She wasn't India, romantic and headstrong. Not that her sister hadn't been as fussy, for she had. At court young men of good families and old titles had approached their parents with marriage in mind. Both she and India agreed it was their dowries that attracted most. But the Leslies of Glenkirk had always said the choice was up to their daughters in the end. As frustrating as it had been for James Leslie, he had tried to keep his promise to them. India, however, would have driven a saint to perdition. The duke of Glenkirk had finally lost his patience with her, and married her off to the earl of Oxton. That it turned out to be a happy union was another story. And India had made him promise only last summer that he would not do the same thing to Fortune. But could her stepfather, the only father she had ever known, keep that promise? Would Rowan Lindley, the man who sired her, have kept such a promise?
She had come to Ireland fully intending to wed with William Devers as long as he were not an ugly beast with a bad temper. But he hadn't been. Tall, handsome, charming, he had been eager to have her for his wife, and she felt it was not just her inheritance that had attracted him. But in those few days she had spent getting to know Will she had come to realize she couldn't marry anyone just because it was the practical and sensible thing to do. What had happened to her? She was, it would seem, more like her mother and her sister than she had ever thought she was. It was a disturbing revelation.
What was more distressing was her fierce growing attraction to Will's older brother, Kieran. He overwhelmed her senses with the kind of sensual thoughts she hadn't thought herself capable of having. She found this complex man far more interesting than his younger brother. She was frankly relieved that the Deverses had gone to England to escape any possible embarrassment that the proposed match between their families, gone sour, might have caused them. Now she had time to be with Kieran, and none to fault her for it. And Papa had seen her attraction for Kieran Devers even before she had realized it! Fortune smiled to herself in the darkness. James Leslie had been a good father to her, and to the rest of them. Her eyes grew heavy. What was going to happen? she wondered.
She was up early but much to her disappointment it was raining. Looking out over the lough that was filled with heavy fog and mist she wondered if he would come anyway. A little rain never hurt anyone, she reasoned. She dressed for riding, and went down into the hall to eat her oat stir-about and drink her watered wine. James Leslie cast her an amused look seeing her garb.
'Where is Mama?' she asked, sitting next to him at the high board. She reached for the cottage loaf, and tore herself off a small portion, buttering it generously, and then slicing a bit of cheese from the half-wheel to go on it.
'Ye know yer mother becomes less interested in rising wi the dawn now that she is getting older,' he replied. Then he sipped his wine, reaching for a hard-boiled egg to peel.
'Do you think he'll come, Papa?' The question slipped out.
'A wee bit of rain would hae nae kept me from a pretty lass when I was his age, poppet,' James replied.
'I don't even know how old he is,' Fortune said.
'I would say he is yet in his twenties, lassie. A husband should be older than his wife, I believe.' He dipped his peeled egg into the salt dish, and took a bite.
'He is not to be my husband!' Fortune quickly said.
James Leslie popped the rest of the egg into his mouth, and then he took Fortune's hand in his, looking directly at her when she turned her face to his. 'Now listen to me, lassie,' he said quietly. 'Yer a lot like yer great-grandmother in many ways. Madame Skye did nae in her youth, so I am told, flirt like some court coquette. If a man caught her eye then that was it. I think it will be that way wi ye, poppet.
'William Devers was a good enough lad, but too soft, too ruled by his family. I could see right away that he was nae the man for ye. His brother, however, is a different matter. He's a real man. Mayhap a bit of a fool to give up Mallow Court, but if he wins ye, he'll hae Erne Rock, and 'twould nae be a bad exchange. So if ye want him, Fortune, then pursue him, and dinna feel shame in it. Happiness is gained, nae conferred upon ye simply because yer a pretty lass wi a grand inheritance.'
'Why, Papa!' Fortune was genuinely surprised by his words. 'You were not so generous with India.'
'India was a bit of a flibbertigibbet when she was on the husband hunt,' James Leslie replied. 'Ye are nae such a featherbrain, but rather her exact opposite. Intelligence is nae a bad thing in a woman, Fortune, but love is nae a matter one should overconsider. If ye find it, lassie, then grab it, and hold on to it tightly, for it may but come once in yer lifetime. 'Twas that way wi yer sire, and it hae been that way wi me. I loved yer mother from the beginning, and I will love her until I die.' He patted Fortune's cheek. 'Yer a good lass. Follow yer heart if ye've a mind to, and I will nae complain.'
Fortune could feel the tears pricking at her eyelids. She blinked quickly to keep them from escaping. James Leslie had never spoken so candidly, or so lovingly to her as he just did. 'Are you sure you are not trying to get rid of me?' she teased him softly.
He smiled a slow smile. 'Aye,' he said, 'I want ye gone, lassie, but only if it is to a man who will love ye even more than I do.' Reaching out he brushed the single tear that had somehow managed to escape down her pale cheek.
'My lord.' Adali appeared in the entrance to the hall. 'Master Devers has just arrived. I thought Lady Fortune would want to know.'
'Oh, he did come!' she half-whispered.
'He would hae been a fool nae to come, but I somehow thought he would,' the duke of Glenkirk said, rising from his place at table. 'He is every bit as intrigued wi ye as ye are wi him, lassie.'
'Papa, how can you know that?' she said.
'Did ye nae see the glances he gave ye when he was last here? I saw them, and 'twas then I knew he was already half in love wi ye, lassie. 'Tis fortunate his silly stepmother has whisked her little rooster chick off to England, isn't it?' The duke chuckled richly.
'Aye,' Fortune agreed with a small smile. 'It 'tis, Papa.'
'Good morning, Lady Fortune. My lord.' Kieran Devers came into the hall, handing his rain-soaked cloak to Adali. 'When I began my journey from home the rain was hardly a mist. Now it is falling quite heavily.'
'I will see your garment is properly dried, sir,' Adali said. He hurried from the hall.
'Yer welcome nonetheless, Kieran Devers,' the duke said. 'Do ye play chess by any chance?'
'Aye, my lord, I do,' was the reply.
'Then why don't ye and my daughter while away the time until the rains stop in that pursuit? Fortune plays quite well, don't ye, lassie?' He didn't wait for an answer. 'I'll hae Adali fetch the chessboard and its pieces, and perhaps some good whiskey to take the chill from yer bones.' He walked briskly from the hall.
'Are ye really a good player?' Kieran asked her.
'Aye,' she responded, 'very good. My mother taught me, and she used to play with her father when she was a girl in India.'
'We'll play a game, and then if I find you a worthy opponent,' he told her, 'we'll wager perhaps, eh?'
'You won't need to test my mettle, Kieran Devers,' Fortune told him. 'We'll wager from the start. What would you have of me-
'A kiss,' he said, his handsome face serious.
'You're bold,' she said, recovering her equilibrium.
