True Heart by Arnette Lamb Read Free Book Online

strength.”
    She meant fortitude, and she referred to Lady Juliet, Virginia’s mother and the woman who had raised Agnes. Even Lachian MacKenzie knew better than to cross his duchess. But Virginia had been closer to her father. He’d taken her everywhere, taught her to ride as soon as she could stand. He’d formally given her to Cameron on her tenth birthday. He’d also given her up for dead.
    â€œIf you truly believed she is dead, why have you kept that tobacco cask?”
    Too late Cameron realized Agnes had tricked him into thinking casually about Virginia. He also knew when to retreat. “You should rest,” he said. “I promised your husband you wouldn’t tire yourself.”
    â€œI’m fine, but I will leave you to fret over your future and Captain Brown’s helmsmanship.”
    Brown stiffened formally. “You needn’t have a care about that, my lady. I know this river as well as I know the buttons of my shirt.”
    She turned on the charm. “I fear that’s not enough to assuage poor Cameron and his crew, but the MacKenzies are indebted to you, sir.”
    As the object of her attention, Brown almost groveled. “You will remember me to your father, Lady Agnes,” he said. “Best man o’ the Highlands is how Lachian MacKenzie’s known.”
    â€œThat he is. You can be sure I’ll tell him that you led us to Virginia.” She slid Cameron a challenging glance, but her attention was fixed on Brown. “I believe, however, that he’ll thank you himself. He cannot be more than a day or two behind us.”
    As a result of her three-day forced bed rest, the messenger had surely reached her father at his home in Tain before Cameron had set sail. Lachian MacKenzie would make haste to follow. The rest of the family had probably already arrived in Glasgow, for the hallmark was the strongest lead to Virginia they’d had in over five years.
    Brown acknowledged a passing ship, but his interest clearly lay with the conversation. “Every Scot in the Chesapeake will turn out for a chance to see the Highland rogue in the flesh.”
    Cameron had to say, “What if she isn’t here, Agnes?”
    Her smile faded and stone would have melted beneath her gaze. Without a word, she strolled across the deck and down the companionway.
    Cameron said, “She’s yours, Brown.”
    â€œOh, no. I know better than to rile that MacKenzie female. They say she took a bowshot to save Edward Napier.”
    Cameron had been speaking of the ship, but Brown had a point. “She did indeed save his life, but her husband swears he prevails in their disputes.”
    â€œSmartest man in the isles ought to know his way around MacKenzie’s firstborn lass.”
    â€œAye, Agnes and Napier are well paired.”
    They shared an agreeable glance, then Cameron moved to the bow.
    In the ship’s wake, waterfowl took flight, and deer dashed for safety in the lush landscape. Rain clouds hovered in the northern sky, moving westward and leaving the James bathed in sunshine. Riverboats stacked high with hogsheads of tobacco lumbered past. Swift passenger ships and slave sloops scurried around the Maiden Virginia like skitterbugs on a smooth lake. In the distance, an occasional chimney fire streamed upward, the smoke clinging like a beard to the face of the forest. The sails snapped in the breeze. The damp air smelled ripe with spring.
    Anticipation sat like a stone in Cameron’s belly, and he gripped the bulwark to push the feeling away. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop thinking about the past. He remembered a girl who’d despaired because her younger sister, Lily, had gotten a love letter first. He thought of the spring they’d found a wounded badger and nursed it back to health. She’d stood beside him in this very spot. He’d been a brash and cocky youth. Virginia had been reasonable and honest but