Through the stand of trees, he glimpsed a double row of thatch-roofed cottages with pale golden light flickering through their horn windows.
It was the last tiny village before Scone Priory.
To his surprise, his heart sank.He was enjoying the wayward lass’s company.He wanted their journey to go on longer.
He knew once he saw her to her destination, his responsibilities would end.She’d be safe from the thieves.He should bid her farewell.It was the gentlemanly thing to do.
But he wasn’t feeling like a gentleman.Not in the attire of outlaw-thwarting Adam Greenwood.And he didn’t want to bid her farewell.
Not only because he was beginning to feel a kinship for her.
Not only because he knew a woman living a life of deception would never truly be safe.
But because, for the first time in his life, he’d met someone who considered him worthy of remembering.
Eve spotted the signs of civilization through the pines.She was equally relieved and disheartened.
She didn’t want to part ways with the attractive, brilliant, charming stranger.It was rare to find a person with whom she could exchange lively conversation.Her sister nuns, bless their hearts, were mostly dull and predictable.Speaking with Adam had been as refreshing as taking a bracing dip in a cold loch.
Perhaps it was because it was the first time she’d been able to reveal her secret.
Of course, she hadn’t truly revealed much.He still didn’t know who she was.But he knewwhatshe was.And he approved.
More than approved.He didn’t think she was plain.Or invisible.He thought she was talented.
The abbess’s dire warnings suddenly tolled like bells in her head.Now, as her heart melted and her veins filled with molten need, she understood the irresistible temptation.
But it wasn’t just the call of lust.It was more.
An attraction as powerful as iron to a lodestone.
A profound longing for human connection.
A connection she would never be allowed to forge.
This easy camaraderie could lead nowhere.
She was a nun.
Living in a convent had always been her destiny.
As the fifth daughter of a wealthy merchant, she had no other choice.Her father had no sons, just an apprentice.Her sisters had all married well.It was up to Eve as the least useful daughter to secure her clan’s place in heaven by devoting herself to God.
She’d never questioned that duty.Indeed, she found life at the nunnery rather freeing.Her father’s generous donations to the convent ensured she could come and go as she pleased.
She didn’t mind the small sacrifices.The boring sermons.The long days.The manual labor.Waking up at all hours to pray.She was making her father and her clan proud.She was on her way to achieving a Greater Purpose.
But now she was beginning to have doubts.This encounter was testing her faith.
“Where were ye plannin’ to stay tonight?”he asked, jarring her from her thoughts.
She opened her mouth, preparing to say “the convent.”Then she remembered she’d had no opportunity to change into her habit.Rich Lady Aillenn certainly wouldn’t seek lodging at a convent.
And for some reason, she suddenly didn’t want to admit to him she was only a nun.She wanted to keep pretending she was an entitled Irish noblewoman.She wanted to wear her scarlet gown and gold jewels and pearls in her hair.
“I…haven’t decided,” she said.
“There’s a decent place just up ahead.Anne Campbell’s.’Tis where I plan to stay.’Tis a simple inn.But I can show ye the way.”
