Patricia Ryan - [Fairfax Family 01] (56 page)

When he came back into view a short time later, he had his saddlebag with him. Squatting on the ground and unlatching it, he withdrew another white garment. Constance thought perhaps it was a clean shirt, but when he unfolded it and donned it over his tunic, she discovered it to be a surplice. Next came a black skullcap, and then the stole, which he kissed and draped over his shoulders.

“So, Rainulf Fairfax,” Constance whispered as he uncovered Father Osred’s body and uncorked a small vial, “it would appear that you’re a priest, after all.”

She wished she’d had enough linen—and enough time—to sew the old rector into a suitable shroud. All in all, it hadn’t been so bad living with Father Osred. In truth, he’d been good to her, even generous, and she’d actually grown to feel a certain grudging affection for him. It had pained her to see him die so horribly, and despite her fear of losing his protection from Sir Roger Foliot, she had prayed ceaselessly that God would take him into His arms and bring him peace.

As Constance watched Father Rainulf kneeling in prayer, his image began to drift and fade. A chill swept through her, like the icy breeze from an open door in the dead of winter. She held on tightly to the windowsill as the frigid pressure squeezed the thoughts from her mind and robbed her eyes of the power of sight.

God, please don’t let me go blind
, she begged silently as she felt her body hit the floor.

Patricia Ryan has written more than two dozen novels, which have garnered rave reviews and been published in over twenty countries. A RITA winner and four-time nominee, she is also the recipient of two
Romantic Times
Awards and a Mary Higgins Clark Award nomination for the first book of her historical mystery series featuring Boston governess Nell Sweeney, which she wrote under the name P.B. Ryan. Pat’s Evil Twin, Pamela Burford, is also a published romance novelist. Visit Pat’s website at
http://www.patricia-ryan.com
.