The Raging Hearts: The Coltrane Saga, Book 2

by Patricia Hagan

  Corey lowered himself beside her. When she tried to move away from him, as she had done on the ride into town, he grabbed her roughly against him. He yelled at Hugo to start moving at once. “Now you listen to me,” he hissed angrily into her face. “Just what did you say to that woman?”

  “Nancy?” He was the one who had wanted Nancy at the party, to mock her. She had extended the invitation on the spur of the moment as one last gesture of peacemaking. She started to say as much to Corey, but he cut her off impatiently.

  “I’m not talking about her, and you know it. I’m talking about Mattie Glass. She was withering away, defeated, having to be force-fed. Now she’s as spunky as though nothing ever happened. I made her a most generous offer to buy her land so she could move into town and be safe, and she laughed! Said she would find a way to pay the tax lien and whatever interest I charged on my holding certificate. She says she won’t sell out, no matter what.”

  “Well, good for her,” Kitty laughed, despite the ominous look on his face. “She needs to stay on that land. You know, Corey, to some people, their land is their God. It’s their hold on life. Take that away from them, and they have nothing. That land is the one hold on sanity that Mattie has left. I made her see that. Now that thought has given her the strength she needed. I’m proud of her. She’s going to make it.”

  “You think so? We’ll see about that. I happen to want that property very much, Kitty, and I get what I want.”

  “Not all the time. This is one time you will fail. Mattie has many friends. They’ll rally together and help her, just as she’s helped them so many times in the past. You’ll see, Corey, that your money won’t buy you everything.”

  “It bought you, didn’t it?” he sneered.

  “You didn’t buy me, Corey,” she snapped, her fingers arching with the burning desire to send her nails raking down his smug face. “You made me vulnerable, helpless, and you beat me down to a point where I had no choice. And if I hadn’t had my son’s welfare to consider, you would never have succeeded in your scheme. I would sooner have starved to death than marry you.”

  The muscles in his jaw twitched, and his chest began to heave. His nostrils flared angrily, and his hands began to move from her shoulders, inching their way toward her throat. But she was unafraid. “Where is your pride?” she goaded him. “Look at all the trouble you went to in order to make me marry you. You brag about the women in your life, yet you had to use trickery to get me. With all your money and power, you have no pride.”

  His fingers squeezed down upon the delicate flesh, and she began to claw at him, struggling to breathe. “I could kill you right now, my sweet, if I were tired of that body of yours. But I’m not. Watch your step and keep your mouth shut or I will tire of you, much sooner than I anticipate. Remember your bastard son. I could just as easily kill him, too. Know your place, Kitty, and stop fighting me, or you’ll make me do something I really don’t want to do, my sweet. Now you have caused me great inconvenience with Mattie, and you have put me to a lot of extra trouble and expense. But I will own her land, no matter what I have to do to get it. Just stop fighting me, do you hear me? As much as I desire you, there is just so much a man can take.”

  With one last squeeze, he released her, smiling triumphantly as she fell back against the seat. He watched her clutch her throat as she gasped for breath. Very slowly, her blue face began turning pink, then ivory.

  She stared at him in wonder, heart pounding. What kind of madman was he that he could take her to the brink of death without batting an eye, and speak so easily of murdering a baby?

  “Hugo!” Corey cried, eyes not leaving her face. He was smiling that horrid, triumphant smile she hated so. “Hugo, turn down the next path, wherever it is.”

  “Yes, Mr. McRae,” Hugo called back, not turning around. He gave the order to the driver.

  “What…what are you going to do?” Kitty whispered, still terrified. Had he decided to go ahead and kill her and get it over with?

  “I am going to teach you a lesson, my dear. I want what is mine. You excite me so when you flash those eyes in anger.” She felt a wave of revulsion as he reached out and caught her hand and drew it to his crotch. She felt the swollen organ.

  He continued to stare at her, chuckling as the driver reined the horses down a bumpy path, finally stopping a good ways from the main road. “Leave us now,” Corey ordered to the two men, and they quickly obeyed.

  “Now,” he said, eyes riveted upon hers. “Take off all your clothes.”

  “All my clothes? Corey, please, no, not here. I’ll freeze.”

  “Do you want to return to the house with your dress hanging in shreds? Do as I say. I want you completely naked. Don’t argue with me any more today, Kitty. You have exhausted my patience. Start undressing and be quick about it.”

  It was quite an effort, there in the cramped carriage. He had to help her with the fastenings on the back of her dress. It was pulled over her head. The hoops were unsnapped and tossed outside to the ground. Then off came the pantalets and the chemise.

  “Lovely…” He cupped her breasts in his hands, leaning to kiss each hungrily. “Oh, Kitty, if you were not so beautiful, I wouldn’t tolerate you. But you are an exquisite creature.”

  Parting her thighs, he gazed hungrily at her most private parts. Her face flamed with humiliation. Fingertips touched, probed, squeezed. Then he was yanking her legs wide apart, pushing her back on the seat. She felt his rough, eager thrust and gritted her teeth, squeezing her hands into tiny fists, praying it would end quickly. In and out he moved, hips thrusting so violently that the carriage rocked. The horses stamped their feet and snorted.

  The movements became faster, faster, and his mouth covered hers, tongue plunging inside her mouth as though he wanted to devour her.

  Then it happened—that final push and ensuing slump and moan that told her it was over.

  “One of these days I will be able to last for hours. I can feel it,” he said casually. “Now put your clothes in order. We’re going home, and then I have to take care of seeing that you learn a very dear lesson.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked fearfully, thinking of the secret locked room on the upper floor.

  “You’ll find out. It’s something I’ve decided must be done to make you realize, once and for all, that that spirit of yours is going to have to be controlled. You had no damned business going to see Mattie Glass.”

  “Corey, I only told her that her life wasn’t over.”

  “And I suppose you didn’t goad her into trying to keep her land?”

  Kitty did not meet his gaze, nor did she respond.

  “I thought so,” he said with satisfaction. “As soon as she started talking, I knew you had put that idea in her. Well, my dear wife, you’re going to learn to stay out of your husband’s affairs.”

  Fear became a tight knot in Kitty’s throat as she tried to speak around it. “Corey, what are you planning to do to me?”

  But he did not reply.

  He refused to speak the rest of the way home, and Kitty did not dare ask any more questions for fear of angering him further.

  They arrived at the mansion, and Kitty ran up the steps, across the porch, and did not stop running until she reached John’s room. He was sleeping peacefully, but she grabbed him and cradled him against her bosom, holding him tightly. He was the only thing in her life that mattered. Dear God, she loved him so.

  He blinked sleepily, then smiled at his mother, cooing happily and snuggling closer. Even though Corey did not approve of her spending so much time with him, Kitty was with him almost every waking moment, doting on him, loving him, clinging to her one hold on sanity.

  “I’ll find a way for us, my darling,” she murmured, nuzzling her lips against the fine hair that grew darker every day.

  Mercifully, Corey left her alone that evening. She retired early, falling into a fitful slumber, afraid that he would come to her.

  She awoke with a start. Lig
ht strained to enter the room around the edges of the heavy velvet drapes, but Dulcie had not come in to awaken her. Pushing back the coverlet, she padded across the carpeted floor to open the curtains herself. Startled to see how bright it was, her eyes went to the mantel clock. It was almost ten! Why, she was always up before eight, to bathe and dress and hurry in to spend the morning with John. What was the matter with Dulcie?

  Struggling into her robe, she hurried from the room and crossed the hall. The door to the nursery was closed, and she flung it open, ready to admonish Dulcie for not awakening her.

  The room was empty. She ran to the cradle. It, too, lay vacant, and her hand flew to her mouth to stifle the scream that was working its way from the depths of her soul.

  And then she saw Corey.

  He stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, arms folded across his chest. “What’s wrong, darling? You look upset. And you’re still in your robe at this hour! Tsk! tsk!” He gave her a crooked smile, the corner of his mouth turning up in sinister fashion. “You are getting to be quite lazy, aren’t you? Or don’t you feel well? Would you like me to summon Dr. Sims? Perhaps you’re having a relapse.”

  “Where is my baby?” she whispered hoarsely, stumbling toward him, heart thudding wildly.

  “Oh, yes, the baby.” He continued to smile. “Well, Kitty, as I told you yesterday, I just can’t have you meddling in my affairs, and I can’t continue to put up with your rebellion. You have to learn that you have a place, and I expect you to stay in it. So, to teach you a lesson, I have sent Dulcie away with the baby. They will stay with friends of mine in Raleigh until after the party, at least. You are going to be much too busy to hover over that child the way you do. They may stay away even longer. It all depends on how you conduct yourself. When I am confident that you will give me no more problems and learn to be a dutiful, obedient wife, then you will get your child back. It’s all up to you.”

  Rage ripped through her body like the stab of a lightning bolt through a giant oak. “You bastard!” she screamed, leaping at him with fingers arched, nails ready to rip into his face. “I’ll kill you! You can’t take my baby away…”

  He threw his arms out as she reached him, hitting her across her face with enough force to knock her to the floor. She struggled to get up, still screaming and clawing at the air like someone gone mad, but he casually moved to place one booted foot upon her breasts and apply enough pressure to keep her where she lay.

  “You are only making matters worse by your behavior, Kitty,” he said quietly.

  When she continued her tirade, he grew impatient and reached down to wrap his fingers into her long, golden hair, yanking her painfully to her feet. Then, very methodically, he slapped her back and forth across her face until her shrieks quieted to subdued sobs. Releasing her, he allowed her to slump to the floor once again.

  “I repeat, my dear. It is up to you when and if that child returns to this house. Be obedient, give me no cause to become irritated with you, and I shall have Dulcie return with him. Otherwise, who’s to say what might happen to the little brat? My friends are wealthy, and also childless. They would be most delighted to adopt him.”

  “You can’t do that to me. For the love of God, Corey, have mercy. Don’t take away my baby.”

  “I already have,” he snapped. “And you forced me to do it. I made an agreement with you before we were married, and I kept my end of the bargain. You haven’t kept yours. You’ve fought me every step of the way. You have argued with me, sassed me, treated me with disrespect. I won’t have it. Your going to Mattie Glass yesterday was the final blow. You’ve caused me a great deal of inconvenience. I intend to have her land, and now I have to find another way to get her to sell without my having her legally evicted and looking like a cold-hearted monster. Damn you, Kitty, why in hell didn’t you stay out of it?”

  “Don’t do this to me.” She struggled to stand, her cheeks burning. “Corey, I’ll do anything you say, but bring John back to me, please. He’s all I have.”

  “Then you will appreciate him more when he does come back, won’t you?” He smirked, trailing the back of his fingertips down her reddening cheeks. “I think everything will work out fine for us, Kitty. I think this little lesson is all it will take for you to learn your place and stay in it. Then we won’t continue to have these unpleasant scenes. Now, suppose we go into your room, and you can show me just how much you want to please me. Don’t hold back anything. Show me what a grateful, loving wife you are, my dear. And remember, I’m going to be taking everything you do into consideration when I decide whether to have Dulcie bring your baby back.”

  Kitty left the nursery and crossed the hall to enter her bedroom. Corey was right behind her to close and lock the door behind them.

  She stood motionless, staring out the window at the world beyond.

  “Turn around,” Corey commanded.

  She obeyed, saw him lying on the bed, naked.

  “Show me,” he laughed. “Show me how much you want me and desire me, my loving wife. I’m waiting.” He wrapped his fingers around his swollen organ.

  With stiff, cold fingers Kitty removed her robe, and let it fall to the floor. Then she pulled her gown over her head and stood before him naked. He gasped with delight.

  “Make it last a long time, my darling…” He opened his arms to her, eyes glassy. “Show me how much you respect me.”

  With an ache in her heart so deep she nearly fainted, Kitty moved to the bed.

  She knew what she had to do.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Nina Rivenbark stood back in appraisal, then gasped. “Oh! Mrs. McRae, you’re lovely. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so lovely. That dress, the emeralds, your hair! Look! Look in the mirror, my dear. It’s like seeing a fairy princess come to life.” She clapped her hands with delight, body jiggling as she bounced up and down.

  Yards and yards of the lovely dark green silk were draped over hoops. Deep swaths cut down like a shawl to shape the tantalizing décolletage, exposing the barest hint of pink nipples. Her breasts seemed to pour out of the dress. At her throat she wore the emerald necklace Corey had presented with his usual flair. The jewels were exquisitely beautiful, and their fiery green hues danced in the light from the chandelier above.

  Kitty stared at her golden-red hair piled upon her head in a pyramid of poufs and dips, a single cluster of curls twisting provocatively upon her left shoulder. The coiffure, like the dress, was embellished with the first blossoms of the dogwood tree. The white, four-petaled flowers accented the drape of the skirt. A few were placed in the swath of silk below her shoulders, and perhaps a dozen had been placed in her hair. The effect was breathtaking, and Kitty’s violet eyes picked up the luster of green.

  “Oh, your cheeks are flushed. You don’t even need to pinch them to make them rosy,” Nina cried, walking around Kitty to further admire her creation. “Mr. McRae is going to be so pleased. Now, if you would just smile—”

  “I have no reason to.”

  The beaming woman laughed nervously. It had been difficult working with someone who stood like a dead statue, and Nina had wondered many times why Kitty Wright McRae seemed so miserable. The world lay at her feet, yet she was the picture of dejection.

  “You should see the crowd downstairs,” Nina rushed on, tucking the dress here and there, adjusting a curl or a flower. “I heard Hugo tell one of the other servants that everyone who received an invitation accepted, except the Governor, and he had another commitment. There must be over three hundred people down there! I don’t know where Hugo will put them all. He’s doing a splendid job, though. The last time I peeked over the railing, he had the servants on their toes, serving champagne and little dainties. And the orchestra was starting to set up their instruments.”

  She chattered on, but Kitty was not listening. She was thinking about little John, wondering how he was. Dulcie was with him. She had that much for which to be thankful. Dulcie seemed to love him, and she would
see that he was taken care of. But did he miss his mother? Did he cry for her? No, he was probably too small, even at five months, but who could say what went on in the minds of infants? This very moment he might be sobbing for the snuggling comfort of her arms.

  She blinked back the tears, shook herself. This was Corey’s night. It had to be special. She had to do what he expected or he would not bring John back any time soon.

  He would continue to torture her. Everything had to go perfectly. She would paste on her most gracious smile, say and do the right things.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Nina said, snapping her fingers. “The widow Glass, I passed her when I came in.”

  Kitty looked at her strangely. “You mean she was here that early? My heavens, you arrived over an hour ago.”

  “She was the first guest, and Hugo complained to me about it as he brought me up here. He said he didn’t know why she came so early, or what he was supposed to do with her. The champagne wasn’t even opened yet. He seemed quite annoyed. Anyway, as I came in, she grabbed my arm, and she had this wild look on her face. She said she had to talk to you right away, that Hugo wouldn’t let her come up because Mr. McRae left strict orders that no one was to see you except me. He wants you to make a grand entrance down the stairway, after all the guests have arrived. I can’t blame him. It is going to make quite a sight. I want to make sure I’m down there to see it myself. I told her I’d tell you she was down there. She was wringing her hands.”

  “I don’t understand,” Kitty said, more to herself than to the chattering woman. She looked at her sharply. “Did you provide her with a proper dress as I requested?”

  “Oh, yes, yes. A very simple black crepe. Tasteful but elegant. She was wearing it. Had her hair pulled back in a bun, and she would have looked halfway attractive if she hadn’t been tearing at that handkerchief in her hand and crying. Well, who’s to say what makes her behave as she does? What that woman’s been through was enough to drive her crazy, I guess. Hugo said he hoped Mr. McRae just asked her to go home since she obviously wasn’t feeling well.”