Page 26 of Laird of Smoke
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.
By the gleam in his eye, she half wondered if he meant to melt the cross down and keep the silver for himself.
But his sins weren’t hers to govern.She’d done her part.She’d repaid the priory for the damages.
Still, as long as she was here, and as long as he didn’t remember her face, it wouldn’t hurt to put in a request for the nunnery.It was a risky move.But she’d learned without risk, there was no reward.
“Ye know, Prior, there’s a wee convent to the west near Mauchline.My cousin is the abbess there.If ye have half-burned books ye no longer need, I know she’d be grateful for one or two.”
“Books?Indeed, if ye don’t mind blackened chapters and ashes betwixt the pages.I’ll send them forthwith.”
Eve didn’t have to feign her smile of gratitude.For a long while she’d bemoaned the lack of interesting books at the convent.The other sisters seemed to be content with one Bible and a few histories of the Saints.But how much more exciting were the kinds of books Scone Priory had—bestiaries and treatises on medicine and agriculture.
Eve could hardly keep the spring out of her step as she crossed the cloister to leave.This was what she loved.Her Greater Purpose.Not only had she repaid the priory.But she’d achieved what she’d failed to do at her last visit.Procured books for the convent.Books that would enlighten her dear sisters.
Indeed, so self-involved with delight was she, she almost didn’t notice the monk lingering near the fountain in the midst of the cloister yard.
His head was covered by a brown hood.His shoulders were draped by a brown scapula.His belted cassock was brown and nondescript.To any other eye, he was simply one of a dozen faceless monks inhabiting the cloister.
But she knew instantly it was Adam.
Her heart jumped into her throat.
What was he doing here?Why was he dressed like a monk?Was he spying on her?How had he gotten here so fast?Had he followed her?
Her joy soured into anxiety.
On her own, she felt confident, sure of herself, able to take control even when things went awry.
But with Adam here…
He could easily undermine her efforts.Reveal her duality.Add peril to her mission.And endanger himself in the process.
