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“Yes, I understand that his first wife died quite young.”
“She did.” Victoria hesitated. “It was not a happy marriage, for many reasons, and the first Lady Arnprior suffered from . . . poor health.”
“That must have been difficult for his lordship,” Donella cautiously said.
“It was. The one good thing that came from the marriage was their child, a little boy named Cameron.”
“I didn’t know he had a son.” Then Donella realized what that meant. “Oh, no. Please don’t tell me . . .”
Victoria moved to sit in the padded twill armchair on the other side of the fireplace. “From the first, Cam was the light of my husband’s life—even more so after his wife died. The entire family adored the child. According to Angus, he was what saw the family through some very difficult times. Logan, Royal, the twins . . . they all doted on the boy. But to Nicholas, Cam was everything.”
Donella could feel the pain gathering in her heart. “What happened, Victoria?”
“Angus would say Jeannie MacArthur happened. Or, as she was known back then, Jeannie Campbell.”
She remembered the look on Logan’s face when he’d first spotted the woman. “I take that she and Logan were close?”
“Logan was mad for the girl. That wasn’t particularly unusual for him. He was a terrible flirt when he was younger and fell in and out of love quite easily.”
“Naturally, I’m shocked to hear that.”
Victoria flashed her a brief smile. “I know. But he’s nothing like he used to be, that I can tell you.”
Until tonight, if his reaction at the ball was any indication. “But things were different with Jeannie Campbell, I take it?”
“Apparently he was going to propose to her.”
Something nasty and mean-spirited twisted Donella’s stomach into a knot. She forced herself to ignore it. “Obviously, he didn’t.”
“Nicholas and Angus didn’t approve of her, which in itself is quite surprising. Angus rarely objected to anything Logan did and spoiled him terribly. But this time, he and Nicholas were in agreement that Jeannie was not a suitable candidate for a wife.”
Donella tried to be fair about it. “I wonder why. She seems lovely and elegant, and very much a lady.”
Victoria looked disapproving. “Elegant? More like flashy, if you ask me. In any case, Angus and Nicholas thought her flighty, spoiled, and very vain. But Logan wouldn’t listen, and her family background was excellent. Her father is closely related to the Campbell clan chief. Since the Campbells were in favor of the match, that also made it tricky.”
To Donella, nothing was more important than character. Sadly, clan relations often trumped other considerations. “If there was no true impediment, what happened?”
“Tragedy,” Victoria said with an unhappy sigh.
“Lord Arnprior’s son?”
“It happened in late spring, up at Kinglas. Logan got Cam fishing gear for his fourth birthday—a miniature pole and tackle. As a special treat, he and his brothers wanted to take the boy fishing in the river that runs down to the loch.” She paused for a moment, as if gathering herself. “Nicholas was busy that day and couldn’t go with them. At first he wouldn’t give his permission, since the river runs high at that time of year.”
Because of the snowmelt, Highland streams that were slow and gentle in the fall ran fast and high—and often deadly—in springtime. Already she could guess the outlines of the tragedy, and it made her sick.
“Logan talked him into letting Cam go,” Victoria continued. “In fact, he promised Nicholas that he would never let Cam out of his sight.”
“Oh, no,” Donella whispered.
“At first, everything was fine. Logan was very good with Cam, and the boy adored him. He looked up to Logan almost as much as he did to his father. So even though Cam was quite rambunctious that day, Logan had kept him under firm control. Until . . . he was distracted.”
“By Miss Campbell?”
Victoria’s mouth briefly thinned. “Yes. She happened to come riding by on the trail that goes along the river. She stopped to speak to Logan. That led to his . . .”
“Distraction.” Donella had to struggle with a flare of rage that made her want to strike something. StrikeLogan. “But he gave Lord Arnprior his word. He should havetoldher that he had to keep a close watch on the child.”
“According to Angus, he did try. But Miss Campbell was not someone to take no for an answer. She was used to Logan’s attention and wasn’t best pleased when he put her off.”
