Just Imagine aka Risen Glory

Miss Dolly's eyes widened in alarm. 'But I don't have anywhere else to go!' She pushed herself up from the rocking chair and began to cry again. 'Silly foolishness… that's all this is. I'll-I'll just freshen up, and then we'll go right downstairs for dinner. I won't be a minute. Not a… not a minute.'

Kit rose and embraced the woman's frail shoulders. 'Calm yourself, Miss Dolly. I won't send you away. Not as long as you want to stay with me. I promise.'

Hope flickered in her companion's eyes. 'You won't send me away?'

'Never.' Kit smoothed the puffy white sleeves of Miss Dolly's gown, then gave her powdery cheek a kiss. 'Make yourself pretty for dinner.'

Miss Dolly glanced nervously toward the hallway that lay beyond the safe haven of her room. 'All-all right, darlin'.'

'Please don't worry about Major Cain.' Kit smiled. 'Just pretend you're entertaining General Lee.'

After ten minutes of primping, Miss Dolly decided she was ready, but Kit was so happy to see the older woman's spirits restored that she didn't mind the wait. As they descended the stairs, Miss Dolly began fussing over her. 'Hold still a minute, darlin'. The overskirt on your pretty dress isn't caught up properly.' She clucked her tongue while she adjusted the garment. 'I do wish you'd be a little more careful with your appearance. I don't mean to be critical, but you don't always look quite as neat as a young lady should.'

'Yes, ma'am.' Kit assumed her most docile expression, the one that had never fooled Elvira Templeton but seemed to do the trick with Miss Dolly. At the same time, she made up her mind to murder Baron Cain with her bare hands if he did anything tonight to frighten Miss Dolly.

Just then he came out of the library. He was dressed informally in a pair of black trousers and a white shirt, his hair still damp from his bath. She relished the fact that he was too boorish to dress for dinner, even though he'd known there'd be ladies at the table.

He looked up and saw them coming toward him. Something she couldn't decipher flickered in his eyes.

Her heart began to pound. The memory of that lunatic kiss washed over her. She took a deep breath. The evening that lay ahead would be hard enough. She had to forget what had happened and keep her wits about her. Cain's appearance was going to terrify Miss Dolly.

She turned to soothe her, only to see the old woman's lips curving in a coquettish smile. Miss Dolly extended one lace-encased hand and made her descent into the hallway as gracefully as a debutante.

'My dear, dear General. I can't tell you what an honor this is for me, sir. You will never know the hours I've spent on my poor knees, prayin' for your safety. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I'd have the honor of meeting you.' She thrust her tiny hand into Cain's large one. 'I'm Katharine's chaperone, Dorthea Pinckney Calhoun, of the Columbia Calhouns.' And then she dropped a deep curtsy that would have done any Templeton Girl proud.

Cain stared in bewilderment at the top of her frilly cap. She bobbed back up, her head barely coming to his middle shirt button. 'If there's anything, anything at all, I can do to make you comfortable during your stay here at Risen Glory, General, you need only ask. From this moment, this very instant, consider me your devoted servant.'

Miss Dolly's eyelids batted at him with such alarming speed Kit was afraid she'd blind herself.

Cain turned to Kit for enlightenment, but Kit was mystified. He cleared his throat. 'I believe-I'm afraid, madam, that you've made a mistake. I'm not entitled to the rank of general. Indeed, I hold no military office at all now, although some still refer to me by my former rank of major.'

Miss Dolly gave a trill of girlish laughter. 'Oh, my, my! Silly me! You've caught me like a kitten in the cream.' She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. 'I forget that you're in disguise. And a very good one it is, I might add. No Yankee spy could ever recognize you, although it's a shame you had to shave off your beard. I do admire beards.'

Cain's patience snapped and he turned on Kit. 'What's she talking about?'

Miss Dolly pressed her fingers to his arm. 'Now, now, no need to fret. I promise when we're in company I'll be very discreet, and only address you as Major, dear General.'

Cain's voice sounded a warning. 'Kit…'

Miss Dolly clucked her tongue. 'There, there, General. I don't want you to worry your head for an instant about Katharine Louise. A more loyal daughter of the Confederacy does not exist. She would never betray your true identity to anyone. Isn't that so, darlin'?'

Kit tried to reply. She even opened her mouth. But nothing seemed to come out.

Miss Dolly plucked up the chicken-skin fan that dangled from her bony wrist and tapped Kit's arm.

'Tell the general that's so, darlin', this very instant. We mustn't let him worry unnecessarily about betrayal. The poor man has enough on his mind without adding to his burden. Go on, now. Tell him he can trust you. Tell him.'

'You can trust me,' Kit croaked.

Cain glared at her.

Miss Dolly smiled and sniffed the air. 'If my nose isn't betraying me, I do believe I smell chicken fricassee. I'm more than a little partial to fricassee, 'deed I am, especially if it contains just a tiny dash of nutmeg.'

She linked her arm through Cain's and turned toward the dining room. 'You know, General, there's a strong possibility that we're distantly related. According to my great-aunt, Phoebe Littlefield Calhoun, her father's branch of the family is connected through marriage to the Virginia Lees.'

Cain stopped dead in his tracks. 'Are you trying to tell me, madam-Do you actually believe that I am General Robert E. Lee?'

Miss Dolly opened her Cupid's-bow mouth to respond, only to close it with a giggle. 'Oh, no, you shan't catch me that easily, General. And it's naughty of you to test me, especially after I informed you that you could rely on my discretion. You're Major Baron Nathaniel Cain. Katharine Louise told me that quite clearly.'

And then she favored him with a broad, conspiratorial wink.

Cain scowled throughout dinner, and Kit's normal appetite deserted her. Not only did she have to endure his company and the memory of their kiss, but she knew she'd planted the seed of Miss Dolly's latest madness. Miss Dolly, however, had no difficulty filling the strained silence. She chirped on about fricassees, distant relations, and the medicinal qualities of chamomile until Cain's face looked like a storm cloud. Over dessert, he came to a full state of alert when she suggested an informal poetry recitation in the parlor.

'Worst luck. Miss Calhoun.' His gaze traveled down the table. 'Katharine Louise has brought along some secret dispatches from New York City. I'm afraid I need to meet with her privately.' One tawny brow shot upward. 'And immediately!'

Miss Dolly beamed. 'Why, of course, dear General. You needn't say another word. You go on. I'll just sit here and enjoy this delicious ginger cake. Why, I haven't-'

'You're a true patriot, madam.' He pushed back his chair and gestured toward the door. 'The library, Katharine Louise.'

'I… uh…'

'Now.'

'Hurry along, my dear. The general is a busy man.'

'And about to get busier,' he said pointedly.

Kit rose and swept past him. Fine. It was time they had a showdown.

The library at Risen Glory was much as Kit remembered. Comfortable chairs with sagging leather seats sat at angles to the old mahogany desk. The generous windows kept everything light and cheerful despite the somber leather-bound books that lined the shelves.

It had always been her favorite room at Risen Glory, and she resented the unfamiliar humidor sitting on the desk as well as the Colt army revolver that rested in a red-lined wooden box next to it. Most of all, she resented the portrait of Abraham Lincoln that hung above the mantelpiece in place of 'The Beheading of John the Baptist.' a painting that had been there for as long as she could remember.

Cain slouched into the chair behind the desk, propped his heels on the mahogany surface, and crossed his ankles. His posture was deliberately insolent, but she didn't let him see that it annoyed her. Earlier that afternoon when she'd been veiled, he'd treated her as a woman. Now he wanted to treat her as his stable boy. He'd soon see it wouldn't be that easy to ignore the years that had passed.

'i told you to stay in New York,' he said.