Love and War: The Coltrane Saga, Book 1 (36 page)

“I certainly did.”

“I told you, Kitty, those men are about the roughest there is. That’s why they’ve been assigned to me. When I’m on my feet, I can control them, make soldiers out of them. But for now, stay clear of them. We’re in for a long winter without my having to keep you out of their beds.”

“I don’t want to be in their beds!” she snapped indignantly.

He gave her a long look—a warm look, caressing her with those steel-blue eyes. “Would you like to share my bed?”

“Certainly not.” She moved as far away as she could in the crowded wagon, but he was still able to reach out and touch her.

“Get your hands off me, please!” she said haughtily.

With more strength than she knew he possessed since he had been wounded, Travis wrapped his fingers around her arm and yanked her forward. The wagon was jouncing along, and she was unable to keep her balance and fell across his chest. Their faces were mere inches apart. “Tell me, Kitty Wright” his breath was warm against her skin, “do you slap every man who tries to touch you? Would you slap me now, a poor, wounded soldier?”

Strong hands cupped her face, pulling it close. His lips brushed hers, gently at first, then hard, demanding. He slipped an arm down around her shoulders, pressing her forward until her breasts touched his bare chest. Strangely, she could not will herself to resist, and she melted against him, her blood surging hotly through her quivering body.

He released her, but he was not grinning arrogantly this time. His whole expression was, serious. “I guess I’ve got you in my blood, you little spitfire. It’s going to be a long winter, and we’re going to have to keep each other warm. Why don’t you relax and enjoy it?”

“Just wallow in the filth you call love?” She jerked away, passion quickly cooled by the flood of anger that washed over her. “Just sleep with you and be your whore? Is that it? Is that why you brought me along?”

Now his expression changed to one of anger, and he gave her a shake before flinging her away from him. “Damn you, girl, every time I try to love you, really love you, you remind me all too well that you’re just another woman with a heart as cold as ice—good for only one thing. Let me get my strength back, and I’ll give it to you, with no strings. You can be sure of it, if I have to tie you down to do it to you.”

“I’m going to get back on that horse and ride beside Sam.” She started toward the front of the wagon. “I don’t have to stay here and listen to this.”

And once outside, on the horse and riding next to Sam on the driver’s seat of the wagon, Kitty felt her head swirling. Why did he enjoy tormenting her so? What kind of animal was he? Didn’t he know she didn’t love him, didn’t want him? Why, then, did he insist on keeping her with him?

And then she thought of her own feelings surging whenever he was near. It couldn’t be love. Sam couldn’t be right. She couldn’t actually love that…that monster! It was all a nightmare!

But yet, there was no denying that his kiss left her breathless, and there was that little quiver that went through her whenever he flicked his eyes over her in a way that told her he found her beautiful—and desirable. Could she really be falling in love with him? Did the conflict come because they were both so much alike? She did not know. But as he’d said—they were in for a long winter. By spring, she would surely be all too aware of her feelings for Travis Coltrane.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kitty awoke, startled. Blinking her eyes, she tried to remember where she was. How long had they been traveling toward wherever they were headed in Tennessee for winter quarters? She couldn’t remember. A week. Yes, it had been a week now. Already the air was cool and crisp, the leaves turning golden and drifting slowly to the ground. It was coming back to her. They had pitched camp beside a sleepy creek, and she remembered Sam and Travis talking over the supper of mush and bacon. Travis wanted to try to ride his horse for the first time, impatient to be back in the saddle. Sam had argued, but, as usual, the Captain had his way. It was a nice night for a ride, Sam had conceded, and Travis had smiled at her and asked if she would like to come along. She had declined, taking her blankets very far from the campfire, saying she was tired and wanted to sleep. She could have told them the last thing she wanted was to spend more time than necessary with the arrogant Coltrane.

But what had awakened her? Staring into the darkness, she strained to hear. And then it came to her. “You go to hell!” It was Andy’s voice, reaching her from beyond the trees and dense foliage of the forest. “I’ll never swear allegiance.”

“The hell you won’t…” a Yankee voice boomed. “You’ll swear allegiance, or we’ll make you wish you had.”

“Nail him to that tree.” Another angry voice. “Nail his hand up if he won’t raise it in allegiance.”

Kitty was scrambling to her feet, legs twisting in the blanket that covered her. Kicking free, she hurried toward the clearing, where the campfire still burned. She could see them in the eerie glow, gathered around Andy, who faced them defiantly unafraid.

“Hold his right hand up against that tree!” The thickly bearded man with the long shaggy hair doing the talking was Wiley Burns. Sam had confided to her that he was the meanest of the lot. He was holding a hammer and a long nail. “You swear allegiance to the North, boy, or I’ll crucify you like Jesus!”

“Stop it! Are you mad? Stop it, I say!” Kitty burst into the clearing, lunging for Wiley. The others were holding on to Andy, who was struggling for his life, but two stepped forward to grab Kitty, twisting her arms behind her back.

“Well, well, the little spitfire is awake!” Wiley’s slitted eyes moved over her. “When we finish with Johnny Reb, here, I think we’ll tame you and have you pledge allegiance. ‘Course we’ll have a little fun first, though.” They all laughed, and it was an ugly sound—ominous, and Kitty shivered, frightened because she realized suddenly that she was all alone—and helpless against them.

“Now you take the oath, Andy!” Wiley turned to the wild-eyed boy who was struggling to get his arm down. “Repeat after me…I pledge allegiance…”

Andy spit in his face, and Wiley turned purple with rage. He yanked the boy’s hand into position against the tree, and the others held him fast as Wiley drove the nail through the youngster’s hand and into the tree. Andy screamed with pain, writhing and twisting.

“Damn you!” Kitty screamed, twisting with all her strength, but the two men wrestled her to the ground and held her firmly.

“Go on, take the oath,” Wiley commanded, grinning. He was actually enjoying seeing the boy suffer, Kitty realized. He was Luke Tate all over again! She could hardly see through the red haze that clouded into her eyes.

“Andy, for God’s sake, take their damned oath,” she begged. “It doesn’t matter. It’s only words. Take it before they kill you. They’re animals…they’re…”

Her words were cut off by the sharp blow to the side of her head. Dizzily, she fought to focus her eyes on the man straddling her. Wiley stood laughing down at her. “So it’s just a damned oath that doesn’t matter, eh? Suppose you take it, Rebel whore. Suppose you stand up now and take the oath of allegiance to the North. It’s time you started getting treated like a prisoner, like the Rebel dog you are.”

She could smell the rot-gut whiskey on his breath as he leaned over to yank her to her feet as the other men stepped back. Dear God, where were Sam and Travis? How long had they been gone, and why didn’t they return?

“Say it!” he commanded. “Repeat after me…”

Andy had ripped his hand loose from the tree and sat crumpled on the ground, crying as the blood rushed from the wound. “I’ll say anything you want,” she said then. What did it matter? She was no match for them. Whatever she said would be meaningless, anyway. Play their stupid game. They were drunk. When Travis came back, there would be the devil to pay, and she would have her revenge then.

Wiley said the words, and Kitty repeated them, spitting out each word with hatred smoldering, eyes flashing fire. The men laughed as Wiley reached out and ripped her shirt open, her breasts tumbling forth. She did not move to cover her nakedness as their eyes devoured the sight hungrily.

“Look all you want!” she said defiantly, facing them, holding her arms above her head. “Look and see…touch… I don’t care…do what you will…because the more you do to me…the more Bucher and Coltrane will do to you when they get back! And I’ll enjoy watching them cut you to pieces!”

Several of them realized the wisdom of her words and stepped back, unwilling to participate in the fun any longer. But not Wiley. He reached out and grabbed one of her breasts in his hand and twisted so hard she winced at the sharp pain. “Well, if I’m gonna get cut up, I might as well go ahead and have me some fun.”

He started fumbling with his trousers, reeling in his stupor. “I’ll make it good to you…”

No one had seen Andy reach for the carbine. No one saw him point it straight at Wiley’s back. There was an explosion, and the Yankee soldier pitched, forward, blood and intestines gushing from the gaping hole. No one moved as they watched Wiley’s body jerk convulsively in the dirt and blood beneath him. And then he was still, eyes staring upward, a trickle of blood and mucus oozing from his gaping mouth.

Kitty moved quickly for another carbine propped against a tree, and she backed toward Andy, who was reloading. “No one move,” she ordered. “I’ll shoot the first one of you that moves.”

“Hey, look.” One of them held up his hands. “We were just drinkin’, foolin’ around, we never meant for it to go this far. There won’t be no more trouble, honest…”

But Kitty wasn’t taking any chances. She and Andy made them all toss their handguns to the ground, along with their bowie knives. Then they were made to lie down on their faces, hands behind their backs.

“Kitty, what do we do now?” Andy whispered nervously.

She looked at his bloodied hand. “I’ve got to see to that hand. That’s a bad wound.”

He was staring at her thoughtfully, oblivious to his torn palm. “Kitty…” he said in wonder as the idea came to him. “We can escape…”

Her eyes widened. Yes, they could escape. There were horses, and they had the guns they needed. They could ride out right now, before Sam and Travis got back, and they would ride until they hit Confederate lines. It was over! They were going to be free.

“Get some rope and tie their hands while I keep a gun on them. Then we’re riding out of here. I’ll bandage that hand as soon as we get a little ways from here.”

Andy moved as quickly as he could with his hand on fire with pain and bleeding badly still. When they were all tied, he went and brought back two horses. Mounting, they turned the horses toward the woods—and that’s when Kitty realized that Travis was riding straight toward them.

“Don’t come any closer,” she cried, pointing the gun at him. “Travis, I mean it. I’ll kill you if I have to, but we’re riding out of here.”

Travis looked at the men tied on the ground, the body of Wiley Burns, the blood dripping from Andy’s hand. His expression was one of serious contemplation—not anger—not bewilderment. He just stared as though deep in thought, eyes narrowed. “All right,” he said finally. “Go ahead. I’m not going to try and stop you.”

Kitty was surprised, but grateful that there was not to be a showdown. Digging her heels into the horse’s flanks, she moved forward, Andy right behind her, both their guns trained on Travis, who sat watching them intently.

When they were right beside him, he spoke. “Aren’t you going to ask where Sam is?”

For the first time, Kitty realized Sam was not around. “If he’s hiding, I’ll get you by the time he shoots me,” she warned.

“We would have been back sooner, Kitty, but Sam’s horse got spooked by a rattler. He got thrown, and the rattler got him. He’s bad off. I came to get you to help. With my leg like it is, I couldn’t get down off my horse and back up again by myself, much less try to lift him up in the saddle with me. If you don’t go back with me, he’ll die. You should know how to treat a snake bite.”

“I do,” she said anxiously. Sam Bucher was her friend. He’d never done her any harm, and now cold terror was once again coursing through her veins as she thought of him lying out there in the night, rattlesnake poison rapidly spreading through his body. “But couldn’t he get on his horse himself?” she persisted.

“He thinks his ankle’s broken. He can’t move. I came back here quick as I could to get you.”

“Kitty,” Andy spoke softly, frowning with pain from the nail wound in his hand. “We can go see to Sam, and I’ll hold a gun on the Captain, and then we can ride out.”

She nodded. That was the answer. “You ride ahead,” she ordered Travis. “And don’t make any sudden moves, or we won’t have any choice but to shoot. We’re getting out of here and going back to our people, and nothing is going to stop us.”

He said nothing as he reined his horse and started back into the woods, moving as quickly as possible through the dense undergrowth and foliage. Travis knew she probably would shoot him, but the most important business they had to face was getting to Sam and doing everything possible to save his life.

He had shot the snake right after he struck—a Cane-break rattler—extremely poisonous he’d heard. Telling Sam to take off his belt and tie a tourniquet around his leg to stifle the flow of poison, there hadn’t been much left for him to do but go for help. He knew if he had gotten down off his horse, he would never have been able to mount once again.

It took about fifteen minutes to reach the point where Sam lay on the ground, and while they were riding, Travis asked Andy what had happened to his hand. The boy told him, and Travis swore under his breath. “I’m glad you killed the son of a bitch. I knew the first time I laid eyes on him, he was a troublemaker. I’m sorry it happened, Andy. If I’d been there, believe me, it wouldn’t have.”

“Why weren’t you there if you knew those men were so dangerous?” Kitty snapped irritably. “Why did you go off and leave us unprotected.”

He laughed, looking at her over his shoulder in the dim moonlight. “I never consider you in danger, Kitty. I always pity the people around you.”