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the table, leaned back. Her sister’s legs were sticking out from behind the furniture, daintily crossed at the ankle. “Do get up off the floor. You look like a rag doll.”
    “I was waitin’ for you to ignore me as thoroughly as you ignored Creel.” Pearl didn’t look at all chagrined as she pulled herself up gracefully. Honestly, didn’t she ever look clumsy?
    “That man is single-minded, and I don’t think I like that I’m his new fixation.”
    “The nice Major certainly has a poor opinion of negroes.”
    “I know.” Becks grinned mischievously. “Honestly, to imply that you didn’t even count as a chaperone, when anyone could see that you were doing such a mighty fine job of it.”
    Pearl snorted, and brushed some dirt off her skirt. “Like I could have stopped you from doing anything you set your mind to doing.” She peeked up at Becks then, and two sets of identical blue eyes stared at each other for a moment before crinkling—identically—into smiles. “Or anyone .”
    Becks started chuckling then, and Pearl followed. “I wasn’t that bad, was I?” There was no use hiding any of her thoughts from Pearl. Her sister knew her better than she knew herself.
    “Girl, I thought you were going to drool, when he touched your cheek.”
    “Oh Lord, I was so embarrassed, standing there covered in mud.”
    Pearl snorted. “Please. You spend most of your life covered in mud.”
    “That’s not true.” Becks shrugged, still smiling. “Not entirely true, anyhow.”
    “So… speak plain, Becks.” One lovely eyebrow rose. “You enjoyed the kiss?”
    Becks sighed again softly, remembering the feel of his lips against hers. Pearl chuckled, “Never mind, your face says you did.”
    “Pearl, he was positively the most sensual man I’ve ever seen.”
    “You haven’t seen many men.”
    “That’s not true, either!” Becks might have been born in this house, but she spent her childhood in Charleston with the rest of the people who’d fled the Sea Islands during the war. She’d moved home with her mother and sister back in ’66, but they still traveled into Charleston to visit her mother’s cousins and old friends. And there was plenty of opportunity for social calls on Edisto, especially among her father’s family. Why, they even traveled to Eddingsville Beach every summer with the portion of Edisto society that tolerated her mother. Sure, Becks didn’t love the whirlwind of social activity, and missed being away from her beloved Beckett, but that didn’t mean she was cloistered. She’d just never seen a man interesting enough to tempt her away from what she loved best in the world.
    Becks lifted the powder dish again, turning it in her hands, pretending great interest in the delicate blue-and-white design on the lid. Faking a nonchalance she didn’t feel, she asked her sister, “You didn’t think he was handsome?”
    She saw Pearl shrug out of the corner of her eye. “Not particularly. I thought he looked like a pirate. Or a smuggler.”
    Becks felt herself bristle in defense of him. “Maybe you were too busy lookin’ at his fine-looking friend.”
    There was a sudden stillness from her sister. After a moment, Pearl spoke again, her voice chilly. “And here I thought you were doing so well to not bring him up.”
    “Just wanted you to know that I saw you lookin’ awful hard at Robert.”
    Pearl gasped, “You were mistaken!”
    “I don’t think so. He was lookin’ hard enough at you, and I saw you eyeballing him—” 
    “I wasn’t.”
    Becks narrowed her eyes. That denial had sounded just a little too forceful, and while Pearl’s expression told her to drop the subject, Becks wasn’t willing to forgive her sister for her earlier tormenting.
    “All I’m saying is that Robert was lookin’ like he wanted to kiss you.”
    “Well, that boy can look all he wants, but he won’t get near me.”
    There’d been genuine disgust in Pearl’s voice when she’d called him “boy.”