The Raging Hearts: The Coltrane Saga, Book 2

by Patricia Hagan

  “Corey McRae, formerly of New York, at your service.” He bowed with a flourish. “And I know everything about everyone in this county. I make it my business to know as much as possible about people where I live. Then I know when to turn my back and when not to. In your case, I visited General Schofield one day when he was about to make a tour of the hospital, and he mentioned to me the problems that your presence was causing. He also mentioned that you have a rare and tender beauty and a spirit unmatched by any woman he had ever known before. I was curious. I wanted to see this beautiful creature who could stir the ire of so many. I went with him and saw you that day, but you did not see me. You were far too busy ministering to the sick and wounded. I should like to compliment you on your work, by the way. You were wonderful with the men.”

  He downed the rest of his brandy, then refilled his glass. “I asked the general to keep me informed as to your activities, and he sent a messenger just this evening to tell me of your unfortunate discharge. I also learned that you are expecting a child. Is this child sired by Travis Coltrane?”

  “Yes,” she nodded, awestruck. Shaking her head from side to side, she murmured, “But I don’t understand why you bothered yourself about my activities. Why should I be of concern to you?”

  He interrupted by snapping, “Had I not been so busy with other matters, I would have seen to it before now that you were not bothered. The incidents tonight should not have happened.” His nostrils flared with anger, black eyes sparkled.

  Kitty had never before felt such a reaction to a man. Travis could be riled to extreme violence, true, but even so there had been an underlying feeling of tenderness.

  With Luke Tate, there had been instant distaste. He was a useless human being who had never possessed an ounce of kindness.

  But in Corey McRae, Kitty found a new phenomenon, one she could not explain. She sensed that while he was not as ruthless as Luke Tate, he was incapable of genuine feeling for anyone.

  Yet he had saved her when no one else would. Why?

  There was a sudden pounding on the door, and Kitty jumped, startled. Corey crossed the room. Would it be the townspeople, she thought apprehensively, demanding that she be turned over to them?

  She watched, trembling slightly, as a huge, burly man wearing a bloodstained shirt and buckskin breeches entered the room. Vaguely, Kitty remembered his having been outside, appearing out of nowhere when Corey fired his gun. Corey had spoken to him as they entered the little building, but she had not heard what was said. Now he was removing his hat and speaking in a respectful tone “Sir, we got those three. Me and the boys worked ’em over good. They’ll know better than to bother the lady here again. They’ll also spread the word that any man or woman what lays a hand on her will answer to you.”

  “Very good, Carl.” Corey dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Backing out the door, Carl closed it quietly after him. Corey turned to Kitty and smiled. “That is what I mean, my dear. I could have kept unpleasantness from you. I have a large group of men working for me, all experienced gunfighters and barroom brawlers. Your good neighbors know this, and they fear them. You may now go anywhere you wish without fear of harm. Had I not been so tied up with business matters, all of this could have been avoided. An unpardonable sin, my sweet, to let business matters come before one so lovely as you.” He lifted his glass in salute.

  He walked over to where she sat and stood gazing down at her. Kitty was glancing around the room, taking in the disarray and clutter, the stacks and stacks of papers and maps. “What kind of business are you in?” she asked him bluntly, lifting her eyes to meet his.

  For a moment he did not answer but stood there looking at her in a way that made her extremely uncomfortable. Then, with a slight chuckle, he said, “Real estate, my dear Miss Wright. I deal in real estate.”

  She shook her head in wonder. “Why would anyone come all the way from New York to deal in real estate in the South? Haven’t you seen the devastation your General Sherman left in his wake? What do you plan to do? Start one big cemetery and have all the bodies from both sides buried in it, then charge admission?”

  He laughed uproariously. “I had heard you had spunk, and now I believe it. You are precious, Kitty Wright, simply precious.” He waved his arm in the air. “Allow me to apologize for these miserable surroundings. I had to set up an office, and this building was left vacant by someone who was obviously fleeing our army. General Schofield was kind enough to allow me to use it. I plan to build my own office in the near future, as well as an estate in the country. But enough talk about me. You look pale. When did you last eat? I understand that rations are scarce at the hospital and unpalatable at that.”

  Pride would not let Kitty admit that her last meal had come from a garbage barrel behind a saloon. “I’m not really hungry,” she lied, staring down at her worn boots. She had taken them from the feet of a dead soldier. Getting to her feet, Kitty thanked him once again for his kindness. “Now I’ll be leaving. I have taken enough of your time.”

  “Leave?” He raised an eyebrow. “To go where, lovely lady? You have no place to go. I have some stew simmering in the back. I will get you a bowl, and then we can talk about what to do with you.”

  “You should not concern yourself with me…” she protested, but he left the room. Kitty looked about, perplexed. There was something about Corey McRae that she did not like, and she wanted to leave. She could take refuge in a livery stable until morning. Then she would decide what to do. Perhaps there was some way she could find shelter on her land, find a way to purchase seeds and grow a late garden.

  Tiptoeing quietly, she walked toward the front door. Her hand reached for the knob just as a voice cried, “Why, my dear Miss Wright! You would not be so rude as to leave without saying good-bye, would you?”

  She whirled about, frightened for some unexplainable reason. “Please. Just let me go. I can’t stay here any longer.”

  “Of course you can.” He set a bowl of good-smelling stew on a desk. “Besides, my men are stationed about. They would not let you leave unless I told them you could go. The thing for you to do is accept my generous hospitality and eat this food. And stop pretending, Kitty. You know you are famished.”

  The stew did look appetizing, and she was starved. Kitty sat down behind the desk and began to spoon the food into her mouth. “It’s delicious,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

  “When is your baby due?” he asked bluntly, sitting opposite her as he shuffled through some papers.

  She almost choked. “Why…why are you so curious about me?” she demanded, that strange feeling moving over her once again.

  He smiled. It was a sinister smile. Kitty did not like this man at all. “I like to know everything about my potential customers.”

  “Customers? I don’t understand.”

  “You will. Tell me, do you recognize anything on this map?” He shoved a large drawing across the desk. Instantly she could see her father’s land, now her land, diagrammed on the map. But, circled in red, she saw the diagram of Aaron Collins’s plantation, and it was massive.

  “Yes, that land is familiar to me. I knew Aaron Collins owned much acreage, but the sight of it drawn off on a map is overwhelming. It looks like half of the county.”

  “Hardly. It is quite large, though. Several hundred acres. I plan to rebuild the mansion. Foragers set fire to the original building and did extensive damage.”

  Kitty shook her head, remembering the lovely old house with is verandas and tall, white columns. There were large pecan and oak trees spread to the heavens as they stood guard, bordering the long, circular drive. She could close her eyes and smell the sweetness of the magnolias and the carefully tended roses. The lawn had looked like a giant carpet of green velvet. And in the spring, it was always a contest between the crepe myrtles and the dogwoods to see which would be the loveliest. Oh, how could anyone set a torch to so lovely a place?

  Suddenly she looked at Corey. “You say you plan to rebuild the mansi
on? Did you buy the estate?”

  “I told you, I’m in the real estate business.” He tapped a finger against his moustache thoughtfully. “Aaron Collins, his wife and son are dead…”

  “But there was a daughter. She would have wanted to rebuild the mansion herself. Everyone knew how the Collins family loved that place. She would never sell it.”

  Snatching the map from her hands, he began to roll it with quick, jerking motions. “Women should not concern themselves with business matters,” he snapped, a nerve in his jaw twitching.

  She spooned the last of the stew from the bowl, pushed it away, and said, “I would never sell my land. The house is gone and so is the barn, but I’ll keep it, like I promised my father I would. It’s the only thing I can do to preserve his memory, and I’ll find a way to make that farm one of the most prosperous in all of Wayne County.”

  “And how do you propose to do that?” He sounded amused, and that infuriated her. “You have no money. You’re expecting a child, and you aren’t even married. Your Yankee lover has obviously deserted you. You would be better off to sell the land for whatever you can get, then use the money to take care of your child and yourself until you marry.”

  “I’ll never sell my land! I would starve first. I may be a woman, but I know about raising cattle and horses and growing vegetables. Travis will return one day. I feel it in my heart. A woman knows such things. I will be waiting when he does return. Now, if you will permit me, sir, I would like to leave your company. It would not be proper for me to remain here any longer unchaperoned.”

  Again he laughed, this time in contempt. “You speak of propriety as you sit there pregnant and unmarried. My dear, are you a hypocrite or just plain daft?”

  She had had enough. She got to her feet with determination. “I will be leaving now, Mr. McRae. Thank you for your hospitality, but I do not care for your interference in my private life. I managed to survive all the atrocities of war, some inflicted directly upon me, all with no help from you. I feel quite confident that I can now face whatever the future holds, also with no help from you. Now”—she took a deep breath—”will you let me leave or shall I have you to struggle with instead of the street riffraff?”

  His eyes glittered. She saw his fists clenching. Had she gone too far? It was too late now, and she prepared herself for the worst. “No,” he said evenly, “you may not leave, and you will be wasting your breath and endangering your delicate state to attempt to struggle with me or my men. There is a cot in the back room where you will spend the night. In the morning, we will talk about what to do with you.”

  They faced each other. Corey’s eyes were now mocking, daring her to rebuke him. “And will you force yourself upon me, sir?” she asked contemptuously. “Is a woman swollen with child the best you can get into your bed?”

  His hand moved out slowly, and she did not flinch as his fingertips moved slowly up and down the smooth lines of her face. “So lovely yet so angry.” His smile made Kitty think of the way a cat looks just before he pounces on a mouse he has trapped in a barn corner. “Yes, my sweet, one day I shall have you, but not just for a few hours of lustful pleasure. Beauty such as yours is rare indeed, and just thinking of holding your body next to mine, possessing you completely, brings fire to my loins. However, you are fortunate that I do have some honor, however ruthless I may be in other matters. I would never force myself upon a woman in your condition. But when your child is delivered, rest assured that you will feel the heat of my manhood pulsating inside your belly.”

  “I doubt that, sir.” Her chin jutted upward. “Captain Coltrane will return before our child is born, and we will be married. Because you saved me from what could have been a tragic incident tonight, I won’t tell him about your dishonorable intentions. He would kill you, just as he would kill any man who dared touch me.”

  “Then why isn’t he here?” he laughed, making her face burn with humiliation. “Why hasn’t he returned? If he is alive, he would have come to you if he loved you. No, Kitty, my lovely, I think you will soon have to come to terms with this. Travis is not going to return, and you are in a desperate situation.

  “And as for what you term my ‘dishonorable’ intentions, have I said anything about forcing myself upon you? Have I even hinted that I intend to rape you, my dear? Oh, no, I certainly possess more integrity than to ravish you as though you are no more than a street whore.”

  He stood back, smirking at the glitter in her lovely eyes. He could almost see flames sparkling as she glared at him. Folding his arms across his massive chest, legs spread wide, he whispered, “I was speaking of possessing you as my wife, Kitty. My legal wife, with all the husbandly rights to which I would be entitled.”

  Kitty stepped from behind the desk to face him. “Have you taken leave of your senses? I happen to be in love with another man, and I carry his child and do so proudly and without shame. And I would not marry you even if I weren’t. You have no appeal to me.”

  “You find me unattractive?” He raised a mocking eyebrow. “Strange. Most women find me quite handsome. Perhaps it’s my fortune. I am quite wealthy, you know. Since you seem to find me so repulsive, I will have to give some thought to the matter. I do hate to think of those writhing, naked women in my arms merely pretending that they like me when actually they are after my Yankee gold. Hmmm…”

  “I didn’t say you are unattractive, Mr. McRae. I merely said that you have no appeal for me. Now, if you will be so kind as to allow me to leave, I find our conversation distasteful.”

  She started to move by him, but he grabbed her arm and whirled her back, pinning her against his chest. He cupped her face in his hand, and his lips came thundering down on hers. She was caught in a vise and could not move. He practically lifted her from the floor. His tongue forced its way past her lips. Then, while continuing to grasp her with one hand, his other plunged down the bodice of her dress, squeezing her breast. She beat on his back with her fists, tried to claw his face, but he was undaunted, continuing to kiss her at the same time his fingers milked one nipple.

  Suddenly he released her. She took a few steps backward, almost falling. “Now,” he said in a fierce tone. “Go into the back room and go to bed on that cot. I am going to the hotel where I sleep, and I will find a woman to take care of the need you have aroused in me. Do not try to escape because I have guards posted outside. In the morning I will return, and we will talk once again about what to do with you.”

  “I…I hate you,” Kitty spat at him. She whirled about, looking for something to throw. Spying an ink well, she sent it sailing through the air. He ducked. “I think you’re disgusting, and when Travis returns, I will tell him how you treated me.”

  “You are even more beautiful when you are angry,” he said quietly, gazing at her with an expression of awe. “I don’t think I have ever seen a woman quite as desirable as you, Kitty Wright. Yes, I think it would be best that we do marry. I will accept your bastard child. I will see that you have the best of everything.”

  He reached down and squeezed his swollen organ. “And night after night, I shall plunge this into your body, emptying myself in ecstasy. You will be worth waiting for, my dear, for I have much to give you, and I will take what I want from you once I own you.”

  “You’ll never own me, you damn Yankee bastard,” she screamed as he stepped out the door. He closed it quietly behind him. She ran across the room, tugged at the handle, but it was locked. “Never.”

  She flung herself about, leaning against the door and covering her face with her hands in despair. Now she was really in trouble. The man was obviously rich and powerful and used to overcoming any obstacle to get what he wanted. And he wanted her. Oh, when Travis returned, Corey McRae would rue the day he decided he wanted her! There would be the devil to pay. Corey and all his hired gunmen would not be able to stand in Travis’s way.

  Suddenly her ears pricked to attention. Pressing the side of her face to the door, she heard voices. “Well, he’s got him a fi
ne one.” She recognized Carl’s voice. “Did you see the look on his face? Did you hear the tone he used when he said we better make damn sure she don’t get away? I’ve seen him lust for plenty of women, but never like this one, and I’ve never seen one he couldn’t have by snapping his fingers. This one’s something new.”

  “And her all swollen with a baby,” a male voice snickered. “What’s he gonna do about that?”

  “I heard ’em yelling in there. He says he’s gonna wait till she has the kid, and then he’s gonna marry her. What do you think of that?”

  “I never try to figure out Mr. McRae. But I’ll bet a week’s wages that he gets her. And if she’s smart, she’ll jump at the chance to be his wife. What woman wouldn’t, with the money he’s got?”

  “Oh, you know these stupid Southerners. They don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground. But damned if she ain’t a pretty thing. Did you see them eyes? God a-mighty, they glow like fire. And that hair. Yep, she’s pretty, and even carrying a baby there’s something about her that makes you want to get it in her, you know what I mean?”

  There was the sound of tobacco juice splattering on the plank porch. “Hell, yeah. I’d like to have me some of that myself. She’s purtier than a speckled pup. What do you reckon he’s going to do with her in the meantime?”

  “I don’t think he’ll wait till she has the baby,” Carl said. “I figure he’ll marry her quick, before her Yankee lover does come back. Meanwhile, we got to keep a close eye on her. She’s a spirited filly.”

  They both laughed, and Carl added, “But you know, I ain’t never seen a filly yet, two legs or four, that Corey McRae couldn’t break.”

  “Well,” Kitty sighed, looking about at her surroundings. “Might as well get a good night’s sleep.” She headed for the back room and the cot. Corey McRae could be reckoned with later. Filly indeed! After all, she thought with a satisfied smile, he was only a man.