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.
The two broke. “Come back to us soon, all right?” Cameron said.
“Of course. You’re going to teach me everything you know about working with the ponies, so once I’m done with university I can become a partner in your stables. We’re going to be world famous, Dad.”
“You have that all planned out? What about your engineering and your architecture?”
“I can do that too. Might even invent a better transport for horses or build a better stable. Plus I’ll work on the chaps at university and have them and their dads to send the horses to us.” He clapped his father on the shoulders. “I already said good-bye to Ainsley. She cried and kissed me on the cheek, and then gave me a packet of cakes. Marrying her was the smartest thing you ever did, Dad. There’s hope for you, yet.”
With that pronouncement, Daniel hugged his father again. Cameron returned the embrace, then reluctantly released him.
Daniel waved at Angelo, who was coming to join Cam, and then strode back toward the house and the carriage waiting to take him to the station. Daniel walked as tall and strong as Ian or Mac, even Hart.
“They grow up so fast,” Angelo said when he reached Cam. Cameron glanced at him, thinking the man joking, but Angelo’s dark eyes were serious. “Childhood is gone in the wink of an eye, and then they have to be men. You Anglos are strange, sending your sons out into the world as soon as they get tall enough. My family has been together forever.”
“I notice you don’t live with them, Angelo, so don’t become sentimental. Besides, my family is together. Just a bit spread out.”
“Rich Anglos need too much space.”
“That is true, but it keeps us from killing each other.”
Angelo grinned. Daniel climbed into the coach, and Cameron watched it roll down the drive with a pang in his heart.
He’d miss Daniel with everything he had, but he took Angelo’s words in the way the man meant them. Daniel would be welcome to stay with Cameron any time and for as long as he wanted. He’d done everything in his power to make damn certain that Daniel never had to fear coming home.