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“Me.”
“What?”
She winced. “You needn’t yell, sir. I’m right here.”
He plucked her glass away and put it on the table, again taking both her hands. “Please tell me yer all right, lass.”
The brogue had come out again, indicating he was truly upset. He’d gone pale under his tan, which certainly suggested that he really did worry about her.
“I’m fine. Truly, it was just a minor wound.”
“Tell me exactly what happened,” he tersely said.
“It happened in a small, back garden of Blairgal Castle. There’s an old wall that marks the edge of the garden, blocking a very steep drop into a ravine. Mamma had forced Eden up onto that wall, and was going to make her jump. Then she’d tell everyone she’d committed suicide.”
“God, that’s awful. I’m so sorry. It was about you and Alec breaking it off, I take it.”
“For Mamma, that was the final straw. She’d always resented Alasdair and believed Fergus should be heir to the earldom, especially since he’d taken on the duties of estate steward after Alasdair ran away and joined the army.”
“Fergus was next in the line of succession?”
Donella nodded.
“I suppose I can see a certain logic to that,” Logan said, “but then why kill Edie?”
“Mamma was convinced that, in his grief, Alasdair would turn to me for comfort and eventually ask to marry me. I would then become Countess of Riddick after my uncle died.”
“But what about Fergus and his claim to the earldom?”
“Mamma intended to do away with Alasdair at some point. That way I would be a wealthy dowager countess, and Fergus would still inherit.”
She could see Logan trying to puzzle the mad scheme out.
After a few moments, he shrugged. “Sorry, sweetheart, but it makes no bloody sense. It’s the most convoluted plot I’ve ever heard.”
“I told her that. I made it quite clear that even if she did kill Eden, I would never marry Alasdair.”
“And that’s when she decided to shoot the poor fellow?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did you get injured instead?”
Donella felt the need to fuss with the sash tied under her bodice. “I suppose I tried to jump in front of Alasdair when Mamma fired the pistol.”
The answering silence was so fraught that she couldn’t work up the courage to look at him. Instead, she counted the seconds as the mantel clock ticked them off.
“You what?” Logan finally asked.
She peeked up, mentally wincing as she took in the thundercloud that all but roiled over his head.
“I didn’t get to Alasdair in time. It was just bad luck that Mamma shot me instead.”
His gaze all but scorched her. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he gave her a little shake. “You are never,neverto put yourself in harm’s way like that again. Do you hear me?”
Logan’s fury, instead of scaring her, chased away the sadness and shame that always came with remembering that horrible event and her mother’s sad fate.
“It wasn’t something I planned,” she said apologetically. “It was all rather confusing, in the moment.”
