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kitchen building behind the living quarters, and he guessed there was probably a well-tended garden behind that. Between the nun’s quarters and the church, paths of white crushed shells crisscrossed a small quadrangle of greensward, cultivated herbs, and flowers. Neat, efficient, and pleasant, Alec thought approvingly.
    His eyes had no sooner taken in the buildings and grounds than a young boy came racing and whooping across from the stables. The warrior watched the lad come full tilt, never slowing a whit and throwing himself into the embrace of the young nun. She stumbled a step back to keep from falling down but quickly regained her footing, hugging the child tightly to her.
    “Sorry, Malcolm. I know you’ve been wait—”
    “The prioress is angry. She is so mad at you,” the boy blurted out. “She went right to the chapter house after Mass this morning. She would not even talk to the chaplain. She—”
    “Hush,” Fiona soothed, crouching before the boy as she glanced nervously in the direction of the chapter house. “I’ll take care of it.”
    “She kept waving her hands as she walked, talking all the time about `patience’ and `asses.’ David called me to the stables.”
    The lad nodded toward the heavyset, middle-aged man whom Alec could see running toward them, shouting directions over his shoulder at the hostlers in the stable yard. A fearful look crept across the boy’s face as he snuggled in against Fiona, wrapping his arms around her neck.
    “Will she make you slop out the pigsties for a month?” Malcolm whispered anxiously. “She’ll not use the birch rod on you, will she?”
    “Nay, Malcolm,” she answered with a sigh. “Though either of those punishments may be preferable to what she has in mind for me.”
    Fiona looked at the little boy. He was now warily eyeing the stranger standing nearby with the falcon and charger.
    “Lord Alec!” David boomed, running up breathlessly. “You honor us, m’lord. If we had known you were coming...Are you alone, m’lord?”
    “Good day, David,” Alec returned pleasantly. “I was out hunting, and just thought I might take you up on your offer to show me the Priory.”
    Alec and Fiona exchanged a quick look.
    “I would be delighted, m’lord, but…” the older man turned to Fiona. “You, lass, had better run. You have a hornet’s nest waiting for you.” He nodded in the direction of the chapter house and arched his bushy gray eyebrows.
    Fiona took a deep breath as she stood up and started for the building.
    “Fiona,” Malcolm said, following her.
    She turned and took the little boy’s face between her hands. “You stay with David.” She straightened up and glanced at Alec.
    “Good day, m’lord,” she whispered, turning on her heel and striding across the yard.
    Alec watched her go, her chin high and her back straight. But it occurred to him that she looked like a soldier going with full awareness into an ill-fated battle.
    “Is the prioress so heavy-handed with the nuns?” Alec asked sympathetically.
    “Not at all, m’lord,” David responded, surprised. “In fact, the prioress is quite gentle when it comes to her own flock.”
    “Then why is this good nun...this Fiona...an exception?”
    David looked at the laird quizzically.
    “Because, m’lord, this good nun is no nun.”

Chapter 3
     
    Of all fairhood she bore the flower...
    —Robert Henryson, ” The Bludy Serk ”
     
    “Patience is the virtue of asses.”
    Fiona squirmed where she stood in the center of the room. The prioress had not even paused for a breath since the young woman entered. Mara Penrith MacLeod, prioress of the Convent of Newabbey, was not about to let her charge off lightly.
    The prioress had been the undisputed superior on these lands for nearly thirty years. From the time she had proved herself able at the age of twenty-two, no one had ever thought to challenge her authority. She had always been fair but strict in her administration. Over the years,