Page 95

The corridor was too small. Tarley’s chest tightened as she recalled the incident in the woods. Grasping the wall to steady herself, she wrestled with the seed of a feeling she couldn’t identify —but she knew she felt the need to flee.

The doctor was at her side, then, bringing his malodorous scent with him, a tense war between the loam of the forest, the musk of minerals, and something astringent. “Are you unwell, Miss Fareview?”

She stepped away. “I’m fine.”

He sniffed as if smelling her, then cleared his throat, running a hand down his jacket, and tilting his blond head to offer her a sugar smile that curled the tight edges of his bright blue eyes—though Tarley had the impression his eyes weren’t smiling. He just worked to make it look as if it were so.

“You avoided me last night, Miss Fareview.”

Tarley straightened her spine. “Were you there?”

His bright eyes jumped to her face. “I’m wondering about your avoidance of me. Do you anticipate a better offer for matrimony coming your way? These things,” he said, “are business endeavors to some extent. Should something happen to your father, or brother, I would care for you and your sisters.”

He’d invaded her space, and Tarley’s back was against the wall.

“Is that a threat?”

“Why would I do that?”

Footsteps on the stairwell weren’t cause for Rufus to give her more space. Then Credence’s voice resounded through the hallway, calling her name, “Tarley?”

A dark look clouded Rufus’s features, and though she couldn’t be sure in the dim light, his teeth looked wrong as he said, “I smell him,” his voice a dark hiss of seething rage.

Credence stepped into the hallway. “What’s going on here?” she asked, her gaze shifting between them. “Dr. Rufus?”

Rufus took a begrudging step back.

“He said he was up here to meet you,” Tarley said, trying to understand Rufus’s last comment, her heart flopping about in her stomach, drowning.

“The patient?” Dr. Rufus asked her.

“Not up here,” Credence said. “The man is in the dining room. He fell–”

Rufus straightened and bowed his head slightly. “My mistake.”

Rufus’s gaze returned to Tarley one last time, and she shrank back against the wall, knowing without a doubt that whatever Rufus was playing at was over. He was going to be a problem, but she was at a loss how to address it. His mustache twitched with annoyance, but he retreated, then disappeared down the stairwell.

Credence watched him go, then turned and looked at Tarley. “What was that?”

“I don’t–” she started.

The door to the queen’s room cracked open, and Scarlett’s face appeared. “Is he gone?”

“He is,” Tarley said.

Scarlett squeezed out the door. “An odious man.”

“I take it you don’t want me to accept his offer of marriage?” Tarley deadpanned. “It’s only his third or fourth by now. Maybe I can finagle a fifth.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes.

“I’ll go see that he finds the right place to be,” Credence said, then turned back. “Found your daughter, Scarlett.”

“Thank you.”

“How is she?” Tarley asked.

“A picture of health,” Scarlett replied. “A bit miffed about something not going the way it was supposed to last night. Know what that’s about?”