Bedazzled by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online Page A

them.
    “Adali is at Queen’s Malvern, Mama,” Fortune reminded her parent. “You know Adali would not let us run wild. If anything, he is sterner with us than you and Papa.”
    “Well,” Jasmine considered, nibbling on her lower lip.
    “And I will help him oversee the boys,” Fortune pressed gently.
    “And I will be at Cadby, Mama,” Henry reminded her. “It would just be our younger brothers and the baby for Adali to monitor. Fortune will spend her days riding, and she cannot get into trouble just riding.”
    “I see no reason for your father to object,” Jasmine decided. “Very well, you may all go up to Queen’s Malvern.”
    “Yaaaaay!” her offspring cheered.
    “When?” Fortune pressed.
    “Tomorrow, if you can pack yourselves up by then,” her mother replied, and Fortune’s siblings cheered lustily once again.
    “What is this all about?” India demanded to know, coming into the family hall where they were all seated. She was dressed for riding in a deep blue velvet skirt, and a jacket trimmed in silver.
    “We are going to Queen’s Malvern . . .” Fortune began.
    India shrieked. “Nay! We cannot! I do not want to go up to the country. It is boring, and then before we know it we shall have to return to Scotland. Ohhh! I shall never see Adrian again!” She turned on her sister. “This is all your doing, Fortune! You are simply jealous because the gentlemen are attracted to me, and not attracted to you and your carroty hair! Ohhh! I hate you! I shall never forgive you! I shall die if I cannot remain with the court!” She flung herself into a chair.
    “If you ask me, she should be sent home to Glenkirk right now,” muttered Henry Lindley, darkly.
    “You are not going to Queen’s Malvern, India,” her mother said. “I intended to let you remain here with your father and me, but now I wonder if Henry isn’t perhaps right. Apologize to your sister this moment! And I was not aware that Viscount Twyford had caught your fancy. He is not at all suitable for a girl of your breeding and wealth.”
    Henry Lindley quickly shook his head at India, denying any betrayal of her secrets.
    “But I like Adrian, Mama. He is charming, and he is very amusing. And he likes me,” India finished smugly.
    “Has he said so?” Jasmine asked her daughter.
    “Gracious, no!” India replied. “But René says it is so.”
    “Fortune is awaiting your apology,” Jasmine said quietly.
    India quickly hugged her sister. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You know I didn’t mean it, Fortune.”
    “If this is what an interest in men does to a person,” Fortune answered, “I hope I shall never seek to attract a gentleman’s attention.” Then, picking up her skirts, she hurried from the hall, saying as she went, “I have to pack if we are to be ready by the morrow. Come, laddies!”
    Her brothers scrambled to their feet and dashed after Fortune.
    “Why don’t you and Papa go with them?” India said innocently.
    Jasmine laughed. “Because you must have a chaperone.”
    “But I’m seventeen!” India protested.
    “Just,” her mother reminded her.
    “In Grandmother Velvet’s day girls younger than I came to court,” India grumbled. “I don’t understand why I can’t stay alone.”
    “In your grandmother’s day, the girls at court your age were either maids-of-honor serving old Queen Bess, married, or in the charge of a parent or older relative, and, like you, seeking husbands of good name, good repute, and suitable fortunes. This is not, however, your grandmother’s day. A young woman of good family is properly supervised by her family lest society receive the incorrect impression that she is either not valued, or that her behavior is loose.”
    “You are sooo old-fashioned,” India muttered.
    “If I am,” her mother replied serenely, “I shall remain so, and until you have left my home for your husband’s home, you will obey me. You will also not give me cause to regret that I have allowed you to