Page 148 of Laird of Smoke
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.”
“O’ course.”
“We break our fast at dawn,” she said, “then have Prime, followed by readin’s in the chapter house…”
She continued blathering on with the convent schedule.But Adam heard none of it.His mind was spinning.
Why would Eve go all the way to Rivenloch and all the way back again to this particular convent?Why wouldn’t she continue her carefree life of roaming the countryside as he did?Take opportunities as they came?Let Fate steer the course?
A chilling possibility entered his mind.
“…and after Compline, we make an early night of it.When the sun retires, so do we,” the abbess finished.
“’Tis a wise practice,” he said with a smile of approval.“Tell me, Reverend Mother, how often is Sister Eve here?”
The abbess arched a judgmental brow.“Not as often as she should be.”
“When did she first start comin’ to the convent?”
“Sister Eve?She’s been here since she was ten years of age, so…” the abbess did the sum in her head.“Ten years?”
Ten?His chest sank.He thought she only visited the convent.But now he realized this was her home.She was a nun.
God help him.He’d swived a nun.
His voice came out on a sickly groan.“Someone left her here when she was ten years old?”
The abbess looked puzzled.“I suppose ye could say that.”
“She was a foundlin’ or a by-blow?”
“Heavens, no!”the startled abbess exclaimed, clapping a hand to her breast.“Her father sent her here.He’s a respectable merchant with five daughters.”
