Just Imagine aka Risen Glory

between them less than a week before. As he took his leave of her, precisely twenty minutes after his arrival, she wondered why it had taken her so long to admit to herself what an idiot he was.

She spent the evening curled in a chair in the rear sitting room, her old, battered copy of Emerson's Essays on her lap. Across from her was the mahogany desk where Sophronia worked on the housekeeper's records. Cain would expect her to take over now, but Sophronia wouldn't appreciate her interference, and Kit had no interest in counting linens. She didn't want to be mistress of the house. She wanted to be mistress of the land.

As night settled in, Kit sank deeper into despair. He could do anything he wanted to her plantation, and she couldn't stop him. He cared much more about the mill than the fields. Maybe he'd decide to slice up the fields to make way for a road. And he was a gambler. What if he squandered the money from her trust? What if he decided to sell off the land for ready cash?

The clock in the hallway chimed midnight and her thoughts grew darker. Cain had always been a wanderer. He'd already lived here for three years. How long would it be before he decided to sell Risen Glory and set off for someplace new?

She tried to tell herself Risen Glory was safe for now. Cain was preoccupied with the spinning mill, so he wasn't likely to do anything drastic right away. Even though it went against her nature, she had to bide her time.

Yes, Risen Glory was safe, but what about her? What about that hot pounding in her blood when he touched her? Or the heightened awareness that shot through her every time she saw him? Was history repeating itself? Was Weston blood calling out to Cain blood as it had done once before in the union that had nearly destroyed Risen Glory?

'Katharine Louise, why aren't you in bed?' Miss Dolly stood in the doorway, her frilly nightcap askew, her face puckered with worry.

'Just restless. I'm sorry I woke you.'

'Let me give you some laudanum, dear, so you can sleep.'

'I don't need any.'

'You need your rest, Katharine. Now, don't be stubborn.'

'I'll be fine.' She led Miss Dolly upstairs, but the older woman refused to leave her alone until Kit forced down several teaspoons of the laudanum.

She fell asleep, only to have her rest disturbed by opium-induced shadow-images. Toward dawn, a great tawny lion came to her. She smelled his male, jungle scent, but instead of feeling fear, she wove her fingers through his mane and pulled him closer.

Gradually, he changed into her husband. He whispered love words and began to caress her. Through the fabric of her dream, she felt his skin. It was warm and as moist as her own.

'I'll fill you now,' her dream-husband whispered.

'Yes,' she murmured. 'Oh, yes.'

He entered her then, and her body caught fire. She moved with him, and climbed with him, and just before the flames exploded, she called out his name.

The laudanum dream was still with her when she awakened the next morning. She gazed up at the pink-and- green silk bed hangings, trying to shake off the groggy aftereffects of the medicine. How real it had seemed… the lion who'd changed beneath her hands into-

She shot up in bed.

Cain stood at her washstand shaving before the mirror that hung above it. He wore only a white towel draped around his hips. 'Good morning.'

She glared at him. 'Go into your own room to shave.'

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.

Kit went so far as to press her cheek to his sleeve. 'Why, Mrs. Brown, Gladys, I believe you're teasin' me, 'deed I do. Surely everyone in the entire county who possesses a pair of eyes guessed from the very beginnin' how Major Cain and I feel about each other. Although he, bein' a man, was much better able to hide his true emotions than I, a