The Raging Hearts: The Coltrane Saga, Book 2 (7 page)

“You have seen many?” she teased, throwing back her long red-gold hair, feeling wanton and wicked and loving it. “You are a connoisseur of breasts? I am not sure I want hands fondling mine that have sampled so many others.”

“You love for me to touch you all over, and you know it,” he said lazily. “You always did. You were just too much of a lady to let it show.”

“And you tell me I have the speech of a saloon trollop?” Laughing, she raised an eyebrow in mock surprise.

“When that temper of yours is riled, you have quite a foul mouth, m’lady, and we’re going to have to do something about that when we get married. It wouldn’t be fitting for me to have a wife who could out curse me.”

“And you a brave Yankee cavalry officer.” She shook her head. Standing before him, completely naked, she placed her hands on her hips, legs spread apart slightly, and asked softly, “Why do I not feel like a trollop at this moment, Travis? We are not married, and we have no right to this, but I feel no shame. Your eyes devour me, and I glory in their gaze. Yet I know it isn’t just lust. There is something else, something warm, burning deep within our hearts…” Soon he was naked before her. Her eyes devoured every line, resting at last on that throbbing pinnacle of manhood that rose for her alone. He knelt beside her, warm flesh melding against her own. Gentle, teasing fingertips touched her nipples, which were already taut and prominent. “Lovely,” he whispered as his lips covered hers, tongue seeking. “So damn lovely, you are…”

His strong hands explored the wonders of her body. His tongue touched one sweet nipple. He could feel her back arching as she strained to bring herself even closer, wanting to fill his mouth with the glory of her womanhood. He suckled until she was gasping, and then he began to move lower, his tongue trailing a path of fire as it moved across her trembling belly.

“Travis, no,” she whispered in impassioned torment. “I…I don’t think I can stand it…”

“Oh, yes, you can, my love.”

Firm hands gripped her quivering thighs, forcing them apart as he pressed his seeking mouth into the softness of that delectable hub of pleasure. Her buttocks arched as a soft scream escaped from her lips. He knew his probing tongue and nibbling lips were bringing her to explosive release, and he pressed even harder, sharing her joy as she peaked, moaning and writhing beneath him. Then he lifted his body to cover hers, plunging his swollen member inside her, filling her with the fruits of his loins.

Kitty wanted him to remain inside her forever, and she raised her legs to wrap them around his undulating buttocks, squeezing against him to hold him even tighter. Nothing else mattered, not the war, not imminent separation, not even their dissent. They were one inviolate being. And for a moment, the world stood still.

Kitty felt the tears of reality stinging her eyes. She blinked furiously, but they spilled over, trailing down her cheeks and chin, and Travis felt a drop on his hand and instantly raised his head to stare at her in wonder. “You’re crying, Kitty. Did I hurt you? I didn’t think I was rough.”

“No, darling, no.” She shook her head from side to side as the tears ran freely. “Just never leave me.
Please.
You have to find a way to stay with me forever and always. I…I’ve had this horrible feeling for days now, that if you leave me, I will never see you again.”

He sat up, staring out at the creeping river. “You can always go with me,” he said quietly. “I can arrange it with General Sherman. He knows what a spunky woman you are, and he would allow you to travel with his ambulance wagons. The war will be over soon, Kitty. We could go home then.”

“I
am
home!”

“How can you call this damned place home?” He got to his feet and began dressing with quick, jerky movements. “You’ve seen how these people regard you. They don’t want you here. Haven’t you had enough of hatred and fighting? We can go back to the peace of the bayous of Louisiana and make a whole new life. We would never have to be separated again.”

“You could stay here
now
, Travis.” She got up and moved to stand behind him, wrapping her arms about his waist and pressing her face against his back. “Who would dare lift a hand against the wife of a Union officer? We could work the land together. Poppa always said the future crop was tobacco. One day, we could be rich…”

He whirled around so abruptly that she was caught off balance and stumbled. He caught her, holding her tightly as steel eyes met violet, each gaze filled with despair. “Kitty, you don’t understand. I’m leaving tomorrow morning, early. General Sherman is marching on to Virginia for a conference with General Grant to determine their next move. The word we receive is that Richmond is falling, and when that happens, it should be only a matter of days until Lee surrenders. But we are not certain of anything, so we leave for Virginia with the rising sun. Come with me, please.”

“Travis, I can’t…” The words were wrenched from the very depths of her soul. “Please forgive me, but I cannot leave with you. If you love me, you will stay.”

“If
I
love
you
?” he asked incredulously. Then, giving her a shake that sent her head bobbing, he shouted, “If
you
loved
me
, woman, you would do as
I
ask. If you weren’t so goddamned stubborn, you would see the folly of what you want. We can never be happy here. Why must you be so stubborn? Why must you always have your own way?”

Their eyes locked, blazing now. Suddenly Kitty remembered she was naked, and now she found no glory in that realization and began to scurry about, picking up her clothes and quickly putting them on.

“Kitty, be reasonable,” Travis yelled at her.

“I will not be led around by the nose by any man.” She faced him once she was fully clothed, her chin jutting upward in the familiar stance. “I have given you my heart, but I will not give you my mind. I will not be dictated to and told how I should direct the course of my life merely because I am woman and you are man. You have known me long enough to know that I am not a servile woman. I have a will of my own, and good reasons for remaining here on my father’s land.”

He inhaled deeply, chest swelling, nostrils flaring in his anger, but Kitty stood her ground. “I should have known better than to think you could love me or anyone, you selfish little vixen. You want me only as long as I bend to your will. Well, I must profess to love you, my dear, but the only way you will make use of my testicles is to have them plant you with the seed of a child, not to adorn your neck like a prize won in battle.”

“If you love me, you won’t go.”

“I’m still a soldier.” His voice softened, but his eyes remained hard. “I have to follow my general’s orders. I couldn’t stay now if I wanted to. Now, for the last time… I am asking you to come with me, Kitty. If you love me, you will follow me.”

“Like an Indian squaw,” she snapped. “Oh, Travis, don’t you see? If it weren’t for Poppa’s land, I would go with you gladly, to the ends of the Earth, into another four years of battle if need be. I’d fight right by your side to the death, because I
do
love you. You must believe that. But I loved my father, too, and I made him a promise to keep the land that meant so much to him. Travis, I am to blame for Poppa’s death! I was blind to the kind of person Nathan really was. If only I had realized sooner! Oh, what difference does it make to you? You won’t even try to see things my way.”

Sighing, he walked over to where she stood and placed firm hands on her shoulders. “Come. We have to go now. It’s almost dark. I don’t want some stray Reb to take a shot at us out here in the country. It isn’t safe.”

She let him lead her to his horse. Before he helped her up, he said, “Kitty, don’t blame yourself for your father’s death. You had no way of knowing just what a scoundrel Nathan really was. According to your father, Nathan disguised himself pretty well. And you did try to avoid trouble. You said you lied to your father so he wouldn’t try to come to your aid. How were you to know Nathan would shoot him in the back when he turned away?”

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for everything you have meant to me, Travis. If we had met another time, in another place, perhaps our love would not have been shadowed.”

Then, overcome, Kitty threw herself into his arms and sobbed, “Please, Travis, say you’ll come back to me when the war is over. I’ll wait for you. I swear to God, I’ll be waiting for you no matter how long it takes.”

He cupped her chin in his hands, warm eyes gazing down at her moon-bathed face. Never before had he feasted upon such beauty or seen so much love written in a woman’s face. “Do you mean that, Kitty? Would you wait for me however long it might be?”

“Yes, oh, yes, I swear on my father’s grave, Travis. I could never love another man, never let another man touch me now. If you believe me, you will return. I know you will.”

“Kitty, understand me well. I do not promise to return. I am hurt, and I am angry that you won’t go with me now. Later, I may feel differently. It’s possible that I will return, but I make no vow. I’m proud, too, you see. I’m a man, and while you make me realize that fact more than any other woman in my life has ever been able to do, I can’t let you damage my pride.”

“Must I lose the only man I can ever truly love merely because I want to keep a promise to the father I adored?”

He sighed. “Kitty, I will admit that you have a point. And I will give serious thought to what you ask of me. I do love you. More than that I cannot give you at this time. If you will leave here with me tomorrow, we will be married right away—”

“I can’t go with you.” She squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to close out the picture of his departure. “I love you, my darling, but I cannot leave my homeland.”

“Then so be it,” he said tightly, mounting his horse and drawing her up to sit behind him. She wrapped her arms about his waist and pressed her cheek against his back. He could feel the moisture of her tears through his clothes.

And so, they moved up to the road for what might be their last ride together. The night enshrouded them in a cloak of black velvet.

Chapter Six

“I don’t believe it!”

Kitty had been spooning water through the parched lips of a wounded soldier. Straightening quickly, she looked up into the anguished eyes of Dr. Holt. “Tell me it isn’t so. General Lee didn’t really surrender.”

But the graying medical officer could only nod, his face lined with the anguish of defeat. “He surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox. The word just came.”

With trembling hands, she set down the water bucket, stumbled over the bodies in the corridor, and ran to the front porch of the hospital. For four long years Lee’s army had been unconquerable. Twice his army had moved the war north of the Potomac. Time and again it was able to beat back the strongest forces that the North could send against it. Now it had come to the end of the road.

So it was time to quit, she thought. The war was over. It was time to think about the future and rebuilding. Travis might be coming back soon. They would be married and start a new life. It was only two weeks since he last held her, and already she missed him so much that tears sprang to her eyes thinking of him.

“Miss Kitty? Miss Kitty? Is that really you? Lordy, I don’t believe my eyes!”

She whipped her head around and, for a moment, could only blink in surprise as she recognized old Jacob, who had been her father’s faithful servant for so many years. “Jacob, Jacob!” She ran down the steps with arms outstretched. “Oh, I was afraid you were long dead. Dear, dear Jacob.”

They embraced, and then the dark-skinned man stood back, twisting his worn straw hat in his gnarled old hands. “Not me, Miss Kitty. Can’t kill an old coot like me. Come close to it, though, with one thing and another. But I been doing fine. You know my Fanny, she took sick with the fever and died. But I got my young’uns, and we’ve made out.”

Her hands pressed down on his shoulders, and she whispered, “I’m sorry about Fanny. I’d heard of her passing. But I am glad you survived, Jacob. You heard about Poppa?”

Tears sprang to his eyes at the mention of the man he had loved so dearly. “Yes’m, I heard,” his voice broke. “I heard all the stories, but I didn’t believe nothing ’cept that John Wright died in glory—just like he lived.”

Kitty blinked back her own tears as she told him exactly how it happened and then she told him of her father’s admission that Nathan had been among the vigilantes the night he was beaten. The old Negro’s milky, veined eyes bulged in anger. “If I’d a’knowed that, I’d have kilt Nathan myself.” Then he stopped to stare at her in wonder. “But how come he never told you, Miss Kitty? How come he kept silent, knowing you planned to marry Mr. Collins?”

She bit her lip in painful remembrance of those final moments as she held her dying father in her arms. “He wanted me to find out for myself what a scoundrel Nathan was. But it took a tragedy for me to really see it.”

“Don’t blame yo’self,” Jacob said gruffly, wiping at his eyes with the back of his bony hand. “You’ll find happiness again someday, Miss Kitty. I knows you will. General Lee, he done surrendered, and now we’ll have peace. You know what I heard? Every black man is gonna have a mule and some land, give to him by the government. I’ll have my own farm, me and my boys!”

“I’m happy for you, Jacob. I only wish Fanny were alive to share your new life. We were always so poor that we couldn’t give you much, just a roof over your heads. My mother didn’t make life any easier for you, either.”