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compensate for the loss of her parents.
    “Meggie, sweet lass, ye must continue to play the game. Ye can understand that, cannae ye?”
    “Aye, I can. I ken that Sir MacKay would be verra angry if he heard, and I dinnae want him to be angry.”
    “Nay, we ken weel that that would be a verra bad thing. So we must keep this just between the two of us.” Annora wondered about the fleeting look of guilt on the child’s face but decided enough had been said on the subject for now. “Now, shall we finish our work?”
    Meggie nodded and returned to the small section of the garden she was planting. Annora watched her for a moment and then turned her attention to her own work. Her mind would not rest, however. Meggie was so adamant that Donnell was not her father. Annora knew that a child might turn a wish into her own fact when she was unhappy, but Meggie was not a child who carried pretending to such lengths. She was unhappy at times, but mostly she just avoided or ignored Donnell and all of his unkindness.
    The problem was that Meggie’s belief that Donnell was not her father fed Annora’s own doubts about her cousin’s claims. And the thought of Mary being Donnell’s lover made her shiver with such distaste she preferred not to think about it at all. Unfortunately, she had not known Mary very well and knew she could have been easily fooled. Yet, could the woman have fooled her own husband for very long? Inwardly shaking her head, Annora decided it was just another puzzle she had to unravel. Considering how long it was taking her to even begin to unravel the others, Meggie could be married and have several children before the full truth was known.
    Perhaps it was time to cease being so timid in her search for the truth, she decided, disgusted with her own cowardice. Annora had thought that she could uncover the truth about Donnell’s sudden rise in wealth and stature by getting to know the people of Dunncraig and speaking to them. However, Donnell was doing an excellent job of ensuring that never happened. She doubted she could elude his guards very often and it would probably raise some suspicions if she did. So, instead of looking to others to answer all the questions she had, she would look inside Dunncraig itself.
    Once the idea settled in her mind, Annora decided it might not be too difficult. Most of the men who were loyal to Donnell stayed close by his side, so once she knew where Donnell was, she ought to be able to poke about undeterred. The question was where to look. Donnell had a very rigid schedule and so she knew exactly when he would be in his ledger room and when he would not. It would probably be the best place to start. All she had to do was make sure she had a route of escape or a very good excuse for being there if she was caught.
    “Why do ye do this sort of work?”
    At the sound of that deep voice, Annora was so startled and afraid that somehow the man guessed her plans that she nearly screeched. It took all of her control to hide how much Egan’s sudden appearance had frightened her. She kept her gaze upon the ground as she sat up straight and, once sure that she was composed, she looked up at him. Kneeling at his feet and looking up at him tasted far too much of subjugation, but Annora quelled the urge to get up and look him straight in the eye. Even though she would still have to look up, that could prove far too confrontational, so she resisted the urge. Eganalways reacted to any sort of confrontation in the same way—with his fists.
    “I like working in the garden,” she said. “It is soothing and it produces something worthwhile.”
    “’Tis work for one of the other lasses, one of the ones what doesnae come from such good blood as ye,” Egan said.
    “And they would ne’er hesitate to do it if I asked it of them, but I truly enjoy doing it myself. And ’tis good to get out in the sun now and then.”
    She kept her voice soft and calm and her gaze fixed upon his pockmarked face.