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curtained bed.
    “One moment.”
    The two words, softly spoken, stopped her in her tracks, but she did not look at him. She could scarcely breathe.
    “My goblet is empty,” he said. “You may pour me more wine.”
    Glancing at him, she caught sight of the flagon on the bench. “The tappit hen sits yonder, behind your lordship,” she said. “Aye, and ye must ha’ mistook it fer aught else. Ye can pour the wine yourself in half the time.”
    “I do not wish to pour it myself. Must I complain to Patrick Campbell that his servants are slothful?”
    “I dinna ken slothful,” she said, lifting her chin, “but if ye aim tae call me shiftless, I doot the master will believe ye. He kens weel that I work hard.”
    “He kens little about you at all, Mab MacKissock,” he said.
    She swallowed hard, saying nothing.
    “You know, do you not, that aiding a felon to escape is an offense for which you can be hanged.”
    His words stirred a shiver of terror, but she dared not submit to it or she was finished: Collecting her wits and looking right at him, she said fretfully, “But ye did let me go! I didna ken the lady’s crime were sae great as that, nor mine neither.” Relief flooded her when he frowned. So he was uncertain yet of her present guilt.
    Watching her narrowly, he said, “I am speaking of the escape of one Allan Breck last night from this castle. He represents certain cowardly rebels who fled after Culloden to take up residence in France, and may mean to stir a new uprising. This is by no means the first time he has returned to make mischief here in Appin, but it is the first time we have caught him. I think you helped him escape.”
    Controlling her countenance with difficulty, for by nature she was open and frank, she said, “Och, now, how could I? I’ve naught tae do wi’ any prisoners.”
    “You had better put that pan down on the hearth before you spill its contents on the floor,” he said, retaining that narrow-eyed, suspicious look.
    “I’m tae put it in your bed.”
    “I don’t want it in my bed. If I’ve judged your character correctly, you’d spill a coal or two and I’d find myself burnt to a crisp by morning.”
    “In the event, you’d not find yourself at all,” she retorted. At once she wished she had kept silent. Something about him stirred her to behave as she would with an equal, and one whom she liked at that. Surely it was not just his handsome face or well-built body, and just as surely, she was a fool if she let whatever it was seduce her into betraying herself. She must remember that she was a lowly serving girl, who owed him all due respect.
    “Put that thing down as I bade you, and come here.”
    “Please, sir, I must do my task and get back tae the kitchen afore the master sends someone tae fetch me.”
    “He won’t do that.”
    “I’m a good girl, sir. I came only to—”
    “To warm my bed,” he interjected. “Is that not what you said?”
    “Aye, but not in the manner ye would wish,” she said firmly.
    “You are a most disobedient wench,” he said with a sigh. “I have given you two orders, both of which you have brazenly ignored, and now you dare refuse the service that your master sent you here to perform. If I complain to him, you will get a good hiding, which, in my opinion, is exactly what you deserve.”
    She knew he was right about what would happen to her, and she would get more than a hiding if he told Patrick Campbell about Edinburgh. Forcing a note of submission into her voice, she said hastily, “I will set the warming pan on the hearth, sir since that is where you wish it, and I will gladly fill your goblet.”
    “I thought perhaps you would,” he murmured.
    Swiftly she moved to set the long-handled pan on the hearth, but when she straightened, she found him standing between her and the bench where the flagon sat. He was more than a head taller than she was and much broader across shoulders and chest. Her gaze met the top button of his buff