The Campbell Trilogy Read online

  Duncan presented his case matter-of-factly, leaving out nothing except for what had happened between him and Jeannie at the inn, though he suspected Jamie guessed the rest. When he was done, he handed him the map and correspondence between Grant and Francis Gordon. Jamie frowned when he read the last.

  He didn’t say anything right away, taking time to consider all that Duncan had said. Eventually, he gave Duncan a long look and said, “So you believe that someone took the map, gave it to Grant, and then planted the gold later.”

  “Aye. Grant was anxious to be rid of me and when suspicion turned to me, he found a way to ensure that I was eliminated. It worked. But he had someone to help him. Someone with access to my belongings.”

  “And what is Lady Gordon’s place in all of this? I take it by her presence here that you no longer believe she took the map?”

  His gut reaction was to say he trusted her, but he could not rely on his gut. He hedged. “I need to consider all possibilities, including others who had an opportunity.”

  “You think one of our men might have betrayed you?”

  “Aye, though it would help if I knew why someone would want to do so.”

  “Can you think of anyone who might have a grudge against you?”

  A wry smile curved his mouth. “Perhaps one or two.”

  Jamie nodded, understanding. Their father had given him authority and position. It was easy to see how others might resent that a bastard had been given so much. He’d earned his way, but people saw what they wanted to see.

  Jamie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Who had something to gain?”

  Duncan had been thinking the same thing himself with little success. Once he’d begun to consider that Jeannie had not been involved, it had opened up possibilities Duncan had not fully considered before.

  They went through the list of men who Duncan could remember had slept in the tent that night. Of the handful of men besides his father and Colin, one of them had died in a battle a few years back, but there were a few others that Jamie would look into, including a man who Duncan had ordered punished for dallying with a lass when he was supposed to be watching the gate and Padraig—one of his father’s most trusted guardsmen—who thought he should have been named captain instead of Duncan.

  The one name neither of them wanted to consider was Colin, but it lay between them like a beached whale rotting in the sun.

  Duncan sensed that Jamie wasn’t telling him something. “Tell me about Colin. Where is he?”

  Jamie’s mouth fell in a grim line. “Keeping himself out of sight if he’s smart.” At Duncan’s quirked brow, Jamie explained. He told him of the recent troubles with the MacGregors and of the circumstances of his own marriage—how Colin had led a battle against Caitrina’s father for harboring the MacGregors, during which her father and brother had been killed and her home destroyed. How Jamie had convinced her to marry him, Duncan couldn’t imagine.

  “It wasn’t easy,” Jamie said, guessing his thoughts.

  Then Jamie told him what had happened afterward—how the MacGregors had risen in revolt following the execution of their chief, Alasdair MacGregor, and how Colin had exacted revenge for the rape of a Campbell lass by ordering the rape of a MacGregor lass.

  Duncan grimaced—not just because he found the act abhorrent, but at the thought of the brother he remembered doing something so dishonorable.

  But it was worse: The MacGregor lass was not only Lizzie’s sister by marriage, but also the beloved of Niall Lamont—Caitrina’s brother. And Niall Lamont was scouring the Highlands for Colin right now with justice on the mind.

  The question of how Lizzie had ended up married to a MacGregor would have to wait. “You’re sure?” Duncan asked. The rash attack on Caitrina’s family sounded like the hot-headed brother he remembered, but to order the rape of an innocent lass … ’twas a dark side of Colin that he found difficult to reconcile. “That doesn’t sound like Colin.”

  Jamie nodded. “There’s no mistake. You’ve been gone a long time. We’ve all changed, including Colin.”

  “You can’t think it was Colin who did this to me?”

  Jamie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d like to think not, but I no longer know what he is capable of.”

  “But it doesn’t make sense. Colin is the heir; he had nothing to fear from me.”

  “He was jealous of you, or rather of father’s favoritism toward you.”

  “Perhaps,” Duncan conceded. But could Colin really hate him that much? Would he have put their clan in that kind of danger because of a grudge? It seemed a stretch, despite the dark side of Colin’s temperament, of which he’d just learned.

  “What about the lass? Wasn’t Colin betrothed to Lady Gordon? Yet you had a …” Jamie hesitated. “Relationship with her?”

  Duncan shook his head. “Colin didn’t know about my involvement with Jeannie.”

  As the hours passed, Duncan grew steadily more hopeful of Jamie’s support. Argyll’s Enforcer was reputed to be a man of uncompromising adherence to the law. By all rights, Duncan was a convicted traitor and should be arrested on sight. That Jamie was willing to hear him out at all was more than he expected. And Jamie did not appear to be immune to Duncan’s claim of innocence. If anything he seemed to believe him.

  “But why didn’t you stay and defend yourself?” Jamie asked. “When you ran it made you look guilty.”

  “I’d been tried and convicted. No one would listen to reason. Everyone seemed ready to believe the worst of me—Archie, Colin—and father was dead.”

  “I would have listened,” Jamie said quietly.

  Duncan nodded. But they both knew the word of a lad of seven and ten would not have held much weight.

  Duncan finally asked the question that had brought him here. “Will it be enough?”

  Jamie shook his head, a grim look on his face. “I doubt it. Archie still flies into a rage at the mere mention of your name or of Glenlivet. It will take more than a map and vaguely worded letter to convince him of your innocence.”

  The surge of hope that had filled his chest deflated. Duncan had his answer. He didn’t need any more disappointment, but he couldn’t prevent himself from asking, “And what of you, little brother, do you believe me?”

  A corner of Jamie’s mouth lifted in a half-smile. “It won’t matter if our cousin gets his hands on you, but aye, I do.”

  But Jamie was wrong. It mattered. Quite a lot in fact. With Jamie and Lizzie’s belief in him, maybe Duncan wasn’t quite as alone as he’d thought.

  But one question haunted him. He’d dreamed of clearing his name and proving his innocence for ten long years, thinking it would be enough. But would it?

  On the continent he’d achieved everything he’d ever wanted—satisfied his ambition twice-over. But no win on the battlefield could fill the emptiness inside him. He feared only one person could do that.

  Jeannie sat on a boulder in a secluded corner of the courtyard along the south wall, her chin in her hands, content to sit and watch her son for hours. She was so proud of him. Dougall had taken to his training with enthusiasm, blossoming under Jamie Campbell’s tutelage. With his shock of dark auburn hair, big blue eyes, and handsome boyish features, he still resembled the child she’d held in her arms more than the man he would become. It had always bothered her son that he was smaller than the other boys of his age—more so if taking into account his real age—but she was happy to see he’d gained confidence in the short time he’d been here.

  This was the first opportunity they’d had since she arrived three days ago for her son to demonstrate his progress. Winter had relented long enough for her to sit outside. It was still cold, but the snow that had stormed down upon them for the last week had abated, revealing the sun that had seemed forgotten behind the thick curtain of gray.

  Dougall drew back the bow, aimed at the butt about fifty paces away and let the arrow fly.

  He let out a whoop and turned to face his mother. “Did you see that?”