Bertrice Small - Bedazzled

"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 him of these latest developments that threatened to part them. He would know what to do. Leaving Fortune, she hurried back downstairs to the writing room, penning a message to Viscount Twyford, and then, sealing it with wax, she pressed her signet ring hard into the soft substance. Slipping from the room, she let herself out into the garden and ran down the lawns to the riverside.

"Oi!" she called to a passing werryman, who, seeing her wave and hearing her call, rowed over to the Greenwood quai.

"Aye, lady? Where does ye want to go?"

India handed him the packet, along with a coin. "Take this to Whitehall. Give it to the royal boatmaster and tell him it is to be delivered immediately to Viscount Twyford, the earl of Oxton's heir. You're to wait for him. Do you understand? You are to bring Viscount Twyford back here."

The werryman felt the weight of the coin in his hand. He didn't have to look at it to know it was double, probably triple, in legal fare. "Yes, m'lady," he said, pulling at his forelock respectfully. Then, pushing cockle away from the quai, he rowed away. It never occurred to him to keep her coin, and throw the missive in the rapids beneath London Bridge, for he was an honest man. Besides, the gentry had a way of repaying dishonesty.

India watched him go, relieved. It was going to be all right. She and Adrian would figure out what to do together. Picking up her skirts, she hurried back up to the house, realizing as she ran that she was cold. In her haste she had forgotten her cape, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but her future with Adrian Leigh.

Greenwood House was silent at the midnight hour when India heard the rattle of pebbles at her window. Slipping from the bed she shared with Fortune, she hurried across the chilly floor, and, swinging the casement open, peered out. Seeing Adrian Leigh standing in the moonlight, she called softly to him, "I will come down." Then, pulling the window shut, she caught up her cape and headed toward the bedroom door. Fortune murmured softly and turned in the bed, stopping her sister for a moment to make certain that her sibling was not awakening. Satisfied she slept, India eased herself through the door, and, pulling her cloak about her, ran quickly down the staircase, through the hallway, and into the library. Pushing open one of the large windows, she summoned her swain to her.

"Adrian! Here!" She beckoned to the shadowy figure.

The viscount climbed through the open window, drawing it shut behind him. Then, pulling India into his arms, he kissed her.

Startled, and breathless, she gently extracted herself from his embrace, laughing nervously. "Adrian! For shame! I have not asked you here for the purpose of dalliance." She was flushed, and her heart was beating rather more quickly than before. He was so bold, she thought.

"No, sweeting? I am disappointed," he teased her. "Then, pray, m'lady, why have you summoned me?" He took up her hand and kissed the fingers on it.

"Ohh, Adrian, I do not know what to do," she cried softly, and did not protest when he pulled her back into his arms and began to stroke her dark hair.

"What is it poppet?" he encouraged her. "Tell me, and I will endeavor to make it better." He kissed the top of her head. She was so trusting and sweet and rich. He knew she was his for the taking.

"We will be returning home next week. Papa says since I will not choose a suitable man to marry, then he and Mama must pick a match for me. But I don't want to marry some stranger! Oh, what are we to do, Adrian? They are going to separate us forever," India sobbed softly. "If they take me home to Glenkirk, I will never see you again! Oh, I know it is bold of me to say it, but I couldn't bear it if we were parted from one another! I will die. I know I will."

"I cannot let you do that," he said as softly, thinking that his soon-to-be father-in-law had just provided him with the very opportunity he required to steal Lady India Lindley away from her overly protective family. When his mother had suggested it, he hadn't thought it would be this easy.

"But Adrian!" She gazed up into his face, and he thought she was really quite beautiful. "What can we do?"

"Your father has left us with no choice, my darling," he told her in a calm and most sensible voice. "We must run away and get married before they can take you back to Scotland, India."

Now she looked up at him, and found herself very torn. He was so handsome with his long, straight nose, and his silky blond hair. His sapphire-blue eyes seemed to look at her with such love and devotion. "Ohhh, Adrian! I do not know. It seems so impetuous a thing to do."

"Ah, India! Do you not love me?" he asked her in a hurt tone.

"Oh, yes, Adrian! I do love you!" Then she blushed furiously, for she had never said such a thing to him before.

"And I love you, my darling," he quickly reassured her, knowing such a declaration from her lips required a similar devotion on his part.

"But I love my family, too," she said, worrying her lower lip with her top teeth in her concern.

"You do not have to stop loving them, my darling, just because you love me," he told her, "but is it really just of them to keep us apart when we love each other? I know that my mother and my half-brother have brought shame upon the Leighs of Oxton Court, but I am my father's son first and foremost, India. We are an old and noble family. Is it fair of your father to hold me responsible for Deverall and Mama's bad behavior? I think the duke of Glenkirk a better man than that, my love. Still, he is a father protecting a beloved daughter, and I do understand how he feels even if I think him wrong. If we are married, then you and I settle the entire matter by controlling our own destiny. I know our actions will anger your parents at first, but when they see how happy we are, they will forgive us. I know it."

"But where could we go, Adrian, that they would not follow?" India asked, snuggling against him. She felt so safe now.

"We must leave the country," he ventured, waiting to see what India's reaction would be to that.

"Leave the country?" She was more than startled by his suggestion.

"There is no other option, India. Where can we hide in England, my love? Your family is large, and scattered all about the whole country. And we certainly cannot go north, can we?" He chuckled, and kissed her on the tip of her nose.