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

a treat for the entire abbey, maybe she’d be willing to let Kristin into the kitchen for an hour or two to make a small batch to share with Mother Frances, as a thank you for her hospitality.
    “Do ye know why we are here?” Donna asked, plucking a ripened apple from the tree and casually munching it.
    “I dinna think ye were supposed to do that.”
    Donna grinned and shrugged with the carelessness of youth.
    Kirstin sighed and ignored her own desire to pluck an apple, and when a trio of nuns walked by talking, turned Donna so they wouldn’t see what she was doing, though the crunching noise was certain to be noticed.
    “I’m not certain,” Kirstin answered when they were once again alone. “I suspect that Mother Frances will pull me into her solar tomorrow to speak with me about it.”
    “I was listening in on a few conversations before dinner, and I think it has to do with money.”
    “Money?” Kirstin was immediately on alert. “Melrose is beautiful. Just look at all they have.” Kirstin shook her head, though she wondered if that was indeed what this could be about. It would make sense, but how in the world could she be of use? “That canna be right.”
    “Aye, but they’ve been robbed before. By the English. They are honor bound by the rules of the church to let the enemy inside. Letting them in gets them looted. But, I dinna think it’s about them being robbed. They want to fund something bigger.”
    “Like what?”
    Donna shrugged, tossing her finished apple to the ground where a few birds not yet in their nests for the evening swooped down to peck at the sticky white flesh.
    “They didn’t gossip about the uses for the money?”
    Donna rolled her eyes. “I know, ye wish me to now seek a penance for listening in.”
    Kirstin tugged Donna along the path until they found a bench. “That is not the case at all. I just feel so out of place. I dinna understand the reason for us being here either, and I feel like everyone but us knows.”
    They sat on the bench, and Kirstin kept her eye out for any nuns that might be slinking close to listen. Sneaky old biddies.
    “As your elder, I absolve ye of any sin.”
    “What?” Donna giggled. “Ye canna do that.”
    Kirstin frowned. Theologically, nay, she couldn’t, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to go with it. “Ye need to be our ears. I’ll pay any penance on your behalf. I need ye to do this, Donna. Everyone ceases speaking when I pass. They are extra careful with me as I’m Mother Aileen’s representative, but they are freer with their speech when ye are around. Use that to our advantage. I dinna like being in the dark.”
    “Me either.” Donna picked a piece of apple skin from her teeth. “I will do it. As long as ye promise I’ll not get in trouble, or on the day of reckoning be outside the pearly white gates with God pointing in the other direction.”
    Kirstin laughed. “I promise that willna happen from this incident, but I canna make promises from other areas of your life. In this, ye are helping me, your abbess and your abbey—your home.”
    Donna gazed around the orchard, nodding. “Aye. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open then.”
    “Good.” Kirstin stood, and smoothed her gray skirts. “Let us go and get our prayer books for compline then, and since the nuns will not speak with me nearby, dinna sit near me. I know at Nèamh many a rumor was spread through whispers at prayers.”
    A few torches already lit to illuminate their way to the guest wing of the abbey. Outside their door was a woven basket covered by a white linen. Odd.
    Kirstin bent, pulling back the linen to find a dozen ripe apples and a rolled parchment tied with red ribbon.
    “Who is it from?” Donna asked, clapping her hands. “So exciting.”
    Kirstin had an idea who it was before she tugged off the ribbon. She’d gotten little gifts like this before. A lifetime ago.
    Once more memories assaulted her. Clinks of glasses, soft murmurs of love, running