"Your father respects me because I have made him respect me, but as for listening to my counsel, he may listen, but seldom takes my advice. Men are stubborn that way, Fortune. You must learn to work around them in order to get things done," Jasmine said with a smile.

"I have seen you wheedle Papa," Fortune replied with a rich chuckle. "When we were small, India and I used to wager how long it would take you to get him to do your bidding."

"Did you?" Jasmine said dryly. "Which of you won the most often?"

"I did," Fortune answered a trifle smugly. "India was always in too much of a hurry to win. I, however, bided my time, as did you, Mama. Patience can truly be a virtue when dealing with a man."

Jasmine laughed aloud yet once again. She caressed her daughter's cheek tenderly. "I never realized you were such a wise child, Fortune," she said, chuckling. "I fear William Devers may have more of a woman than he is anticipating."

"The only thing William Devers is anticipating is my dowry," Fortune said sharply. "He will get quite a surprise when he learns that I intend keeping my own wealth. He may not be willing to have such a girl for a wife, Mama."

"Then he will be a fool," came the answer.

"Who will be a fool?" James Leslie, the duke of Glenkirk, joined his wife and stepdaughter at the ship's rail.

"Oh, we were just speaking of men," Fortune said airily.

" 'Tis nae particularly flattering, lassie," the duke answered. "Are ye excited, my pretty? In just a short time, a few days at the most, ye'll meet the young man who will probably become yer husband."

"We will see," Fortune said quietly.

James Leslie drew a slow, deep breath. What was it about his stepdaughters? He had raised them since they were little girls, and they had, for the most part, been amenable lasses until it came to the matter of marriage.