Read Online True Heart by Arnette Lamb - Free Book Online Page B

glittered a welcome. “I’m one of your sisters. Agnes is my name.” She swallowed back a sob. “Do you not remember me?”
    Not as she was, for Agnes had always been taller than Virginia. Now she stood almost half a head shorter and as poised as a queen. The honest plea in her voice shamed Virginia.
    Wishing she could answer truthfully and knowing she could not, she plucked up a story. “I’m sorry. I fell from a horse a very long time ago.”
    Agnes nodded, not in confirmation but acceptance, for her lips were set with scorn. “Leave it to a colony of Englishmen to ignore your Scottish accent and think you are better off with them.”
    Agnes had always cursed the Brits, or Loyalists, as they were called in Virginia. “I haven’t a Scottish accent.”
    â€œNot after ten years in the colonies, but you did as a child. Any decent person would have recognized your Highland speech and looked for your family.”
    Virginia’s heritage hadn’t mattered to Anthony MacGowan. Much as she hated to admit it, selling her into bondage had been one of his more humane acts. Those and the more unsavory of her experiences were Virginia’s secrets to keep.
    Now she must offer comfort to Agnes. “I have lived with decent people.” The Parker-Joneses and her friends in the hamlet certainly counted as that.
    Cameron drew her farther into the room. “Good, because Agnes brought twelve pounds, sixteen, in case you’d fallen into indenture and had to be bought out.”
    â€œCameron! You promised not to tell that.”
    â€œYou promised to put the coins in a sock and cosh the colonial scoundrel with it before you rescued her from his clutches.”
    Agnes waved him off. “Thank goodness we haven’t that to deal with. But I shudder to imagine the consequences of a ducal MacKenzie in bondage.”
    Virginia congratulated herself; she’d made the right decision in keeping the truth to herself.
    â€œI don’t suppose you remember speaking Scottish,” said Agnes, an apology in her voice. “But you were the best at mocking Papa.”
    â€œNo, I don’t,” Virginia answered, staring at Agnes’s fine gloves and amber jewelry.
    â€œMrs. Parker-Jones says you are her housekeeper.” Agnes swiped the air with her hand. “No more. Our father is a wealthy man, a peer of the realm. We’re taking you away from here.”
    â€œEasy, Agnes,” Cameron said. “You’ll frighten her off. But it might be a gift to us all that she doesn’t remember your bossy ways . . . if a doubt still remains with her.”
    MacAdoo stepped forward. “Do you remember nothing of Scotland, lass?”
    He’d broken his nose since Virginia had last seen him. He’d aged more than the others, but he was six years older than Cameron. “I’m sorry. You are also sure that I am Virginia MacKenzie?”
    â€œI’d’ve known ’twas you,” said MacAdoo. “Your MacKenzie blue eyes tip the odds.”
    Cameron’s hold on her hand tightened. “And you still have your mother’s fine complexion.”
    Agnes smiled up at her. “You also have Juliet’s hearty spirit.”
    Did she? What a delightful thing to say, especially when Virginia wasn’t sure she could recall her mother’s face. She hadn’t recognized Agnes.
    Regretting it more by the moment, Virginia dredged up a question from her list. “Who are you?”
    MacAdoo rolled his eyes. “Pardon my bad manners, lass. I’m MacAdoo Dundas. I had my first taste of ale on the night you were born. When you were braw enough, I taught you to patch sails and climb the rigging.”
    Cameron leaned closer. “MacAdoo came with me from Perwickshire. My mother and your father were close friends. That’s how I came to foster with the MacKenzies.”
    Were Cameron’s folks still alive?
    â€œNow