Cain vaulted from Apollo's back with a gracefulness unusual for a man of his size. "Take your time cooling him out, boy. I don't want a sick horse." He tossed Kit the bridle and began to stride toward the house.

"I know my job," she called out. "Don't need no Yankee telling me how to take care of a hot, sweaty horse."

The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she wished she could snatch them back. Today was only Wednesday, and she couldn't risk getting fired yet.

She'd already learned that Sunday was the only night Mrs. Simmons and Magnus didn't sleep in the house. Mrs. Simmons had the day off and stayed with her sister, and Magnus spent the night in what Mrs. Simmons described as a drunken and debauched manner unfit for young ears. Kit needed to hold her tongue for four days. Then, when Sunday night came, she was going to kill the Yankee bastard who was gazing down at her with those cool gray eyes.

"If you think you'd be happier working for somebody else, I can always find another stable boy."

"Didn't say I wanted to work for anybody else," she muttered.

"Then maybe you'd better try a little harder to hold your tongue."

She kicked the dirt with the dusty toe of her boot.

"And, Kit?"

"Yeah?"

"Take a bath. People are complaining about the way you smell."

"A bath!" Kit's outrage nearly choked her, and she could barely hold onto her temper.

Cain seemed to be enjoying her struggle. "Was there anything else you wanted to say to me?"

She clenched her teeth and thought about the size of the bullet hole she intended to leave in his head. "No, sir," she mumbled.

"Then I'll need the carriage at the front door in an hour and a half."

As she walked Apollo around the yard, she released a steady stream of profanity. Killing that Yankee was going to give her more pleasure than anything she'd done in all her eighteen years. What business was it of his whether she took a bath or not? She didn't hold with baths. Everybody knew they made you susceptible to influenza. Besides, she'd have to take off her clothes, and she hated seeing her body ever since she'd grown breasts because they didn't fit who she wanted to be.