Besieged

'You will never hear me complain, my love,' he told her, 'but this thought suddenly comes to mind. I don't have to worry about my little brother killing me when he learns I have married you, Fortune. You will probably kill me with your wickedly delicious lustful nature before much longer. Willy doesn't know what a narrow escape he had.' And he laughed again.

'Villain!' she scolded him. 'And you have yet to answer my question. Can we make love again after we have rested?'

'Aye,' he said, and then, 'I wonder if I shall live to see the morning, you delightful wanton.'

Fortune leaned over him, and ran her tongue along his lips before kissing him quickly. 'Now that you have shown me the delights of passion, my love, I intend keeping you alive,' she told him.

'Keeping you content will be a lifetime occupation,' he replied, pulling her against him so that she could hear the steady beat of his heart.

'You will have to work very hard,' she told him.

'Oh, madame, I will,' he responded. 'You may be certain that I will.'

Chapter 11

“What do you mean Kieran has married Fortune Lindley?' Jane Devers stared at her husband uncomprehendingly.

'They were wed yesterday by the Reverend Steen at Maguire's Ford's church,' her husband replied. 'I was there, and witnessed the ceremony.'

'You allowed this thing?' She could feel her anger beginning to rise. 'You let that Celtic bastard of yours marry the greatest heiress in all of Fermanagh? How could you?' Her fair skin was mottled with her ire, and she was practically gasping.

'How could I prevent it?' he asked her quietly. 'The duke of Glenkirk and his wife were content with the match. And do not ever again refer to my eldest son as a bastard, Jane.' His look was hard.

'What else is he?' she shrieked. 'Your Catholic marriage was illegal. That is the king's law! Your children by that creature you called a first wife were not legitimate, and yet I looked the other way, raising them as if they were my own. When you recognized William as your legitimate heir, I thought we were of one mind, Shane.'

' 'Twas you, my dear, who said unless Kieran became a Protestant I must disinherit him if Mallow Court was to be protected, and remain in the Devers family,' he replied. 'Are you now telling me that if Kieran had complied, and became a Protestant, you would have claimed he was illegitimate because my first marriage to Mary Maguire was celebrated in the Catholic Church?'

'Yes!' she told him bluntly. 'Yes, I would have! We did not marry for love, Shane. You married me for my inheritance, and I married you for Mallow Court. Did you really think I should let Kieran have it after my William was born? And if I had not borne you a son, but only a daughter, I should have wanted it for Bessie. Mallow Court does not belong to you, Shane. My father bought it with his gold, and I sealed the bargain when I let you grunt and sweat over my body in order to give you a daughter and a son. In the eyes of the law they are your only legitimate heirs! Do not ever forget it!'

'I am not such a fool that I believe ours a love match, Jane,' he said, 'but I did think we had an affection for one another after two children, and all these many years. I am saddened to learn I was wrong.'

'You Irish are such romantics,' she sneered. 'Marriage, like anything else, is a practical business, Shane. Now, let us discuss this disaster that has come upon us. Kieran cannot be allowed to have Erne Rock, and Maguire's Ford. It would give the local Catholics who persist in remaining here too great an advantage.'

'Kieran and Fortune will not be remaining in Ulster, Jane. They are not to have Maguire's Ford. You have already been told that. The estate is to be divided between the duke's two youngest sons, Adam and Duncan Leslie, who are already in residence at the castle. The duke, his wife, Fortune, and Kieran will be leaving next spring after the duchess has had her child, and it is safe for them to travel.'

'That is what they tell you,' Jane Devers said venomously. 'I am not so great a fool that I do not realize what Kieran has done. He quite deliberately set out to entice the Lindley wench so that William could not have her. William suspected it all along. Why else would Kieran have married that girl but for her vast estate? What else could she possibly have to recommend her? Kieran is an Irishman and to him land is important. He planned to gain a larger and richer holding than his younger brother. That is why he was so willing to give up Mallow Court. Ahh, you Irish are a wickedly devious lot, but Kieran will not succeed, I promise you, Shane! The law will not allow a treasonous Catholic to have such a prize.'

'Jane, do not meddle! I forbid you to do so else you bring disaster on my house. Kieran and his wife are not to have Maguire's Ford. The Leslies of Glenkirk are no fools to throw away a rich holding like that on a Catholic son-in-law. They have a friend in King Charles, and a certain small influence at court. The duchess's son is the king's nephew. If they wanted Maguire's Ford and Erne Rock for their daughter and Kieran, they would have the king's protection no matter the law, but they do not. They are wise enough to know the difficulty it would cause, and wish no harm to their people. The two sons who will divide the holding are Protestants. You cannot take Maguire's Ford from the Leslies of Glenkirk, Jane. You have no grounds on which to base any accusations. Let it be, and consider how we are to tell William when he and Emily Anne return from their wedding trip in a few weeks.'

She paled. 'Ahh, my son! What will he think of this turn of events? Poor William!'

'Poor William?' her husband said almost mockingly. 'Why would you feel sorry for him, Jane? He is the heir to all I have. He has married a young girl who genuinely loves him, and will one day bring him all her father has, which is considerable. Why would you feel sorry for him, Jane? Because he retains a foolish passion that was never returned for a girl who saw nothing of value, or to love, in him? He had best get over his childish lust, for that is all it ever was. And he had best not covet his brother's wife.' Then he looked hard at his own spouse 'And you will not spoil William and Emily Anne's wedding trip by sending a message to him in Dublin. Let them have these few weeks together to find some happiness before you begin to infect them with your bitterness, my dear.

'Kieran has wed Fortune in the rites of the Anglican Church, the king's church. There is nothing you can do about it, Jane. The match is legal, approved of by the Leslies, and the bloody bedsheet flew this morning over Erne Rock Castle in proof of the consummation of the marriage. Kieran has never done you any harm, Jane. Like William, he is entitled to his happiness. You will not interfere.' His look was stern.

'Your Catholic son allowed himself to be wed in the Protestant Church?' she jeered at him. 'Then the girl is no more than a whore to him, for his marriage could only be sanctified in the foul rites of the Roman Church.' Her eyes narrowed. 'Unless, of course, they were first married by that priest the duchess claims as her kin. Were they, Shane? Did your precious son and his whore flout the king's law first, then make a mockery of our true church?' She glared at him.

'If there was another ceremony, Jane, I was not aware of it, nor was I present at any such ceremony,' he told her. No, he hadn't been present. Bride Murphy and Rory Maguire had been