Page 124 of My Brave Highlander

"Aye," Anne admitted. "She told me to tell no one. If she finds out I've told you, she'll release me from my position."

"If you're loyal to me and the clan, I'll hire you. If you're a traitor, you'll be treated as such. Aside from that, Lady MacKay won't be needing any maids. She's under arrest and soon she'll be transported to Thurso for a trial."

"Oh."

"So you have naught to lose by telling us the truth. What did the missive say?"

"I can't read, m'laird. But she said to let no one see the missive and to slip it to one of her guards. I was to tell him to take it outside the castle walls, find her son and give it to him."

"And did you do this?"

"Aye."

Dirk wished she hadn't. "As you ken, this led to two MacKay guards' deaths."

Anne's eyes filled with tears. "I am sorry. I didn't know what was in the missive or why she wished me to deliver it. She hired me to do her bidding and that's what I was doing."

"If you want to stay out of the dungeon, you will tell us everything you know about Lady MacKay and her devious plots."

"She said if Aiden didn't want to be chief, that Haldane would. She'd see to it."

He should've guessed she'd never give up. "Where did she send those men when they went south? Did she mention the MacLeods?"

"I heard her whispering to Haldane a few days ago that if anything happened to her, to ride south to the MacLeods and tell them Isobel MacKenzie is being held hostage here."

Dirk nodded. He'd suspected as much, but 'twas good to have confirmation.

"And he was to tell them to bring a large force of men to help him take Dunnakeil from the imposter."

"I see." Would MacLeod do as Haldane asked and help him take over Dunnakeil? Not if he was intelligent, but the man might be desperate to reclaim his beautiful bride. He'd no doubt bring every able-bodied MacLeod to help.

Dirk had the maid locked in a separate room, where she could no longer come within reach of Maighread. Then, he stopped by Maighread's chamber.

"Bring Lady MacKay to the library," he told her two guards. "Tie her hands in front of her first."

"Aye, m'laird."

A quarter hour later, they escorted her into the library.

Dirk, Conall, Keegan and the clan elders sat around the table. They'd left one chair vacant for his stepmother, wearing widow's black. Her green-eyed glare was more venomous than usual, but her gray hair and increasing wrinkles reminded him she was but a mortal woman. Not some everlasting female demon who had tortured and endeavored to kill him from the time he was a lad.

"How dare you imprison me in my own home?" she seethed at Dirk.

Ignoring her question, he got right to the point. "Two more murders are on your head. Both MacKays. The guards."

"I have murdered no one." She was less sanctimonious this time, and closer to boiling with rage.

"I doubt Haldane is bright enough to do all this scheming, plus organizing a dungeon break."

"You have no proof of anything," she sneered.

He gave her a forced smile. "We have witnesses."

"Who? Aiden? He is too naïve to know anything."

"Nay, not Aiden. It matters not how we know. You sent Haldane and the other men to the MacLeods. 'Tis hard to believe you'd betray your friend's daughter in such a way."

"Isobel MacKenzie is nothing like her mother. She's naught but a light-skirt whore."