Brandon leaned against the door. His heart was thudding painfully in his chest, caused either by seeing Shannon naked in the tub or hearing her scream. Martha was already puffing down the corridor, looking extremely militant.
“What did you do to that chile, Master Bran?” she demanded. “I never heard the likes before.”
Brandon straightened and placed his hands on Martha’s stiff shoulders, smoothing her ruffled feathers. “It was a mistake, nothing more. If you will tell Miss Kilmartin that I desire to see her in the library when she is finished with her bath, I would be grateful.”
“Bath? How you know she’s takin’ a bath?” But Martha was asking questions to the air. Brandon was already on his way downstairs.
Once he was in the library, Brandon started to pour himself a drink, then thought better of it. She’d never listen to him if she thought he’d been drinking. He paced the floor, testing different approaches. “You’ll think I’ve taken leave of my senses, Shannon, but I’d like you to—” No. It wouldn’t work. She’d know soon enough he hadn’t any sense, why point it out to her? “As you’re aware, Shannon, you bear an uncanny resemblance to my—” No, that was more stupid than the other. Mayhap an appeal to the part of her that loved Clara would be more the thing. “Shannon, I’m afraid Aurora’s parents might try to take my daughter from me.” He’d probably have to revive her from a faint if he took that approach. He tried again.
There was no answer to her knock, but Shannon could hear Brandon inside. Talking to himself? It made her smile. She twisted the handle and stepped into the room.
Brandon was looking at the floor. “I want you to be my wife, Shannon. Or rather, I want—” He stopped as he heard the library door click into place. Shannon was leaning against it, very pale. Brandon ran his fingers through his hair, trying to think of something to say. It was obvious she had heard him and the thought of being his wife was totally repugnant to her.
Brandon heaved a sigh. “Come in, Shannon.” He motioned to a chair. “You’ve heard the worst. You can take heart that it would only be for a short while, a month at most.”
Shannon eased herself into a brocade wing chair. “A—a m-month?” she stammered. “I don’t understand. Why would you want me to marry you for a month?” Was he amusing himself at her expense? It seemed out of character.
Brandon leaned against his desk, hitching one leg on the top. “I’m afraid I have put this badly. You surprised me in the middle of the rehearsal.” He tapped one hand on his knee, realizing that he had done nothing to ease Shannon’s confusion. “Let me try again. I require your assistance. I would not ask it of you if there were another solution, but I cannot find one. This particular solution would not have presented itself if it were not for your striking resemblance to Aurora.”
“Perhaps it would be better if you told me the nature of the problem,” she said quietly. “Has it something to do with the post you received earlier?”
Brandon smiled and breathed a little easier. “Yes. I was afraid you would not hear me out. The thing’s a veritable coil. My wife’s parents are going to descend upon the folly in a fortnight. They are lovely people, and in other circumstances I would welcome them without hesitation. But Aurora’s absence puts things in a different perspective. You see, they’re not aware of it.”
Shannon was slowly regaining her composure, in part because Brandon was so uncharacteristically ill at ease that she felt she had to maintain a certain levelheadedness. “Actually, I don’t think I do see.”
“I never told them Aurora eloped with Parker. He’s my half brother,” he added as an afterthought.
“Yes, I know. You mentioned him to me once before. When I first arrived at the folly and you thought I was Aurora.”
“Well, I don’t want to tell them what Aurora has done. My decision has nothing to do with my feelings for Aurora and everything to do with my feelings for her parents. The only crime they ever committed, if one can even name it that, was in loving their daughter to the point where they lost all control over her. They spoiled her, giving no thought to the consequences. Aurora had never been denied anything she wanted until she came to the folly as my wife.” He paused, his face bleak as he looked away from Shannon and toward the window. His laughter was self-conscious and mocking. “And you can see what happened when I stood in her way once too often.” He shrugged, turning back to Shannon. “No matter. Paul and Michaeline need never know of our discord. Aurora and I managed to keep it from them when they visited on other occasions.”
“I don’t see how—”
Brandon ignored her interruption. “Without Aurora here, Cody fears Paul and Michaeline may try to take Clara from me.”
Shannon was appalled. “They wouldn’t!”
“I do not think they would either,” he agreed, pausing significantly. “No matter the provocation, they would not take a daughter from her father.”
Shannon drew in her breath sharply as his meaning struck her.
His dark glance was bitter. “You do remember.”
“You once said that Clara was not your daughter.”
“I would never have said it if I had known who you were. I thought Aurora was making her nasty point once again.”
“Then you have only Aurora’s word that you are not the father.”
“Yes, it’s rather a dilemma,” he said, trying for lightness. “Is she lying to hurt me or telling the truth to hurt me? One can never be sure with Aurora.” He smiled a little crookedly. “But you see, it really is of no import any longer. Claraismy daughter.” His voice dropped as a confession was torn from him. “At first I loved her to spite my wife, then I simply came to love her.”
Shannon stood and approached Brandon. She laid a hand on his arm, the first time she had willingly touched him since the afternoon at the river. “Anyone can see that you care deeply for Clara.” She wanted to say it was what she loved about him, his caring for a child that may not be his. From her own experience she would not have suspected such a thing was possible. But on the subject of loving him she remained silent, secreting her thoughts inside her heart. “I—I care for her also,” she said. And you. “What is it that you would have me do?”
Brandon laid his hand over Shannon’s. “Pretend to be Aurora. Pretend to be my wife.”
“And what if your wife should suddenly appear?”
“She has been gone nine months. No doubt she has happily retired to Parker’s plantation near Charleston. I cannot envision her returning suddenly.”
