Midnight Honor

to come and go as she pleases, he will stay in contact with her. Especially now. I warrant Fearchar Farquharson knows within a mile where the rebel army is and where they will be going after they cross the border.”
    “My money is on Glasgow,” Forbes said. “The Pretender will be desperately short on supplies and will not want to risk a march to Edinburgh without regrouping.”
    “Neither will he want to delay recapturing the royal city,” Garner suggested. “He must know the reserves he left behind were forced to abandon their positions when Hawley camenorth. Yet he will believe, like every Stuart king and queen before him, that the key to holding Scotland lies with holding Edinburgh.”
    “I agree,” Loudoun said heartily. “Which is why Hawley has asked
us
to send reinforcements to
him
. Three thousand men, to be precise, which will strip us to the bone, but well worth the risk if we can end this thing sooner rather than later. I had thought to hold off until morning discussing your reassignment, Angus, but I see no point waiting. The general has specifically requested Royal Scots brigades—what better way to shatter an army in retreat than to have them face their own kind across the field of battle, eh?—and since your men are more than ready for active duty, I'll be sending your MacKintosh brigade back with Major Garner. I believe, Major, you intend to depart at week's end?”
    “Sooner, if possible,” Garner said. “I am just awaiting the arrival of a supply ship.”
    Her eyes closed, Anne felt every scrap of energy drain out of her body. Her knees grew weak and her hands trembled; her fingers lost their grip on the silk panels of her skirt and the hem slid forward, brushing the bottom edge of the velvet curtain.
    “There you have it, then, Angus. Angus? Are you with us, man?”
    “What? Oh. Yes. Yes, of course, I was just lost in thought there for a moment.”
    “You'll be in the thick of it soon enough, my man, no time for losing yourself anywhere. We will be relying on you to help hold Edinburgh and keep the rebels trapped until Cumberland can bring his army north. In the meantime, make it a priority to find out what your wife knows. It can only benefit us to be aware of the prince's intentions ahead of time, and a wife who knows her husband is going away for an extended period of time is often inclined to reveal more than she might otherwise do.”
    “I doubt the threat of my absence would cause anything but relief these days.”
    “Whisper in her ear,” Forbes said. “Tickle her on the chin, promise her you will keep your powder wet and your wickdry, whatever it takes to placate her. We are running out of time, here, and your efforts will not go unrewarded. Lochaber was once MacKintosh territory; it could well be again.”
    “I will do my best, sir.”
    “I have no doubt you will.”

Chapter Seven
    A nne did not know how long she stood in the darkness of the alcove after the men had departed. She was too stunned to think. Too angry. Too disillusioned. Too hurt. Her husband's betrayal went so far beyond her grasp she felt as though it must have been someone else's voice she had heard, not Angus's.
    She thought she should cry, but somehow that was not appropriate either. A small, insidiously cruel part of her felt more like laughing—that was what you did when you stumbled across the village fool, was it not? But just who had been played for the bigger fool she was not yet certain. She had wanted so desperately to believe the man she married was inherently good and honorable, she had never even considered the possibility he was a consummate liar, a manipulator, a traitor. Lochaber was indeed a ripe, lush plum, and if that was what Forbes and Loudoun had offered for his cooperation, then it was far more than thirty pieces of silver; well worth deceiving a wife and betraying a prince.
    Had he thought a night of passion would make her malleable and docile? Had he thought a night of sweet lovemaking would make her betray her grandfather and cousins' whereabouts to him? She had, of course, but that was after the fact, for the dragoons had already been sent to watch Dunmaglass. And if he was just “humoring her” as Loudounhad ordered, why had he lied to Worsham about her whereabouts last night?
    She pressed her hands to her temples and squeezed. It was just too confusing. There were too many contradictions to try to sort through, when she could barely think her way clear to what to do