Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (41 page)

She squeezed her eyes. “I suppose I have to.”

“Stop blaming yourself. Your father knew what he was doing all along. He did this to himself.”

“And what about Alaina?” she asked pointedly. “You arrest our father, and she will hate you even more than she already does.”

“I’m not responsible for Alaina’s emotions. I am responsible for upholding the law.”

“You made her fall in love with you,” she accused. “How can you not care if she hates you?”

“I didn’t ask her to fall in love with me.”

Suddenly she could not stand any more. It had all been too much—being caught, the snake, finding out that Travis knew about her father. What difference did it make how much he knew? “That first night you stayed at our house, I heard Alaina slip up to your room,” she exploded. “And you know I heard the two of you making love down by the springhouse that other night. I know about Willis taking her into town to meet you. So you see, I know what she meant to you. How can you be so callous to say you feel nothing for her?”

“I gave her the only thing I ever promised her,” he said simply.

“And what was that?” she cried angrily.

“Satisfaction,” he said, not looking away. “She got what she really wanted, which is all her kind of woman wants from a man, anyway. The love and romance is what they tell themselves they want. It gives them the respectability society demands. I call it bullshit. If a man and woman want each other, who says they have to be married…or in love…or any other damn thing? They should take their pleasure and to hell with what people think.”

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “I was right. You are a savage, Travis Coltrane.”

He sprang forward, clutching her shoulders and pushing her down into the sweet-smelling pine needles, falling on top of her, his lips only inches from hers. With an amused smile he whispered, “So you think me a savage? Well, then, just what does that make you? I seem to recall you enjoyed it when we made love.”

“Go on and take me!” she challenged, bitter tears stinging her eyes. “Damn you!” she cried. “Go on and rape me! That’s what you do to your women!”

“I don’t rape women, damn you,” he growled. “I don’t have to. And I’ll tell you why—because I can make them beg for me. Can you understand that, you conceited little bitch? I never had to force a woman in my life.”

His lips crushed down, and she fought to jerk her head from side to side but there was no way to escape. He rolled her to one side, pinning her arms behind her back and holding her tightly with one hand. Despite herself, she responded to his kiss, arching her body toward his. She was already forgetting to hate him.

He raised his lips and whispered, “Say you want me to stop! Call me a savage! Tell me to go away.”

She moaned, and he chuckled. He released her arms, and she wrapped them quickly around his back to pull him tighter against her. “Please, Travis, don’t stop. I want you.”

“But it’s wrong to just take our pleasure this way, isn’t it?” he mocked. “It’s wrong.”

Her fingers were digging into his buttocks, pulling him closer. “I don’t care about the right or wrong of it, I know only that I want you!”

The hurricane winds of pleasure blew across her body, taking her up and away. Thousands of tiny stars cascaded across her as she bucked against him. It was all things wonderful…all things sweet…all things forbidden, and she knew then that the sins of the flesh were sweeter than any nectar of the gods.

Travis rode in thoughtful silence, aware that Marilee was holding onto the saddle, not to his waist. She was mad. Okay. She had asked for it. Damn, he hated women who played games of virtue. Now she was angry. What damn difference did it make to him?

A hell of a lot, a little voice deep within admonished him. There was something about her that made him want more of her, and he was frightened by that. The last thing he ever wanted to do was get seriously involved with another woman. He had not meant it to happen with Kitty, but it had happened. Sure, they had enjoyed good times together, but there had been pain along with pleasure. Her reckless love for him was what had driven him to Haiti and set up her own fate with Luke Tate. Had he been there when she needed him, she would still be alive. Little John would have a mother. He would have a wife. Now he had nothing, and it was best, by damn, to keep it that way. “Nothing” demands no responsibilities. He was free. He had to keep it that way.

God, would he ever forget golden-red hair, violet eyes, lips as succulent as strawberries? Would the memory always torment him?

Marilee’s voice brought him out of his painful stupor. “We’re almost there. Stop and let me signal to one of the field hands to find Rosa.”

He reined the horse to a stop and dismounted, helping her down. She watched him crouch down and call softly to someone, and in a few moments one of the Negroes hesitantly approached. He gave him the message, and the Negro scurried off toward the big house.

Travis returned. “He’ll have Rosa here in a short while with clothes. I’m going to leave you now. I can’t be seen around here. You know what to say and not to say. I know you won’t warn your father. You’ve seen the cruelties of the Klan, and you want them stopped as much as I do.”

“When will I hear from you?” she asked. “When do you plan to make your move?”

“I’ll decide that after I talk to Sam. Try not to worry. And remember”—he tapped the end of her nose with a fingertip—“no matter what you overhear, no matter what the Klan is planning, stay out of it from now on. Things could get dangerous. You could be killed. They know you’ve been spying on them, but they aren’t sure how much you know. They’re going to be watching you. So be careful.”

“Don’t you tell me what to do,” she snapped. “I’ve gotten along quite well without you hovering over me, Marshal. I didn’t need your masculine protection before and I don’t need it now.”

“Don’t get haughty with me, Marilee.” He grinned.

He grabbed her and kissed her, long, hard, leaving her breathless. “Let me go!” she cried, struggling in his arms.

“Oh, hell, woman, I’m tired of playing.”

He pulled at her shirt, finally getting it off of her. “What are you doing?” she protested, trying to cover her nakedness with her arms. “Give me back that shirt!”

He put it on and began to button it. “What am I supposed to do? Ride into town bare-chested? Now, that would cause some raised eyebrows, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, what am I supposed to do? Stand here naked?”

“Hide in the bushes,” he replied simply, swinging easily up onto his black stallion once again. “Rosa will be along soon.”

She placed her hands on her hips, no longer caring that she was naked. “Thanks, Marshal!” She glowered at him. “Thanks a hell of a lot!”

See?” he cried, reining his horse around. “I knew I could make you say thanks.”

He kicked the horse into a gallop. Behind him he could hear her shriek of outrage.

Yes, he told himself, amused, she was one hell of a woman. If he were ever to get involved again, she would be a likely choice. But no. He was free. He wanted to stay free. Marilee was a passing fancy and nothing more.

Once he had told himself that only fools fall in love. Wise men used women, took their pleasure with them, then walked away to freedom without a backward glance. He was determined to stay wise, despite Marilee.

Chapter Twenty-Two

 
“Yo’ daddy is fit to be tied!” Rosa declared as she poured another pail of hot water into the tub. “He say if’n you don’t hurry up and get downstairs, he’s gonna come up heah, and he don’t care if’n you are takin’ a bath.”

Marilee sighed and slipped deeper into the soapsuds. How could she face her father, knowing he might be arrested any minute? How could she pretend nothing was wrong when their whole world was about to collapse?

Suddenly she noticed how nervous Rosa was and asked sharply, “You didn’t say anything, did you? About the way you found me?”

Rosa made a face “You knows me better than that. I told him just what you said to tell him—that you got throwed by yo’ horse and got all turned around in the storm and got lost. I didn’t tell him you was out there hidin’ in the bushes naked as the day you was born!” She sniffed with disapproval, adding spicily, “And. you can’t tell me you lost yo’ clothes in the storm, neither!”

“Rosa, that is none of your business,” Marilee just managed to stop herself from shouting. “You just forget all about that, and you better remind the field hands to forget anything they might have seen, too.”

“They ain’t gonna say nothin’. ’Ceptin’ to me. I already knows it was the marshal what called Matthew over and sent him hightailin’ it to the house to find me. And I done told Matthew not to dare open his mouth, that ain’t nobody supposed to know nothin’—’specially that the marshal was around here.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she asked, “Just what was you doin’ out there with him naked, anyways?”

“That is none of your business.”

Rosa laughed. “That man. He sho’ do get around. He keeps it all in the family, though. First Miz Alaina, and then you. And then just the other night, Miz Alaina went to town and—”

Marilee sat up so quickly that the sudsy water spilled onto the floor. “What night?”

Rosa pursed her lips, eyes widening. Had she said the wrong thing, she wondered frantically? Did one sister not know about the other?

“Rosa,” Marilee said slowly, “you better start talking. And don’t worry about giving Alaina away. I know all about her affair with the marshal. I want to know about her going into town.”

Rosa let out her breath in relief, then said, “If’n you knows ’bout the affair, then you oughtta know about Willis takin’ her into town to meet him. He did that a couple times, I reckon. But he say night before last that when he brought her back, she cried all the way home. He say she sit in the carriage and carry on somethin’ fierce fo’ a li’l while, and then she get mad and cuss the marshal. He didn’t know what was goin’ on, and he won’t about to ask. You know what a temper Miz Alaina got.”

“That was the night they were attacked,” she whispered thoughtfully.

“Yes’m. Everybody’s talkin’ about the marshals gettin’ beat up. Matthew, he say he got a good look at Marshal Coltrane’s face, and he was beat up bad. Shame, too. Him bein’ so handsome. But he’ll get well. And Willis, he say he saw the marshal comin’ outta the liv’ry stable after meetin’ Miz Alaina, and he was all right then, so he musta got jumped li’l while later.”

“The same night,” Marilee mused. Stewart Mason had somehow known that Travis had met Alaina, and it was his way of getting revenge—having him beaten. Sam, too. Stewart wanted to run both men out of town.

She slapped the water with the palm of her hand. Damn the Ku Klux Klan. Damn Alaina for chasing after Travis. Damn him for being unable to resist her. Damn her father for being involved in all this. “Oh, damn them all!” she cried, jumping up to reach for a towel. “I’ll be glad when it’s over.”

“What you talkin’ about?” Rosa asked fearfully. “And what you so mad about?”

There was a knock on the door and Marilee snapped, “Never mind me. See who’s there. If it’s my father, tell him I won’t be long, but don’t let him in.”

Rosa hurried around the brocade dressing screen, and Marilee heard the sound of the door opening, then Alaina’s voice as she rushed into the room. “Where is she? I just heard. Oh, my God, thank heavens you’re all right!” She came around the screen and embraced Marilee, not caring that she was still wet from her bath. Then she stood back to look at her, eyes shining with tears. “Do you know what a fright you gave us all? Whatever were you doing out there in such wretched weather? You could have been killed.”

Marilee patted her shoulder and smiled. “Just calm down, Alaina. I’m fine. There’s no need to fret.” She took the robe Rosa held out to her.

Alaina turned away, wringing her hands, a worried look on her face as she cried, “What is happening to everyone? You almost get killed in the storm. Daddy is behaving so strangely. And I can’t find Willis to slip me into town. Someone said he ran away. I’ve got to go to Travis. I heard he was beaten.” She whirled to face her sister, clutching the front of her pink dressing robe. “Marilee, you’ve got to help me. Daddy listens to you, because you’re so sensible. He won’t hear of me going into town, but I must. With Willis missing, there’s no one to take me in. Talk to Daddy and tell him I just have to see Travis.”

Turning her back, Marilee said quietly, “If Travis wants to see you, Alaina, he will come to you. Have some pride.”

“It’s not a matter of pride,” Alaina wailed desperately. “I have to know he’s all right. Can’t you understand that he’s the only man I’ve ever truly loved, Marilee? I can’t live without him.”

She covered her face with her hands, then threw her arms in the air. “How can I expect you to understand? How can I expect anyone to understand? You had to be there to know. You had to taste his kisses, feel his embrace, or you could never understand how much I love him!”

Marilee said unsteadily, “I can imagine, Alaina, but let me remind you that you have declared yourself to be in love at least a dozen times since you were fourteen. This little romance with Marshal Coltrane is no more important or lasting than any of the others. You’ll see.”

“I won’t see!” Alaina faced Marilee, fists clenched at her sides. “You’ll see.”