Page 80 of Just Imagine
He turned and stared pointedly at her chest. “The scenery is better in here.”
She realized the sheet had fallen to her waist, and she yanked it to her chin. Then she saw her nightgown lying crumpled on the floor. He chuckled at her sudden intake of breath. She lifted the sheet and stuck her head under it.
Sure enough. She wasn’t imagining the dampness between her thighs.
“You were a wildcat last night,” he drawled, clearly amused.
And he’d been a lion.
“I was drugged,” she retorted. “Miss Dolly made me take laudanum. I don’t remember anything.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to take my word for it. You were sweet and submissive, and you did everything I wanted.”
“Now who’s dreaming?”
“I took what was mine last night,” he said with deliberate relish. “It’s a good thing that your freedom is a thing of the past. You obviously need a strong hand.”
“And you obviously need a bullet in your heart.”
“Get out of bed and get dressed, wife. You’ve been hiding out long enough.”
“I haven’t been hiding.”
“That’s not what I hear.” He rinsed off his face, then reached for a towel to dry it. “I ran into one of our neighbors in Charleston yesterday. She took a great deal of pleasure in telling me you weren’t receiving visitors.”
“Forgive me if I wasn’t anxious to listen to everyone clucking their tongues over the fact that I married a Yankee who abandoned me the morning after our wedding.”
“That really rankles, doesn’t it?” He tossed down the towel. “I didn’t have any choice. The spinning mill has to be rebuilt in time for this year’s crop, and I needed to make arrangements for the lumber and building supplies.” He walked to the door. “I want you dressed and downstairs in half an hour. The carriage will be waiting.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “What for?”
“It’s Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Cain are going to church.”
“Church!”
“That’s right, Kit. This morning you’re going to stop acting like a coward and face them all down.”
Kit jumped up, taking the sheet with her. “I’ve never acted like a coward in my life!”
“That’s what I’m counting on.” He disappeared through the doorway.
She’d never admit it to him, but he was right. She couldn’t keep hiding like this. Cursing under her breath, she threw aside the sheet and washed.
She decided to wear the blue-and-white muslin forget-me-not dress she’d worn on her first night back at Risen Glory. After she put it on, she pulled up her hair into a loose chignon, then perched a tiny confection of chip straw and blue satin on her head. For jewelry, she wore her detested wedding ring and eardrops set with moonstones.
It was a warm morning, and the worshipers hadn’t gone inside yet. As the carriage from Risen Glory drew up, Kit watched their heads turn. Only the young children darting about in a final burst of energy were indifferent to the arrival of Baron Cain and his bride.
Cain helped Miss Dolly out, then reached inside the carriage to assist Kit. She stepped down gracefully, but as he began to release her arm, she moved closer to him. With what she hoped was an intimate smile, she slid first one hand and then the other up the length of his sleeve and clung to it in a pose of helpless and adoring femininity.
“Pushing it a bit, aren’t you?” he muttered.
She gave him a blazing smile and whispered under her breath, “I’m just getting started. And you can go to hell.”
Mrs. Rebecca Whitmarsh Brown reached her first. “Why, Katharine Louise, we didn’t expect to see you this morning. It goes without saying that your very sudden marriage to Major Cain has surprised us all, hasn’t it, Gladys?”
“It certainly has,” her daughter answered tightly.
The young woman’s expression clearly told Kit that Gladys’s own eyes had been fixed on Cain, Yankee or not, and she didn’t appreciate being passed over for a hoyden like Kit Weston.
