"You know the ancient stories, don't you?" Fortune said. "And yet you claim to have no place here in Ireland. Are you certain, Kieran?"
He smiled down at her. "I like the old history, and the old tales, sweetheart, but it does not mean I feel at home here. Nay, my sweet Fortune, our future together is somewhere else. Perhaps in that new colony your mother's acquaintance, Lord Baltimore, seeks to found. I like the idea of starting afresh in a new place where we will be accepted for ourselves, and not judged by others."
"There will always be those who judge," Fortune replied cynically.
He laughed. "You are so innocent on one hand, yet on the other you are very worldly, my love."
"I have had a rather eclectic upbringing," Fortune said dryly. "Whenever Mama went to court we were left behind at Queen's Malvern with her grandparents. It was, frankly, my favorite place, for Madame Skye was so interesting, and so knowledgeable. We were very small then. I was just four and a half when my greatgrandfather de Marisco died. After that Madame Skye was never quite the same, although she never stopped loving us, or involving herself in our lives. I have lived in France, and in Scotland. I saw the proxy marriage of King Charles in Paris. I have never been bored, Kieran. I look forward to finding this new place with you, for although I have never thought myself adventurous, and I wish only for a good marriage, there is something in me that longs to leave this old world and see the new. I have always been considered practical. Yet of late I have discovered that I am, perhaps, a bit more like the women in my family than I had previously believed. I have never really wanted to be like them. They are too impossible, and wildly passionate to the point of disaster."
He burst out laughing. "And you do not consider removing your clothing before a man in a stone ruin in a driving rainstorm impossible, or wildly passionate?"
"But I wanted you to make love to me," she wailed. "I don't really know what lovemaking is all about, and yet I know I must do it, or die of this terrible longing that has engulfed me," she told him.
He hugged her hard. "I adore you, Fortune Lindley. You are mad, and marvelous! I never thought to find a girl like you, but now that I have I shall not let you go!"
Fortune sighed happily. "I don't care where we go, Kieran, as long as we are together," she told him.
"Go home, you adorable temptress. I will be here at this same time in three days," he said. "If my family is due home at the beginning of August, there will shortly be a message from England for me. My stepmother is extremely organized. If Willy is to be married on September twenty-ninth, she will already have certain instructions for the staff; and she will want me to be her liaison between the Deverses and the Elliots before her return. Poor Willy! His whole life is now quite neatly mapped out."
"Your brother will be happy that way," Fortune replied. "He does not appear to me to be a venturesome lad. That's why I was so certain that he would suit me. Then I discovered I wasn't a demure and retiring girl after all."
He chuckled. "Demure is not a word I would use to describe you, Fortune. Wild and willful is more like it." He ducked the blow she aimed at his head. "Come on, lass, and up on your great Thunder. I've a longer ride than you to get home." He caught her gelding, and helped her to mount.
"I'll be glad when home is the same resting place for us both," she told him softly. She had almost succeeded in seducing him today. She intended trying again. She knew her mother had some concoction she took that had been handed down from generation to generation that prevented conception. She didn't want to wait until October to feel his hard body on hers, loving her as she had never been loved before. She wanted him now, not later!
"Three days from now, sweeting," he told her, wondering what that light of battle in her eye had been about. He took her gloved hand in his, and kissed it, then smacked Thunder's rump hard. The gelding bolted off, Fortune clinging to his back like a burr. He smiled watching her go, his wild and willful lass. She had almost tempted him beyond perdition today, but he would not allow it to happen again. He was older, and the responsibility for her reputation rested in his hands. He loved her too much to fail her.
Chapter 8
“What is it that Mama uses when she wants to prevent babies?" Fortune inquired of her mother's serving woman, Rohana. Then she giggled. "She obviously hasn't been using it lately, or she would not be with child again."
Rohana's dark eyes were expressionless as she carefully folded her mistress's newly laundered chemises. "Your mother thought herself past the time of bearing new life, child," she replied, and closed the storage chest. "As for your question, it is not for me to answer you. Ask your mama, but I am sure she will tell you before you wed with Master Kieran."
Fortune stamped her foot. "Damn it, Rohana, you know! Why will you not tell me?"
"For the very reason you will not ask your mother," was the sharp reply. "You are a grandchild of the Mughal, and your blood runs hot, Fortune. You seek to seduce your beloved, and escape any of the consequences of your bad actions. I will not help you."
Fortune shrugged. "It matters not. I shall have him when I want him anyhow," she said petulantly.
"What is the matter?" Rohana demanded. "You have always been the one child my lady did not have to worry over. What has made you turn into such a heedless and willful girl?"
Fortune sighed. "I know, I know," she said. "I do not understand it myself, Rohana. I am the sensible and practical one, but I do not want to be either of those things any longer. I just want to be with Kieran. What has happened to me?"
"Love," Rohana replied sanguinely, her dark eyes suddenly alight with comprehension. "You are in love, child. It tends to make the women of your family reckless. Still, it is now the month of July, and you will be wed in three more months' time. Be patient."
"But what if what I want is a disappointment to me when I finally obtain it?" Fortune worried.
Rohana laughed. "It will not be, and certainly not with that great, handsome, dark, and glowering Celt who has stolen your heart, my child. A word of warning to you. If the cow should give away her cream to a prospective purchaser, and he decide he does not like it, then perhaps he will not want the cow, eh? Master Kieran is a man in every sense as several of the girls in this village will attest to, Fortune. You are but an inexperienced virgin. Save yourself until you have his ring on your finger else he lose interest."
"I had not thought of it that way," Fortune considered. "I have allowed my passions to overwhelm me, and am behaving foolishly. You are right, Rohana. Best his ring is on my finger, and my ring in his nose before I give myself to Kieran Devers."
Rohana chuckled. "Aye," she agreed. "Tease him if you will to keep his interest up, and to keep him eager, but wait until your wedding night to let him get between your legs, child."
"How can you know so much, and you still considered a maiden?" Fortune wondered.
"A maiden? At my age?" Rohana snorted. "I know because I have in my day had my little adventures. I know because I have a married sister. I know because I have been your mother's servant since she was born. I know."
"Why have you never wed?" Fortune asked her.
"Because I never wanted to marry," Rohana answered. "I like the freedom I have being a maiden. I like serving your mother. This makes me happy, Fortune, and every woman has the right to be happy." She put a loving arm about the girl. "Now, child, no more questions, and promise me that you will cultivate your patience, and behave yourself."
Fortune nodded. "Will you tell Mama?"
"Nay. I know I can trust you, and that this conversation was just between us. Do not disappoint me, child," Rohana said softly.
"It won't be easy," Fortune admitted.
"I know," came the sympathetic reply.
***
The next few weeks seemed to pass quickly. Fortune spent most her time out of doors riding Thunder. She saw Kieran but briefly now and again. Her appetite ceased. She was restless at night, and sleep, when it did come, was unsettled, and filled with confus
ing dreams that she could only just vaguely recall when morning came, but she could never really remember what she had dreamed. Toward the end of July Kieran and Fortune met at Black Colm's Hall.
"This will be the last time we see each other for awhile," he told her. "My brother will be home on the first. My dear stepmother is, as always, prompt and efficient. The Elliots will arrive from Londonderry on the fifth to finalize the marriage agreement, and the wedding plans. It will be impossible for me to get away, sweetheart. Every moment of my day will be taken up by my father and his wife in pursuit of the perfect wedding day for Willy and his cousin. I'll try and come if I can get away, but I'll be unable to send word. If you are not here, I will leave a message for you beneath our bench, held down with a large rock. You do the same."
Fortune nodded bleakly. Weeping and bemoaning this turn of events wouldn't change anything. "It will be hard, Kieran," she said.
He took her in his arms, holding her against him. "I know." He kissed her lips softly. "You have not attempted to seduce me in our last meetings, Fortune. Do you yet love me, or have you had a change of heart?"
"Do you think me that fickle then?" she demanded half-angrily. "And what do you mean I haven't tried to seduce you? When did I ever attempt to seduce you, Kieran Devers? It is said that women are vain, but I think it is you men who are filled with conceit!"
He laughed wickedly. "If I offered to make love to you now, this very minute, what would you say, sweetheart?" he teased her.
"I would say you are a pompous ass!" Fortune snapped at him.
He laughed all the harder. "I love you, my wild wench," he told her, "and in a bit over two months you will be my wife. I can hardly wait, Fortune, and that is the truth."
She pulled his head down to hers, and kissed him slowly and deeply. Her firm young body pressed itself seductively against him as her lips worked themselves against his lips. She ran her tongue over his mouth, then pushed it into his mouth to stroke his tongue sensuously, nipping at that tongue when he played too fiercely with hers. Her fingers kneaded the nape of his neck, and she rubbed herself suggestively against him. It grew more difficult to remember her promise to Rohana as each minute passed. Her riding trousers did not offer the kind of protection that her many skirts would have, and she could feel him, hard and eager, against her belly.
His head was spinning. He held her so tightly that he wondered if she could breathe, and yet she writhed and twisted in his arms easily, arousing his basest passions. It was all he could do not to push her to the ground, and ravish her as he desired her so terribly. He could feel the full softness of her young breasts, and the flatness of her tender belly pressing against his muscled body. He wanted her as he had never wanted any woman, yet he felt something was different. A month ago she would have succumbed to his erotic blandishments. Now, however, he sensed the steel in her. She would not seduce him, nor would he be able to seduce her. His arms dropped from about her, and Fortune stepped back.
"Remember me until we meet again, Kieran Devers," she said softly, and then turning from him she mounted Thunder, and without a backward glance rode off.
He watched her go. She was his, he knew, and would eventually become more woman than any he had known, but he had been right. She would have destroyed his younger brother. Willy would be angry when he learned the truth of Fortune's passions, but Kieran Devers knew in his heart that Emily Anne Elliot was a better match for the heir to Mallow Court. His hand went to his groin, and he rubbed himself. The little witch who would shortly be his wife had roused him mightily. He walked slowly back and forth across the ruins of Black Colm's Hall, quieting his lust. His passions finally eased, he mounted his own stallion and galloped off towards his home.
***
In early afternoon on the first of August the Deverses returned to Lisnaskea, their coach rumbling down the drive of Mallow Court to stop before its front door. The footman hurried from the house to open the door, let down the carriage steps, and help his mistress from her traveling equipage. Jane Anne Devers looked about her with a pleased smile, and shook her skirts which had become crumpled within the confines of her vehicle.
"Welcome home, madame," Kieran said, coming forward to greet his stepmother, a smile on his handsome face. "I trust my sisters, and their families are all well. Will they be coming home for Willy's nuptials?"
"Unfortunately no as both of them are breeding again. They are more like Catholics than Protestants in their desire to have large, and rather unwieldy, families," his stepmother replied. She glanced about. "All looks in good order, Kieran. You have done well, and I thank you for husbanding your brother's patrimony so diligently." She then swept past him into the house.
His father descended from the coach followed by his younger brother.
"Thank God we're home," Shane Devers said. "May I never have to go more than five miles from Lisnaskea ever again, laddie. Yer sister, Colleen, wrote well of ye, and as you can see, yer stepmother is pleased. Now, laddies, I want a good sup of my own whiskey."
"The tray is awaiting you in the library, Da. Coming, Willy?" Kieran looked to his sibling who was oddly quiet.
"I'm marrying Emily Anne," William Devers said dully.
"I know," his brother answered.
"I don't love her," William replied.
"Ye'll learn to love her," his father said impatiently. "Come along now, and let's have a drink." He hurried into the house.
"I suppose the Leslies have returned to Scotland," William said. "I'll never see Fortune again."
"Nay, they're still here," Kieran told William. "The duchess has, much to her surprise, found herself to be enceinte. It was quite a shock. The child is due in November, and her ladyship has been advised not to travel. It's quite the gossip in Maguire's Ford. As you know, I have several friends in that most hospitable little village."
"If they are here then they must be invited to my wedding," William Devers said horrified. "I do not think I can bear to see her on the day I wed another woman."
His elder brother took him by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Get ahold of yourself, Willy. You are no longer a little lad denied a toy you desired. You're a man. Lady Lindley turned you down. Move past it and be glad you have such a faithful, and devoted young girl as Emily Anne willing to marry you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and whining about what might have been. You have agreed to marry your cousin, who is, whether you realize it or not, the perfect wife for you. Do not hurt Emily Anne by your selfish and childish fantasy that there was something between you and Lady Lindley. There wasn't. There could never be, and there will not be," Kieran told him harshly. "Now come into the house, and have that drink with Da."
"Have you seen her?" William asked as they walked together into the house.
"Aye, out riding," Kieran replied.
"Was she alone?" his brother probed.
"Aye, she was alone. There was no gallant with her, Willy. I suspect she doesn't fancy the Irish."
"I'm not Irish," William said.
"Of course you are," Kieran told him. "Our father is Irish. You live in Ireland. You are Irish."
"She once said very much the same thing to me," William said.
"Then she has more sense than I ever gave her credit for," Kieran noted. He opened the library door. "Here we are, Da."
Their father, now seated before his own peat fire, his boots off, his stockinged feet turned towards the blaze as he sipped his whiskey. He waved them both to the sideboard where the decanter sat upon a silver tray. "Help yerselves, laddies, and come sit with me," he said. "Ahh, now, I've been waiting for this since yer mam hustled me from here in June. Both yer sisters live in the country, and their homes were intolerably damp the summer long. Mary is the mother of five, and Bessie has four. Such noisy, ill-mannered children I have never met, and even yer mam agreed with me on that even if they are our grandchildren. What unruly households yer sisters run. Children, and nursemaids, and dogs running all about, and never a moment's peace. There were fiv
e of you, but my house was never in such an uproar, thanks to my Jane," Shane Devers said.
Kieran Devers laughed. "I will have to agree with you, Da. My stepmother has always managed to keep an orderly establishment, and whatever good manners I may have, I will lay credit at her feet."
Shane Devers looked up from his whiskey tumbler at his eldest son. The look was piercing. "If only…" he began.
Kieran held up his hand to silence his father. "I will gain what I want on my own, Da," he said softly. "I am not suited to your life. Willy is. I have no regrets, nor am I filled with any choler. Everything is as it should be, and the Devers bloodline will continue on at Mallow Court."
"You're so damned noble!" William Devers suddenly said angrily.
"Go to the devil, little brother," Kieran replied pleasantly.
"You don't have to marry someone you don't love!" came the petulant reply. "I do. My whole life has been mapped out for me!" He angrily smashed his crystal tumbler into the blazing fire.
Kieran Devers's dark green eyes narrowed with annoyance. He grasped his younger brother with one hand at his neckline, and yanked him forward so that they were face to face. "Listen to me, wee Willy," he said in a menacing voice, "you have nothing to complain about. You are heir to a fine estate, and bear an ancient respected name. You are to wed a girl you have known your entire life. A lass who is utterly devoted to you, and will make your life happy if you will but let her. What the hell is the matter with you? You don't want adventure, or excitement in your life for you are too much your mother's son. Now, hear me well, little brother. If you make Emily Anne's life miserable, I will personally beat you to a pulp. That girl comes to this house bringing her hopes and dreams. You will not destroy them!"
"Why should you care?" William sneered.
"I care because I so generously gave you all you have, and will have one day. If I should decide to become a Protestant, Willy, do you really believe Da would keep you on as his heir? A second son isn't usually as fortunate as you have been. All that could change in the blink of an eye should I will it, little brother. Even your formidable dear mama couldn't stop it. Now, accept your good fortune, and be kind to your cousin. You really don't deserve either Mallow Court or Emily Anne, for you are truly a callow youth. Try to change for all our sakes." He loosed his grip on his brother's shirt, and pushed him away.
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