Besieged by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online

him. The Reverend Mr. Steen knows him. They feel he is a most suitable and eligible candidate for your hand, poppet. Perhaps he is, and perhaps he isn’t. Only time will tell. We shall see what we shall see,” Jasmine told her daughter. “However, since his family has been approached, it is only proper that we give this young man a fair hearing.”
    “Aye,” Fortune agreed, although not enthusiastically.
    Jasmine stood up. “Come, and let us join the gentlemen down in the hall. I imagine that my cousin has arrived by now.”
    Together mother and daughter descended, coming into the hall arm in arm. Rory Maguire and James Leslie stood speaking with a white-haired priest in his black robes. Jasmine broke from her daughter’s side, and hurried forth.
    “Cullen Butler! Ohh, I am so happy to see you again! And looking so well, too. Thank you for helping to keep the peace at Maguire’s Ford.” Putting her arms about her cousin, Jasmine kissed him on both cheeks.
    “And look at you, Yasamin Kama Begum,” he said. “Yer as beautiful as ever, and you the mother of a houseful of children,” he told her, hugging her back, his blue eyes sparkling with pleasure.
    “And a grandmother too, Cullen. A little boy named after Rowan, and a baby girl, Adrianna,” Jasmine said, smiling.
    The priest’s eyes went to Fortune, his heart leaping at the sight of her flaming red hair. His face, however, was a mask of calm and welcome. “And this must be Lady Fortune Mary, whom I baptized myself all those years ago. Welcome back to Ireland, my child.”
    Fortune curtsied, smiling at Cullen Butler. In him she sensed a friend, and an ally. “Thank you, Father.”
    He raised her up, and kissed her soundly on her cheeks. “Cousin Cullen when we are en famille, my child. Well, you surely have grown since last I saw you. And hair like your great-great-grandmother O’Malley, a Scots lass from the Isle of Skye, you have. I never knew her for she died before I was born, but she had hair like a flame, they said.”
    He is yet quick and clever, Adali thought, standing at the edge of the hall. Madame Skye would be pleased, but then she chose him herself all those years ago, and sent him out to India to watch over my mistress. Still he has put it into their heads that Lady Fortune’s hair is a family trait even though none of her siblings, or cousins, have tresses of such an outrageous color. He smiled to himself, satisfied.
    “I should like to meet the Reverend Mr. Steen,” Jasmine said.
    “I invited him to come with me and greet you,” the priest replied, “but he felt we should be allowed a small time for a family reunion. He will come tomorrow.”
    “And the Deverses? When are we to meet them?” Jasmine continued.
    “Next week. They have been invited to come and stay for three days so the young people may see if they like one another,” Cullen Butler said. Then he turned to Fortune. “Are you anxious to meet yer intended, my child? He’s a handsome fellow, I can tell you,” he chuckled.
    “He is not my intended until I decide if we like one another, and will suit,” Fortune responded. “I won’t marry a man I can’t love.”
    “Nor should you, lassie,” the priest said. “Marriage is a wonderful sacrament, and should be treated with respect, Fortune Mary. Still, I like what I hear of young Master Devers, and I believe you will too.”
    “Poppet, go with Adali. He will show you the rest of the castle,” Jasmine said. “If it becomes yours, then you should know everything you can about it.” She waved her daughter off with her faithful servant.
    “She’s hesitant, and ’tis natural, of course,” the priest noted. “How old is she now?”
    “Twenty this summer,” Jasmine told him.
    “A bit long in the tooth to be playing the reluctant virgin,” muttered the duke of Glenkirk. “She should hae been wed several years ago, and would hae been but for her obstinate older sister.”
    “Now, Jemmie, you promised us you