"You bore a bastard?" Jane Devers was pale with shock.
"Madame!" Her husband thundered, mortified by her words.
"The Royal Stuarts have always been generous with their favors, haven't they, Jemmie?" Jasmine said brightly. "Besides, no offspring of a Royal Stuart is considered tainted goods. The king adores his nephew, Lady Jane. Charlie has been welcomed at court since his birth, and treated like any Stuart kin by the royal family. His grandfather was so pleased with his birth-he was the old king's first grandchild-that he said he would raise my grandfather de Marisco's earldom to a dukedom the day Charlie inherited it, and so he did. Ah, Adali. Come, Lady Jane, Sir Shane. Here is the wine which comes from the estate of my grandfather de Marisco's family in France."
William Devers's eyes were dancing with his amusement. He did hope his prospective wife would turn out to be as amusing as her mother. He almost laughed when his mother, forgetting her manners, took the silver goblet offered her and gulped a great swallow even before the toast was offered. He had been trying all his life to disconcert her vaunted self-control, but had been unable to do so. Even his elder brother, Kieran, could not openly irritate her. How absolutely delicious that his future mother-in-law should prove so formidable.
"To the children," Jasmine said, raising her own goblet. "Let us hope this is indeed a match made in heaven."
"To the children," Sir Shane and the duke of Glenkirk echoed.
Jane Devers weakly raised her own goblet. She was suddenly quite unsure that Lady Fortune Lindley was the daughter-in-law she wanted. Her own brother had a lovely daughter, Emily Anne Elliot, who would be just perfect for William. Thank God nothing was signed! There was yet time to prevent her darling boy from being entangled in this dreadful misalliance. No amount of money in the world could make up for a daughter-in-law whose mother had so shamelessly borne a bastard. Then she gasped, her hand going to her heart as a priest walked into the hall in the company of the Reverend Mr. Samuel Steen.
"Cousin!" Jasmine called. "Come and take wine with us. You also, Samuel Steen. Adali, two more goblets."
"Cousin? Shane! She called the priest cousin!" Lady Jane whispered frantically to her husband. "If she is a Protestant, how can she have a Catholic priest for a cousin?"
"I was a Catholic before I wed with you, m'dear," he reminded her. "Many of these Anglo-Irish families are made up of both Catholics and Protestants. Do not distress yerself, Jane. Everything I see tells me this is the right marriage for our William. Look, he and the girl are getting along quite well. He'll win her over in no time, m'dear."
"I am not certain now about this girl. Her mother's loose morals give me pause for thought. Perhaps Emily Anne would be a better wife for William. What if this Fortune Lindley is like her mama? I shudder to think of the unhappiness she would cause our son."
"The girl appears lively, I will grant you, but there is nothing wrong with high spirits among the young, Jane," he answered her.
"Why could she not find a husband in England, or Scotland, Shane? Answer me that! Perhaps she already has a bad reputation that we do not know of, here in our little backwater, and will learn about only when it is too late!" She drained her goblet nervously.
"Adali, more wine for Lady Jane," Jasmine chirped.
"Show a wee bit of mercy, lass," James Leslie murmured softly to his wife. "The poor woman hae already been beaten to her knees."
"This is a mistake," Jasmine said. "I don't want my daughter married to that woman's son. You don't know what I learned this morning."
"But ye'll tell me, I'm sure," the duke chuckled. "Forget about Lady Jane, darling Jasmine, and look to yer daughter. She and young William are getting along quite well. This isn't our decision, it is Fortune's. She's going to be twenty years old in a few months, and has already turned down half-a-dozen perfectly respectable young men in England and in Scotland. Every one of them was titled! If this is the young man who will suit her, then so be it."
"We shall see what we shall see," Jasmine responded, but her eye had indeed turned to William Devers and her daughter. He looked nothing like his mother but for his light blue eyes. That in itself boded well, Jasmine decided. He had charm, she could see, but then Fortune would not be dazzled by even the greatest charm. Still, he seemed genuine in his interest towards the girl, and Jemmie was right. Fortune had been uncommonly fussy about choosing a husband. I'll buy them a house in England, Jasmine decided. There is nothing that says they must live here at Erne Rock. I'm sure young Master Devers would enjoy living in England. Perhaps somewhere near Queen's Malvern, or by Cadby where Henry makes his seat. I could be certain of seeing them every year, and it would certainly be as simple for me to come to Fortune's lying-ins as it is with India. Yes! I shall give them a beautiful house in England as a wedding present, along with Maguire's Ford.
"Ye hae that look in yer eye," her husband observed. "What are ye about, my darling Jasmine?"
"Nothing," she murmured back. "I am just deciding that I can possibly have my cake and eat it too, Jemmie."
"God help us all," he rejoined.
Jasmine again became the consummate hostess. "Dear Lady Jane," she said, "you know, of course, our good Samuel Steen. And this is my cousin, Father Cullen Butler."
"My lady." The priest bowed politely.
She gave him the barest nod, and then turned her head away.
"And it is good to see you again, Shane Devers," Cullen Butler said, ignoring the woman's snub. He knew of her reputation, and was not in the least offended. How it must pain her to have to sit quietly in the same room with him, he thought wickedly. I must give myself a penance for my mean spiritedness, he considered. Three Aves at most.
"Father," came the greeting from Sir Shane. "I suppose you've seen Kieran recently." It was said almost bitterly.
"I see him," was the answer. No use rubbing salt into that wound. He wasn't responsible for Kieran Devers's decisions, nor was the church.
"The young people seem to be getting on quite well," the Reverend Steen noted cheerfully.
"Aye," his companions responded.
"They make a handsome couple, don't they?" Reverend Steen said.
More murmurs of assent followed this observation.
"There should be more to a good union than just two pretty faces," Lady Jane said sharply.
"In that I certainly concur," Jasmine agreed.
"Perhaps," Cullen Butler said, "Lady Fortune would like to take Master William for a ride about the estate."
"What a good idea!" Fortune said. Sir Shane seemed pleasant enough, but she did not like Lady Jane for all her sweet speeches. She wanted a chance to be with the handsome William Devers, and see if he pleased her. If there was any spark that might be ignited between them. "Would you like to ride?" she asked him.
"I have no horse," he said. "We came in the coach." He looked disappointed.
"We have plenty of horses," Fortune laughed. "Adali, go and tell the stables we will need two horses. I'll go change into something more suitable. Is it all right, Mama?"
"Of course," Jasmine agreed. She understood what Fortune was doing, and approved.
Fortune dashed from the hall, returning some minutes later to call to William Devers, "Come on, William!" Then she was gone again.
He followed after her, grinning, even as he heard his mother behind him expressing shock at Fortune's garb.
"Your daughter rides astride? In breeches?"