at her, his expression still inscrutable. Then he crossed the room and picked up the envelope she'd left for him.
She lay quietly as he read it.
He glanced through the pages once, very quickly, and then went back to the beginning and read them through more carefully. Finally he gazed over at her, shaking his head. 'I don't believe you did this. Why, Kit?'
'I had to.'
He looked at her sharply. 'Were you forced to?'
'Nobody could force me to do that.'
'Then why?'
She sat up on the edge of the bed. 'It was the only way I could think of.'
'What do you mean by that? The only way to do what?'
When she didn't immediately answer him, he threw down the papers and came toward her. 'Kit! Why did you sell Risen Glory?'
She stared down at her hands, too numb to speak.
He thrust his fingers through his hair, and he seemed to be talking as much to himself as to her. 'I can't believe you sold that plantation. Risen Glory meant everything to you. And for ten dollars an acre. That's only a fraction of what it's worth.'
'I wanted to get rid of it quickly, and I found the right buyer. I had the money deposited in your account in Charleston.'
Cain was stunned. 'My account?'
'It was your plantation. Your money put Risen Glory back on its feet again.'
He said nothing. The silence stretched between them until she thought she would scream if it weren't filled.
'You'd like the man who bought it,' she finally said.
'Why, Kit? Tell me why.'
Was she imagining it, or could she detect a slight thawing in his voice? She thought of Ruby pressed up against him. How many other women had there been since he'd left her? So much for all her dreams. She'd look like a fool when she explained it to him, but her pride no longer mattered. There'd be no more lies from her, spoken or unspoken, only the truth.
She lifted her head, fighting the lump forming in her throat. He stood in the shadows of the room. She was glad she didn't have to see his face while she talked.
'When you left me,' she said slowly, 'I thought my life was over. I felt so much anger, first at you and then at myself. It wasn't until you were gone that I realized how much I loved you. I'd loved you for a long time, but I wouldn't admit it, so I hid it away under other feelings. I wanted to come to you right away, but that wasn't-it wasn't practical. Besides, I've acted impulsively too often, and I needed to be sure about what I was doing. And I wanted to make certain that when I did find you, when I did tell you I loved you, you'd believe me.'
'So you decided to sell Risen Glory.' His voice was thick.
Kit's eyes filled with tears. 'It was going to be the proof of my love. I was going to wave it under your nose like a banner. Look what I did for you! But when I finally sold it, I discovered that Risen Glory was only a piece of land. It wasn't a man who could hold you and talk to you and make a life with you.' Her voice broke, and she rose to her feet to try to cover her weakness. 'Then I did something very foolish. When you plan things in your head, they sometimes work out better than they do in real life.'
'What?'
'I gave Sophronia my trust fund.'
There was a soft, startled exclamation from the shadows of the room, but she barely heard it. Her words were coming in short, choppy bursts. 'I wanted to get rid of everything so you'd feel responsible for me. It was an insurance policy in case you told me you didn't want me. I could look at you and say that whether you wanted me or not, you'd have to take me because I didn't have anyplace to go. But I'm not that helpless. I'd never stay with you because you felt responsible for me. That would be worse than being apart.'
'And was it so horrible being apart from me?'
She lifted her head at the unmistakable tenderness in his voice.
He stepped out of the shadows, and the years seemed to have fallen away from his face. The gray eyes that she'd always thought cold overflowed with feeling.
'Yes,' she whispered.
Then he was beside her, catching her up, pulling her to him. 'My sweet, sweet Kit,' he groaned, burying his face in her hair. 'Dear God, how I've missed you. How I've wanted you. All I've dreamed about since I left was being with you.'
She was in his arms again. She tried to take a deep breath, but it turned into a sob as she drew in his familiar clean scent. Feeling his body against hers after so many months was almost more than she could bear. He was the other part of herself, the part that had been missing for so long. And she was the other part of him.
'I want to kiss you now and make love with you more than I've ever wanted anything,' he said.
'Then why don't you?'
He gazed down into her upturned face, a sense of wonder in his expression. 'You'd let me make love with you after you just found me with another woman?'
The pain was a sharp, keen stab, but she fought it down. 'I guess I'm partly responsible for that. But it better never happen again.'
'It won't.' His smile was soft and tender. 'You love just like you do everything else, don't you? Without condition. It took you a lot less time than it took me to figure out how to do it right.' He drew back. 'I'm going to let you go now. It won't be easy, but there are some things I have to say to you, and I can't think straight when I'm holding you like this.'
He released her with agonizing slowness and stepped just far enough away so he was no longer touching her. 'I knew long before I left that I loved you, but I wasn't as smart as you. I tied strings to it and made conditions. I didn't have the guts to go to you and tell you how I felt, to put everything on the line the way you just did. Instead, I ran. Just like I've done all my life when I felt somebody or something getting too close to me. Well, I'm tired of running, Kit. I don't have any way to prove this to you. I don't have a banner to wave under your nose. But I love you, and I was coming back to fight for you. I'd already made up my mind. As a matter of fact, I was just getting ready to tell Ruby I was leaving when you barged in that door.'
Despite the unmistakable message of love she was hearing, Kit couldn't help but wince at the mention of the saloonkeeper's name.
'Get that fire out of your eyes, Kit. I have to tell you about Ruby.'
But Kit didn't want to hear. She shook her head and tried to fight the notion that what he'd done while they were apart was a betrayal.
'I want you to listen,' he insisted. 'No more secrets, even though this part isn't easy for me.' He drew a deep breath. 'I-I haven't been the world's greatest lover since I left you. I haven't… I haven't been any kind of lover at all. For a long time I stayed away from women, so I didn't think much about it. Then I came to work at the Yellow Rose, and Ruby was pretty determined, but what you saw today was all one-sided on her part. I never touched her.'
Kit's spirits rose.
He shoved a hand in his pocket and turned slightly away from her, some of his former tension coming back. 'I guess to you. Ruby doesn't look like much, but it's a little different for a man. It had been a long time for me, and she was making it easy-coming to my room all the time dressed like she was dressed today and letting me know what she wanted. But I didn't
He stopped talking and looked at her as if he expected something. Kit was beginning to grow confused. He sounded more like a man confessing infidelity than one confessing fidelity. Was there more?
Her confusion must have shown, because Cain spoke more sharply. 'Don't you understand, Kit? She offered herself to me in every way she could, and I didn't want her!'
This time Kit did understand, and happiness burst inside her like the whole world had been made anew. 'You're worried about your virility? Oh, my darling!' With a great whoop of laughter, she threw herself across the room and into his arms. Pulling his head down, she pressed her mouth to his. She talked, laughed, and kissed him all at the same time. 'Oh, my dear, dear darling… my great, foolish darling. How I love you!'
