Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (2 page)

When she lay completely naked beneath him, he removed his own clothes, then straddled her. She could feel his throbbing organ lying on her belly, feel his pulsating strength.

“Travis, is it always going to be this way for us?” she asked dreamily as he stared down at her, his eyes glazed with lust. “Is it always going to be so wonderful every time?”

He did not speak. Travis had never liked to talk while making love. He let his body speak for him. He moved her legs upward until they were wrapped around his neck. It was best this way, for he could penetrate deeply and hold her down at the same time so that she could not give way completely to the undulations of her own body. That would take him to his release sooner than he liked. He liked to savor each moment, wanting to prolong the final ecstasy as long as possible. But it was never easy, for once he entered the soft velvet recesses of Kitty’s body, he needed all the control he could muster to refrain from exploding in passion.

He kissed her again, loving the feel of her tongue against his. He could feel her wanting to move, to wriggle delightedly beneath him. He thrust deep within her, then harder. Soon, despite himself, he could hold back no longer. With hard, driving movements, he filled her with all he had to give, gasping aloud as he felt his very soul leave his body to enter hers briefly.

Her nails raked his back, moving up to squeeze his strong shoulders, her body quivering. He held her tighter, rocking to and fro till she returned from her journey to the peak of joy that made her tremble.

A little later, moving to one side, he lay quietly for a moment, trailing a fingertip down her smooth cheek. Then he murmured, “Yes, Princess. It’s always going to be this good for us.”

She burrowed her head against the dark hair of his chest, and he held her to him tightly. “You belong to me,” he whispered harshly. “I’d kill a man who tried to take you away. You’ll always be mine.”

“Travis, you’re hurting me!”

When she cried out he realized how tightly he had been holding her. He loosened his hold, smiling. “I guess I got carried away.”

She pressed her fingers against his lips for a kiss. “It is always good for us, Travis. I always feel so…so possessed by you.”

“You are,” he grinned. “I own you. Just like that contrary old mule out there. You’re all mine. Don’t ever forget it!”

She tousled his dark hair playfully, then sat up and began to put on her clothes. “Now that we’ve satisfied one of your hungers, it’s time to satisfy another. Go down to the creek and wash up and I’ll get your lunch ready.”

When he returned, he found a cloth spread on the ground and food laid out on it. Sitting down, he picked up a chicken leg and began to eat.

Kitty stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, then said hesitantly, “You haven’t gotten much plowing done this morning, Travis. When you’ve finished lunch, how about letting me help? I could plow and you could start the planting.”

“No, goddamn it!” He tossed the chicken bone aside and glared at her.

Tears stung her eyes. If there was one thing Kitty feared, it was Travis’ temper. He had never harmed her, but there was something frightening about him when those gray eyes flashed like lightning. She lowered her head, folding her hands in her lap, not wanting him to see her tears or her fright.

He was instantly contrite. He reached to squeeze her hand, then cupped her chin and forced her to look up at him as he murmured, “I’m sorry, baby, but you know how I feel about you working in the fields. I won’t have it. It tears me apart to see you working as hard as you do. But I’ll be damned to hell if I’ll see you behind a plow like a common field hand.”

“I don’t mind hard work.”

“We both know that. But you won’t work the fields, not while you’re my wife—and that’s going to be always, so let’s don’t talk about it anymore.”

She jerked her chin away, tilting it higher in the stubborn way that signaled anger. “Every other woman around here on a dirt farm works in the fields. Some people say that I don’t because I think I’m too good. They call me uppity. They say I still try to behave as though I’m married to the richest man in Wayne County.”

The gray eyes flashed again, this time reflecting tiny red dots. Travis was close to exploding. He growled, “Corey McRae was not the richest man in Wayne County, Kitty, not when he stole every damn thing he ever had. And I can’t picture you being uppity. When are you going to learn not to care what your ignorant neighbors say about us?
I
say. what goes on around here, and that’s all you should care about.”

“You aren’t my master!” she cried furiously, but she knew it was futile to attempt reason just then. “Well, we’ll just be late planting, and we’ll be late harvesting, and it will probably be a terrible crop anyway.” She got to her feet, lips set tightly. “I’m going back to the house.”

“You aren’t going anywhere.” He reached out and grabbed her wrist and jerked her back to the ground. “Eat your lunch or sit there and pout.”

She sat primly, skirt folded beneath her, chin tilted defiantly. She did not speak.

Finally, he motioned to the remaining food and asked if she were going to eat. When she shook her head, he laughed, “Suit yourself. I can sure see where John gets his stubbornness. I swear, I’ve never seen a woman—”

His voice trailed off at the sound of approaching hoofbeats. Someone was coming through the field. Travis got to his feet quickly, motioning for Kitty to remain where she was. Swiftly he brought out the knife from his boot. Even after two years, he trusted no one and was never without his knife.

He peered through the woods, eyes narrowed. Then suddenly a grin spread across his face. He hastily put his knife away and then waved his arms over his head. “Sam! Over here!

“What brings you to these parts?” he called as Sam Bucher reined his horse in and slid from the saddle. He made his way quickly through the brush, pausing to kiss Kitty’s upturned cheek before taking Travis’ hand in a hearty grasp.

“How come I always find you two in the bushes?” Sam laughed, brown eyes warm. “During the war, it seemed like every time I turned around, you two were honeyed up somewhere.”

“Sam, that’s not true,” Kitty gasped. “Why, the last time you came by, we were inside eating.”

“I know, I know, girl,” Sam nodded, laughing. “But I do love to tease you, honey. I love the way them pink cheeks of yours get even pinker.”

Kitty laughed, despite her embarrassment. Sam knew just about everything there was to know about them. He had been a part of her life as long as Travis had, and the three of them had all seen more sadness than joy. Sam had been there when Travis killed Nathan after Nathan had murdered Kitty’s father. Sam had even helped to dig John Wright’s grave. He had murmured the final prayers as her father was laid to his rest.

She looked at Sam closely. He had not changed much except for some white in the brown hair and the full brown beard. Bushy eyebrows framed the warm, sensitive eyes. He had added a few pounds around the middle but otherwise, well, he was still Sam. She often teased him about the extra pounds, though.

“How’s the boy?” Sam asked her, stroking his beard.

“Asleep. I never knew a three-year-old could be so active. And he can be just as stubborn as his father, I’m afraid,” she added with a meaningful glance in Travis’ direction.

“You’re both stubborn, girl,” Sam grinned. “I reckon you two are about the oneriest two folks I ever knew, so little John gets it honest.”

“Speaking of being stubborn,” Travis smiled with a smugness that infuriated Kitty, “sit down and have some lunch. Kitty fixed enough for both of us, but she’s pouting and won’t eat. As hard as food is to come by these days, let’s not waste any.”

Sam sat down, smacking his lips hungrily. “Never could say no to Kitty’s cooking.” Glancing at her, he whispered, “What you poutin’ about, honey? If he ain’t treating you right, you can always ride off with me.”

“Kitty thinks she can do a man’s work,” Travis snapped.

“Well, she always
did
a man’s work,” Sam raised an eyebrow in surprise. “She did things in them hospital tents during the war that made grown men faint.”

“That was different. That was war. Now she thinks she can get behind a plow. No wife of mine is working in the fields.”

Kitty spread her hands in a pleading gesture. “Sam, you tell me what is wrong with a wife helping her husband. How many farmers’ wives don’t work in the fields?”

“It’s bad enough the way she’s always riding off in the middle of the night to deliver a baby,” Travis continued, not giving Sam a chance to speak. “I’m surprised she doesn’t want to leave the boy with me and go to Goldsboro and work in the hospital all the time.”

“Travis, that’s not fair!” Kitty blinked furiously, determined to hold back the tears.

Sam patted her shoulder, sensing how upset she was becoming. “Now, honey, don’t you fret. You’re too pretty to be out in the sun, anyway. Besides, you know as well as I do that once this man of yours sets his mind to something, there just ain’t no point in arguing.”

Kitty looked at Travis and returned his steely glare. Sam was right. Travis was every bit as iron-willed as she, but being a man, he usually won, something she had never been able to accept. She never would accept that, despite loving him so fiercely.

“If
I let her, she’d be doctoring everyone around here.” Travis turned to Sam once more. “It doesn’t matter that these people hate her and always will.”

“They don’t all hate me,” she retorted. “There are fine people, like the widow Mattie Glass and her boys.”

“But you aren’t a doctor, you’re my wife.”

Sam interrupted, “Kitty always was good at doctoring folks, Travis, and—”

“What brings you out here, Sam?” Travis asked rudely. Then his voice softened. “How have things been going?”

“Things in town are quiet,” Sam replied tonelessly. “Maybe too quiet. I’m getting restless.”

Kitty looked from Sam’s face to the shining star on his broad chest, searching for the real reason for this visit. “Do you still like being a marshal?” she asked.

“Yeah, I reckon. I wasn’t about to stay in Louisiana after Travis left to come up here to live. He’s about the closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have. Or maybe I should say a son. I’m a mite older’n him, you know.”

He paused to pour himself a cup of lemonade. “But you can’t tie yourself down because you’re close to somebody. Man has to live his own life. Right now I got an offer for a better job for a while, and though it’ll take me away from here—even out of the country—can’t see passing it up.”

“You’re leaving?” Travis cried. “Sam, you’re the only person around here other than Kitty and the boy that I give a damn about.”

“I won’t be gone all that long, really,” Sam said smoothly. “See, I’ve got a chance to go to Haiti and Santo Domingo for the government, and I want to see some of the world.”

Travis’ eyes widened. “Haiti and Santo Domingo? Why?”

“Hey, don’t you keep up with what’s going on in the world?” Sam teased. “You’ve been stuck out here on this farm too long, Travis.”

Kitty watched Travis’ eyes light up as Sam explained that the Civil War had brought to the attention of Navy officers that there was a need for American island bases in the Caribbean. Secretary of State Seward had, more or less, taken it on himself to press the matter.

“There was a big debate about it in the House of Representatives this past January,” Sam explained. Seward had persuaded President Johnson to suggest to Congress that the United States incorporate Santo Domingo and Haiti, but Congress had turned the idea down. “Now Grant’s been elected and he’s going to push the issue. He’s sending a committee over there to look around.”

“And you’re going?” Travis prodded.

Sam grinned proudly. “General William Tecumseh Sherman himself recommended me. Grant has appointed him General Commander of the Army, you know.”

“Yes, and I’m proud. I’ve the utmost respect for General Sherman.”

Kitty wrinkled her nose. “That butcher! When I think of what he did to the South…”

Travis reached to cover her hands with one of his. “That was necessary, Kitty,” he said tenderly, and she knew he was no longer angry with her. “General Sherman is a fine man.”

“Yeah, he thinks a lot of you, too,” Sam said to Travis. Then he glanced at Kitty nervously before continuing. “See, the way it was explained to me, there are two leaders in the Dominican Republic, one named Pedro Santana and the other named Buenaventura Baez. They’ve swapped the presidency back and forth for a while now. Santana is from Spain, and you may have heard how he had himself named governor general during the time we was fighting the war over here.”

Travis nodded and Kitty watched him, aching to see his intent expression. He was completely entranced by everything Sam was saying. His nostrils flared and his eyes shone, and she knew he was thinking of what a wonderful adventure this was all going to be.

“There was a series of battles and Spain finally withdrew its troops,” Sam continued. “Baez came to our government with a plan, wanting protection. I don’t know all the details, but I do know President Grant favors annexation, and that’s the reason for sending a committee over there.”

He spread his hands in a gesture of simple finality. “Sherman recommended me and I was asked. That’s about it.”