Fen stood in the middle of the largest room and studied her surroundings. As much as she wanted to complain about some little thing, she couldn’t. It was the perfect place for her to treat her patients. The doc had left all of his larger items behind, including a wood-burning stove, a treatment table, and a cupboard full of paraphernalia she would go through and sterilize as soon as she had the time.
Geddes came in with an armload of wood and dumped it into the woodbox by the stove. “So,” he said, “is this going to suit your purposes?”
She breathed in a deep, contented sigh. “Aye, it’s going to be perfect.” She turned and gazed at him. “Was this your idea?”
Geddes colored. “His Grace and I came to the same conclusion.”
Fen crossed her arms over her chest and continued to study him. “You’ve never really cared for how close Rosalyn and I are, have you?”
Geddes frowned. “To be honest, no.”
“And why not?”
“I always felt the doctor was the one who should do the healing,” Geddes admitted.
“Even though he used more outdated and obscure methods of healing that often didn’t work anyway, plus the fact he was in his cups most of the time?”
Geddes nodded. “I will admit to being a bit stubborn where you were concerned, Mrs. Begley.”
“Oh, please. My name is Fen, and if you can’t get that personal, call me Fenella.” They watched each other for a moment and then she said, “I’ve always thought you were a very handsome man.”
He colored again, but said nothing.
“And what of me, Geddes? What do you think about me?” She was pushing him, but she couldn’t stand it any longer.
Geddes pulled himself up to his full height and straightened his waistcoat. “I was going to say I hadn’t given it any thought, but that would be a lie.”
Fen’s heart bumped her ribs.
“Actually, ever since I found you arguing with MacNab outside his bar a while back, I’ve thought of you quite differently than I had in the past. You aren’t a delicate beauty; you are quite a classic, and I find that I’m drawn to you, short hair, trousers and all.”
Fen was so pleased she was rendered speechless.
“I believe you are blushing, Fenella,” Geddes observed.
She placed her palm against her cheek. “I believe you’re right.”
The sound of the door opening and the bell tinkling over it broke the spell.
“Fen? Are you here?”
Fen rushed toward the entryway. “Rosalyn! How good of you to come.” When His Grace followed her in, Fen was once again mute.
Rosalyn frowned. “Fen, are you all right?”
Fen cleared her throat. “Of course I’m all right, why do you ask?”
Rosalyn scrutinized her friend. “You look a little flushed.”
“Well of course I’m flushed,” she rushed to say. “I’ve been working like a madwoman on this place.”
They all went into the big room where Geddes was stacking wood very precisely in the woodbox.
“Oh, good. You’re both here. Fletcher and I have something to tell you,” Rosalyn announced. “Your Grace?”
Geddes came and stood beside Fen, his arm brushing against hers. Once again she felt her heart go bump.
His Grace cleared his throat. “I made an impulsive decision, one I hope you, Mrs. Begley, can live with.”
Fen glanced at Rosalyn and then back at the laird. “You’ve made a decision that involves me?”
Rosalyn put her hand on her husband’s arm. “Kerry was being particularly bad-tempered, having just learned that the chaperone was going back to America, and His Grace decided, quite impetuously, that she should work with you here, in the clinic.”
Fen automatically moved closer to Geddes and quite innocently put her arm through his. The motion was not lost on Rosalyn, who raised her eyebrows.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Fen said. “She will see all sorts of things here, things that perhaps no youngster should see, but I can put her to use doing simple things, and she can watch the flow of island humanity come and go through the door.”
“Good,” His Grace answered. “The sooner she starts, the better.”
“If anyone can bring her around, Fen, it’s you,” Rosalyn said warmly.
“Bring her by tomorrow. Nessa MacNab is bringing her little ones in to have their ears checked. She says they’ve been pulling on them and waking at night, screaming their heads off. No doubt they have some sort of infection.”
Rosalyn studied her brother and her friend once again. “Well, I guess that does it, then, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” Fletcher said. “It’s time for us to go. Thank you, Mrs. Begley, for your generosity. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”
Fen watched them leave, noting how carefully the laird handled his wife, her very dear friend, and she began to feel that perhaps their relationship just might work after all.
She turned from the doorway and found Geddes watching her. “Would you like to have dinner with me, Fenella?”
“I’d like that. Why don’t we have dinner at my cottage? I think I can whip up something for the two of us.”
He gave her a broad smile. “As you wish.”
Fen’s life was changing so fast she was almost dizzy. She was giddy, too, but that had nothing to do with her new clinic, she was very certain of that. Before she lost her nerve, she said, “Geddes, I’ve been alone a long while and I’ve been perfectly content. But ever since you came into my life, my feelings for being alone have changed.” At his look of confusion, she continued, “I’m too old to be coy. I want to spend more time with you. I know this isn’t the proper thing to do, but then, I have never been one to give a rat’s behind about propriety. Would you be interested in calling on me?”
Actually, she wanted to drag him into her bed, but she knew that would scare him away. Wee little steps, she told herself. Wee little baby steps.
Geddes flushed; his ears turned red, but he cleared his throat and said, “You, madam, have seen me nearly naked. I think we’re beyond the calling stage, don’t you?”
She remembered his glorious furry chest and felt a fluttering, a swelling and heat deep in that place that had been dead for so very, very long. Picking up her cape and her gloves and pocketing the key to her new clinic, she answered, “Let’s not waste any more time, shall we?”
• • •
Geddes raised his arms over his head and stared at the ceiling, quite satisfied with himself. “I don’t know why we didn’t do this sooner.”
Fen chuckled softly and nuzzled him. “Because you were fighting so hard to dislike me, I suppose.”
He rolled onto his side and cupped her small, firm breast, causing the strawberry-colored nipple to pebble. “Your skin is perfection.” He splayed his fingers over her ribcage and then traveled downward, across her navel. “Who would have thought you would be as delicate and succulent as cream under all that mannish clothing?”
Fen stirred beneath his touch and reached over to run her fingers through the tawny hair that covered his chest. “When I applied that poultice to your chest weeks ago, it was all I could do to keep from touching you exactly like this.” She continued to move south, found him, and made a satisfied sound in her throat. “You are quite ready again, aren’t you?”
He groaned with pleasure. “Madam, I haven’t been with a woman for so long, I may need to thrust my sword into your sheath until you die of either weariness or boredom.”
She actually laughed. “Not likely boredom. Not likely at all. And I find your sword very, very ample, my dear man, big and hard and robust. And as far as being celibate, I may have you beat.” With that, she continued to stroke him until he tested her readiness, finding her as wet as she was when he took her the first time.
Geddes discovered he liked it when she talked so blatantly—it made him feel as randy as a boy. He whipped back the covers, exposing her nakedness, and she shifted her legs so they were slightly parted.
He ran his fingers over her dusty curls and then slid one finger inside, prompting her to spread her legs further to ease his entrance. He bent and placed a kiss over her slightly protruding clitoris, drinking in her scent, and she shuddered so deeply he wondered if she had had another orgasm.
He briefly looked up at her and said, “No matter who was celibate the longest, at least we are celibate no longer.”
With that, he eased himself into her and they rode together toward another brilliant explosion of pleasure.