After a moment, Adam murmured, “So ye know.”
“What?”she whispered back at him.“That ye’re a Rivenloch?”
Startled at her mention of his name, he let his knife slip, sending the roast slice out of the trencher and into her lap with a plop.
She squeaked in surprise and came to her feet.
The abbess scowled at her.“Sister Eve!Sit down.Behave yourself.”
Eve blushed.She didn’t bother explaining what had happened.But she made a particularly fierce glare at Adam.
And in an unladylike fit of revenge, she surreptitiously pushed the neeps to the edge of her trencher and flipped them into his lap.
He made a loud gasp that stopped the conversation around him.
“Is somethin’ amiss?”the abbess asked.
“Nay, Reverend Mother,” he said.“The neeps are just so delicious.”
The abbess smiled.She didn’t see the evil glint that appeared in his eyes when she looked away.
But Eve did.So she was only half-surprised when he subtly scooped a piece of wine-soaked pear into his palm and applied it under the table to Eve’s thigh, mashing it against her habit for good measure.
She gritted her teeth, eyeing the weapons at her disposal.
She’d eaten half of her apple and onion coffyn.So she picked it up.Gazing off nonchalantly toward the far table, she turned it upside down and let the filling slowly drip down his shoulder.
“Ah!”he cried, jumping up as the slimy mess made its way down his sleeve.
Everyone in the Refectory froze.
Eve tried and failed to contain her laughter.
The abbess gave her a sharp look.“Have ye lost your wits, Sister?”
Mid-laugh, Eve felt something on her arm.Adam had smashed the rest of his coffyn on her sleeve.
Her jaw dropped.She couldn’t believe he would do something so out of character in front of all these witnesses.Surely the abbess would realize he was not a monk now.
But if that was the war this scoundrel of a Rivenloch wanted to wage, Eve was there for it.
She picked up her dariole, scooped out the custard with her fingers, and smeared it on his face.
The abbess was beside herself.“Sister Eve!What the Devil?”
But Eve was too vexed to stop now.“How could ye let me believe ye were an outlaw?”she demanded.
Gasps of shock echoed in the hall.
“How could ye let me believeyewere an outlaw?”He wiped the custard from his face and smeared it on hers.
“An outlaw?”the abbess exclaimed.“What are ye talkin’ about?”
Eve growled in fury.She wiped the custard off her cheek with her thumb and licked it off.It was actually very tasty.But she was more interested in dishing out just deserts.
She grabbed the bowl of butter and plopped it upside down onto his shoulder, twisting it for good measure.
“I couldn’t very well tell ye I was a nun,” she said.“Not after…” She stopped.She didn’t dare confess her terrible sin.
