Parker set down his rifle and tipped his chair back, regarding Aurora consideringly. What a beautiful witch she was, he thought, dressed in her scarlet and black, saucily thrusting her derriere at the flames. He smiled, thinking they would deal well together in hell.
“What has amused you?” she demanded, lowering her skirts.
“A private thought that need not concern you,” he said, dropping his chair back to the dirt floor. “As well, you need not be concerned by the matter of an accomplice. Allow me my secrets, love.”
Aurora wrinkled her nose at him. “Pooh! You men and your secrets. It is galling, to say the least.”
“Poor Rory. This week of confinement has made you out of sorts. Were you really so ill?”
“You mean you don’t know that, also?” she said waspishly. At his dark look she apologized for her tone. “You’re right, I am out of sorts. It wasn’t the confinement. I recovered quite nicely, thank you, but Brandon will not let me stray from the house without escort. I cannot say if he is trying to protect me or protect himself.” She shrugged, as if it was of no account. “Really, it was so simple to come to the cabin and see you before the accident. Today it was maddening, the things I had to do to get here.”
“You are certain you were not followed.”
“Quite certain. I should have been here days ago if Aaron had acted as my escort, as he did today. I don’t know why Bran keeps him on; he’s hopelessly incompetent.”
“Then aren’t you glad my brother demonstrates such loyalty to his slaves? You may not have been able to come here otherwise. Actually, it all worked out for the better. I wasn’t here most of this week.” At Aurora’s questioning look, he explained. “Business in Williamsburg and at Belletraine. I cannot neglect my own affairs. It’s important that I am not gone from Belletraine for too long. I do not want to press my staff to cover for me. You can understand that.”
“I suppose.”
Parker pushed out the chair opposite him with the toe of his boot. “Come. You’re warm now. Please, sit down.” He picked up the rifle and began polishing it again. “Tell me about dinner with the Whittakers.”
Aurora perched herself on the edge of the wooden chair. She twisted her polished onyx ring absently. “It went very well. Robert is against the divorce, which makes Brandon’s motive to harm me stronger than ever. The ordeal was rather more painful that I thought it would be.”
Parker reached for Aurora’s ringed hand. “Let me see,” he said. He waited while she slipped off the ring and dropped it in his open palm. Parker’s nails were shorter and blunter than Aurora’s, but he managed to release the stone from its setting without too much difficulty. There were traces of white powder on the back of the stone and in the bed of the ring. “You used nearly all of it. I warned you not to. You could have killed yourself.” He replaced the stone and gave Aurora back the ring. “What were you thinking?”
Aurora slid the ring back on, raising her hand and admiring it briefly. “I know what you said about the poison, but I needed to make it convincing for the Whittakers. I really hadn’t intended to use so much, but it was hard to measure the dose, what with fumbling with the ring and a glass of wine in my lap.”
“And no one saw you?”
“No. Everyone thinks it was the bottle of wine which was tampered with, not simply my glass.”
“Didn’t anyone try the wine from the bottle?”
“No. Cody emptied it when he poured my drink.”
Parker nodded approvingly. “Very good. Much better done than that business with Pilgrim’s strap. Whatever suspicion that roused, this incident has laid it to rest.”
“I think you’re right. I suspect Brandon, as well as Sir James, thought I was capable of arranging that riding accident and laying the blame elsewhere, but if you could have seen Bran’s face the night I took the drug, well, you would know he doesn’t think I would go so far as to purposely poison myself.”
“Yes, the riding accident was done clumsily. You should have frayed the strap before you left the stable and given one of the grooms the opportunity to find it. It would have been more convincing.”
“That is all very well for you to say,” Aurora scoffed. “But what if no one had found it? Pilgrim would have been saddled, and my accident may have been a real thing. My way was infinitely better. I merely cut the strap, sent Pilgrim back to the folly, and began limping home myself. Covered with a little dirt for authenticity, of course.” Aurora took off her hat and laid it on the table. Releasing a few combs from her hair, she gave her head a toss, and waves of ebony hair cascaded over her shoulders. “They were alarmed at the folly. Especially my sister. It was quite touching, really.”
One corner of Parker’s mouth slanted upward. He tossed aside the polishing cloth, placed the rifle on his lap, and began cleaning the barrel. “Yet you say Brandon was suspicious.”
“After speaking with Sir James. At least I thought he was. It is difficult to tell with Brandon sometimes. You and he are alike in that way, invariably reticent to give expression to your thoughts. Anyway, I concluded it was better to leave Sir James out of it this time. I told Bran not to send for him, that I had the Whittakers as witnesses to what happened, and they would serve just as well if anything untoward occurred again.”
“And he agreed to that?” Parker asked thoughtfully. “I’m surprised. I should think he would want to clear himself.”
“Not at the expense of Cody. Bran knows himself to be innocent, but the seed has already been planted in his mind that Cody might be the culprit. He would never admit that he suspects Cody, but how can he not? It’s a delicious conundrum for him. He wants to prove his innocence but protect his brother. He’d go to prison himself before he’d allow Cody to take the blame. I do not understand why Bran is so fond of that wretch.”
Parker’s emerald eyes glittered with amusement. “You’ve never forgiven him, have you?”
“Who? Bran?”
“No. Cody. He refused to make a cuckold of his brother, and you have never forgiven the slight. He is so honorable, I doubt that he’s ever told Brandon the reason for your mutual animosity. Tell me, is he the only Fleming to have turned away from your bed?”
“Beast!”
