Free Seduced by the Laird (Conquered Brides Series Book 2) by Eliza Knight Page A

young, inquisitive, and Kirstin couldn’t hold that against her. For certes, she wished she could be just as carefree. Kirstin rolled her eyes toward Donna, a slight smile on her lips. “I can live without intrigue.”
    Donna bumped her slightly on the shoulder. “That is because ye are old, and ye’ve lived a life. I am but eighteen.”
    Kirstin settled her bowl in the bucket of soapy water, slipping quickly from the kitchen before anyone could noticed it was full.
    “I am only twenty and seven,” she answered when Donna caught up.
    “Aye, but that is past the age of child-bearing is it not? And, did not your aunt become abbess around that age?” Donna’s voice had turned serious. She might have been young, but she was perceptive, though completely wrong about child-bearing.
    Kirstin kept it to herself that her twin sister, who had borne four children with her first husband, once more found herself with child with her new husband—a man one-thousand times better than her previous mate. Seven and twenty wasn’t too old. Or too late.
    She touched her belly, sensing her womb contract at the thought. There was still time.
    Then she shook her head, refusing to let her mind go there. Refusing to let herself think like that. There was no time. Not for her. And she was a nun. Forever in the arms of God and no mortal man.
    “I think Mother Aileen was close to that age, aye, perhaps thirty,” she answered instead, avoiding the child-bearing remark altogether.
    “Ye see? Old.” Donna giggled, knowing her comment would only get a rise out of Kirstin.
    “Oh, do hush,” Kirstin said, playfully, though she meant it.
    Donna giggled again. So bubbly. What was in the sour wine?
    “There is an orchard here.” She pointed down one of the covered walkways. “Over there I think. One I’ve heard rivals our own. The apples should be coming into bloom. Do ye want to walk with me before compline prayers?”
    “Aye.” Anything to get her mind off their current topic of conversation, and the lines in which her mind kept trying to cross.
    Nuns headed in all directions, some also going toward the orchard to walk through the pathways. The aroma of the sweet apples filled the dimming sky. Kirstin took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fragrance of the orchard.
    “I wonder if we’ll still be here when they harvest the apples, and if their cook would be willing to make anything special. Ye always make the best apple cakes and tarts. Oh, and your breads.” Donna licked her lips, perhaps also finding the mutton gruel a bit lacking. “Maybe she’ll let ye help her.”
    Kirstin smiled. She did love to bake, especially with apples. “Aye, I would be willing to ask, though I’m not certain any help on my part will be accepted.”
    At Nèamh there were certainly factions among the nuns, but even with those, for the most part their arms were open wide with acceptation. The reception they’d received here at Melrose was not so. There seemed to be an air of resentment toward them from the other nuns. As though they were the spoiled children of nobles come to mix with those of the common folk, but she knew it wasn’t the case.
    Kirstin rarely listened to gossip, but one of the things she did know was that abbeys were often judged on their productivity and their ability to be self-sufficient in addition to funding the church as a whole.
    Nèamh far outweighed all of the other abbeys in Scotland as far as production and income, partly because of its location and reputation, they often received more daughters from wealthy households than other abbeys—which came with large dowries—but also because their abbess—Aunt Aileen—was one of the most intelligent and cunning women Kirstin had ever had the pleasure of meeting.
    Kirstin weaved between the trees, lush with green leaves and the perfectly shaped round globes of apples, yellow streaked with red. Her mouth fairly watered. Even if cook didn’t want Kirstin’s help with making