His aunt’s gaze turned more intense. “I would hope you would discuss the situation with the captain and take her away from the ship as Mr. Morton before returning perhaps with your wife, the former Miss Morton?”
Cullen snorted. “Ye think a ship full of sailors would accept such a wild tale?”
“Why not? You could say the young man is going to Edinburgh, but his twin sister, Willa, has agreed to be your wife.”
Fergus waved his pipe in the air. “And she could always stay here or back in the Highlands until ye return, if she doesn’t fancy yer company for years on end. It doesna have to be a marriage in truth. Ye could give her yer name and the clan’s protection only.”
Both Cullen and his aunt stared at Fergus as if he’d grown an extra head.
“If I give a woman my name, she’ll be my wife in every sense of the word. She will stay by my side. Those are my terms.” Cullen pounded the table. “And besides, she’s a damned good physician’s assistant. Her talents would be wasted here.”
His aunt and Fergus exchanged odd smiles, making him wonder if he’d been manipulated. Again.
“When you bring her back here, we’ll invite all the clan, we’ll have a huge wedding breakfast…”
Cullen stopped his aunt’s excited chatter. “When I finally overtake the elusive Miss Morton, I will have a special license in hand, and we will make haste to the nearest parson.”
His aunt gave him a sorrowful look. “But I was so looking forward to a clan wedding. We haven’t had one in years.”
Cullen gave both of them a pointed look. “Perhaps you two could quit pretending you’re just the current laird’s sister and her bodyguard. That would make a fine clan wedding.”
The murderous stare his aunt threw him made him think what she really wanted to do was pitch some of the clan silver at his head. Fergus said nothing, but his face reddened to such a hue, Cullen feared he might fall into a fit of apoplexy.
Cullen raised his water in a mock toast. “Here’s to a speedy return to my bride-to-be.”
Willa patiently mixed the elixirs and powders Dr. Partlow prescribed for his patients. She held each bottle up to the sun streaming through his office window to make sure the ingredients were up to the correct amounts. She held up two at a time, for ease of comparing levels.
Suddenly, the doctor’s greedy hands were at her waist, taking advantage of both of her hands being occupied. She cringed inwardly. This cat-and-mouse game with Peterfield’s most respected physician would not end well. She had to find another position before she ran out of ways to evade his advances.
She whirled suddenly, knocking out of his grasp.
He flinched and stepped away. “I’m embarrassed for your late father, Miss Morton. He would be so ashamed of your behavior since I’ve taken you into my household.”
“Why?” Willa moved farther away and picked up two more empty bottles, ignoring his flushed face.
“Your attempts at seduction have been shameless. I fear for your reputation if word of how you’ve cavorted in front of my children becomes public knowledge.”
Willa straightened to her full height and moved closer to the doctor. “I will not give credence to your petty fantasies, sir, but know this. If you continue to ply my person with unwanted advances, I cannot be responsible for what might happen should you ever happen to close your eyes in sleep again.”
He drew back, a look of horror on his face, and turned, nearly falling in his haste to run out the office door. That settled her resolve. She had to leave immediately.
It was time. She had to face her denial. Evenings in the Partlow household had been pure hell. After helping Annalise prepare tea for the children before sending them off to bed, she’d at first spent the later hours avoiding the infernal man before often pleading a headache, or cramps, and heading to her attic prison early.
When one evening he’d suggested a game of chess, she’d pleaded ignorance and allowed him to believe she was ignorant of the moves. He of course had no idea she and her father had used chess to while away the hours aboard ship when they were not busy with patients.
In the last few nights, she’d let him win just enough to believe she was a beginner, but trounced him a few times so that his ego made him insist on a game every night. Thus, she’d discovered a way to keep him occupied through the hours before bed.
He’d cajoled and wheedled endlessly about how she was deliberately straining his manhood when she could relieve all his pent-up passion and become a true partner in his medical practice. Since Willa had spent the majority of her life being accepted as a man, she’d heard a little of the chatter amongst sailors about all the wiles they used to seduce unsuspecting women. She had not been taken in by the doctor’s obviously false promises. Although Willa had no idea where she’d go next, she had no choice but to leave immediately. She was fairly certain he’d obsess so much about her threat that he would not suspect she’d leave so soon.
Back in her barren little aerie, she packed a few belongings into a tattered old bag abandoned in a corner of the attic and tossed it through the open window into the apple orchard below.
She would have to send for her sea chest once she found suitable lodgings. After she made her way down the steep attic steps, she picked up a basket while passing through the kitchen where Annalise sat at the battered wood table peeling a huge bowl of potatoes.
“Where are you going?” The look in the eldest Partlow daughter’s eyes revealed more than her words.
“Apples,” Willa said. “I’ll make a dessert this afternoon.”
Annalise said nothing but abandoned the
