The Many Sins of Lord Cameron
Cameron couldn’t help remembering the child who’d followed him about on spindly legs, demanding to know everything about “the ponies.” Even though Cameron had been offhand with Daniel, he’d always been acutely aware of where his son had been and what he’d been doing at all times, going after him when he went astray, as he’d done in Glasgow. He and his brothers between them had somehow raised him without making too much of a mess of it.
“Well, I’m off,” Daniel said.
“Off? Where this time?”
Daniel stuck his hands in the pockets and gave Cameron a bland look. “University. Isn’t that where you’ve been trying to shove me these last months?”
“I thought you hated Cambridge.”
“I do. So, I’m not going to Cambridge. I’m going to Edinburgh. I thought maybe Glasgow, which is why I legged it down there that day.”
Cameron’s exasperation rose. “Is that what that was all about? Damnation, Danny, why didn’t ye tell me?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to see the place before I begged ye to send me there. Didn’t expect to get in a scrape. I dressed decently so the warden wouldn’t toss me out on my ear, but it was too tempting for those lads. They wanted the clothes off my back, would you believe it? If they needed money, they only had to ask. I told them.”
“So you went to jail with them? Noble of ye, son.”
“They didn’t think I’d fight back. I was fighting as hard as they were, so I didn’t see I should get off. Their leader, ye know, he’s not so bad. For a street tough.”
God help us. “Ye chose Edinburgh, though. Why? Fewer street toughs?”
“Amusing, Dad. I like a professor there who’s going to teach me engineering. And there’s one who’ll teach me architecture. No more philosophy, thank ye very much.”
“If you didn’t want to study philosophy, Danny, you only had to say.”
Again the careless shrug. “I didn’t much know, Dad, truth to tell. I had to wander about, find out for myself. But I’m fixed now. Hilary term’s part done, but they say they’ll give me private instruction to bring me up to scratch. I’ll get the lay of the land, meet the chaps, see how it goes. I’ll come back here between terms and then seriously start at Trinity. I’ll catch the train today, send you a telegram when I arrive. Uncle Mac says I can stay in his house there.”
The tight pain in Cameron’s heart startled him. Cam had grown used to having Daniel with him all the time. He’d purchased the Berkshire estate partly because he’d be close to Daniel when he was at Harrow.
Now their paths were diverging. The son Cameron had fought so hard to protect was ready to start protecting himself.
“Why the sudden wish to rush off?” Cameron asked in a light voice. “I can always use more help with the horses. The Newmarket races will be here soon enough, and you can start at Trinity term.”
Daniel looked his father straight in the eye. “Because I know you’ll be all right without me. You don’t need me anymore, Dad. You’ve got Ainsley looking after you, now.”
“I thought I was looking after her.”
Daniel snorted. “She might let ye think so. But you spent the whole night with her last night, didn’t you? Sleeping and all?”
Cameron’s face heated. “That’s your business now, is it?”
“The whole house knows it, Dad. They’re pleased that you have a chance for a good marriage, and so am I.”
“Good God, doesn’t anyone have anything better to talk about?”
“Not really. They all like Ainsley and want to make sure you treat her well. I like her too, and want the same. But ye proved yourself.”
Cameron’s eyes narrowed. “Is that why you’ve been staying with us all winter? So you could keep an eye on me with Ainsley?”
“Partly. That’s why I know that it’s all right for me to go now.”
Cameron wanted to laugh. He wanted to hug Daniel, tell the lad he was a damn fool, and then tell him that he loved him.
Neither had ever been comfortable with that kind of sentimentality, so both turned to watch the horses. The filly called Chance’s Daughter, a pretty bay Cameron had bought about the time Ian married Beth, ran with grace and enthusiasm. She’d do well this year in the three-year- olds’ races.
“Daniel,” Cameron said after a time. “I know I’ve been the worst father a lad can be stuck with.”
“Not your fault, Dad. You’re a Mackenzie.”
“So are you. Don’t forget that.” Horses thundered toward them, Chance’s Daughter smoothly pulling into the lead. “Don’t make the mistakes I did.”
“I’ll make plenty of my own, I warrant. But I have an advantage, ye know. All you got was a dad who beat his sons and was jealous of them too. I have a dad who tries to do the right thing, even if he mucks it up most of the time. And then there’s my sweet aunties and my stepmother to show me that some women ain’t so bad. They don’t all just want our money. Some of the lasses even like us.”
Cameron let out a laugh. “Yes, some of them do. Now, I’m going to do something to embarrass you.”
He grabbed Daniel and jerked him to him in a big bear hug. Instead of stiffening, Daniel laughed and hugged his father back. The embrace grew tighter and tighter until Cameron couldn’t breathe. Daniel had certainly grown strong.