Free Bedazzled by Bertrice Small Page B

were little lasses, running barefoot through the vineyards at Belle Fleurs. Do you remember the first summer we brought them to Glenkirk and they swam naked in the loch? I remember how they splashed and giggled, refusing to come out of the water even when their lips were blue with the icy, icy cold.” Her eyes grew moist. “Where did my little girls go, Jemmie? Where did they go?”
    He put a comforting arm about her. He had no answer to such a question.
    In a dark corner of the family hall India had listened to her parents so cruelly deciding her fate. Now she sidled carefully from her hiding place and slipped into the hallway of the house, bumping into her sister, Fortune, as she exited.
    “You’ve been eavesdropping!” Fortune accused her.
    “Be quiet! ” India hissed. “Mama and Papa will hear you. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was in the hall when they came in, and they didn’t see me, so I hid in a dark place, and listened. You won’t believe what I heard! Some of it concerns you. Come on!” She half dragged her younger sibling up the stairs to the bedchamber they shared. Closing the door behind her, she announced dramatically, “We are to be married!”
    “What!” Fortune squeaked. “Have they relented about your viscount? And what do you mean by we?” She plunked herself down upon the bed. “Speak up, India!”
    “They won’t let me marry Adrian, and they intend to pick a husband for me. Either some son of one of Papa’s uncouth friends, or someone our old dragon of a Great-aunt Willow thinks is suitable. Papa says I’m to be married by summer. Then Henry is to go to his seat at Cadby, and Charlie to Queen’s Malvern.”
    “What about me?” Fortune pressed. “You said we were to be married. I don’t know anyone I want to marry.”
    “They’re taking you to Ireland this summer. Mama says she’s giving you MacGuire’s Ford and its lands. I suppose you’re getting it because you were born there. She hasn’t been back to Ireland since our father was murdered before you were born. They are going to look for an Irish, or Anglo-Irish, husband for you. You will be married probably before summer’s end. Well, little sister, what do you think of that?”
    Fortune was strangely silent for a long moment and then she said, “There are three thousand acres belonging to MacGuire’s Ford. It’s a goodly estate to have. I wonder if the horses will be included as part of my dowry. I’ll get a fine husband with all of that.”
    India was astounded by her sister’s reaction. She had fully expected Fortune to rebel even as she was rebelling. “Don’t you care that you are going to be married to some stranger?” she demanded.
    Fortune turned her turquoise eyes on her sister. “A woman, particularly women of our class and wealth, must be married, India. I have absolutely no experience with men, and so I think I shall rely upon our parents to pick my husband. They will not force either one of us into a bad match. I imagine I’ll be given a choice, and can choose the man I prefer myself. If you were not so pigheaded you would not be in the difficulty that you are in now. Mama and Papa made no secret that Adrian Leigh was not for you. They said it plainly, but you will have your way, or die trying, won’t you, sister? Well, this time you will not get your way, and I think you had best accept that. It’s past time we were both married.”
    “I will marry the man I love!” India snapped.
    “Don’t be such a fool, India!” Fortune snapped back.
    “You will not tell Mama and Papa that I overheard them?” came India’s reply.
    “Of course not,” Fortune said. “It’s months away.” Then she grew thoughtful. “I wonder what he will be like. I shall enjoy having my own home, although I shall miss the family. We will all be scattered now, won’t we?” Fortune was a practical girl, if a bit wild.
    India was no longer listening to her sister, however. She somehow had to find Adrian, and tell