“Weel, a few more oilings, and this work is finished,” he said, pointing to the mantelpiece he had finished, unable to completely hide his pride in his work.
“Aye, tis a wonder what ye can do to wood, laddie, but I dinnae think tis that beauty that has ye smiling at naught but the air. Nay, not when ye havenae smiled for many a year save at our wee Meggie.” Big Marta crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. “I kenned she would be good for ye.”
James sighed and rolled his eyes. “Just how is it that ye can find out near every little secret at Dunncraig?”
“Wheesht, I wish I could do that. If I had that skill ye would be sitting in the laird’s chair where ye belong. Instead we have that vain swine sitting there destroying all he touches whilst trying to surround himself with the fine trappings of a king.”
“Aye, he needs killing.” He looked at her and asked, “Are ye telling me in your own sweet way that ye havenae found any truth behind all those rumors and whispers ye said ye have heard?” The way Big Marta pressed her lips tightly together and looked away told James that she had discovered something and was afraid he would not like it. “Did ye happen to discover that my wife wasnae the sweet, shy maid I thought her to be?”
When Big Marta spun around to gape at him in surprise, he found himself grinning despite the ugly truth he knew she was about to tell him. Few people could surprise Big Marta. It could be that by talking it all over with Annora and already facing the possibility that Mary had betrayed him, a lot of the sting such a truth could have had was gone. James also suspected that having spent the night in the arms of a woman who gave as much pleasure as she received, one who made no secret of her delight in his touch, gave him a sturdy shield against such hard, painful truths.
“Have ye heard something, then?” asked Big Marta.
“Nay, but Annora has a true skill for asking some hard questions and seeing things I didnae but should have. The possibility that Mary helped MacKay, might even have been his lover, has already been presented to me and I couldnae ignore or deny it. Annora also believes that Mary is dead.”
“So she did die in that fire, then.”
“Mayhap, but mayhap not. As Annora said, how could I be so certain when the body we found wasnae e’en recognizable? Howbeit, she doubted her cousin would have allowed Mary to live much longer as she was a weakness, one who, by simply walking down the road of the village, could plunge MacKay into a great deal of trouble.”
True enough. Weel, aye, I fear Mary was unfaithful to ye. That wee cottage where she was supposed to have died was where she would meet MacKay. Weel, sometimes. The maid who actually saw them together saw them inside the keep. Mary slipped into MacKay’s bedchamber once whilst he was here a-visiting as he did far too often. The maid also said that she heard more than enough to ken that it wasnae some innocent meeting atween cousins. And, nay, I willnae tell ye what maid. Leastwise, nay as long as MacKay rules here. It took a lot of persuading and vowing to be silent just to get her to tell me anything.”
“I understand and ye cannae tell her why she should trust me, either. Nay yet. Did she say exactly when she saw them together?”
“About a month ere Mary died, or we were made to think that she had.”
“But ne’er since the day Mary was supposed to have died?”
“She didnae say she had. I could speak to her again. If she did see Mary she is the type of lass who would think it a ghostie and ne’er tell anyone for fear they would think her a witch or something foolish. Why?”
“Because I think Meggie might have seen MacKay and Mary together. She told both Annora and me that she doesnae think MacKay is her father e’en though she saw him and her mother kissing once. I would have thought she was too young to see and remember such a thing if it happened ere the cottage burned down. But after? Aye, a few months or more of aging and Meggie would ken what she was seeing and remember it”
Big Marta shook her head. “The child has ne’er said a word, yet, if she did see her mother after the fire, ye would think she would have spoken of it, wouldnae ye?”
“Annora says my child learned verra quickly to keep secrets. “James sighed. “And, after thinking on the possibility that Mary was allied with MacKay, I thought long and hard on those years I was wed to Mary. A lot was wrong there and she was ne’er much of a mother to Meggie. Try as I would, I cannae e’en recall a time when I saw her holding and loving her own wee bairn. I should have looked more closely ere I married her, but I had taken my place as laird here and I wanted the wife, the bairns, and the family. Instead I got a wife who may weel have been little more than a whore sent to me by MacKay, her lover, and then three years in hell. The only blessing I got from the marriage was Meggie, my bonnie, clever Meggie.”
“Aye, the bairn is verra clever. Kenning when to keep quiet and hold fast to a secret at such a young age? Verra clever indeed. ’Tis sad that she had to learn such a thing when she was little more than a bairn, but nay such a bad thing to learn.” Looking away, Big Marta said quietly, “I ne’er really took to Mary, ye ken. She was cold.”
“Och, aye, she was. I mistook it for shyness or maidenly modesty. I will say that, if ’tis true that she was just playing at being my wife for MacKay’s sake, she didnae much like it. She may have been willing to play the whore for him in my bed, but in her heart she ne’er was one.” James grimaced. “And I fear she may have been a wee bit witless.”
“If she trusted that adder, then aye, she was.” Big Marta frowned and rubbed her pointed chin. “Aye, verra much so if she thought she could have ye condemned for her death and then come back here to Dunncraig as MacKay’s wife. Think ye that was her plan?”
“Her plan, ne’er his,” James said firmly. “MacKay is too canny to leave such proof of his crimes walking about. If Mary was his ally, she is a dead one now.”
“Sad. ’Tis all verra sad. Weel, ye have chosen a good one this time. Just be verra careful, laddie. Egan has wanted her from the start. If he finds out about the two of ye, ye are a dead mon and I dinnae think the lass will be all that safe, either.”
James nodded and watched as Big Marta walked away. He did not really need the woman’s warning to know that what he shared with Annora was not only precious; it was dangerous. Egan would like to kill him now simply for striking him down. If the man ever found out that James had bedded Annora, he would not be halted in killing James, slowly and painfully. Big Marta was also right to think that Annora could be in the same danger. Egan would be enraged if he knew she had taken a lover. James had the feeling that Annora’s good blood and her innocence had a lot to do with Egan’s strong interest in her.
As James went back into his workroom to find a piece of the wood he would use for the chairs MacKay wanted, he thought about all the very good reasons he had to stay far away from Annora MacKay. They were all ones he knew he should heed, but he also knew that he would not do so, not too closely. He craved the warmth Annora gave him too much to turn away from it. What he would do, however, is be very, very careful. Big Marta knew about him and Annora, but no one else could ever even glimpse the truth. If he even suspected that someone else had discovered that he and Annora were lovers, he would get Annora and Meggie as far away from Dunncraig as he could, even if it meant he remained an outlaw and never got Dunncraig back.
He found the piece of wood he wanted and decided he would get the required meeting and discussion with MacKay over and done with. Since he had made a point of learning MacKay’s habits, James knew that MacKay would soon be headed to the ledger room. Grabbing the scrap of parchment he had sketched out his intended design on, he went to meet with MacKay.
James was only feet away from the ledger room when he saw MacKay approaching with Egan. The two men were so deep into a discussion they had not seen him yet and he looked for a place to hide before they did. Egan was a man badly in need of a beating, but James knew now was not the time for a confrontation. If only for Annora’s sake, for her safety, he wanted to avoid meeting Eg
an as often as possible.
Espying a small door, James quietly slipped into a room right next to the ledger room, one that had never existed when he had been laird of Dunncraig. It only took one quick look around for James to guess at the purpose of the room. It might occasionally be used for a guest of some low rank, but he felt certain that it had been created so that MacKay had a comfortable place to rut on a woman in between working on his ledgers or any other business he was conducting.
Just as he was wondering how long he should linger in the room before slipping away, James heard voices. He set his wood and drawing down on the small bed and moved closer to the wooden wall that had been erected to make two rooms out of one. It took only a moment for him to find the flaw in the wood that allowed anyone in this room to hear what was being said in the ledger room. As James gently pressed his ear against the wall he wondered if MacKay had done it on purpose so that he could listen to what was said when others thought themselves alone in the ledger room.
“The wedding will be held in one month,” MacKay said, the creak of wood telling James that MacKay had sat down.
“Have ye told the lass yet?” asked Egan.
“Nay, not yet, and I would prefer it if ye didnae tell her yourself.”
“Why not? She and I could spend that month betrothed. T’would give me a good chance to show her that she is in need of a mon in her bed. Might make her more agreeable. Might e’en get her with child and that would quickly end any argument she might make. I suspicion she wouldnae wish to bear a bastard child as her mother did. She has seen how that can hurt a lass.”
“Egan, we will do this my way or not at all. Annora really isnae the meek wee lass ye seem to think she is. If we are to avoid a lot of trouble, this must be handled verra carefully. Ye will marry her in a month’s time. Be satisfied with that. And spend yourself on one of the maids if ye feel an itch. Forcing yourself on Annora ere ye are married willnae gain ye anything. Unlike some other lasses, she willnae quietly accept her fate or forgo all resistance just because ye robbed her of her maidenhead.”
“I took her maidenhead,” James felt like yelling in some mad gesture of possession and manly pride. He felt both furious and terrified for Annora. It took him a minute to calm himself down and resist the strong urge to charge into the ledger room and tell those two men discussing Annora so coldly that she was no longer free for the taking. She belonged to him. He wanted to use his fists, too, to make sure that both men understood.
Instead he grabbed his wood and his drawing and slipped out of the room. He needed to find Annora and warn her. James knew he needed to do far more than warn her. He could not fully protect her while pretending to be a wood-carver at Dunncraig, a man under MacKay’s command yet not one who would be told anything the man had planned. He had to get her away from here, far away where Egan could not get her. With that in mind, he returned his things to his workroom and went in search of her.
By the time he got to her bedchamber unseen, having not found her anywhere else, James was feeling slightly frantic. Now that Egan knew MacKay would let him have Annora, James doubted the man would heed MacKay’s advice not to strongarm her. James did not want her to be out of his sight, certain that Egan would grasp any opportunity to force her into his bed.
A soft humming came from within Annora’s bedchamber and he recognized the voice as hers. Taking a last careful look around to be sure no one would see him, he rapped softly on her door. He was relieved to hear that she had barred it as he had asked her to, the sound of her unbarring it easy to recognize, and he felt his fear for her ease just a little.
“Are ye alone?” he asked the moment she cracked open the door enough to see him.
“Aye,” she replied, “but…”
He gave her no time to say more, pushing past her into the room and then shutting and barring the door behind him. “Ye have to leave Dunncraig now,” he said as he looked for something to pack some of her things in, something she could carry.
“Ye want me to leave?” she asked in a very small voice, astonished at how quickly and abruptly their affair had ended.
“I dinnae want ye to leave but ye must and quickly.”
“Why?”
James stepped up to her and took her into his arms. He was going to miss her and not simply because his bed would feel cold and empty. Annora had become part of his life, of his hope for a future at Dunncraig. None of his plans for proving MacKay was the one who had committed murder and retaking Dunncraig had changed except that Annora had become a part of all of that.
“I just heard MacKay tell Egan that he can marry ye in one month’s time.”
“So soon?” she whispered, shocked at how little time she had left to decide what she must do and where she could go.
He leaned back a little and looked at her. “Ye kenned that it would happen?”
“I also heard them speak of it, but Donnell refused to set a date. He seemed to imply that it would be a while before he did so, but he has obviously changed his mind. When I came bursting into your room last night, it was because I had just heard him and Egan discussing it.” She blushed. “I got distracted.”
“Ye could have told me when ye werenae distracted.” James was not sure if he felt angry that she had not confided in him or if he was just curious as to why she had not.
“There isnae anything ye can do about it, is there? Nay if ye wish to prove your innocence and regain Meggie and Dunncraig. They both need ye to rid this place of Donnell.”
“And ye think I can just ignore the fact that ye are being given to another mon?”
“I dinnae intend to be given to another mon. I just cannae leave right yet.”
“Ye can and ye will. I will take ye and Meggie to France. Egan willnae be able to follow ye there. If naught else, MacKay willnae allow it.”
“James, ye cannae leave.”
Annora sighed and watched as he paced the room. It touched her heart that he wanted to protect her so much that he would set aside all he had worked for. She could not allow him to do that, however. Dunncraig was dying beneath Donnell’s rule. A lot of people needed James to regain his home, his lands, and his good name. He could not do that if he was in France.
“Donnell is destroying Dunncraig,” she said, trying to imbue her words with all the urgency she could. “He raids your neighbors and is making a lot of enemies, ones who will cut down the people of Dunncraig because they see them as naught more than Donnell’s people, ones who may e’en have aided Donnell in his raids. In the last raid a laird’s eldest son was killed. And it gets worse every day. I willnae let ye trade all of their lives for my safety.”
He turned to look at her and almost smiled. MacKay was right. Annora was not the sweet, meek lass Egan thought she was. There was steel in that slender backbone. What touched him was the concern she showed for the people of Dunncraig. It had not taken him long to see that she did not keep herself apart from the people by choice. This show of concern only confirmed his opinion that Annora cared for his people even when she was not allowed to be any part of their lives. She was the sort of lady Dunncraig needed.
“I could send ye to my family,” he said.
Annora sat down on her bed. “Mayhap. I must think about it.”
James sat down beside her and draped his arm around her shoulders. “What is there to think about? Ye cannae wish to marry Egan.”
“Most of the time I cannae abide e’en being in the same room as Egan. He is as brutal and cruel as Donnell; he just doesnae have that cunning that Donnell has. They are the sort of feelings that disturb me the most, sometimes e’en make me physically ill. But I cannae just disappear. Meggie needs me here. Somehow I must find a way to elude Egan yet continue to keep a watch o’er Meggie until ye can rid Dunncraig of Donnell and his men. Any woman Donnell uses to replace me as Meggie’s nurse willnae be so careful to keep her out of the reach of Donnell or away from the cruelty that is committed here nearly every day.”
He was so moved b
y her care and concern for his daughter that James had to kiss her. By the time he ended the kiss, they were sprawled on top of the bed and he was hard and aching for her. A little tentatively, recalling how horrified his wife had been when he had once tried to make love to her during the day, he waited for some sign of discomfort or rejection from Annora. His heart soared as he finished unlacing her gown and began to tug it off and she did nothing to stop him.
“We really must be careful,” Annora murmured, watching as James sat up to strip off his clothes. He truly was a beautiful man, scars and all.
“I ken it,” he said as he tossed aside the last of his clothing and then returned to undressing her. “I kept a close watch as I rushed here to save ye like the gallant knight I am.”
Despite being stripped naked by a naked man in the middle of the day, Annora found she could laugh. “Verra gallant, but I dinnae think this is exactly how a gallant knight saves the fair maiden.”
“Ye havenae heard the whole truth. This is why gallant knights risk all to save maidens. The rewards are too sweet to resist.” He sighed with pleasure once she was naked and he was sprawled on top of her, savoring the feel of their skin touching. “I dinnae wish ye to leave Dunncraig, but better that than to watch ye given to Egan or, worse, ken that he has caught ye alone somewhere and raped ye, and I couldnae stop it.”
Annora reached up and stroked his cheek. “I have kept out of his grasp for three years. I can do so for a little longer. My plan is to leave Dunncraig only when no other choices are left to me. Meggie needs me, and if I have to leave, she will be all alone no matter how many nursemaids Donnell surrounds her with.”
“Big Marta and I could help,” he began and felt surprised when she stopped his words with a short, hard kiss.
Annora knew she could not hold on to her secret about Donnell’s plans for Meggie any longer. James was not yet firm in his decision to stay at Dunncraig and fight for what was his. His fear for her was touching, but he needed to put it aside, to see that there was so much more that needed saving. She just hoped he did not see what she was about to tell him as even more reason to pack up and flee to France.
Highland Wolf Page 12