Violet Fire

by Jo Goodman

  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!”

  “A pretty show of outrage, but no answer all the same. Did you entertain Jake and Steven and Daniel?”

  “How dare you!”

  “I don’t mind, you understand,” Parker shrugged. “I was just curious.”

  Cheeks flushed, Aurora stood, bracing her arms on the table. “Well, it is a curiosity I have no intention of satisfying. Your gall is not to be believed. Sometimes I think you are quite mad.”

  Parker’s smile was chilling, his voice soft with menace. “Take a damper, Rory. You are so easily riled; I wonder that I do not tease you more often. You’re quite something when you’re angry.” His expression softened. “Come,” he cajoled. “Sit down again. Please. There are other matters which beg our attention.”

  Aurora sat slowly, the angry color receding from the taut planes of her face. “What matters?”

  “I believe that with two attempts on your life already made, it is time we finish what we’ve begun. The Whittakers most strongly suspect Bran of the poisoning, don’t they?”

  “Yes. It is clear to everyone that he has the most to gain by my death. He can hardly keep his hands off my sister now.”

  Parker smiled enigmatically. “How well I know.”

  Aurora frowned, wondering what he meant. Doubting he would explain, she continued. “Even Sir James warned him that if anything happened to me, Bran would be held accountable first.”

  “Good. And, as you say, even if suspicion fell heavily on Cody, Brandon would take the blame. It would seem as if everything is falling neatly into place.”

  Aurora glanced about the tidy cabin again. “I doubt you could arrange it any other way,” she said dryly. “Tell me, what is to be done next?”

  “I have been giving it some thought.” He withdrew the wire wand from the barrel of his rifle and laid it aside, setting the musket on the table. “Cody and Brandon intend to go hunting on Thursday, do they not?”

  “Yes, in three days. But how did—”

  “And you know where they hunt?”

  “Certainly. They plan to go upriver, to the woods northwest of the folly, along the Chickahominy.”

  “It would be a simple matter for you to go riding there, wouldn’t it?”

  “I suppose, though I will have to take an escort. Aaron is not likely to be assig
ned to me again after this morning.”

  “That’s fine. Take your sister.”

  “Shannon?”

  Parker made a wry face. “Have you another?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Then try not to be stupid. You have always known how our plan was to be carried out. Have you lost your stomach for it?”

  Aurora hesitated, looking down at the table. She reached for her gloves. In a nervous gesture she began to smooth them out. “No, I haven’t lost my stomach for it. Still, you must see that it is hard for me. She is my twin, after all.” Her voice lowered. “I have seen a miniature of our mother. I do have some sensibilities, you know.”

  “I never doubted it. Greed comes to mind immediately.”

  Aurora tossed the gloves at Parker. “You are outrageous! It is you who wants the folly. I only want you.”

  Parker blinked in surprise. “Really? Your confession touches me deeply.”

  “You truly are a cruel bastard, aren’t you?” Agitated, Aurora stood up and began pacing the small confines of the cabin. “Why else do you think I didn’t want Bran to divorce me? What use would you have for me then? I’ve always known that I was merely a way for you to avenge yourself on Brandon. How do you think I was able to act so convincingly when I told Bran you had thrown me out? That he doesn’t suspect your fine hand in this affair is because I told him things I know to be true.”

  Parker grabbed Aurora’s wrist as she passed him and, ignoring her struggle, drew her down onto his lap. His hand fisted in the thickness of her hair and he held her still, tilting her face to his. Parker’s mouth came down on hers in a brutal, punishing kiss. He didn’t stop until he felt her surrender. Her hands slid around his neck and her mouth parted beneath his. “My sweet, sweet Rory,” he whispered against her lips. “There is no other like you.”

  Aurora’s fingertips traced Parker’s jaw. “I find I have no pride where you are concerned; certainly no will of my own.” She cradled her head against his shoulder. “Is the folly so important to you, Parker?”

  “No.” His breath ruffled her hair. “Not any longer. But seeing Brandon suffer, that is another matter. You’re right, darling, I am a cruel bastard. Would you have it any other way? Aren’t you trying to make Bran suffer also? Or don’t you hate him anymore for bringing you to the isolation of the folly? I thought you despised him for planting his seed in your belly, giving you a child you never wanted. Isn’t that why you told him Clara wasn’t his? Why else, if you didn’t want him to suffer for the pain he caused you?”

  “I did,” she said softly. “I do. He never really loved me, not the way I wanted to be loved. Not the way he loves her.”

  “That is more true than you know. Bran met Shannon at Glen Eden.”

  Aurora’s head jerked up. “What?”

  “It’s true. I overheard them speaking of it in the clearing not far from the riverbank. Do you recall Bran suffering a small accident shortly before you invited the Whittakers to dinner?”

  Aurora frowned, thinking back. “The wolf? That was you Brandon was chasing?”

  He nodded, laughing. A lock of his chestnut hair fell over his forehead. “A wolf? Is that how my esteemed brother explained it away? How careless of him. There hasn’t been a wolf that close to the folly in decades.”

  “You took a terrible risk coming so close to the house, Parker. Anyone might have seen you. It’s fortunate that Brandon fell during his pursuit.”

  “He didn’t fall, love; I struck him down. Don’t worry. He never saw me. He hasn’t any idea whom he was chasing. No doubt he invented the fall so as not to worry anyone. Who found him?”

  “Shannon. And a good thing it is that she didn’t find you. I understand she went in search of Bran with two loaded muskets.”

  Parker pretended fright, feigning a shiver. “How fierce she sounds. There can be no doubt you are sisters.”

  Aurora looked at Parker curiously. “I never asked you when I met you on the other occasions. Did you know she was my sister when you sent me back to the folly?”

  “No. I had seen her, of course. I made it a point to have a look at her when…when I learned Clara had a governess.” He felt Aurora’s stillness. She had caught his hesitation and knew he had almost given the name of his accomplice. He went on quickly before she could question him again. “I was quite bowled over by the resemblance—it gave me the idea of how to proceed on the matter of Brandon’s divorce—but it didn’t occur to me that she was your sister. I would have warned you if I had known. Perhaps you would not have been so willing to enter into my plan if you had realized a relationship existed between the two of you. I would have understood.”

  “It doesn’t matter. She is like me…and not like me. It is difficult to explain.” Aurora fingered the buttons on Parker’s soft leather vest. “So, Bran met her in Glen Eden. I do not think I like that.”

  “I was certain you wouldn’t.” Parker had calculated carefully, sure this last bit of information would secure Aurora’s commitment to help him. He had sensed her wavering earlier, and it would not do. Not do at all. He could not permit her to back away now, not when he had planned so carefully. She had done so well to this point, following his instructions nearly to the letter. If she had a fault, it was in her overzealousness to please him. He had cautioned her about the poison, and still she had been purposely careless in order to be convincing. The riding accident was poorly done, but he considered that more his fault; he hadn’t given enough thought to limiting the number of people who could be accused of the attempt. It was important to all his plans that suspicion be narrowed to one person, and that person be Brandon Fleming. “I regret to say that you may have been naught but a substitute for your sister.”

  “Don’t you think that already occurred to me?” she asked tersely. “There was no need for you to rub my nose in it.”

  Parker’s finger traced the line of her finely pared nose. “Oh, but what an attractive piece of work it is.” His eyes bore into hers, darkening, signaling an intention he had not yet named.

  Aurora shivered lightly under his penetrating regard. Against her thigh she could feel the proof that he wanted her. “Tell me what I must do,” she said.

  “Invite Shannon to accompany you on a ride. Take her to the area where Cody and Brandon will be hunting. I will do the rest. It is hardly more complicated than that.”

  “Then there is something you don’t understand. Shannon doesn’t ride well. I doubt she will agree to come with me.”

  “I have every confidence that you can convince her to go along.”

  Aurora ran a palm along the smooth maple stock of Parker’s rifle. “You will use this?”

  “Yes.”

  “And how will you know us apart? At a distance it would be easy to mistake us. Our mounts have similar coloring.”

  Parker reached around Aurora and picked up her riding hat. He waved the scarlet plume beneath her nose. “Does she wear such a fanciful creation as this when she rides? No? There, you see, you have nothing to worry about. I won’t mistake my aim.”

  “And because of the previous attempts on my life, people will believe I was meant to be the victim.”

  “Exactly. I will retreat to Belletraine. Brandon and Cody will have to make the explanations for her death. I do not think Bran will be contemplating divorce from his prison cell, do you? If he hangs, so much the better. The folly will be yours, and in turn, it will be mine.”

  “I thought the folly did not matter.”

  “It is only a bonus, Rory.” He touched the tip of the plume to her lips, studying her mouth as it parted. “Only a bonus.” He dropped the hat and lifted her, carrying her to the unmade bed.

  Chapter 14

  “I don’t know, Aurora.” Shannon set a few more stitches in her needlework, thinking furiously of excuses that would prevent her from accepting her sister’s invitation. “It could hardly afford you much pleasure. You’re very well aware I’m not the rider you are. I wouldn’t be able
to keep up with you.”

  “I would take care not to leave you.”

  Shannon eyed her sister skeptically, taking no pains to hide the fact she didn’t believe her. “As you took care not to leave Aaron?”

  Aurora took the embroidery hoop from Shannon, admired it, and gave it back. “Your work is very good. I confess I never had the patience for it.” She flounced to a nearby chair and sat down, leaning forward earnestly. “I’m sincere about not leaving you behind,” she said, finally addressing Shannon’s question. “I wouldn’t dare do that after the dressing-down Bran gave me upon my return on Monday.”

  “He had every right to be furious,” said Shannon, remembering Brandon’s terrible anger when Aaron returned to the stable without Aurora. “I should think after the things that happened to you, you would want to be more cautious.”

  “Why is that? The only person I have to be concerned about is Bran. You were there when he tried to poison me. You saw what happened.”

  “I saw you receive a glass of wine, Aurora. I do not know when it was tainted or who tainted it. I will never believe it was Brandon.”

  As Shannon bent her head over her work, Aurora frowned. This was not going at all the way she had hoped. If she was to secure Shannon’s cooperation, she would simply have to cease discussing Brandon. “I’ve already apologized to my husband for what happened. I did not think you would upbraid me also. I can understand your desire to protect him; after all, you—”

  “I love him.” Shannon looked up and stared hard at the face so like her own. She saw Aurora’s eyes widen at her bold pronouncement. “I cannot expect you to find joy in that, but you may as well come to accept it. It is not something that can be changed. In deference to what little civility exists between us, I think it would be best if you found someone else to accompany you on your morning ride.”

  Aurora was startled by Shannon’s vehemence. Clearly there was a core of strength in her sister that she had little suspected. Curiosity to know more mingled with wariness. “Oh, Shannon,” she entreated, “I’m afraid I’ve done this all rather badly. Please, won’t you reconsider? I should very much like to have your company this morning. I haven’t ridden for two days because I knew how angry the grooms were with me, but I don’t want to stay in this house another moment. I will, though,” she insisted, “if you won’t join me.”