Just Imagine (10 page)

"Weil…" She tried to suck in some air. "As you might of guessed, your part of the bargain would be to hang onto Risen Glory until I can buy it back from you."

"I figured that."

"You wouldn't be stuck with it forever," she hastened to add. "just for five years, until I can get to the money in my trust fund."

He studied her. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. This was going to be the hardest part. "I realize you'd expect somethin' in return."

"Of course."

She hated the flicker of amusement in his eyes. "What I'm preparin' to offer is a little unorthodox. But if you think about it, I know you'll see that it's fair," She gulped.

"Go on."

She squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm offerin' to be your mistress."

He choked.

She got the rest out in a rush. "Now, I know this might be taking you by surprise, but even you've got to admit I'm a lot better company than those sorry excuses for females in New York City. I don't giggle and bat my eyes. I couldn't flirt even if I wanted to, and you sure won't ever hear me talkin' about pugs. Best part is, you wouldn't have to worry about goin' to all those balls and stuffy dinner parties most women like. Instead, we could spend our time hunting and fishing and riding horses. We could have a real good time."

Cain started to laugh.

Kit yearned to have her knife back. "You mind tellin' me what you think is so damn
humorous
?"

He finally managed to control himself. He set down his glass and rose from the table. "Kit, do you know why men keep mistresses?"

"Of course I do. I read
The Sybaritic Life of Louis XV
."

He regarded her quizzically.

"Madame de Pompadour," she explained. "She was Louis XV's mistress. I got the idea from readin' 'bout her."

She didn't tell him Madame de Pompadour had also been the most powerful woman in France. She'd managed to control the king and the country just by using her wits. Kit could surely manage to control the fate of Risen Glory if she was the major's mistress. Besides, she didn't have anything but herself to bargain with.

Cain started to say something, stopped, shook his head, then downed what was left of his brandy. When he was done, he looked like he was starting to get mad all over again. "Being a man's mistress involves more than hunting and fishing. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

Kit felt herself flush. This was the part she hadn't let herself dwell on, the part the book hadn't covered at all.

Being raised on a plantation had exposed her to the rudimentary facts of animal reproduction, but it had also left her with a lot of questions that Sophronia refused to answer. Kit suspected she didn't have all the details right, but she knew enough to understand the whole process was disgusting. Still, it would have to be part of the bargain. For some reason, mating was important to men, and women were expected to put up with it, although she couldn't imagine Mrs. Cogdell letting the reverend climb up on her back like that.

"I know what you're talkin' about. And I'm prepared to let you mate with me." She glowered. "Even though I'm gonna
hate it
!"

Cain laughed; then his expression clouded as if he might be thinking about that damn spanking again. He yanked a cheroot from his pocket and stalked out the garden doors to light it.

She followed him outside and found him standing by an old rusty bench, gazing out toward the orchard. She waited for him to say something. When he didn't, she spoke. "Well, what about it?"

"It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

The glow from his cheroot cast a flickering shadow over his face, and panic welled inside her. This was her only chance to keep Risen Glory. She had to convince him. "Why is it so ridiculous?"

"Because it is."

"You tell me why!"

"I'm your stepbrother."

"Bein' my stepbrother doesn't mean a damn thing. It's purely a legal relationship."

"I'm also your guardian. I couldn't find a single person in this county who was willing to take you off my hands, and judging by your recent behavior, I guess that's no surprise."

"I'll do better! And I'm a real good shot. I can put all the meat on the table you want."

That started him cussing again. "Men aren't looking for somebody who can put meat on the table when they're choosing a mistress, damn it! They want a woman who looks and acts and
smells
like a woman."

"I smell real good! Go on. Smell me!" She lifted her arm so he could get a good whiff, but all he cared about was being mad.

"They want a woman who knows how to smile, and say pretty things, and make love. Now, that leaves you out!"

Kit swallowed her last morsel of pride. "I could learn."

"Oh, for God's sake!" He stalked to the other side of the overgrown gravel path. "I've made up my mind."

"Please! Don't—"

"I'm not selling Risen Glory."

"Not sellin'…" Kit couldn't seem to find her breath, and then a great wave of happiness washed over her. "Oh, Major! That's… that's the most wonderful thing I ever heard!"

"Hold on. There's one condition."

Kit felt a sharp prickle of warning. "No conditions! We don't need any conditions."

He stepped into the amber pool of light spilling out from the dining room. "You have to return to New York and go to school."

"School!" Kit was incredulous. "I'm eighteen years old. I'm too old for school. Besides, I'm already self-educated."

"Not that kind of school. A finishing school. A place that teaches deportment and etiquette and all those other female accomplishments you don't know a damn thing about."

"Finishing school?" She was horrified. "Now, that's the stupidest, most puerile—" She saw the storm clouds gathering in his expression and changed tack. "Let me stay here. Please. I won't be any trouble. Swear to Jesus. I can sleep out back, and you won't even know I'm around. I can make myself useful all kinds of ways. I know this plantation better than anyone. Please let me stay."

"You're going to do as I say."

"No, I—"

"If you don't cooperate, I'll sell Risen Glory so fast you won't know what happened. Then you won't have a prayer of ever getting your hands on it."

She felt sick. Her hatred of him coalesced into a hard, tight ball. "How… how long would I have to go to this school?"

"Until you can behave like a lady, so I guess that's up to you."

"You could keep me there forever."

"All right. Let's say three years."

"That's way too long. I'll be twenty-one by then."

"You've got a lot to learn. Take it or leave it."

She regarded him bitterly. "And then what happens? Will I be able to buy Risen Glory back from you with the money in my trust fund?"

"We'll discuss that when the time comes."

He could keep her away from Risen Glory for years, exiled from everything she loved. She turned away and rushed back into the dining room. She remembered how she'd humiliated herself by offering to be his mistress, and her hatred choked her. When her exile was over and Risen Glory was safe, he was going to pay for this.

"What'll it be, Kit?" he said from behind her.

She could barely force out the words. "You don't give me much choice, do you, Yankee?"

"Well, well, well." A woman's voice, throaty and seductive, rippled in from the hallway. "Will you jes' look at what that child brought back with her from New York City."

"Sophronia!" Kit pitched herself across the dining room and into the arms of the woman who stood in the doorway. "Where you been?"

"Rutherford. Jackson Baker took sick."

Cain stared at the newcomer with surprise. So this was Kit's Sophronia. She was hardly what he'd envisioned.

He'd imagined someone much older, but she looked as if she were in her early twenties, and she was one of the most exotically beautiful women he'd ever seen. Slim and tall, she towered over Kit. She had high, chiseled cheekbones, pale caramel skin, and slanted golden eyes that slowly lifted as he studied her.

Their gazes met and held over the top of Kit's head. Sophronia untangled herself and walked toward him, moving with a languid sensuality that made her simple blue cotton dress seem like a gown of the finest silk. When she was directly in front of him, she stopped and held out her slim hand.

"Welcome to Risen Glory, Boss Man."

Sophronia acted hateful all the way back north on the train. Everything was "yes, sir" and "no, sir" to Cain, smiling at him and taking his side against Kit.

"That's because he's right," Sophronia said when Kit confronted her about it. "It's time you started to act like the woman you were born to be."

"And it's time you started remembering whose side you're supposed to be on."

Sophronia and Kit loved each other more than anyone else on earth, despite being black and white. Which didn't mean they didn't argue. And those arguments only accelerated after they reached New York.

The minute Magnus laid eyes on Sophronia, he started walking around in a daze, and Mrs. Simmons wouldn't stop talking about Sophronia being so wonderful. After three days, Kit was sick of it. Then her already bad mood plummeted even further.

"I look like a jackass!" The dun-colored felt hat sat like a squashed gravy boat on Kit's ragged hair. The material of her ocher jacket was of good quality, but cut too big in the shoulders, and the ugly brown serge dress dragged on the carpet. She looked like she'd dressed up in a spinster aunt's clothes.

Sophronia splayed her long fingers on her hips. "What d'you expect? I told you those clothes Mrs. Simmons bought for you was too big, but you wouldn't pay me no nevermind. You ask me, this is what you get for thinkin' you know so much more than everybody else."

"just because you're three years older than me and we're in New York City doesn't mean you can act like some kind of queen."

Sophronia's elegant nostrils quivered. "You think you can say anything you want to me. Well, I'm not your slave no more, Kit Weston. You understand me? I don't belong to you. I don't belong to anybody 'cept Jesus!"

Kit didn't like hurting Sophronia's feelings, but sometimes she could be pigheaded. "It's just that you don't ever show any gratitude. I taught you your sums. I taught you how to read and write, even though it was against the law. I hid you from Jesse Overturf that night he wanted to lie with you. And now you're taking that Yankee's side against mine every chance you get."

"Don't you talk to me 'bout gratitude. I spent years keepin' you out of Miz Weston's sight. And every time she caught you and locked you in that closet, it was me who let you out. I took a whippin' for you. So I don't want to hear anything about gratitude. You're a noose around my neck. Suffocating me. Cutting off my life's breath. If it wasn't for you—"

Abruptly Sophronia broke off as she heard footsteps approaching outside the door. Mrs. Simmons appeared and announced that Cain was waiting below to take Kit to the school he'd chosen.

Just like that, the two combatants found themselves locked in each other's arms. Finally Kit pulled away, picked up her ugly, gravy-boat hat, and walked to the door. "You be careful, hear?" she whispered.

"You mind yourself at that fancy school," Sophronia whispered back.

"I will."

Sophronia's eyes clouded with tears. "We'll be seeing each other again before you know it."

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