“I’ll move a pallet near the hearth downstairs for your man,” Anne said, then took her leave.
For an instant, Adam wished he’d donned a different disguise.Perhaps Margaret the maidservant.Margaret would have been expected to sleep here with the lady.
With a sigh, he went to the hearth to poke the coals of the banked fire to life.
“Ye don’t have to do that,” Aillenn said.
“If I’m to beyour man,”he told her, winking as he said the words, “’tis what’s expected.”
She blushed and moved toward the bed.Pushing the curtains aside, she peeked under the coverlet, looking for fleas.Apparently satisfied, she turned, plopping down to sit on the mattress and immediately emitting an indelicate gasp.
“’Tis goose-down!”she cried out in pleasure.
At her words, a wave of heat hit Adam full in the face.A wave that had nothing to do with the blossoming fire.
“Is it?”he managed to squeak out.
It took all his strength of will to keep his eyes trained on the fire as he added more peat.
Goose-down.There was nothing better than a goose-down pallet when it came to swiving.
Sinking into a woman while she sank into the mattress.
Feeling the embrace of feathery softness as they climbed together to a blissful ecstasy.
And afterward, floating in each other’s arms on a downy cushion like a heavenly cloud.
“Aye,” she replied.“I mean… ’Tis what we have back at the castle, o’ course.”
“O’ course.”
It was then he began to suspect she mightnotbe Lady Aillenn after all.
Had she slipped up, exclaiming over the goose-down with such naive enthusiasm?
Was she unaccustomed to such extravagance?
Was she not the noble she claimed to be?
How curious that would be.
And how astonished she’d be if she knew that while she luxuriated tonight in her own chamber, in her own goose-down bed, the man waiting on her and bedding down by the communal hearth was a noble warrior of the Rivenloch clan.
Eve had made a grave error.Almost revealed her humble roots.
He didn’t seem to notice her slip.But he could have.And she couldn’t afford that kind of sloppiness.Not when her life depended upon it.
She dared not let down her guard again.Not for an instant.If anyone knew who she truly was—a runaway nun—they’d oust her from this royal chamber in a heartbeat.
She’d let childish delight, unbridled desire, and misplaced trust in a stranger interfere with her common sense.
When Adam finished with the fire, she’d thank him politely and say farewell.
And she would absolutelynotlook him in the eye.That would only cause trouble.
It seemed an eternity before he was at last satisfied with his fire-building efforts.Meanwhile, she pretended to sort through the things in her satchel.
Finally he replaced the poker and dusted the ash from his hands.
