She shrugged.“Ordinary.Brown-haired.Brown-eyed.”
He furrowed his brows.Eve was far from ordinary.
She continued, “A bit…undisciplined.”
His breath caught.That had to be Eve.
“Ye said yedidhave a Sister Eve,” he said.“What happened to her?”
Before the abbess could answer, the nuns began chiming in with excitement.
“She’s gone on an adventure,” one of them said.
“All the way to Rivenloch,” added another.
“Carryin’ a mysterious scroll.”
“A special missive.”
“I heard ’twas on the king’s business.”
The abbess’s face purpled.“Sisters!”
They silenced.
“Out!”the abbess shouted.
They filed out, shamefaced.
But he’d heard enough to know it was his Eve.The wily lass had managed to give him the slip.She was finishing her clandestine task with that marriage document.
To be fair, he wasn’t opposed to her undertaking.He’d made sure the document got into her satchel.Considering the trouble they’d gone to, Hew and Carenza must be truly in love and deserved to be married.He only hoped Eve could convince his clever aunt, the Laird of Rivenloch, that the king’s signature had been lawfully obtained.
“When did Sister Eve leave?”he asked.
“More than a sennight ago,” the abbess said.
“On foot?”
“By mule.”
He sighed.He was too late.She must have already delivered the document to Laird Deirdre.
He hoped things turned out well for Hew.
As for Adam, he feared it was too much to hope for.In Eve’s eyes, he’d betrayed and abandoned her.Failed at protecting her.And turned his back on justice for the alewife.As far as she knew, he was a liar.A thief.A Judas.A serpent.The lowest, most despicable sort of outlaw.
Even if he were given the chance to explain himself, it would be nigh impossible to find her now.From Rivenloch, she could have gone anywhere.
“She should return anon,” the abbess said.
His heart skipped a beat.“Return?”
“Aye.She said she’d be back in time for Martinmas.”
“She’s returnin’?”
“Aye.So if ye’d like to stay, we have a cell for guests.To be honest, we could use a braw man to do a few tasks around the convent.”
