Love and Honor: The Coltrane Saga, Book 7 (25 page)

“I know.” Kit nodded toward the house. “I’m afraid you’re in hot water, though. Mom thinks you’ve been with Valerie.”

“I wish I had been,” he admitted readily. “I’ve been to every hotel in Washington, but I couldn’t find her. She and he family must be staying in a private home, too. Dammit, I just wish I knew what Mother has against her. Valerie is so sweet and kind. I can’t imagine anybody disliking her.”

Kit agreed. “It’s a mystery, all right. I told her that you’d decided to wait until after the Point to marry, but it didn’t make any difference. She’s still determined not to let you see Valerie.” Kit told him of the planned trip to Europe, and was surprised that he was not opposed to the idea.

“Maybe that’s a good idea. It’ll give us all time to get over Kitty’s death, and I’ll have a chance to convince Mother that she’s wrong about Valerie. I’m going to talk to Dad, too, and—”

“Forget that,” Kit said quickly. “He’d never side with you against her.” She proceeded to tell him of her own difficulties with Colt, how he wanted to send her to school with Marilee.

“That might be perfect for you, Kit,” Travis replied, to her surprise. “What else do you have to do? Maybe you’ll meet a count or a prince, and get married and live happily ever after in a castle,” he teased, putting his arm across her shoulder and walking her back inside.

Kit had wondered whether to confide her plans to Travis so someone would know where she was, and could assure everyone else that there was no need to worry. Now she threw that idea to the wind. There was just no one she could trust.

She had to make her way…alone.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The next afternoon, the Coltranes disembarked from their train at Grand Central Station and taxied to their three-bedroom suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Kit immediately called the stable where Pegasus had been boarded and was told that a Mr. Kurt Tanner had picked up the horse that morning, claiming full authority to do so!

Enraged, she was about to speak when her mother exploded first.

In her usually efficient way, Jade had paused at the sideboard to leaf through the messages and calling cards the maid had left in the huge silver receiving bowl. Eyes widening, she stared at a cream-colored calling card. In a thin voice edged with fury, she hissed, “That girl! She’s been here twice today, and there are telephone messages!”

Travis stormed over to his mother. “Give those to me! You have no right!”

“I have every right!” she snapped, slapping his hand away. “I told you, young man, it’s over. You are forbidden to see that girl again, and I won’t have her chasing after you this way. I’m putting a stop to it immediately!”

As Travis watched helplessly, Jade snatched up the telephone receiver and ordered the operator to put her through to the hotel manager. She then gave orders that no further communication from Miss Valerie Stevens was to be allowed, and that if she showed up again, she was to be escorted from the hotel by the security guards. The manager assured her that it would be done.

Kit’s heart went out to her brother. She tried to catch his eye, let him know silently that she’d find Valerie for him, but he whirled around and went to his room, slamming and locking the door behind him.

“Maybe now we can get back to more important things—like getting ready to sail for Europe in two days,” Jade stated, unmoved by her son’s tantrum. “We’ll need to make arrangements for the memorial service, and…”

Kit was no longer listening as she surreptitiously made her way out the door while her mother’s attention was diverted. She rushed to the elevator and was downstairs quickly. Once in the lobby, she found a telephone and requested to be put through to the local number Travis had slipped to her in the taxi to the hotel.

After one ring, a masculine voice with a slightly British accent answered, “Mr. Stevens’s residence.”

“Miss Stevens,” she requested breathlessly. “Miss Valerie Stevens.”

“One moment.”

Kit waited impatiently until she heard Valerie say hello. “It’s Kit Coltrane,” she announced. “My brother asked me to call you, and—”

“Oh, Kit! What’s going on?” Valerie burst out. “I’ve been out of my mind! I couldn’t find Travis in Washington. Why hasn’t he called me? My father’s been like a madman since the other night, and he won’t talk to me about it. I just don’t know what’s going on!”

“Travis wanted me to call you, because he can’t,” Kit explained. “We don’t know what’s wrong with Mother, but something else has happened. Our grandmother passed away.”

“Oh, Kit, I’m so sorry…”

Kit hurried to tell her of the plans, glancing over her shoulder, lest her father come through the lobby and see her on the phone.

Valerie started crying. “Oh, that’s not fair. Why does that woman hate me so? What have I ever done to her? Kit, I love your brother with all my heart. I know it happened quickly, but I also know I could never love anybody the way I love him. That’s why I’m willing to wait for him to finish four years at West Point, even longer, if I have to. How can she object to that?”

“I don’t know,” Kit repeated. “I wish I could help you, but I’ve tried to talk to her and it just doesn’t do any good.”

“Travis has to meet me somewhere. I’ve got to talk to him.”

“I’ll be glad to get a message to him. Just tell me where and when.”

“The library at Fifth and Forty-second,” Valerie said immediately. “My mother has been after me to go there, so my father won’t be suspicious when I do. Make it in an hour.”

Kit could not promise that Travis could be there that soon. “So much is going on, Valerie. Mother is watching him like a hawk. I’m going to have to find a way to tell him without her overhearing. Let me see what I can do and call you back.”

“No!” Valerie cried. “It has to be then. My father will be home soon, and if I don’t leave before he gets here, he’ll ask a lot of questions. If he’s the least bit suspicious, he won’t let me go anywhere. Please have Travis meet me there in an hour! It may be our only chance to talk for months! Everybody is against us…” Valerie started to cry as she hung up the phone.

Kit hurried back upstairs, expecting to face her mother’s wrath. Instead she found only Carasia, who told her that the whole family, even Travis, had gone to be fitted for mourning clothes. They expected her to meet them, and Carasia handed her a slip of paper with the address.

Kit sighed with frustration. Valerie was going to be waiting at the library in vain. She decided that there was nothing to do but go there and let her know what had happened.

She reached the library half an hour early. Hurrying to a nearby restaurant, she asked to use their telephone. When the White Star Line offices answered, she was thrilled to discover that the ship she planned to hide on was the very one on which she’d sailed over. She knew where it was docked, and she knew her way around the vessel. Stowing away would not be so difficult after all!

Filled with relief, Kit headed back to the library. Valerie was standing there, her golden hair tumbling about her face, her blue eyes wide with excitement.

“Is he coming? This is our last chance! My father called just as I was leaving and told me that we’re going to Bermuda first thing in the morning. There won’t be another time for me to see Travis!”

“Valerie, calm down.” Kit tried to explain why Travis could not be there. “Everything is turned upside down, Valerie,” she finished apologetically. “My heart goes out to you, but I just don’t know what I can do. If you’ll give me your address in Bermuda, maybe he can write to you there.”

“My father would intercept any mail for me,” Valerie wailed miserably. “And I’m sure your mother will do the same if I try to get in touch with Travis.”

Kit agreed that was very likely. “You’ll just have to write to him at the Point. That’s only a few months away.”

Valerie bit her lip. “That’s an eternity when you love someone.” She was quiet for a few seconds. Then she cried excitedly, “You can help us! Just give me a list of the countries you plan to visit in Europe. I can write to him in care of the American embassies there. Surely he can sneak away long enough to go and pick up his mail.”

“No.” Kit shook her head. “I told you—it’s only for a few months, and mail would take nearly that long.”

“Then
you
write to me!” Valerie said brightly. “Just write me a few lines any chance you get and tell me how he is. Refer to him by another name, though, so if my father sees my mail, he won’t know who you’re talking about.”

Kit couldn’t let Valerie harbor false hopes. “I’m sorry,” she said regretfully, “I can’t because—”

“I thought you liked me!” Valerie cried. “I thought you were my friend, that I could trust you to help me. I’m sorry I bothered you.” Valerie turned and started to walk away, her head bowed in defeat.

Kit ran after her and spun her around. “No! It’s not like that at all! I do like you, Valerie. Believe me, I’d help you if I could, but I can’t, because…” Her voice trailed off as she bit her lip thoughtfully.

Valerie was looking at her intently. “Please,” she begged, “tell me why you won’t help me.”

Kit hesitated for another moment, then she threw caution to the wind. It really made no difference—Valerie was not going to be in touch with her family, anyway. “I’m not going to Europe with them,” she said boldly. “I’m running away. I’m going back to Spain—tonight.”

Valerie gasped so loudly that several passersby turned to stare. Kit then told her everything. It was such a relief to have someone to confide in that she even told Valerie about Kurt Tanner and the Hispano. “So, you see,” she finished breathlessly, “I have no choice but to run away. I refuse to let my parents dictate to me any longer.”

Valerie clasped her hand. “I admire you, Kit, for being strong enough to go on alone. I wish I were like you. My parents have always dictated to me, too, especially my father. He’s determined that I’m going to marry the son of a friend of his who lives in Bermuda, but he’s wrong. I’ll never marry anyone but your brother, and I’m going to wait for him, no matter how long it takes!”

Kit assured her that Travis would find a way to get in touch with her sooner or later. “He told me that he loves you, and he’s miserable the way things are. Everything will work out, I know it will.” Kit opened her purse and found pencil and paper. “Here’s my address so you can write to me. When the time is right, I’ll contact my family and let them know where I am, and I’ll write to Travis as soon as he starts at the Point. The two of you can use me as a go-between if you like.”

Valerie hugged her. “I always had a feeling we’d be good friends! You have to promise to write to me and let me know how you’re doing. I’m going to be worried about you stowing away on that ship, so you be careful,” she added with a frown.

“That’s the least of my problems. All I have to do is make my way to the hold where they keep the animals and hide out in one of the empty stables.”

“Do you have enough money? I can give you what I have in my bag—”

“I’m fine,” Kit assured her, wishing it were really true.

Chapter Twenty-Six

It was time.

Kit threw back the covers and quietly got out of bed. Padding silently to the door, she leaned against it to listen intently. She could hear nothing, everyone was asleep. She pulled out the bundle of clothing she had taken from Travis’s trunk earlier. A woman would arouse attention at the docks as this late hour, so she had decided to disguise herself as a boy. She tucked in the too-big shirt and rolled up the cuffs of the pants. Pinning up her long, golden-red hair, she tucked every strand beneath the borrowed derby.

She wrote a hasty note, saying that she was going away to live her own life. No one was to worry—she had plans and money, and would be in touch later. Kit made a perfunctory request that she be forgiven, and left the folded paper lying on the coffee table in the parlor.

The need to stay hidden on the ship for five days was going to make it difficult to find food, so she took some bread and cookies, and a small jug of water from the little tea kitchen.

Finally, glancing about one last time, Kit took a deep breath…and the first step toward her destiny.

Her feet ached in the large, ill-fitting shoes, and she had a painful stitch in her side from walking quickly along the cobbled side streets.

As she neared the waterfront, she paused to rest. In the distance she could see a blaze of lights and frenzied activity. The pier was busy with men loading cargo onto the
Olympia
. She could see the mighty ship glowing in the dock lights, and her heart began to pound with excitement. Soon she would be free and independent. That idea was so exhilarating that it made her present tension and weariness bearable.

Kit moved cautiously among the crates. Some of the rows were so narrow that she had to inch her way along, praying that she wouldn’t get wedged in and trapped. It seemed to take forever, but at last she faced a wide, empty space before the next stack of cargo. Not seeing anyone, she took a deep breath and ran as fast as she could for what looked like rows of large barrels. She had just reached them when she heard a male cry sharply, “Hey, what was that?”

“Giant rat!” another voice cackled gleefully. “Go on with ye, Jordie. Take yer swig and gimme back my bottle.”