“I’ll be but a shout away,” he said, “if ye need anythin’ in the night.”
Staring into her satchel without seeing, she immediately thought about a dozen things she might need in the night.A hug.A kiss.A cuddle.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, stuffing the green hood farther into the bag.
“I’ll be sleepin’ with one eye open anyway,” he said with a touch of sarcasm, “huddlin’ by the fire with my other bedmates.”
Guilt washed over her.It seemed silly for her to commandeer an entire bedchamber while men slept shoulder to shoulder in the main room below.She had never liked the idea of class distinction and social ostracism.One of the comforts of a convent were that the nuns might be daughters of nobles or orphans of harlots.But all were equal in the eyes of the Lord.
So believed Sister Eve.
To Lady Aillenn, however, such a thing would never occur.She’d been raised to believe she deserved preferential treatment.And at the moment, to behave otherwise would reveal Eve’s secret.
Still, she couldn’t let Adam leave without expressing her gratitude.
Keeping her gaze fixed on the floor, she said, “Ye’ve been a kind and chivalrous companion, sir, and I cannot thank ye enough.”
She was holding her breath when he abruptly reached for her hand.
It was a simple reflex for her gaze to flit to his face.And once she fell into the deep, dark pools of his eyes, she was helpless to look away.
Chapter 5
For an instant, Eve felt like Lot’s wife.Unable to resist temptation, she’d peeked at him and been turned into a petrified pillar of salt.Unable to speak.Unable to breathe.
With a brief smile, he lifted her hand in his with care, as if he cradled a baby dove.Where their skin met, she felt a warm tingling, like the healing rays of the sun.
Then he lowered his eyes and his head.He pressed soft lips against her knuckles.His breath curled between her fingers, stirring her spirit.
“Sleep well, m’lady,” he whispered.
He was gone before she could even draw breath.
But she feared his image—his penetrating eyes, his determined jaw, his gentle smile—would be with her forever.
The touch of his hand and his lips were branded on her flesh as permanently as the marks on cattle.
And the thoughts that swirled through her head would not fade any time soon.
Indeed, it took her a long while to fall asleep.When she did, her dreams featured Adam in all his various manifestations.As a half-blind beggar.As a man of the cloth.As a noble knight.As a hunter of outlaws.
She was drawn to them all in her dream.But whenever she’d get too close to one of them, the abbess would block Eve with a scowl and a stern warning.
By the time Eve awoke the next morn, she was exhausted from battling both the abbess and her own carnal urges.
It wasn’t quite dawn when she slipped from the lovely goose-down bed and into her scarlet gown.Leaving early was a good way to avoid having to bid another fraught farewell to Adam.And arriving early at the priory was the best way to secure an audience with Prior Isaac.
She stole downstairs before the proprietor was awake and crept past the men dozing by the banked fire.One of them was Adam, she knew.But she didn’t dare peer close to see which one.
She let herself out the door of the inn with practiced stealth and proceeded along the road to the priory.The morn was yet young.But the arriving sunlight already softened the black night to pale gray.The air was chill, but her brisk pace would keep her warm until she reached her destination.
When she finally arrived outside Scone Priory, she extracted a small silk purse from her satchel, tucked the silver cross inside it, and hid the satchel behind a boulder at the edge of the wood, covering it with leaves.
Just like nuns, monks kept early hours.When she emerged from the forest, the priory was already buzzing with activity.Monastery security was not what it was for a convent of nuns.Though there were guards, monks freely entered and exited the gates.And aside from a few unruly young oblates who ogled Eve with open awe, she was allowed to pass with little notice.After all, it would have been unseemly for a monk to let his gaze dwell on a woman.
As she expected, Prior Isaac, upon hearing her title and glimpsing her jewels, was quite willing to set aside his other business and answer her request for an audience.Fortunately, he didn’t recall her as the nun who had burned down half the priory the previous year.
“Your generosity is most welcome, m’lady,” Prior Isaac said, gazing down at the silver cross.
