Love and Splendor: The Coltrane Saga, Book 5
Page 33
He groaned. “Oh, God, I love you, too, Dani.”
It was the beginning of a new life together…a life that would be committed not to regret over past transgressions or mistakes…but a future devoted to…love and splendor.
About the Author
Patricia Hagan might be the New York Times bestselling author of 38 novels and 2500 short stories, but she can also lay claim to being among the vanguard of women writers covering NASCAR stock-car racing. The first woman granted garage passes to major speedways, she has awards in TV commentary, newspaper and magazine articles, and for several years wrote and produced a twice-weekly racing program heard on 42 radio stations in the south.
Patricia’s books have been translated into many languages, and she has made promotional trips to Europe, including England, France, Italy, Norway, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Spain and Ireland.
Hagan’s exciting eight-book Coltrane saga, which spans from the Civil War to the Russian Revolution, has appeared on every major bestseller list and is one of the most popular series published in France, never having been out-of-print in that country in nearly 30 years.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Patricia grew up all across the United States due to her father’s position as a federal attorney, finally settling in Alabama where she graduated from the University of Alabama with a major in English. She now resides with her husband in south Florida where she volunteers as a Court-appointed Guardian Ad Litem for abused children.
But of all her accolades and accomplishments, Patricia most of all loves to boast of being the proud mom of a Navy SEAL.
Look for these titles by Patricia Hagan
Now Available:
The Coltrane Saga
Love and War
The Raging Hearts
Love and Glory
Love and Fury
Love and Splendor
Coming Soon:
Love and Dreams
Love and Honor
Love and Triumph
The bestselling Coltrane saga continues with Travis and Kitty’s son, Colt.
Love and Fury
© 2012 Patricia Hagan
The Coltrane Saga, Book 4
Colt’s long-lost half-sister Dani was raised somewhere in Europe, and he hasn’t seen her in fourteen years. But now he has to find her in order to learn what she plans to do with her share of the family fortune. Too bad the evil and conniving Gavin Mason has found someone to impersonate Dani so he can get his hands on the money.
Briana de Paul is willing to go along with the ruse because she needs help for her ailing brother. But it is forbidden love at first sight between Colt and Briana, as he struggles to keep his desire under control. However, one moon-swept night, they yield to their passion, and Briana is forced to admit how she tricked him into believing they were kin.
On a quest to find the real Dani before Mason can, Colt and Briana are swept from the rugged deserts of Nevada to forbidden Parisian nights, from the wintry Alps to magnificent Monaco mansions, where they suffer untold danger and incredible intrigue as they fight for a love that no man can destroy.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Love and Fury:
Silver Butte, Nevada
July, 1889
Colt sat behind the large mahogany desk, gazing balefully at all the papers in front of him. His mother had always taken care of Coltrane business matters. His father hated what he called “inside chores”. Colt concurred. He’d much rather have been outdoors, doing nearly anything else.
He reached for the bottle of brandy and poured another glass, reminding himself that these chores were his now—along with every other Coltrane responsibility, now that his parents had left for France.
He sipped the brandy and looked around the study. The rest of the two-story house reflected his mother’s taste, but the study was strictly his father’s. It was filled with comfortable sofas and chairs, plain draperies at the long windows, and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with Travis’s war memorabilia. A stone fireplace ran the entire length of one wall.
There were trophies mounted here and there, souvenirs of many hunting trips. Colt’s mother had hated those, he recalled. She said every time she walked into the study she felt the sad, forlorn eyes of the deer looking directly at her for sympathy.
He leaned back in the soft leather chair and propped his booted feet on the desk. He’d spent a long day riding the range that bordered the Carson River. He was tired, and after eating the dinner the Mexican cook had prepared for him, would have liked nothing better than to go to bed, but the blasted paperwork awaited him. He’d been putting it off for as long as possible, but it wouldn’t go away.
Colt thought about the house, not for the first time. What in the world was he going to do with a fourteen-room mansion? It was a far cry from the two-room cabin they’d lived in when he was a child. There was a sweeping front porch, and there were pillars and marble steps. On the first floor there was, besides the study, a grand entrance foyer, a large formal dining room, and a smaller dining room for family gatherings. There were two parlors as well, a formal one and a family one, each with an ornate fireplace. Also on the first floor was a small room for Kitty to do her sewing and studying. She was forever reading about the latest medical developments.
The kitchen was at the rear of the house, connected by a long, enclosed porch, where Kitty lovingly tended her many flowers and plants. Guiltily, Colt reminded himself yet again to water them all.
Upstairs, his parents had large, adjoining bedrooms, each with its private dressing room. They had told him he could move into either one, now that he had the house to himself, but he preferred the room he’d always had, at the far end of the hallway. Between his room and his parents’ rooms were three guest rooms. One, of course, was meant for Dani. She had lived there only for a couple of years.
Dani.
He sighed. Colt wasn’t sure how he felt about the half sister he hadn’t seen in thirteen years. True, they’d had that vicious fight the day she left, but they’d been children, and he held no grudge there. What he did resent was that Dani had been able to turn her back on their father. In all the years of her estrangement, there hadn’t even been a letter from her.
Colt thought about the conversation he’d had with his father the night before his parents left for France, when Travis went over the, papers the family lawyer had prepared, documents that divided the silver mine and the ranch equally between Colt and Dani. Travis and Kitty had enough money to live on comfortably for the rest of their lives without the mine or the ranch.
Colt figured it was his father’s property, to do with as he pleased. If he wanted to give half of it to a daughter who didn’t give a damn about him, well, Colt just kept his mouth shut. Still, he couldn’t help wondering how long it would be before Dani showed up to claim her share…while he Colt, did all the work.
The silver mine was not worth what it had once been due, in part, to the federal government’s limiting the role of silver in the monetary system in recent years. As silver prices declined, a lot of mines had closed down. Bustling mine towns became ghost towns. Silver Butte, once the biggest mining camp in the West, had simmered down and was now a respectable town like many others.
What had kept the Coltrane family from suffering, and also made them very rich, was Travis’s wisdom in not depending solely on his silver mine for income. Travis threw himself into cattle raising, building up a large herd, and he’d been very successful despite unpredictable beef prices, high railroad rates, and several severe winters.
All of that had been dropped in Colt’s lap. Oh, sure, he knew what to do. He’d worked the ranch and mine since he was old enough to hold a rope or a pickax. But he’d never expected to run it all, far from it. In fact, he’d been planning to hit the trail, travel the country for a few years, try to satisfy an itch for wanderlust.
Well, he told himself grimly, that had certainly changed. Suddenly he had more responsibility than he’d ever dreamed of. He felt trapped, truth
to tell, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Hell, he might as well be married. He poured himself another drink and shook his head adamantly. Charlene had almost quit trying to rope him in after the talk he’d had with her in New York. Then she heard the news about Kitty and Travis leaving, how he’d have to settle down and take care of things, and she’d started right in again. He did not want to hurt her, so he had almost stopped going to see her. Damn it, he didn’t want to get married. Not yet, anyhow.
He leaned forward and started looking through the papers. It was the end of the month, so tomorrow he’d have to go into town to draw the payroll for the hired hands. Maybe he’d just stay in town awhile. He could use a good time…
He froze, then leaped to his feet, drawing his pistol. Someone was walking in the hall. He doused the lantern on the desk and positioned himself directly in front of the door, waiting.
Two sounds broke the tense silence: the creak of the door opening…and the ominous click of his gun hammer.
Love and Splendor
Patricia Hagan
From glittering salons in France to the sumptuous world of the Russian Empire, their love knows no boundaries.
Raised by a cruel aunt after her mother’s death, Dani Coltrane is thrilled to be reunited with her father, Travis, and his wife, Kitty, amongst the glittering lights of Paris. But when a surprise inheritance from her mother’s family leads Dani to a hidden cache of art, little does she know that the valuable art holds an even bigger secret—the location of a priceless Faberge egg. Unfortunately for Dani, many would kill to possess this treasure.
Russian nobleman Drakar is on a mission to restore his family name. Banished from the courts of Imperial Russia, he knows that if he can only find the location of the egg, all will be restored. But one look at the beautiful Dani Coltrane and his priorities change.
Unwilling to give up her hard-fought freedom to any man, Dani simply cannot resist the intense passion she finds with Drakar. And Drakar soon realizes that the greatest treasure of them all is the fiery woman in his arms.
This book was originally published in October 1987 by Avon Books.
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They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Love and Splendor
Copyright © 2012 by Patricia Hagan
ISBN: 978-1-60928-994-2
Edited by Heather Osborn
Cover by Valerie Tibbs
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Originally Published by Avon Books: October 1987
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: April 2012
www.samhainpublishing.com
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
About the Author
Look for these titles by Patricia Hagan
Also Available from Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
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