A burly man pushing a wheelbarrow saw her and nudged the man next to him. Both of them stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Gradually the construction site fell silent as, one by one, the men stepped out of the building or peered through open windows to see the young woman dressed in boy's clothing.
Cain grew conscious of the silence and looked down from his perch on the roof. At first he saw only the top of a flat-brimmed hat, but he didn't need to see the face beneath it to recognize his visitor. One look at the slim, womanly body so clearly revealed by that white shirt and those khaki britches that hugged a pair of long, slim legs told him everything he needed to know.
He swung his foot onto the ladder and descended. When he reached the bottom he turned to Kit and studied her. God, she was beautiful.
Kit felt her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. She should have worn the modest riding habit she hated. Instead of reprimanding her as she'd expected, Cain seemed to be enjoying her outfit. The corner of his mouth crinkled.
"You might be wearing britches, but you sure don't look like my stable boy anymore."
His good mood irked her. "Stop it."
"What?"
"Smiling."
"I'm not supposed to smile?"
"Not at me. It looks ridiculous. Don't smile at anyone. Your face was born to scowl."
"I'll try to remember that." He took her arm and nudged her toward the mill door. "Come on. I'll show you around."
Although the construction of the building was nearly completed, the steam engine that would power the machinery was the only equipment that had been installed. Cain described the overhead belt drive and spindles, but she had a hard time concentrating. He should have put his shirt on before he'd decided to act as her tour guide.
She met a middle-aged man with ginger hair and whiskers whom Cain introduced as Jacob Childs, a New Englander he'd hired away from a mill in Providence. For the first time, she learned that Cain had made several trips North during the past few years to visit the textile mills there. It galled her that he'd never once stopped at the Academy to check on her, and she told him so.
"I didn't think of it," he replied.
"You're a terrible excuse for a guardian."
"I won't argue with you there."
"Mrs. Templeton could have been beating me, for all you knew."
"Not likely. You'd have shot her. I wasn't worried."
She saw his pride in the mill, but as they moved back into the yard, she couldn't find it in her to compliment him. "I'd like to talk to you about Temptation."
Cain appeared distracted. She glanced down to see what he was looking at and realized her curves were more apparent in the sunlight than they'd been in the dim interior of the building. She moved into the shade and pointed an accusing finger at Lady, who was decapitating a patch of buttercups.
"That horse is nearly as old as Miss Dolly. I want to ride Temptation."
Cain seemed to have to force his attention back to her face. "He's too much horse for a woman. I know Lady's old, but you'll have to make do."
"I've been riding horses like Temptation since I was eight years old."
"Sorry, Kit, but that horse is a handful, even for me."
"But we're not talking about you," she said smoothly. "We're talking about someone who knows how to ride."
Cain seemed more amused than angry. "You think so?"
"What do you say we see? You on Vandal and me on Temptation. We'll start at the gate next to the barn, race past the pond to the maple grove, and finish right here."
"You're not going to bait me."
"Oh, I'm not baiting you." She gave him a silky smile. "I'm challenging you."
"You do like to live dangerously, don't you, Katharine Louise?"
"It's the only way."
"All right. Let's see what you've got."
He was going to race her. She gave a silent cheer as he grabbed his shirt from a sawhorse. While he buttoned it, he issued orders to the men who'd been standing around staring at her. Then he picked up a worn Western hat with a stained sweatband that testified to years of comfortable wear and set it on his head.
"I'll meet you at the stable." He rode from the clearing without bothering to wait for her.
Lady was eager for the oats that awaited her, and she made the homeward journey a little faster, but they still arrived well after Cain. Temptation was already saddled when Kit got there, and Cain was checking the cinch strap. Kit dismounted and handed Lady's bridle to Samuel. Then she walked over to Temptation and ran a hand down his muzzle.
"Ready?" Cain said shortly.
"I'm ready."
He gave her a leg up, and she swung into the saddle. When Temptation felt her weight, he began to prance and sidestep, and it took all her skill to keep him under control. By the time the horse had finally settled down, Cain had mounted Vandal.
As she rode from the yard, Kit was intoxicated by the sensation of leashed power in the animal beneath her, and she could barely resist giving him his head. She reluctantly reined in when she reached the gate near the barn.
"The first one who makes it back to the mill wins," she said to Cain.
He tipped up the brim of his hat with his thumb. "I'm not racing you."
"What do you mean?" Kit needed to race him. She wanted to compete with him at something where his size and strength wouldn't give him an advantage. On horseback, the differences between a man and a woman would disappear.
"Exactly what I said."
"Is the Hero of Missionary Ridge afraid to get beat by a woman in front of his men?"
Cain squinted slightly in the blaze of the late-morning sun. "I don't have anything to prove, and you're not going to bait me."
"Why did you come here if you weren't going to race?"
"You were doing a little bragging back there. I wanted to see if any of it was true."
She rested her hand across the pommel and smiled. "I wasn't bragging. I was stating facts."
"Talk's cheap, Katharine Louise. Let's see what you can do with a horse."
Before she could respond, he set off. She watched as he let Vandal break from an easy trot into a canter.
He rode well for a large man, so relaxed and easy he seemed to be an extension of his horse. She realized he was every bit as good a rider as she. Another black mark to chalk up against him.
She leaned over Temptation's sleek black neck. "All right, boy. Let's show him."
Temptation proved to be everything she'd hoped. At first she kept him abreast of Vandal and held him to a canter, but then, when she sensed the horse straining to go faster, she let him have his head. Veering away from the planted fields, she turned him into an open meadow. They tore across it at a fierce gallop, and as she felt the raw strength of the animal beneath her, everything else disappeared. There was no yesterday or tomorrow, no ruthless man with cold gray eyes, no kiss she couldn't explain. There was only the magnificent animal that had become part of her.
She spotted a low hedge ahead. With the barest pressure of her knees, she turned the horse toward it. As they thundered closer, she leaned forward in the saddle, keeping her knees tight to his flanks. She felt a great surge of power as Temptation effortlessly cleared the barrier.
Reluctantly she slowed him to a trot and turned back. She'd done enough for now. If she pushed the horse harder, Cain would accuse her of being reckless, and she wasn't going to give him an excuse to keep this horse from her.
He waited for her at the top of the meadow. She reined in beside him and wiped the perspiration from her cheeks with her sleeve.
His saddle creaked slightly as he moved. "That was quite an exhibition."
She kept silent, waiting for his verdict.
"Did you ride at all when you were in New York?" he asked.
"I wouldn't call it riding."
With a tug on the reins, he turned Vandal toward the stable. "Then you're going to be sore as hell tomorrow."
Was that all he was going to say? She watched his retreating back, then tapped her heels against Temptation's flanks and caught up with him. "Well?"