Love and Splendor: The Coltrane Saga, Book 5 (26 page)

Suddenly, Drake’s world had turned upside down, and he was certain of only one thing for the moment—he did not want to lose Dani because, he mused with a grin despite the tension of the situation, they just might actually share that “almighty, grandiose, once-in-a-lifetime” kind of love she had been talking about.

He was damn well going to find out!

Chapter Nineteen

In the nearly twenty-nine years she had known Travis Coltrane, Kitty had seen him quite angry on occasion. She had seen men quake in their boots and turn and run at just a threatening glare from those steel-gray eyes. She had also seen his rage erupt and propel him to kill. She had witnessed him stomping to death the traitorous Nathan Wright, who had just murdered her father in cold blood, had heard how Travis also coldly killed that fiend Luke Tate, who had caused so much anguish in their lives.

Yes, Kitty acknowledged as she stared quietly at Travis from the doorway of his study, he could be provoked to mayhem, for his temper and spirit were legend.

But, with a tremble of dread, she knew without a doubt she had never seen him this mad.

Travis stood behind his massive oak desk, staring out the window toward the street in front of the mansion. He had, she speculated, probably been alternating his present vigil with pacing the floor ever since two a.m.—the hour he had gotten out of bed after lying awake since midnight, anxiously waiting for Dani to come home.

The clock above the mantel chimed to announce the time was three-quarters past the hour…almost nine o’clock. Travis glanced up at the clock irritably, then slammed his fist against the windowsill. “Goddammit, where is she?” He whirled around to face Kitty and raged, “Enough of this! I’m either going after that Russian womanizer or you’d better notify the gendarmes to lock him up to keep me from killing him when I do get my hands on him!”

Kitty did not wither before his fury and never had. Calmly she told him, “You’ll do neither, Travis. If you go looking for Dani, she’ll be humiliated and never forgive you. If you notify the police, it will be all over Paris by noon.”

He looked at her incredulously and threw up his arms. “Well, just what do you propose to do, woman? She’s been out all night long, for God’s sake, with a man who’s got a reputation for being a goddamn wolf, and you think we’re supposed to just sit here and wait for her to come strolling in as if nothing has happened?”

“Maybe nothing has.”

Travis yelped at that. “Are you crazy? Do you really believe that?”

Kitty could not help smiling. “Don’t judge every man by yourself, dear. We all know in your wilder days no girl came home pure and innocent after a night with you.”

Travis grunted. “That’s not funny, Kitty, and I’m in no mood for your sarcasm.” He turned back to his vigil at the window. “If she isn’t here by nine, either I go looking for her, or we call the police. And believe me,” he added ominously, “Drakar better pray the gendarmes get to him before I do.”

Kitty sighed, walked to the sideboard, and poured another cup of coffee from the silver service. “Travis, I agree with you that Dani shouldn’t have stayed out all night like this. I’m not defending her, but I do think we have to remember she’s a grown woman, and—”

“And she’s my daughter and lives under my goddamn roof!” Travis yelled, turning to stare at her with eyes bulging, the veins standing out on his forehead and neck. He was starting to shake.

Kitty saw the way he looked so flushed and at once put down her coffee and rushed to his side. “Now you listen to me,” she ordered, placing her hands on his trembling shoulders. Reluctantly, he allowed her to guide him to sit down behind his desk.

“Travis Coltrane,” she scolded, “you’re not a young man anymore, and that temper of yours could bring on a heart attack. You’ve no business letting yourself lose control and get upset this way. Now I’m plenty angry myself, because there’s no excuse for Dani doing something like this and worrying us to death, not to mention what this will do to her reputation if it gets out, but there’s not a thing we can do about it for the moment. If there was a possibility Dani was hurt, I’d have agreed to search for her hours ago, but we both know if anything like that had happened, Drakar would have notified us, and he hasn’t, so we know he’s with her and that she’s all right. We just have to wait.”

“Not much longer, dammit,” Travis warned. He pointed to the liquor cabinet. “I need a brandy.”

Kitty did not argue that it was an early hour for a drink because she felt she could use one herself. She handed him a bottle and two glasses.

Pouring them each a hefty drink, he grumbled, “Hell, we didn’t need this on top of Colt’s thunderbolt last night.”

Kitty once more fought back the tears that had been just below the surface ever since Colt had announced he and Lily were going to get married. “I still can’t believe it,” she whispered brokenly. “I know he’s a grown man, and it’s probably time he married and settled down, but there’s just something about that girl I don’t like. I keep telling myself it’s none of my business. He certainly has the right to live his life the way he wants and to choose who he wants to marry, but I just have this sick feeling that something about it isn’t right.”

Travis downed his drink in one gulp, then gave a disgruntled snort. “He doesn’t know a damn thing about her. Neither do we. That boy ought to know by now that he’s capable of pulling some pretty damn stupid stunts and making some ridiculous decisions. Hell, it’s only been a little over a year that he almost lost his fortune and Dani’s by falling for that disgusting scheme of Gavin Mason’s.

“And what about that Bowden girl back home?” he raved on as bitter memories came rushing back. “Some old busybody finally wrote to you about that little scandal, how that girl came home after spending the night with Colt, and her family was as upset about that as we are right now, only that girl was in such a daze she walked right into the middle of a bank robbery and got herself shot, and then Colt went out and nearly got himself killed tracking down and shooting the bastards responsible.”

Kitty quickly came to Colt’s defense. “That’s not exactly fair, Travis. I talked to Colt about it and heard his side of the story. Charlene showed up at the ranch that night without him knowing she was coming. He tried to get her to leave, but she didn’t, and…” Her voice trailed off momentarily, but then anger took over and she vehemently declared, “It wasn’t fair for Colt to be made to look like a scoundrel just because he didn’t want to marry her after she’d set him up like that. That was her plan—to get him to take her to bed, keep her out all night, so he’d have no choice but to marry her so she wouldn’t be disgraced. He wouldn’t be tricked like that. I’m sorry that poor girl is dead, but it wasn’t Colt’s fault. Any of it.”

Travis had been staring at her thoughtfully as she spoke, and when she had finished, he quietly asked, “Do you think that’s what Dani has done? Arranged to stay out all night with Drakar so he’ll feel obligated to marry her?”

Violet eyes flashed with fire. “Certainly not! And don’t you dare suggest such a thing.”

Travis smiled. Kitty was even more beautiful when she was angry, and if it weren’t for
the turmoil of the moment, young man or not, he knew he’d whisk her away upstairs for the love and splendor he could never get enough of in her arms. Instead, he said, “All right. I suppose I agree with that. But what about Colt? What kind of trick do you think Lily has used to get him to agree to marry her? He tried to sound enthusiastic about it, but I know my son, and he was about as happy about the idea of marrying that woman as we are. Maybe she slipped into his bedroom and tried to use the same scheme as Charlene Bowden.”

Kitty shook her head worriedly. “We don’t dare suggest such a thing.”

Travis emitted another grunt. “You might not dare, but
I
damn well do, and as soon as this mess with Dani is resolved, you can bet I
will
have a little talk with that young man, and I don’t care how grown up he is…”

His eyes suddenly locked with Kitty’s at the sound of the front door opening.

At once, he was on his feet and starting around the desk, but Kitty moved quickly to block his way. Placing her hands against his heaving chest, she pleaded, “Travis, don’t lose your temper. Please give her a chance to explain.”

Travis did not reply but gently pushed her aside. He rushed across the room and out the door with her following close behind.

Dani and Drake were standing in the foyer. Dani’s eyes were wide with apprehension and also defiance, while Drake stood rigidly by her side, face expressionless but with the defensive demeanor of one who expects the worst to happen at any second.

Travis halted several feet away, felt Kitty’s cautioning hand on his arm and acknowledged silently it was best not to get too close, too soon. He stared from one to the other in condemnation and anger.

Dani, cheeks slightly pale, cleared her throat, lifted her chin with all the dignity she could muster for the moment and began. “Poppa, Kitty. I’m sorry I’ve caused you to worry, I really am, but it was all an accident. We had a nice dinner, but we just ate too much and drank too much, and then fell asleep.” She forced a helpless little shrug, beseechingly added, “Can you forgive us?”

Travis’s teeth ground together so tightly his jaw ached with the same intensity he was feeling in his fists, which were knotted and held against his side as he struggled to keep from lunging forward and pounding them into Drakar’s insolent face. Struggling to speak around the constricting anger in his throat, he growled, “And just where did you fall asleep, young lady? In the restaurant you said you had to rush to get to because you had reservations?”

Dani’s lips moved wordlessly, nervously. She hated lying this way, but knew she had to for the truth could result in disaster.

“Go ahead!” Travis roared, feeling what self-control he had left slipping away. “Tell me some more lies.”

Kitty stepped forward, fearful of what Travis might do. “Please…” she whispered nervously.

Drake knew he could remain silent no longer, had to at least attempt to bring the matter under control. “Mr. Coltrane, we were at my apartment,” he admitted tonelessly. “I’m sorry Dani lied to you, but she knew if she told you we were going there, you wouldn’t like it. All we wanted was to have a quiet little dinner, the two of us. We didn’t intend for any of this to happen.”

“Then she shouldn’t have gone, should she?” Travis challenged. “If she had to lie, then she knew it was wrong, and she shouldn’t have gone. Now look what’s happened! Her reputation is ruined. You’ve brought shame on this household.”

At that, Dani cried indignantly, “You’ve no right to make judgments like that, Poppa. Just because I stayed out all night doesn’t shame the name of Coltrane. You can believe what you want to about what did or didn’t happen last night. And so can all the others who hear about it and choose to gossip. I don’t care!”

Father’s and daughter’s eyes met in blazing fury.

“It seems I have to keep reminding you that as long as you put your feet under my table, you will do as I say, and I won’t stand for your impudence and shameful, wanton behavior bringing disgrace on this family.”

“Sir, please!” Drake dared to interrupt, not knowing exactly what to say but knowing he had to do something besides stand idly by. He decided maybe the only way out was to lie. “Nothing happened. Believe me. It happened just as Dani said. I agree that it looks bad, but no one has to know.”

“Get out! Get out of my house!” Travis shouted.

Drake was as tall as Travis, and as big, and he had yet to wither before any man, whether right or wrong. He did not flinch and stood his ground, willing to take the consequences of doing so. “Sir, I wish you’d listen to reason. There’s no need for all this.”

“I told you to get out, Drakar, before I kill you with my bare hands!”

Drake met Travis’s threatening glare. “Very well, sir. As you wish. But I want you to know I have the utmost respect for your daughter, and I am truly sorry for all of this. Neither Dani nor I intended to upset you or Mrs. Coltrane.”

Kitty interceded to plead, “Just go, Drakar. Now. Please.”

Drake backed toward the door, looked at Dani with pain and longing, murmured, “I’ll be in touch—”

“Goddammit, man!” Travis roared as Kitty and Dani struggled to hold him back. He shook his fists and yelled, “You try to see my daughter again, and so help me, I’ll have you run out of Paris on a rail…”

As soon as the door closed, Dani raced for the stairs. Travis shouted after her, demanding that she come right back.

Halfway up, she turned to look at him in abject misery, tears streaming down her cheeks. “No, Poppa, I won’t…because there’s no point in our trying to talk about this. I love you more than you’ll ever know, and I’m truly sorry that I hurt you. But it’s time you realized that I’ve got to live my own life. I can’t be concerned with other people’s opinions and judgments. I’m sorry I lied to you, but you gave me no choice.”

She turned and ran on up the stairs and disappeared, heart-wrenching sobs echoing in the stillness.

When Dani reached her room, she quickly closed the door and locked it, then threw herself across the bed. She commanded herself to stop crying as she lay with face pressed against the pillow. She was determined not to react like the child her father thought she was. She was a woman, by God, a grown woman. To hell with the moralists and busybodies so eager to judge. What she and Drake had done was not a sin so dastardly as to mark her as a wanton trollop. They had desired each other, had responded to that desire by making beautiful love, and it was no one else’s business.