The Raging Hearts: The Coltrane Saga, Book 2 (35 page)

He whirled around. “Well?” He looked down at her with dancing black eyes, an expectant smile on his lips. “What do you intend to do for me? You have to arouse me and make me ready for another turn, so that I can take you to the heights of pleasure also.”

She turned her face away.

Travis, Travis, where are you?

Trembling fingers twisted in her long hair, painfully yanking her head around. Corey was moving to straddle her naked body. He pushed her globular breasts together, sliding his stiffening member to and fro between them. He gave a low, guttural moan. “Make it good. I know you can. I know you have the spirit in that sweet, hot flesh. Oh, Kitty…”

He rocked back and forth between her breasts, head thrown back in wild-eyed ecstasy. Saliva drooled from the corners of his mouth, his whole body shuddered. Thumbnails dug into her reddening nipples, and she could feel his testicles dragging across her belly. “Ahhh, don’t let it happen yet, my animal of pleasure. I want it to last forever.”

He continued to undulate between her breasts as she tossed her head wildly from side to side, fighting the nausea that was rising in her throat.

Suddenly he gave an outraged cry, squeezing her breasts savagely and rubbing them hard against his member. Then he was whimpering like a child in pain. It was over. Thank God, it was over once again. He rolled away from her and got to his feet. She watched in numbness as he moved across the room and disappeared through the doorway into his own chambers. All the while, he was cursing her for not making him last longer, admonishing himself for being so eager, swearing that next time would be better.

Kitty lay prostrate for only a few moments. Then, wrapping a sheet around her, she moved to the bell cord and gave it a vicious yank. It seemed hours before Dulcie knocked.

“Please come in here.” Kitty fought the hysteria. The wide-eyed girl stepped inside uncertainly, looking about the room.

“Please draw me a bath at once,” Kitty said. “A hot bath. A very hot bath.”

Never had she felt so soiled. Even during the war when she traveled with the soldiers and fought the maggots and the lice, she had never felt so unclean. The impulse to scream was like a fierce burning in her throat, and she clenched and unclenched her hands as she waited for the bath.

Finally she was able to step behind the silken screen with its gold-embroidered panels and slip down into the soothing, steaming water. “Leave me,” she whispered to Dulcie.

The water had a calming effect, and she began to think clearly once again. So this was what her life was to be. Corey was insatiable, and the future would hold all manner of depravities. And she was helpless. As his wife, she would have to endure whatever he chose to inflict upon her.

There was, however, some comfort in the realization that he was unable to control himself for any great length of time. The acts would be short, and Kitty decided she would make them even shorter.

Endure.
That would be the sole thought on which she would concentrate from this time forward. All else would have to be erased from her mind. She would bear children, run the household, tat and sew, and sit with the other women. It was a lifetime ago that she dared to dream of going away to school and studying to be a doctor. Now she could not even farm her own land. Her life was not her own any longer. Nothing she had ever wanted out of life would come to be. Ever. She had stopped living. Dreams were gone.

“Kitty?”

She sat straight up in the tub, sloshing water over the rim onto the floor, her body rigid.

“Oh, you’re taking a bath.” Corey’s voice came from the other side of the silk dressing screen. “A wonderful idea. You’ll rest better tonight. Hurry and finish and come see what I asked Hugo to prepare for us. I noticed you didn’t eat much at dinner. But then, what bride feels like eating on her wedding day?” He chuckled.

“It was exciting, I know,” Corey was saying. “But you must remember that you are recuperating from your illness, and you were a very sick young lady. Dr. Sims says you must take care of yourself or you’ll be right back in bed again. We can’t have that. Not with our wedding party coming up soon.”

Rubbing herself frantically with a towel, Kitty grabbed the thick velvet robe that had been placed beside the tub. Thank goodness it covered her from her neck to her toes, giving little emphasis to the generous curves of her body.

“Hurry, my dear. Your food will get cold.” His voice was different, not all husky with desire. “I want you to enjoy yourself and then get right into bed for a good night’s rest.”

She stepped around the screen to see that Corey was wearing a silk dressing gown, his hair neatly brushed. Smiling, he gestured to the ornate silver tray he had placed upon the bedside table. She saw china cups filled with steaming tea and watched silently as he laced each with honey. A tray of daintily arranged sandwiches looked appealing, despite the feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Venison,” he gestured. “You didn’t touch yours at dinner, so I had Hugo slice the meat thinly and place it between bread. It will give you nourishment.”

He was seated in one of the exquisite Victorian chairs. Uneasily, Kitty lowered herself to the edge of the bed. Picking up one of the sandwiches, she took a small bite. It was delicious, and if he would just leave her alone, she might be able to fill her empty stomach.

“Tomorrow you must sit down with Hugo and go over the invitation list for the party,” he said pleasantly, sipping his tea. “I have invited everyone I think is important, but I want to make sure you include your friends and relatives.”

“You know I have neither.” It was difficult to swallow, sitting opposite Corey. It was as though he had completely forgotten the words he had screamed at her, calling her son a bastard, taunting her.

“Oh, you do have friends
now
,” he snapped. “You’re my wife. No one would dare snub Mrs. Corey McRae. So, if there is anyone you wish to have invited, I will see to it that they are here.”

Chuckling, he added, “Perhaps there is someone you would like to invite just to lord it over them?”

“No, no one,” she murmured, shaking her head from side to side, her expression somber. “I don’t want revenge. I just want peace.”

Picking up a small frosted cake, he took a bite. “I thought about inviting Nancy Warren Stoner. That would be a much-needed comeuppance for her. She wouldn’t dare refuse an invitation to attend such an event, and I would love to see her face. You, the woman she hates more than anyone else in the whole world, are now mistress of the house and hold the position she so coveted. You’ll never know how that woman tried to get me to marry her, Kitty.”

Her whisper was barely audible. “I don’t want to know.”

He went on as though she had not protested. “Our last encounter was quite unpleasant, and she made some rather ugly threats. I’ve also heard that she is getting herself involved with that scoundrel, Jerome Danton. He and those blasted night riders of his. Disgusting. Every one of them should be hung from the highest limb in Wayne County.”

“I don’t think they had anything to do with what happened to Mattie Glass.”

Corey’s head jerked up. He swallowed hard. “What did you say?”

Her voice was emotionless, but her lavender eyes sparkled with anger. “I heard about what happened to the widow Mattie Glass. I think it’s atrocious, but I do not believe that Jerome Danton and his men had anything to do with it.”

“And how did you come by this information? Who have you been talking to?” He was unable to keep the alarmed tone from his voice.

“The parson’s wife whispered to me about what happened. She told me that some people think Mr. Danton is responsible. I don’t think so.”

“Now why do you say that? A cross was burned. This is the way Danton and his hoodlums do things.”

“No, it is
not
the way they do things. They have never attacked a white woman before, and if they did do such a thing, they would not have left such an obvious calling card. I think someone burned the cross to put the blame on Danton’s men.”

“You sound quite concerned, my dear. Why?” He gazed at her through narrowed eyes. Before, she had seemed placid, whipped, defeated. Now he saw the anger sparkling, and he could not understand the change.

“I want whoever did it caught. I happen to be quite fond of Mattie Glass. She was one of the few people who was ever kind to me when I was working at the hospital. She came with other women from her church to minister to the wounded, write letters for them and do what they could. The other women would always go out of their way to hurl insults at me. Nancy did her job well. She had everyone hating me and blaming me for Nathan’s death.

“One day, one of the women from the church, who happened to be a cousin of Nathan’s, suddenly went into a rage and began calling me all kinds of names. Mattie came to my defense. She reminded her that she professed to be a Christian, and that it was a sin for her to judge me. She took the woman outside, then came back to apologize for her. We talked a bit, and I told her not to bother herself with me, that I was used to the insults.”

Kitty blinked hard. It moved her to think of one of the few times anyone had shown her any tenderness in the past year. “Mattie cried. She stood there and looked at me with tears streaming down her face and told me how she hated the way her brothers and sisters in God were treating me. I never forgot her kindness. And each time she visited the hospital, no matter how busy we both were, she always found a moment to come up and whisper to me that she was still remembering me in her prayers. She is a good woman, a Christian woman, and it makes me so angry to think of what happened to her. I want to see the men responsible punished.”

Corey would have to make sure that he and Rance did not discuss anything where they might be overheard. There was no telling what Kitty might do if she discovered his men had been responsible.

“In a few days, when Mrs. Glass is feeling better, I intend to pay her a visit and offer to buy her land for a generous sum of money. She can then move into town and raise her sons there. It’s too dangerous for a woman to be living out here in the country without a man around for protection.”

Kitty’s look was suspicious. “Why would you do that? Why should you care?”

“For the same reason you care, because I think a deplorable thing has happened.”

“I still don’t understand why you would offer to buy her land.”

“What kind of a person do you take me for?”

“Corey, I
know
you,” she sighed, setting down the tea cup and dabbing at her lips with a linen napkin. “I have found out that when you are nice to people, you always have an ulterior motive.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say to your husband, Kitty. I won’t stand for it.”

“It’s true.” Her eyes locked with his, blazing. “You are nice to people only when you figure you will get something out of them. Look how you used
me
! You ravished me mercilessly tonight, with no tenderness or affection. You called my child a bastard, ridiculed my helplessness. No, Corey, I see you now for what you really are—selfish, uncaring, unfeeling. So you must have a motive in wanting to help Mattie Glass. What is it? That lovely stream on her property? I visited there with Poppa many times as we made our rounds selling the honey from our hives. I know how lovely her land is. I will wager that you already own her delinquent tax certificate but are trying to create a respectable image. You don’t want it said that Corey McRae threw a helpless widow and her two children off of her land.”

He got to his feet so quickly that the teacup went clattering to the floor. “If I would not hate to see that lovely face of yours marred for our party,” he said through gritted teeth, fists clenched at his sides, “I’d teach you the price you pay for insulting your husband. I would teach you your place, just as my servants have felt the lash to learn theirs.”

She stood up also. “I don’t fear you. You can force me to submit to you, and you can beat me at your will, but I will never fear you.”

An evil smile crept across his lips, and Kitty fought the impulse to shiver. He could look quite formidable, but she was not about to be intimidated.

His black eyes began to dance with pleasure, and he suddenly laughed. Purple eyes sparkling like fiery red rubies, peach blossom cheeks flushed with her rage—she was beautiful!

“My God, Kitty, you are the most delightful creature I have ever met, the loveliest woman I have ever seen, and I will be the envy of every man in the state for having a wife like you. Perhaps you hate me now, but you will come to revel in your new status.”

“I
do
hate you,” she hissed, not caring if he did take the lash to her. “I had no idea just how selfish and brutal you could be until tonight. I will always hate you.”

Amused, he raised an eyebrow. “And I suppose you will always love your dashing cavalry officer, even though he deserted you when you were carrying his child?”

“Yes.” She nodded firmly. “I will always love Travis. Nothing you can do will ever change that. And I refuse to discuss him with you.”

“Very well.” He yawned, touching his fingertips to his open mouth. “It doesn’t matter anyway. You’re mine now, and you will live your life the way I choose. The past doesn’t have any part in our present or our future. Continue to resent me and you will only find misery. This I promise you.”