“Stop it, Aurora!” Brandon said between clenched teeth. “Shannon may believe your regrets, but I don’t. Pray my anger cools before my hands are free, else I may murder you yet.”
“Brandon!”
“Bran!”
“Papa!”
“Master Bran!”
Only the grooms were silent, exchanging glances that said they were of the same mind as the folly’s owner.
“I mean it, Aurora,” Brandon continued, oblivious to the censure of the others, “Stay away from Shannon. If you require a victim for your venomous tongue, then seek me out!”
The angry flush was back in Aurora’s pinched face. She pointed a finger at Brandon. “You’d like an excuse to kill me, wouldn’t you? Then you would be free to marry your lover!”
Brandon turned away and began walking toward the house. Shannon had her face in his shoulder, too mortified to look at Martha or Clara or Cody as they followed. Aurora was left behind, but her strident voice carried for everyone to hear.
“I won’t allow you to divorce me, Bran! I’ll find a way to stop you! If you want to be free of me, you’ll have to kill me! Just as Shannon killed her father!”
Martha clapped her hands over Clara’s ears. “I never heard such ugliness. Why you let her say those things, Master Bran?”
Brandon could feel Shannon’s tears wetting his shirt. “Not now, Martha. Take Clara to the house, and have someone prepare a place for Shannon in the drawing room. She needs to put her foot up.”
“Humph.” Martha picked up Clara and hurried along, shouting an order to Addie, who had stepped out on the verandah.
Cody came abreast of Brandon and Shannon. “Do you want me to ride for a physician? I think Samuel Page will come out to look at her.”
“No, we can care for her ourselves. I don’t think her foot is broken, merely bruised.”
Cody glanced back at the stable. Aurora was no longer at the entrance. Just when he was going to comment on that fact, she reappeared on a horse. A moment later she and the animal were tearing across the open fields. He pointed her out to Brandon. “The hell of it is, she has such a damn fine seat that I doubt it would be any use to hope she breaks her neck.”
Shannon lifted her head. “Please, just stop it,” she said tiredly, swiping at her wet face with the back of her hand. “Both of you. I don’t want to hear any more talk of breaking necks, throttling, or murder. It is stupid and vicious!”
Cody was immediately apologetic. “I’m sorry, Shannon. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just talk, that’s all. But I don’t see why you wish to protect her from it after what she said about you and your father.”
“At least that much was true,” Shannon said.
“Shannon,” warned Brandon.
“No, he may as well know.” She gritted her teeth against the throbbing in her foot. “I killed my stepfather, Cody. Just as Aurora said. Anything my sister has ever done pales beside that.”
Brandon interrupted harshly. “Enough. I will explain it to Cody later.” He took the steps of the verandah quickly while Cody, though clearly bewildered by Shannon’s statement, ran ahead to open the door to the house. Brandon took Shannon to the drawing room and placed her on the chaise, propping her foot on the cushions Addie had provided.
“Wouldn’t she be more comfortable in her room?” Cody suggested, picking a bit of straw from Shannon’s jet hair.
“Perhaps, but I wouldn’t be able to talk to her there, not without having Aurora’s accusations confirmed to the entire household.”
Shannon’s eyes closed as she applied the compress meant for her foot to her head. “Isn’t it rather late for that?” she asked. “And, point of fact, you are not talking to me, but around me, as if I were not here at all.” Shannon knew, without looking, that they were exchanging sheepish grins. Her smile faded as Brandon began to remove her stocking, rolling it down her calf and over her foot. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to assess the damage.”
“But Cody—”
“Cody’s seen alegbefore,” he told her.
“Oh, of course. Annie Jones.”
Cody cleared his throat, shaking his head from side to side. “I think I’ll find Clara,” he said, excusing himself.
