The Lightkeeper's Ball by Colleen Coble Page A

everything. Even Mother has no head for business.”
    “She didn’t elaborate,” Addie said.
    Olivia bit her lip. “There was an intruder in the house last night,” she said. She told her friends about the whispers from the speaking tube.
    Katie shuddered. “I’m most fearful for you, Olivia. You should have roused Will.”
    “I should have done just that.” She tipped her head to the side. “Do you hear something?”
    “What did it sound like?” Katie asked. “I hear only the wind.”
    “Almost like a child crying.” The noise came again, a plaintive wail that lifted the hair on the back of her neck. “It sounds like it’s coming from that tree.” She rose and went to the base of a giant redwood. The trunk’s diameter was so wide that if she stood with her arms outstretched, her fingers would not reach the outer edges.
    She peered up the rough red bark. The pungent odor of the crushed needles under her feet filled the air. Something moved in the high branches. Squinting, she tried to make out what it was.
    Katie stared up into the treetops too. “I do believe it’s a kitten,” she said.
    “How could a kitten get so high?” Olivia asked. Another wail floated down from the treetops.
    “It probably climbed.”
    “How can we get it down?”
    “We would need a lumberjack,” Addie said, joining them. “He could shimmy up with no problem.”
    “There is some activity going on at the lumber camp,” Katie said. “I’ll run over there and fetch help.”
    “Not by yourself,” Olivia said.
    “I’m quite used to hiking in the forest.”
    “I shall go with you,” Olivia said. “Addie can stay with Edward so his enjoyment of the lake isn’t cut short.”
    “As you wish.” Katie pointed toward a trail through the redwoods. “It’s that way.”
    The women set off. At first the trail followed the river, cutting a swath through the valley far below them. Then it began to climb out of the gully until they walked a track barely wide enough for their boots. One misstep and Olivia knew she could plunge to her death. She soon felt a blister on her right foot. Insects buzzed in her ears, and a light mist hung in the air that made it seem she breathed liquid.
    “Are you managing all right?” Katie asked. She didn’t even appear to be out of breath.
    “I’m perfectly fine,” Olivia said, biting back a request to stop a moment. She forced one foot in front of the other. This was no stroll on well-tended sidewalks.
    They reached a break in the trees overhead, and Olivia looked down at the mass of the lumber site. It hurt her heart to see the majestic trees lying broken on the forest floor.
    Her attention was caught by a familiar set of broad shoulders. Instead of a blue morning coat, Harrison wore a red-and-black checkered shirt and trousers held up with suspenders.
    She pointed. “What’s he doing here?”
    “His father owns this camp. I suspect he’s here overseeing.” Katie started down the trail.
    Olivia followed. She told herself the only reason her pulse had leaped when she saw Harrison was from fear.

    A movement caught Harrison’s eye on the trail and he realized two women were picking their way along the narrow track to the camp. Alone. Squinting against the sun in his eyes, he frowned when he realized it was Lady Devonworth and Katie.
    He moved to intercept them with Nealy on his heels. Lady Devonworth stepped into a shaft of sunlight. Her hair gleamed like a raven’s wing. Her skin held a blush of color from her hike through the forest. He couldn’t take his eyes from her. Since when did a lady hike through a redwood forest? Since when did she visit a lumber camp full of loud men?
    He joined them. “Good afternoon, ladies. What drives you to such a rough place?”
    Lady Devonworth eyed his dog and stayed back. “We found a kitten up a very tall tree. Only a lumberjack could get it down.”
    He could only stare at her. She’d come all this way for . . . for a cat? The moment