Cates, Kimberly by Stealing Heaven Read Free Book Online Page B

for them. Ungrateful devils, those Irish. Never
appreciative of the lengths we English go to to save them from themselves."
    Norah
pressed a hand to her cheek, her skin hot despite the chill of the wind. There
had been a time she might have taken some pleasure in Montgomery's apparent
unhappiness over her betrothal, daring to attribute it to some secret flight of
passion. But she had long before abandoned any foolish girlish dreams about the
handsome aristocrat. Great beauty might overawe a suitor into excusing a meager
dowry, or a generous dowry might prove an irresistible ornament to plainness.
Norah had never deluded herself that she had either to attract such a
matrimonial prize.
    "Richard,
it will take some time for me to become— become accustomed to my new
surroundings. My bridegroom, his daughter. I would rather not have to do so
before an audience."
    "I
hardly think Montgomery is planning to move into a room beneath the castle
stairs." Richard clasped her hands with an affectionate chuckle. "You
cannot spend your entire marriage hiding from former acquaintances. What better
way to have news of your happiness carried to the witchy chits who snubbed
you?"
    "A
lovely plan, assuming there is happiness for Mr. Montgomery to carry tales about." It was the closest she could come to confessing her fears.
    "There
will be, sweeting. I'm certain of it." Richard turned as the doorway opened,
passengers beginning to file out, bending their bonnets and the brims of their
hats to shield their faces from the dampness.
    Norah
watched the parade of travelers make their way toward the ship, and a sudden
fear of the unknown shivered in her breast. She reached out, grasping Richard's
hand and holding on tight, her gaze sweeping the storm-darkened sky. "The
weather—it seems so—so wild."
    "Yes,
but they say that a voyage begun in storm will end in bliss."
    "I'll
be certain to repeat those words of wisdom to the other shipwreck victims when
we sink to the bottom of the sea." Norah gave a strained laugh, but
despite her resolve to plunge into her future bravely, she couldn't help waving
one hand toward the sullen sky. "Do you think this is an omen,
Richard?"
    "No,
I think this is a storm. We've had them before, you know."
    "Those
were someone else's omens. This one is mine." Norah worried her lower lip
with her teeth. "I don't know, Richard. I just wish that I—I had some idea
what he is like. This Sir Aidan Kane."
    Richard
heaved a long-suffering sigh. "I only know what I found out before I gave
you Kane's letter—and, I might add, I've recounted my discoveries to you a
dozen times. Aidan Kane is a war hero who saved his entire regiment in some
deliciously noble fashion during the Peninsular War. His wife died in a tragic
accident. Since then, by all accounts, he's been a reclusive widower, living at
his Irish estate of Rathcannon with his daughter—quite brokenhearted, I
daresay. He needs you, Norah."
    He
needs you.... Norah
had clung to those words, knowing all the while that it was probably the most
dangerous of all feminine delusions—the irresistible desire to heal a man whose
spirit had been wounded.
    Richard's
soft laugh jarred her from her thoughts. "Of course, unless you hustle
aboard that ship, you may never be wed at all."
    Norah
cast a helpless glance toward the ship, the last of the passengers trailing up
the plank that led to it. Richard called out to two sailors nearby.
    "You
there, take Miss Linton's trunk to her quarters."
    There
was something terrifyingly final in watching the two burly men heave Richard's
gift up from the platform and carry it away. Raw panic swept through every
fiber of Norah's being.
    "I
can't—I don't think I can... Oh, Richard, you do think I'm doing the
right thing?"
    "I
am certain of it."
    Norah
flung herself into her stepbrother's arms, embracing him fiercely one last
time. "I'll never forget your kindness, Richard. Never. I pray God will
reward you for it."
    He
smiled. A glittering smile,