview.” He walked slowly through the meadow to her, then reached around her to pluck a berry, dropping it into her basket. “He’s working at the inn, now?”

“Ollie? Yes. He’s doing much better.” She didn’t want to share anything with Rufus. “What are you doing here?” She glanced around the glen, finding it strange he was there at all.

“Returning from a call.” He lifted his bag before setting it on the ground at his feet. “Why didn’t you send for me? With this Ollie?”

Tarley turned back to the berries, hoping Rufus would take the hint and leave. “Besides being near death a half a day’s journey from Sevens? He was mended by the time we returned. Didn’t need your assistance.”

“I find your… trips into the woods alone… problematic. Dangerous. There are evil things lurking in the woods.”

“Well, it’s a good thing your opinion isn’t of my concern, and my actions are none of yours.” She plucked another berry.

“I don’t like that you were alone with him, Miss Fareview. It’s all untoward. And with the village talking about it, too–” He picked another blackberry and dropped it into her basket, his hand brushing her arm.

Tarley gritted her teeth and yanked berries from the bush with a bit more fervor. “My whereabouts and with whom I choose to spend them has nothing to do with you.”

“But they are, you see. It seems your current protector is doing a poor job of keeping you safe. Once you’re my wife–”

Tarley sighed, shaking her head. “This really is tiresome, Mr. Rufus–” A thorn stabbed her finger. “Ouch.” She removed the thorn put her finger into her mouth without thinking.

“Doctor.” His voice sounded strange.

When she turned her head, he looked… odd, his eyes a shade darker as he studied her finger in her mouth, a peculiar grin on his lips that gave her pause. She shoved her hand into her pocket and gripped the fabric. “I will never be your wife, and I don’t want to revisit that with you now or ever.”

Dr. Rufus’s grin faded to a frown, and he stepped closer, his body crowding her into the bushes. “Tar–Miss Fareview—” He grasped her arms. “I can–”

“Mr. Rufus. Unhand me.”