Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (35 page)

“What is going on here?” Jordan Barbeau appeared suddenly at the foot of the stairs, looking from one to the other. “Why are you two just standing there, and Alaina, why are you crying’?”

When she did not reply, Marilee said, “The marshal left. She thinks it has something to do with what we discussed earlier.”

“Well, this is absurd,” he snapped. “Alaina, you get yourself together. I won’t have a daughter of mine making a fool of herself over some scalawag.”

“He is not a scalawag!” Alaina cried. “He’s wonderful. And you aren’t going to come between us.”

“He can’t be so wonderful if he just walked out on you,” Jordan reminded her.

Marilee saw the effect. Her sister’s chin lifted just a bit, enough to display the resentment he had provoked. Eyes glittering slightly, she said, “Where is Stewart? I won’t be without an escort this evening. He will dance with me.”

Marilee noted the anxiety in his voice as he replied, “I’m afraid he had to leave, too. Come along with me. As long as I’m around, you needn’t worry about an escort.” He gave her a stiff little smile.

Alaina continued down the stairs and Marilee lifted her skirts to rush on up to her room. Once there, she pulled the bell cord and waited, pacing nervously. At last Rosa arrived, eyes wide. “What’s wrong?”

Marilee explained quickly. “I have to be there, Rosa. But how am I going to slip out of the house wearing this stupid gown? How am I going to slip out with all these people here, anyway? Damn!” she cried, exasperated.

“I’s thinkin’. I’s thinkin’.” Rosa began to pace, wringing her hands. Suddenly she looked to the window and cried, “You
can climb out!”

Marilee looked at her as though she had lost her mind. “Rosa, there is nothing for me to climb down on. No trellis. No tree. Nothing. Just a drop from the balcony to the ground that will break my neck.”

Rosa ignored her protests, went to the closet, and drew out a plain muslin dress and tossed it at her. “Put this on. They’ll have some trousers waitin’ for you when you get to the springhouse. If you try to climb out with them frills on, you gonna get ’em snagged on somethin’. I’ll make you a rope while you change.”

“You are going to—what?” Marilee stared incredulously as Rosa yanked the satin coverlet from the canopied bed, then began jerking off the sheets and tying them in knots.

“Hurry up and change, missy. All you gots to do is just shinny down this. When you come back, I’ll be waitin’ downstairs. If the party is still goin’ on and there’s no other way for you to get in, I’ll run up here and help you climb back up.”

Marilee could only stare at her in disbelief, shaking her head slowly from side to side.

“It’s the only way,” Rosa urged her. “It’s the only way you gonna get out of this house tonight without bein’ seen. You ain’t scairt, are you?” she added.

Marilee stiffened. Why not? Why not shinny down the rope? Could that be any more frightening than riding alone through the night, dressed in a white robe and hood, spying on a Klan meeting? Suddenly shinnying down a rope seemed like nothing.

She took a deep breath. “All right, Rosa. But if I break my neck, see that I have a nice funeral.”

Rosa’s eyes suddenly misted, and she stepped forward to give her a quick hug. “If’n anythin’ happened to you, my people would never forget you. We’d declare a day of mournin’ evah year, just to remember you. We owes so much to you.”

Marilee turned away. “You don’t owe me anything,” she murmured.

This is why I do it,
she told herself for the hundredth time.
Because there is no one else to help these people. And because I’ve got to feel like I’m doing something with my life.

Chapter Eighteen

Kicking the horse with her heels, Marilee headed for the landmark, the skeletal tree, bony limbs clawing toward heaven as though in agony from the lightning bolt that had ended its life.

Willis stepped from behind the tree, only the whites of his eyes showing in the moonlight. Marilee reined to such a sudden halt that the horse reared. Willis lunged for the harness, bringing the animal back down.

“You find out somethin’?” he whispered anxiously as she dismounted. “Was it important?”

“Very!” She took a deep breath, exhausted. “You know the old man, Israel, who works for Mr. Mason? It’s his son they’re after tonight. Munroe. He’s been hiding out. He knew they were after him because he’s been stirring your people up.

“Well,” she rushed on, “they know where he is, and I hope you do, because I imagine they’re on their way by now. They mean to hang him, Willis. Not just beat him. They want him dead.”

Willis pushed her aside as he leaped up on the horse. “I know where he’s at,” he cried. “And I can get there a’fore they do.”

She watched as he cracked the reins across the horse’s back, urging him into a full gallop as he headed into the woods.

She was alone. Above, the clouds parted momentarily and she looked up to see them tinged with silver as the moon shone down brightly. A cool breeze touched her skin, cooling after the hard ride.

Her fingertips moved up and down her forearms as she looked toward the springhouse. There. Her eyes fell on the gentle grassy slope beside it. Kicking off her shoes, she walked barefoot through the softness, feeling the silken tickling between her toes.

Staring down, a sudden rush engulfed her entire body. She felt bathed in a strange, purple light from the night, skin sprinkled with moondust. It was here where Travis had made love to Alaina. Here where they had lain together, Alaina in ecstasy.

Without thinking of what she was doing, she dropped to her knees, fingertips lovingly touching the grass, entwining it as she imagined what it must have been like, here on nature’s special bed.

No, she realized suddenly, angrily, she could not imagine what it had been like. She tried to remember what it had been like with Donald, so long ago. It had always been over quickly, and he had rolled to one side and whispered he loved her, then fallen asleep. How many hours and how many nights had she lain awake wondering why she felt so empty? Now she knew that what she had been seeking was what Alaina felt with Travis Coltrane.

But what made Travis different from Donald?

Perhaps, she thought with a touch of shame, perhaps it was not Travis, had not been Donald. Perhaps it was she who was to blame. Maybe she just wasn’t a passionate woman.

Her breath was coming in shallow gasps. It was so terribly hot. She slipped off the trousers and the shirt, absently thought about going to the tree where the muslin dress would be hidden. But the cool air felt good on her warm skin. No need to hurry. No one would see her.

Stretching out on her back, the grass felt delicious on her bare skin. What, she wondered dreamily, would it be like to lie here with a man beside me, a man like Travis Coltrane? So big. So handsome. So dashing. To look into his steel gray eyes was like falling in a whirlpool and being sucked down, down, but with absolutely no fear.

She ran her hands over her breasts, touching them gently, caressing.

“A lady should never do that when there’s a man around to do it for her.”

Her eyes flashed open, a scream locking in her throat. Travis Coltrane was lowering himself to the ground beside her. She lay there frozen in silence as he removed her hands from her breasts, replacing them with his own large hands.

She gasped, then found her voice. “You…you mustn’t.”

“Oh, yes, lovely lady, I must.”

His voice was warm and rich, washing over her.

“You were here that night, the night I was with Alaina. You heard.”

“Yes.”

“You want me.”

“Yes.”

“Hang on, lovely lady,” he said huskily. “I’m going to take you somewhere wonderful.”

His lips touched hers, and she felt the strange sensation of his tongue entering her mouth. She touched him with her own, marveling at the delightful sensation. Strong, firm fingers moved to her breasts, massaging skillfully.

He moved to one side, using his knee to force her legs apart. He knew just where to caress. And she seemed to know where to caress him. How did she know?

Passion. This was passion. Savage, fierce, demanding passion. She felt spasms of joy she could not control. Her muscles were squeezing, straining to satisfy that wild, fierce longing.

He raised his lips slightly, breath hot on her face. “Please…” she whispered.

He lifted her legs, bending her knees as he locked them up and over his neck. Placing firm, sure hands beneath her bottom, he positioned himself, gazing down at her tenderly.

With one mighty thrust, he entered her. Her scream, of pleasure and of pain, was muffled by his lips. Again and again he threw himself into her, holding tightly to her.

Her nails dug into his flesh as she sought to get closer, closer. She wanted…wanted…and then there was the sun falling through her, to melt and consume her. All things glorious were hers.

And she was spent.

Slowly, his fingers released her. He withdrew, moving to one side. She turned to stare at him, gasping.

He was smiling. “A man always knows when a woman wants him.”

“I don’t understand any of this.” Suddenly she was horribly embarrassed. She struggled to sit up, but he held her back.

“I was watching you,” he went on quietly, holding her tightly. “I saw you walk to this spot. In the moonlight, I could see your face and knew you were remembering that night I was here with Alaina.”

“You knew I was here that night?” she cried, stunned. “How could you have continued—?”

He chuckled softly. “I didn’t know until later, after it was over. Believe me, I’m not the kind to perform for spectators.”

“Oh, but I couldn’t
see,”
she told him quickly. “I could only hear. Oh, dear!” She struggled in his arms.

“Don’t be coquettish with me now, Marilee. That’s one of the reasons I find you so appealing. You’re candid. Mature. I like that in a woman.”

She felt dizzy. “This isn’t real. I’m going to wake up soon and find it was all a dream.”

“Why can’t it be real?”

“Because this isn’t me. I’ve never been with a man except my husband. It was never like this. I’ve never behaved
wantonly.”

“That was his fault.”

She looked at him sharply. His gray eyes shone with warmth and his lips curved into a smile that made her shiver from wanting to touch them.

“Yes,” he nodded, “it was your husband’s fault. How could he expect you to feel like a woman if he did not act like a man?”

“I don’t think it’s nice of you to speak of him that way,” she responded tightly. “You did not know Donald, and he’s dead. He cannot defend himself.”

“I mean no disrespect,” he said honestly. “As for not knowing him, I don’t have to. Making love to you is all the evidence I need. It was like opening the door to a cage and letting out a wild tigeress. Donald never opened that door, Marilee. It’s too bad, but maybe he did not know how.”

She struggled against him once more. “Please. Just let me go. It’s over. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it, but it
is
over.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

She faced him once more. “No moment can last forever, Travis. We both know that. I was lonely, and I’ll always treasure the feelings I had in your arms, but it can never happen again. I happen to love my sister, and I don’t feel very good knowing that I made love to her fiancé.”

He sat up very slowly, his eyes never leaving her facet
“Fiancé?”

She shrugged. “Perhaps that’s premature, but I know the two of you are quite serious.”

Travis sat facing her. “Now, let’s get something straight, Marilee,” he said evenly, tensely. “I have never discussed marriage with Alaina. The only serious conversation we ever had was the first time she came to my room in town, late one night. She had a servant convey her in.

“We talked and agreed there would be no commitments. She said she understood. When you told me tonight that your father was objecting to our relationship, I was a little surprised. Evidently, she saw more in it than actually existed.”

“Why didn’t you tell my father that instead of running out on Alaina?”

“You do say what’s on your mind, don’t you?” He reached to tousle her hair playfully, but she jerked away. “Actually, I wasn’t running out on Alaina, Marilee. I had business to tend to.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I might ask you the same thing.”

“This is my father’s property. I have a right to be here.”

“A bit strange for you to be here at this time of night, wouldn’t you say? Especially when you come riding up dressed in men’s clothing, a Negro meets you, takes your horse, and then goes riding off in a panic.”

She had never liked feeling defensive “Marshal Coltrane, what we just did together was a mistake. I owe you no explanation for being here, but I think I have the right to hear one from you. Why were you spying on me?” She struggled as he grasped both her arms. “Let me go.”

“We haven’t finished our conversation.”

She glared at him. “I have nothing further to say to you.”