LITMIR.BIZ

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bad.”

      “I was referring to my hygiene—or lack of it.”

      “I admit you don’t smell like a crape—” She cut herself off and lowered her head, a flush across her cheeks.

      But he knew what she was going to say. Crape myrtle. He’d wanted to cut down that tree eight years ago, and he would have, if Father hadn’t stopped him.

      She remembered too. And since he didn’t know what to say to break this sudden, awkward silence, he let it remain.

      Actually, after the first few seconds, it wasn’t so bad. Quiet was a rare thing around Ellie.

      On the gallery, he opened the door for her as he had for those girls. And the quiet stopped.

      “Graham, how nice of you to give me a ride. I’d been counting the days until your return.” Ellie tugged at his arm and pulled him along with her until they stood outside the parlor doorway. Then she looked up into his face and batted her lashes at him, smiling like a debutante. “I can’t believe you’re finally home. Now we can—”

      She pulled her gaze from him and turned to the parlor. “Oh, dear. You have guests.”

      Graham ventured a glance into the parlor. If Ellie was trying to get their attention, she’d accomplished her goal. They all sat motionless as sharpshooters, and a few had their mouths open.

      Then, before he could figure out what she was doing, she took his hand and nudged him toward the parlor. Now what? Holding Ellie’s hand in front of these girls was more awkward than the silence had been.

      “Graham was on his way upstairs to freshen himself after his journey.” She looked at him with those big eyes again. “Go ahead, honey. I’ll serve refreshments.”

      This time she pushed him toward the stairs. Whatever she was trying to do, at least he’d get a quick sponge bath. Nothing else was going the way he wanted today, so why shouldn’t he take ten minutes to get cleaned up? It would have taken a lot longer than that if he’d had to wait for those women to decide to leave. Come to think of it, he couldn’t very well go out to look for Noreen as long as he smelled like a horse. A dirty, sweaty, dust-covered horse.

      Although it was hard telling what he’d have to deal with when he got back down here.

      * * *

      “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll fetch some cookies and tea.” Ellie started for the hall, knowing full well she wouldn’t get out the parlor door, acting the hostess this way in Graham’s home. Immediately, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see the group rushing toward her, hoopskirts dancing with the motion.

      “We appreciate the offer, but we must decline,” Susanna Martin said, making the decision for the whole group as usual. “We came to see the colonel, and since he will be occupied for a time, we’ll come back another day.”

      Ellie moved farther into the room and perched on the edge of a gold damask settee. She took a white lace handkerchief from her day-dress pocket and flicked an imaginary fleck of dust from the gas lamp next to her. “Whatever you say, Susanna.”

      She needn’t have wondered about the effect of her actions. The girls, all from her Pearl Street neighborhood, sat back down as well and began asking questions all at once.

      The charade was rather enjoyable, and Ellie let them answer their own questions for a time. Then she held up one hand. “Ladies! Your mothers would be appalled at your manners.”

      “Colonel Talbot was right here in this room with us just minutes before the two of you came in. How did you end up riding with him?” Not surprisingly, Susanna took the lead.

      “He sent a message for me. A white flag, so to speak.”

      “While we were all in the house?”

      “It would seem so.”

      “But you never allow a man to come calling.”

      Ellie cast her gaze out the parlor door and toward the staircase. “Of course not.”

      “How long have you had this understanding with Colonel Talbot?”

      “Understanding?”

      “I heard years ago that he proposed marriage to you. Is that true?”

      Ellie turned her face to the floor in what she hoped looked like a demure gesture. “It’s true.”

      “Something’s not right about this.” Susanna stood and made for the door. “I don’t believe you and the colonel are courting at all.”

      “Believe what you like, Susanna. It makes no difference to me.” Ellie walked with her to the entrance, and the other girls trailed in their wake. “See you at church on Sunday.”

      When she’d shut the door behind them, Ellie fetched Sugar from the stable and brought her back to the parlor. Although she still wanted to go to Magnolia Grove before the heat of the day, she probably needed to stay until Graham came downstairs.

      She went to the library to collect the dirty dishes he had said were there, and she washed them in the kitchen dependency. This area was as clean as if Miss Noreen still had a staff of twelve servants. How she kept it that way was beyond Ellie. If Lilah May and Roman hadn’t stayed on after the others left, the Anderson home would be in sorry shape.

      Moments after she had dried and put away the dishes, she heard Graham clambering down the stairs. Ellie hastened through the breezeway to the dining room and then the center hall.

      “They’re gone?” he asked, freshly bathed, shaved and dressed in what must be his father’s suit—a good idea, considering all the Union troops still occupying the city. “How did you manage it?”

      “I didn’t manage much of anything.” Ellie moved to the sunny spot Sugar always chose on the faded runner extending from the front entrance to the back door. The dog ignored her until she picked up the leash. Then she came to life, prancing in anticipation of going outside.

      “I told nothing but truth, but I let them come to the conclusion that we are courting.”

      “But we’re not courting.”

      “Lands, no. But since they think so, they got out of here in a hurry. You’re free to go and look for Miss Noreen.”

      The look of dismay on Graham’s face was not what she’d expected. “I can’t believe you did that. Don’t you realize why they left in such a hurry?”

      “Of course. They wanted to leave us to our happiness.”

      He sat down hard on the wooden settle bench along the hall’s east side and dropped his head into his hands. Just the way he always had when one of her childhood schemes had gone wrong. “No, they didn’t. Have you forgotten who you’re dealing with? Susanna left here to spread the ‘news’ all over Natchez.”

      “I’m not sure about that...” Or was she? What if he was right?

      “The entire Pearl Street neighborhood will know by the time the party starts. Maybe the whole town.” He raised his head and impaled her with his gray-green eyes. “You did it again, Ellie.”

      “What did I do?”

      “You trapped me in another of your great ideas without thinking it through. That’s why these plans of yours don’t work out. You don’t stop to think.”

      “I thought about it—”

      “You never think beyond the present. You have to start considering the consequences of your actions.”

      Hadn’t she heard that all her life? First from her parents, then from Uncle Amos and the tutors he’d gotten for her. “I can’t help it if the consequences surprise me, can I?”

      He groaned. “We’re going to have to figure out what to do. After I find Noreen.”

      “Graham,

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