Silene sighed and refused to cry. Perhaps she would return. Perhaps what she felt in her bones was incorrect. Hadn’t Mother just warned her against being ruled by her emotions? Perhaps she would go to Scotland, stand before the church, and then come home and speak her vows next spring.
A small sob escaped her because she knew it wasn’t true. She didn’t know how she knew. She just did. The sob felt as if she’d been holding it in all this time. It drifted away on the breeze. She swiped a tear from her—
“Pardon me, Lady.”
Silene turned to the man whose deep Highland voice startled her. The sight of him suddenly standing there made her run.
In her fright, she turned her feet the wrong way and lost her footing at the edge of the cliff.
Nay! Nay! Was this truly how she was to die? Falling to her death from her favored place?
A strong vise took hold of her wrist and yanked her back hard against his armored chest, straight into his arms.
“I have ye.”
She felt the rumble of his voice against her chest and her knees quaked. She looked up into large, deep green eyes eclipsed by dark golden waves that had escaped the queue behind his head. His sculpted jaw was also dusted in deep gold. But his lips…oh, his lips were full and lush and carved in decadence.
“Let me go,” she managed in a commanding tone and looked away from his mouth. She wished she had worn her habit and veil. His captivating gaze had settled on her hair.
He obeyed her order, but first he turned her in the proper direction so that she would not run off the cliff.
She stepped back and foolishly took another look at him before her feet carried her away.
Was he an angel? She gasped. He could be since he was all golden already.
But he wore men’s clothes, dark hose, boots, a cream-colored léine beneath his great belted plaid of blue and black. He motioned his hand to someone else within the trees. Not an angel. A Highlander. More of them stepped out.
She ran.
She ran back to the priory and slammed the gate shut. She needed to alert the prioress that there were strange men—she stopped in her 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.