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dinner.”
    “I ken it,” Big Marta snapped, her expression suggesting that she would like to spit. “That old lecher Chisholm and his drooling laddies.”
    “Ah, so there is no need for me here.”
    “Aye, I ken who be coming and what the fools need to eat, but that doesnae mean ye cannae be useful. I could use someone to chop up those apples I brought out of storage.”
    “I should be glad to help,” Annora said even as she sat at the huge worktable, picked an apple out of the basket set there, and set to work. “Is Helga ill?” she asked after looking around and realizing that Big Marta was missing one of her helpers.
    “Humph. Ye might say that. The laird was feeling lecherous last night. Unfortunately, he was also feeling drunk and mean. T’will be a few days before Helga recovers.”
    Annora sighed and shook her head. “It wasnae like this before, was it?”
    “Nay. Dunncraig was a fine place and the laird cared for all his people. He didnae expect the lasses working in the keep to warm his bed, either, though many a one would have jumped between the sheets with him had he but smiled at her.”
    It appeared that Big Marta was in a mood to talk and Annora meant to take full advantage of that “Yet, they say he killed his wife.”
    “Nay, that bonnie lad would ne’er have done that. I have ne’er kenned how anyone could e’er think he would. I am nay sure anyone e’en kens exactly what happened to Mary Drummond.”
    “I have ne’er heard anyone question how she died.”
    “Weel, ye wouldnae, would ye? That cousin of yours doesnae let ye talk to anyone. If ye were allowed to speak to some of the people who work these lands, ye would hear the truth about Sir James Drummond. He was good to us, and good for Dunncraig.”
    Glancing around, Annora realized that one reason Big Marta was speaking so freely was that none of Donnell’s men were at hand. Somehow, Annora had managed to get to the kitchens without her usual guard. She had no doubt that soon someone would notice that she had gone somewhere without her usual escort, somewhere where sheheart pounding so hard shemight hear things Donnell did not want her to, so she proceeded to take full advantage of her sudden freedom.
    Annora nodded and kept on working as she asked Big Marta question after question. Sometimes she just let the woman talk on uninterrupted. It shamed her that she had not shared more than a few words with the woman in the three years she had been at Dunncraig, even though she knew it was not her fault. This was what she had wanted to do from the start, however, and as more and more information flowed out of Big Marta, Annora saw just why she had been kept secluded from the other women of Dunncraig. She almost cursed when her guards finally stumbled into the kitchen, but, since she had finished chopping the apples, she really had no obvious need to linger anyway.
    By the time she returned to her bedchamber, Annora felt full to bursting with the knowledge Big Marta had imparted. None of it matched what Donnell had told her about the previous laird. If everything Big Marta had said was true, then Donnell was even worse than Annora had suspected. If one believed all that Big Marta had said, Sir James Drummond had been cruelly wronged and the people of Dunncraig were suffering for that injustice.
    It all strengthened her own doubts and Annora knew she had to be careful. She wanted it to be the truth and she knew that could make her blind to anything that might contradict her own opinion. One thing she was sure of was that she was going to do more to dig up the whole truth about the previous laird and Donnell’s possession of Dunncraig. Her curiosity demanded it and the people of Dunncraig deserved to be freed of the tyranny of Donnell MacKay.

Chapter Four
    He was sweating and James found that annoying. That hint that fear had taken hold of him made him want to curse and then boldly stride into the ledger room he was creeping toward. To be