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  “Wheesht, Annora, do ye really believe that they all dutifully wait for the priest to bless them?” He shook his head. “Nay, the moment a couple is officially betrothed, if they have any liking for each other at all, they are trying to get themselves into a bed as fast as they possibly can. And the poorer lasses can often have several lovers ere they settle on a mon for a husband. S’truth, ’tis often only the verra young, the verra godly, or the verra rich maidens who cling tightly to their maidenheads.”

  “I am none of those.”

  “Nay, ye are a lady, and though ye are nay rich, ye have e’er lived amongst them, aye? Always within the walls of the keep or the manor, and always related in some way to the one who rules all the others. The poor work from dawn to dark all the week long. They have more of a greed for those few moments of bliss. Just where do ye think all those hungry young men get their experience, eh?”

  Annora had absolutely no intention of answering that question. She certainly did not wish to hear the fool relate a tale or two about his undoubtedly extensive romantic past. The faint smirk on his handsome face told her that he knew it, too. She was really not so naive that she thought all women who never took a lover were saints or all women who did were sinners doomed to burn for eternity in the fiery pits of hell. On the other hand, women who allowed their lovers to have them while pressed up against a tree in the bright morning light on a riverbank had to be teetering precariously on some ledge that overlooked some part of the underworld.

  Despite all her good intentions she had actually opened her mouth to say just that when she heard Meggie yell out for her. Answering that call was a perfect disguise for the retreat she had been considering. Annora bolted for the cottage.

  “I need to look round, “James called after her rapidly retreating figure. “Stay close to the cottage.”

  James knew it was foolish to be yelling in the woods when they were supposed to be trying to slip silently away from an enemy. It was too late to mend that mistake, however. He would just have to speak to Meggie and Annora about the need for silence when he got back to the cottage. He would talk sternly to himself about the danger of getting distracted by his own lust, another dangerous thing to do. When he was making love to Annora he was aware of only her and how she made him feel. MacKay could have gotten close enough to skewer them to the tree they were making love against and he was not sure he would ever have heard.

  Although he was not sure what was pulling him in the direction he was headed, James decided to just follow his instincts. Someone had to have found Egan or Mab by now, so he could not waste too much time on a whim, but there was no real harm in giving in to it for a moment or two. Many of his cousins would insist that he do so, he thought with a smile as he edged into the shelter of the trees and began to walk back in the direction of Dunncraig. They were not his blood kin, however, so it was impossible to have the same skills so many of them did. He would concede, though, that he had very good instincts and they had been honed to a very sharp edge during his years of exile. Right now they were urging him to hurry along and study whatever it was that had caught their interest. James feared it might be a sign that he, Annora, and Meggie were already being tracked by MacKay and his men.

  He was about to turn around and get back to the cottage, disgusted with himself for wasting time looking for nothing, when he heard voices. Slipping even farther into the shadow of the trees, he moved toward the voices until he saw five men watering their horses. James eased himself down until he was sprawled on his stomach on the ground and studied the men. He was a little too far away to see the badges they wore on their muddied clothing, but he suspected they were from the MacLaren clan, the one MacKay had recently raided. The one where the laird’s eldest son was killed, he thought and was suddenly alarmed that what was obviously a scouting party was roaming on Dunncraig lands.

  “I think we need to find out what has that bastard in such a frenzy,” said a huge, rather hairy man, his dark hair and beard nearly obscuring his whole face. “It could be useful.”

  “And I agree with ye, but with so many of his men riding all o’er the place and in every direction, ’tis too dangerous,” said a shorter, much thinner man. “Ye saw how they are grabbing hold of every mon, woman, and bairn they find and demanding answers, Ellar. They wouldn’t just ride by if they caught a wee peek at us. There is nay hiding amongst the shepherds or the like this time.”

  Ellar scratched his long thick beard. “Weel, Robbie, from what little I heard whilst they beat on that poor mon doing naught but relieving himself outside his own wee cottage, they are looking for someone named Annora.”

  “I think that is the lass who is the nursemaid to the bastard’s child.”

  “A wee lass with blond curls?”

  “I think that may be right although I always thought she was Drummond’s get.”

  “My cousin Will says she is and he doesnae care what that bastard MacKay claims,” said a short, brown-haired man standing to Ellar’s left. “And I am thinking our laird made a mistake in nay getting to ken all about that bastard MacKay. ’Tis sure that is why we werenae prepared for a raid from Dunncraig and that got poor David killed.”

  “I think ye are right in saying that, Ian, but I am nay about to tell the laird that,” said Ellar. “Are ye?”

  “Nay,” grunted Ian. “So, what do we do now if we cannae keep trying to gather some information?”

  “We got, some information for the laird. We ken that the child, her nursemaid, and some wood-carver have fled Dunncraig Keep and MacKay is willing to beat near to death everyone he meets to try and find out which way the three of them went.”

  “And that he and near all his men are riding about leaving the keep lightly protected,” added Robbie.

  “Are ye sure we ought to be telling the laird that?” asked Ian. “He is near mad with grief as David was his favorite son. He will be calling us to arms and riding for Dunncraig without hesitating.”

  Ellar nodded. “I ken it and that is a good fast way to send many of us to our maker, but we have to tell him. The way these fools are conducting their search it willnae be a secret for much longer.”

  James had the urge to hail the men even as they mounted their horses and rode away. They might be convinced to join him in his fight against MacKay, but there was too great a chance they would see him as a source of a reward and Annora and Meggie as weapons to use against MacKay. From what he could recall the laird of the MacLarens had never been sharp-witted and he was now maddened with grief. Tempting as it was to try and gain a few allies, James knew he could not risk Annora’s and Meggie’s safety on a chance he did not feel was so good it was guaranteed.

  The moment the MacLaren men were out of sight, James began to make his way back to the cottage as fast as he could. He felt a growing urgency as he ran. Although he had gained a little useful information, James started to fear that his instincts had tricked him into leaving Annora and Meggie just when it was most important that they stay together and get away.

  Annora finished packing what few belongings they had and then sat down on the threshold stone to watch Meggie skipping around the clearing the cottage sat in. She idly wondered what had happened to the people who had once lived here. A moment later she decided that might not be a safe thing to think about. Donnell had driven away, hanged, and imprisoned a lot of people at Dunncraig simply because he felt they were too loyal to James. After a brief prayer for whoever had lived in the cottage, she turned her thoughts to what lay ahead.

  It was probably a good idea for James to take her and Meggie to his family instead of fleeing to France, but the thought of meeting all his kinsmen made Annora very nervous. He had told her that many of them had gifts similar to hers, and that meant it might prove impossible to keep a secret from them and she had a big one she wanted to keep. Annora did not think his family would want the woman he had made his leman to be the same one who took care of his child.

  “Annora, do ye hear something?” aske
d Meggie as she ran up to stand beside the stone where Annora sat. “I hear something. I think someone is coming.”

  A moment after the child spoke, Annora could hear something as well. From the direction of the burn she could hear someone or something crashing through the trees and undergrowth as if he or it was running without a care for the need of a silent approach. It could be either a panicked animal or a panicked James, and neither of those possibilities helped calm her rapidly rising fear.

  From behind the cottage and to the north of it, she could hear horses approaching. Annora knew that sound could only mean that she and Meggie were standing right in the midst of a rapidly approaching danger. One rider could simply be someone passing by on their way to somewhere, a simple traveler or one of the people of Dunncraig. There was far more than one rider coming their way, however. That could mean that a raid was headed for Dunncraig or it could be that Donnell and his men were just about to find the very people they were searching for. Raiders would see her and Meggie as a wondrous prize and Donnell would see them as someone who needed to be taught exactly who ruled their lives. Neither circumstance boded well for her and the child in her care.

  Annora grabbed up their belongings and then grabbed a wide-eyed Meggie by the hand. She had barely gone a few feet in the only direction where there did not appear to be danger approaching when the little clearing the cottage stood in was filled with men. Donnell and over a dozen riders broke into the clearing on two sides, reining the horses in hard as they saw her and Meggie. A heartbeat later James burst out of the trees only to come to an abrupt halt to stare at Donnell and his men.

  For a moment, Annora just watched the silent confrontation, her heart pounding with fear for James. She wanted to yell at him to run, but just as she opened her mouth, he gave her a brief, hard glower that silenced her. She began to inch her way back from all the men glaring at James, a look of fury and hatred he readily returned. Annora knew that any moment now all the silent tension would snap and she did not want Meggie caught in the middle of a battle even if it would be a short one. James was but one man against over a dozen armed men. Annora knew their chance to escape Donnell was lost. All she could do was pray that James was not lost as well.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Have ye come here to die, then, MacKay?” James said as he drew his sword.

  Annora blinked. Was the man insane? Then she thought of how he must feel. Not only had he been forced to give up his search for the truth and run from Dunncraig, but being discovered by Donnell here and now meant that he had undoubtedly lost all chance of clearing the stain from his name. He would die with the world believing he had killed his wife. Annora hastily shoved all thought of James dying from her mind because she knew she would never find the strength she would need if she even thought of his fate once he was back in Donnell’s hands.

  “Ye are a fool, Drummond,” Donnell snapped. “Did ye think ye could best me by seducing my cousin?”

  “I didnae seduce her. I took her because she cares for the child. I took the child to bring ye to me.” He looked at all the men with Donnell. “I should have guessed that ye were too much the coward to come on your own. Nay mon enough to face me? Prefer to do your fighting against poor men chained to the walls?”

  “Is something bad going to happen, Annora?” whispered Meggie as she pressed herself hard up against Annora’s leg.

  “I fear so, love,” Annora whispered back as she continued to inch her way to the far edge of the clearing.

  “I wanna go home.”

  “Hush, love. Best if we dinnae draw any attention our way.”

  It seemed that fate did not want to bless her with any good luck at the moment, Annora thought as she was suddenly grabbed from behind. She did not need to look to know it was Egan who held her. She recognized his rather unpleasant smell. Meggie screeched and started to kick the man who held Annora, but the child’s efforts were abruptly halted when Egan slapped her so hard she seemed to fly backward a foot before hitting the ground. Desperate to get to Meggie to be sure she was not badly hurt, Annora began to struggle in Egan’s grasp, kicking and softly cursing.

  James stared at his child as she sprawled in the dirt. Only a flicker of relief disturbed the hard grip of his rage when Meggie began to sit up, tears making a muddy trail in the dirt on her face. He looked briefly at Annora, who struggled to get free of Egan and go to Meggie. Then he looked back at Donnell MacKay.

  How had everything gone so wrong? James wondered. Inwardly, he shrugged, feeling surprisingly numb except for the need to kill MacKay. Fate was dealing him a very hard hand at the moment and failure was a bitter taste in his mouth. The only glimmer of hope he had was that Tormand and Simon would soon know what had happened to him. They would do their best to get Annora and Meggie away from this bastard. He would not allow himself to think of anything but their safety, for his losses were so great he feared he could go mad if he thought about them.

  “I think it is time for ye to surrender, Wolf,” said MacKay.

  “Why? So ye can kill me slowly as ye did my men?” James saw no reason to deny his identity to the man now.

  Donnell cocked his head a little to the right and smiled faintly. “Aye.”

  A moment later nearly all of Donnell’s men rushed James. Annora screamed, certain she was about to see James slaughtered before her eyes. He held his own for a while, revealing a skill with his sword that was nearly awe-inspiring. Several of Donnell’s men actually backed away despite Donnell’s insults and commands that they continue to fight. Then one unusually clever man got behind James while he was too occupied fending off three men in front of him to do anything to save himself. The man hit James so hard with the hilt of his sword on the back of his head that the sound echoed in the clearing.

  A soft moan of despair escaped Annora as James fell to the ground. She stood still in Egan’s grasp as Donnell dismounted and walked over to James. When he kicked James hard in the side, she gasped, but then Donnell’s attention turned to her. She tensed as he walked up to her and looked her over from head to toe.

  “So, Cousin, ye felt the need to betray me with this outlaw?” he asked in a cold, calm voice that sent shivers down her spine.

  Deciding to stay with the tale James had told, that she was no more than a woman dragged along to take care of a child, she shook her head. “I had to stay with Meggie.”

  He stared at her for so long that she feared the truth was somehow marked on her face. “I think there is more,” he murmured. “Much more but this is nay the place to find out the truth.” He looked at Egan. “Get her and that sniveling child on a horse and let us get this wolfs head to the dungeon where he belongs.”

  Annora watched out of the corner of her eye as Donnell’s men lifted James up and tossed him over the back of a horse. She tried to tell herself that there was still hope, that he was alive and that was all that mattered for now. It did not ease her fear by much as Egan roughly threw her on the back of a horse and then nearly threw a quietly crying Meggie up into her arms.

  Relief briefly lightened her grief when Egan did not try to mount behind her, but got back on his own horse. He grabbed her reins and led her back toward Dunncraig. Annora silently tried to soothe Meggie as she fought not to think of what she faced once they were all back at Dunncraig. Donnell did not really believe that she was some innocent victim. Somehow she was going to have to convince him that she was or she, too, might be locked away and then she would be unable to help James.

  As subtly as she could she looked toward where James’ limp form bounced around on the back of a horse. Blood dripped down his face from the gash on the back of his head. That was not good, but she reminded herself that head wounds often bled freely and her fear for him eased just a little.

  What she needed was a plan, she decided. If she was lucky enough not to be so badly beaten she could not move or locked up to face hanging as a traitor, she would need a plan to get help for James. It was hard to think clearly when she w
as facing God alone knew what punishment and fearing for the life of her lover, but Annora worked to push all those concerns aside. What chance she might get to help James could be a small one, and the time in which she could grasp it might be fleeting. She could not allow the weakness her feelings stirred within her to cause her to miss any opportunity.

  By the time Annora found herself facing Donnell in his ledger room, she was exhausted. Egan had never left her side as she had taken care of a still weeping Meggie. His silence and the way he stared at her were beginning to drive her mad. It was as if he was trying to see some sign that she had let another man touch her. The fact that she had taken James as her lover made it very hard for Annora to act the innocent confused virgin. She did not feel guilty for loving James, but she did feel that there might be something she would do or say that would give her away.

  “Ye wish me to believe that ye went with Drummond because he had taken Meggie?” Donnell asked as he sprawled in the chair behind his worktable, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on her.

  “Ye put her in my care, Donnell. I felt it was my duty to stay with her and try to protect her.”

  “Ah, and the fact that Drummond came to your bedchamber and beat Egan senseless was nay because ye and Drummond are lovers?”

  “I may be bastard born, Cousin, but if naught else I learned from my mother’s mistakes,” she said coldly. “Egan was trying to rape me. He came to my bedchamber uninvited. I didnae lure him there for Master Lavengeance to find, if that is what ye are implying.”

  “That mon is nay Master Lavengeance. He is Sir James Drummond, the mon who killed our Cousin Mary.”

  “Are ye sure of that?”

  Donnell sat up straight and glared at her. “Of course I am sure. Didnae it puzzle ye that he has two good eyes yet wore that patch?”

  Annora had forgotten that James had discarded the patch during their flight from Dunncraig in the night. “Weel, a wee bit, but there are many reasons to wear such a thing. An injury, a weakness in the eye, an infection.”