Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,6
tracks. Men didn’t usually travel through here. There was little reason to, unless…her belly flipped, and her mouth went dry…that man was one of her uncle’s soldiers. Oh, she hoped not! For he was temptation come to life. He’d saved her from falling to her death. His arms were so strong, so hard. His heart had beat as thunderously as her own. He was tall and broad of shoulder and it was mesmerizing to see a Highlander in the flesh. He was startlingly handsome. She hoped he wasn’t her uncle’s man. But if he wasn’t, then what were he and his friends doing hiding in the trees?
She quickened her pace and hurried through the vegetable garden and the kitchen. She finally found the prioress in the cloister.
“Mother! I nearly fe…” Oh, no! She couldn’t tell her that she’d almost fallen off the cliff. That would frighten and upset her. “I met a man on the cliff. A Highlander!
The prioress narrowed her eyes on Silene. “Did you nearly fall from the cliffs, Silene?”
Silene dipped her thick, russet brows over her eyes and stared at the prioress a bit dumbfounded. How had she drawn such a conclusion? And since the prioress was correct, was her ability from God? If so, Silene dared not lie.
“Aye, I did almost fall but that was because the man frightened me nearly out of my skin!” Her enormous blue-green eyes grew larger still. “Do you think he could be one of Uncle John’s men?”
“Hmm, you said he was a Highlander?”
“Aye, and he was not alone. He made a motion to others in the trees.”
The prioress nodded her head. “John made mention of his Highland Elite.”
Oh, Silene felt like weeping. She didn’t want to travel with him. Was he chaste? Was what the prioress told her correct? She was surprised that a man who looked the way he did would ever have taken such a vow.
The heavy metal bell rang outside. Someone was at the gate. It was him. The beautiful man from the cliffs. It had to be him, come to take her away to Scotland.
“Go upstairs to your room and get your things,” the prioress told her calmly. “Put on your habit.”
“Aye, Mother.” Silene obeyed and ran to the room she shared with her sisters. Some were there and were already looking out the window.
Silene went to it and peeked down with them. She saw him on his black steed. It was the same man in his great plaid. He sat straight in the saddle, his presence commanding. He was the leader of the four men around him. Had they all been watching her at the cliffs when she thought she was alone?
The leader spoke to the prioress and Silene wondered if Mother was affected by him at all. He and his men waited when the prioress disappeared inside.
The leader appeared a few moments later. He seemed annoyed and looked around and then up. All the sisters, including Silene pushed back away from the window. Some giggled. The rest turned to her and gave her pitying smiles. Aye, she would be traveling with him—and his men.
She thought about the scar-faced soldier who narrowed his flinty eyes on Mother and gave her an angry looking over.
Another had long, pale blonde hair tied into a tail that reached just above his waist and a long bow strapped to his shoulder.
One who didn’t smile when someone said something that caused the rest of them to do so.
The last was a hairy giant who surveyed every inch of the grassy yard.
“Oh, Silene!” cried Sister Marjorie Anne. “They look positively primal. I will pray for you every single day.”
Two sisters, including Sister Agnes, wept for her. Silene comforted them and then let Sister Agnes help her dress into her white scapular with a veil attached. She wore a white wimple that covered her head, neck, and chin. When she was done, she reached for her bag and squared her shoulders and then left her room alone. The prioress didn’t want the sisters in the presence of such raw virility.
Silene’s plight wasn’t the prioress’ fault. She didn’t like Silene leaving any more than Silene did.
She would be brave and do this thing.
She prayed on the way down the stairs.
The men were inside the priory. She could smell them and hear their voices. Neither were unpleasant but rather invigorating, like woodsmoke and leather.
The only other men allowed in the priory were priests and abbots.
Sister Mary Joseph was standing with the handsome leader.