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She obviously meant what had happened tonight. “It’s fine. It’s really none of my business, anyway.”
“We consider you one of the family,” Victoria said as she came over to retrieve her daughter. “Of course it’s your business.”
Donella didn’t know how to respond to that. She simply handed Rowena over.
“Well done,” Victoria murmured, as she smiled at her sleeping child. “Angus could come in and play his bagpipes, and she’d sleep through it.”
As she watched the countess place the baby in her cradle, Donella was again filled with a sharp sense of longing. For years, she’d yearned for a life of quiet contemplation, sheltered from the world by high convent walls. After all, the world was so messy, and often more uncomfortable than not. But with a rapidity that stunned her, Donella now wanted more of the world, with all the messiness—and love—that entailed.
Victoria resumed her seat by the fire. “Where was I?”
“At Mr. Kendrick’s exile from Kinglas.”
“Ah, yes. Logan set sail for Canada almost immediately, and without ever seeing Miss Campbell.”
Donella found that surprising. “That must have been difficult for both of them.”
Victoria waggled a hand. “For Logan, yes. But from what I gather, he was half out of his mind with grief, and terribly guilt-stricken. He was in no condition to see the girl so soon after the accident.”
“I can’t help but feel sorry for her. To be so cruelly separated from the man she loved.”
“I wouldn’t feel too sorry,” Victoria dryly added. “Logan wrote to her before he left Scotland and asked her to go with him—as his wife, of course.”
Donella blinked. “She refused?”
“Quite readily. Oh, she blamed it on her family. The Campbells were no longer interested in the alliance, after Logan’s estrangement from his brother.”
Donella couldn’t help starching up. “If she loved him, that shouldn’t have mattered. She would certainly want to be with him in his time of trial.”
“Then I suppose she didn’t love him, did she?”
“She seemed quite taken with him tonight.”
“And he seemed just as eager in return?” Victoria gently prodded.
Donella simply raised her eyebrows.
“I think he was more stunned than anything else,” Victoria said.
“He looked like Odysseus encountering one of the sirens.” She winced. “Sorry, that sounds awful. I don’t even know the woman.”
“That’s exactly what Angus called her tonight. However, Logan claims he was simply being polite, paying his respects to an old friend who’d only recently put off her widow’s weeds.”
Donella couldn’t hold back a snort. “Polite? That’s one way to put it.”
“I agree. I was tempted to box his ears for abandoning you so precipitously. It was exceedingly rude. Nicholas was also quite put out, and he made sure Logan knew it.”
Donella winced. “How embarrassing.”
“That was only one part of the argument, dearest. Mostly, we’re worried that Logan will be susceptible to Jeannie’s wiles again. Logan, of course, denies any such thing and grew quite heated at the suggestion.”
“They seemedquitehappy to encounter each other, if you ask me.” Recalling the expression on Logan’s face made Donella’s heart hurt.
“I would wager that’s true for Jeannie, because Logan is now a very rich man. He wasn’t an eligible match six years ago, but he definitely is now. Half the mothers in Glasgow have been chasing him for their daughters ever since he stepped foot off the boat.”
Donella had seen evidence of that at various social functions in the city. It had never bothered her before, likely because he’d always seemed immune to any attempts to engage his interest.
That, however, was no longer the case.
