“Then she lied,” he said tersely. “I told her we were going toward French’s property.”
“Why did you never tell me?”
“It wouldn’t have meant anything to you. You aren’t familiar enough with the land around the folly. But Aurora knew. She deliberately led you to where we would be, fully aware of the danger of her actions. It is not unheard of for a hunter’s bullet to stray.”
“But the shot did not come from you or Cody or even Mr. French.”
Brandon rubbed his brow with his thumb and forefinger, massaging away the tense lines in his forehead. “I know. But Cody and I have Davey to thank for the proof of that statement. If we hadn’t met him, well, you can see how it would have appeared to everyone. Cody would have been a poor alibi for me, and I for him. The weight of suspicion would have been on one of us.”
“I wouldn’t have believed it,” she said fiercely.
A whisper of a smile crossed Brandon’s mouth. “Thank God for that. But I would have hardly blamed you if you had. You were intended to be suspicious.” His smile vanished and his expression became bleak. “Or you were intended to be dead.” He stood abruptly and walked to the window. Bracing one shoulder against the wall, he stared at the river through a break in the trees. “I cannot mourn for my wife,” he said quietly. “I should be the veriest hypocrite if I pretended a grief I do not feel. It is all too clear to me what she wanted to do, and I can’t forgive her for that.” Sensing Shannon was about to protest, he faced her again. “You know it also. I saw how you looked at Rory’s hat. You knew then that it had saved your life.”
“If it’s true that I was the hunter’s target, then Aurora saved my life,” Shannon pointed out gently. “She gave me the hat.” She drew the coverlet up to her shoulders as a chill swept her. “But we can’t be sure who was meant to be killed, can we? Not without finding the person who murdered Aurora.”
“I can be sure,” Brandon said emphatically. “Sir James suspected as much after Aurora’s riding accident. It was reasonable to assume that Aurora’s insistence that someone was trying to murder her had an alternative purpose. Sir James is not a man given to idle speculation, yet he considered even then that Aurora had planned her own accident. If that were true, then there was only one conclusion that made sense. Eventually there would be another accident, and you would be the victim. I would stand accused of inadvertently murdering you, while it would appear that it was Aurora I meant to kill.”
“But you said nothing.”
“I couldn’t. Not to anyone. There was no proof, and there was always the possibility that Sir James and I were wrong. All I could do was to be cautious and act as if my suppositions were fact. I was afraid for you to leave and equally afraid for you to stay. Finally I decided that you must remain at the folly, that I could only protect you if you were under this roof. Do you remember the night I chased the wolf?”
“Yes.”
“I almost told you then. It was no wolf in the woods that evening, and I didn’t fall. I was struck down by the person I was chasing.”
Shannon blinked, trying to make sense of what he was saying. “But who?”
Brandon shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Parker?”
“I truly don’t know,” he repeated, pushing away from the wall. “But there is little doubt in my mind that we were being spied upon.” He watched Shannon’s eyes drop away from his as she recalled that they had almost made love on that occasion. Her natural embarrassment at the memory twisted his gut, and he wished he could have avoided telling her. “On the heels of that incident came the poisoning, and I began to doubt the conclusions I had reached. It did not seem possible that Aurora would go to such lengths to make people believe she was the intended victim. That evening she nearlywasthe victim.” He shook his head in disgust. “Yet who was I to suspect? Cody? You? The Whittakers? You will agree that made no sense either.”
“Nothing makes any sense. There is too much we don’t know and so much we are only guessing at.”
Brandon pursued another tack. “Tell me what happened in the wood today.”
Shannon worried her lower lip, trying to recall the events before the shooting. “Aurora was asking about you. Actually, she was asking about our meeting at Glen Eden.” She looked at Brandon suddenly, realization clearing the vagueness from her eyes. “You never told her about Glen Eden, did you?”
“No,” he said simply, leaving her to reach her own conclusions.
“Cody knew.”
“Do you believe he would have told her?”
She shook her head. “That evening by the willow…we were overheard, weren’t we? That is how Aurora came to know of it.”
“It would appear so. What did you say to Rory?”
“I told her how we met. All during the ride she was rather contemplative and curious, wanting to know what I would do if I were in her place. It struck me as odd even then, how insistent she was that I tell her everything I thought about you. Aurora wanted me to be jealous of her, Brandon. When I told her I wasn’t, that she had nothing I wanted, she became so quiet for a while that I thought she was done with her questioning. Then quite suddenly she brought up my arrival at the folly. She would not let the matter rest until I told her when I had fallen in love with you.”
Shannon absently fingered the edge of the coverlet. “I shall never forget how she looked at me then. Amused and sad at the same time. I didn’t understand it; I’m not sure I do even now. While she was looking at me a branch caught her unawares and knocked the riding hat from her head. She caught it before it fell, and she stared at it for a long time, then she halted Pilgrim and held it out to me when I came abreast of her. At first I didn’t want to accept it.” Shannon closed her eyes. “Then she said a strange thing. ‘One of us should be happy,’ she said. ‘I’ve never felt about anyone the way you do him. Not even Parker.’ She seemed surprised by her confession and immediately thrust the hat in my hand; then she said we were going to return to the folly.”
“You were on your way back when she was shot?”
Shannon rubbed her eyes and fixed her attention on a point past Brandon’s shoulder. “No. The trail was so narrow there and the forest so thick that we rode ahead to a small clearing. We had only just reached the edge of it when the shot was fired. Aurora fell immediately. I screamed and lost control of Anthem. She bolted and I was thrown. I went to Aurora, but she was scarcely breathing when I reached her.” A tear slipped out of the corner of Shannon’s eye, and she wiped it away impatiently. “‘I thought we could get back,’ she said. ‘But I’m not sorry.’” Shannon met Brandon’s dark glance. “She was smiling, Brandon. I’d never seen her smile that way before. She looked like Mama then, the hint of some secret happiness in her eyes.”
Brandon sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Shannon into his arms. “Have you listened to what you’ve told me?” he asked. “Have you heard yourself? Can you doubt that she knew what was going to happen?”
