True Heart Read Free Page A

point. By the time Cam’s ship sailed tomorrow, she’d be tucked securely in the hold of the Highland Dream. Or perhaps she’d stowaway in the crow’s nest. She liked to play up there.
    Papa would be very angry, but with Lottie’s wedding approaching, he wouldn’t come after Virginia. Not if she were with Cameron.

Chapter
1

    Glasgow Harbor
    1789
    Cameron swung a canvas bag onto his shoulder and stepped onto the quay in Glasgow Harbor. No one awaited him, only an elegant residence with loyal servants. When compared to his youthful expectations, his life was empty, and the realization saddened him.
    Pain no longer accompanied memories of Virginia. Only a deep sense of loss. Hours after his departure on that first trip to China almost ten years ago, Virginia had disappeared without a trace. Thinking she might have sailed with Cameron, her father had sent a ship after the Highland Dream. Upon learning of her disappearance, Cameron had wanted to turn back and look for her, but the duke of Ross had forbidden him to cancel the costly voyage. The duke had been certain that he could find his missing daughter.
    They’d failed of course, and Cameron had learned to live with a soul full of regret.
    â€œI’ll wager a quid Agnes has another son,” said his companion, MacAdoo, speaking of Lachian MacKenzie’s firstborn daughter, who had married the earl of Cathcart five years before.
    They walked side by side, same as they had in ports throughout the world. Six years older than Cameron, MacAdoo Dundas was his oldest friend and best confidant. They’d been raised together at Roward Castle, the ancestral home of Cameron’s mother’s people, the Lochiel Camerons. They’d spent a year at the English court. They’d wenched and adventured together. They’d grieved over the loss of Virginia. They gambled on almost everything.
    Cameron was ahead in the wagers. “My quid says she’ll give Cathcart a lass this time.”
    MacAdoo hefted his own seaman’s sack, which contained his prized possession: bagpipes. With a skill even the old Highlanders envied, he could woo a hesitant lass or bring tears to the eyes of the crustiest seaman.
    Grinning, MacAdoo said, “That’s because you let that comely shopgirl in Calais talk you into a pretty doll rather than a set of soldiers.”
    The gift was stored in Cameron’s bag along with his own special keepsake: the silk scarf Virginia had given him so many years ago. Other than constant regret, it was his only remembrance of her. The cloth had yellowed and frayed with age, but Cameron’s memories of the girl were still fresh.
    The image of Virginia’s brooch rose in his mind as vivid as the day he’d first seen the delicate ring of hearts with an arrow running through.
    Cameron stopped in his tracks and blinked. The picture became real. Before him loomed a wall of hogsheads. Burned into the wood of one of the barrels was the symbol created almost a decade ago by Virginia MacKenzie.
    His heart pounded, and the ale he’d drunk with his crew just moments ago turned sour in his belly. No one else had seen the hallmark before Virginia’s disappearance. She said it had been her secret gift in honor of their betrothal. By candlelight, she’d embroidered the scarf for him. After her disappearance, when Cameron had relayed to her father the details of that last meeting in the stables at Rosshaven, the duke of Ross confessed to being in the loft at the time. He had overheard their argument, but he had not seen Virginia’s hallmark.
    Cameron had thought never to see her symbol again.
    â€œWhat’s amiss?” MacAdoo said.
    With a shaking hand, Cameron pointed to the design.
    â€œSweet Saint Ninian,” MacAdoo whispered. “Isn’t that a match to your scarf?”
    Cameron put down his burden and peered closer at the design. With only a slight variance, a common heraldic crown over the