Charon's Crossing

"That's ridiculous. I know nothing of ballet. As for Shakespeare... I am an American and damned proud of it, madam! I was born not a hundred miles from Concord and I have lived my life sailing under the Stars and Stripes!"

"Except for the time you spent flying the Jolly Roger, you mean!"

"That's nonsense!"

"You were a pirate, bought and paid for by the King of England."

"I was a privateer, doing what I could to keep body and soul together while I waited for my president to take action against the English!"

They were nose to nose and toe to toe, inhaling each other's anger with every breath they took.

Hell's bells, Matthew thought, how could he ever have mistaken this woman for the Catherine he had known? She had none of Catherine's polish or delicacy... and a hundred times her fire and a thousand times her beauty, even with dirt on her face and rose leaves in her hair.

My God, Kathryn thought, how could this man have cut a swath through the boudoirs of the nineteenth century? He was imperious, arrogant and impossibly chauvinistic... and he was more masculine than any man she'd ever known and so handsome that just looking at him stole her breath away.

Matthew looked into Kathryn's eyes. They had blazed with anger a moment ago. Now, there was another sort of fire lighting their blue depths, one that made his muscles tense in anticipation.

"Kathryn," he said softly. He lifted his hand and touched it to her cheek.

"Matthew." Kathryn moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. "Matthew, I don't think—"

"Miz Russell?"

Kathryn blinked.

"Miz Russell? Ma'am?"

Matthew's hand stilled. "Whose voice is that?"

"It's Elvira! Oh, you've got to hide!"

"Who?"

"The cleaning lady. Hiram Bonnyeman's wife. He's the local repair... Oh, never mind. Matthew, you've got to hide. She'll see—"

"Miz Russell?" Kathryn spun around. Elvira had come out the rear door and across the terrace. "I thought I heard you talkin' to somebody out here."

Kathryn cleared her throat. "Yes. Well, I was. You see..."

"She can't," Matthew said softly, from just behind her.

"Can't what?" Kathryn hissed.

"Can't see me."

"Of course she can. You're not invisi—"

"I am."

"But—but you aren't. I can see you."

"No one else can. Your repairman didn't, nor did your attorney, nor did that woman you've engaged to sell Charon's Crossing."

"But how can that be? It's impossible."

Matthew laughed. "I have no idea. And it is surely no more impossible than the fact that I am a spirit."

"Miz Russell?" Elvira's voice rose. "Are you all right?"