Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 by Patricia Hagan

hard. Kitty sprawled to the floor as Nancy laughed shrilly.
    “Oh, I’m enjoying all of this,” Nancy cried, her face mirroring triumph. “I wish I could stay and watch the fun, but I really have to get back home.”
    Kitty was struggling to get up, but Luke placed his mud-caked boot on her stomach and held her on the floor. Above her screams, he called to Nancy, “Have you figured out a way to explain your pulling that much of your old man’s money out of the bank?”
    “Of course. I’m just going to tell him the truth.”
    Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you crazy? We agreed that nobody was supposed to know I’ve been in town.”
    “Well, how did I know Jerome would follow her out here tonight?” she snapped belligerently.
    “I could have made up something about the money,” she rushed on, staring up into Luke’s narrowed, suspicious eyes, “but now he’s going to ask all sorts of questions when it spreads around town that Kitty is missing. The fool might think I really did kill her and hid her body. So I’ll just tell him the truth—that I paid someone to get her out of the way once and for all.”
    “And what if he decides to go to the law and tell them about it?”
    “He won’t,” Nancy sounded happy and contented. “I know enough about him to put him in jail. He’ll keep his mouth shut, believe me. You don’t have a thing to worry about. Just take her and go.” She looked down at Kitty with smug satisfaction, watching her squirming on the floor.
    Luke chewed his lower lip thoughtfully for a moment, then said, “I reckon it’s all right. I’ll be so damn far away it won’t matter nohow, and you say that sonofabitch Coltrane won’t be back?”
    “I told you about the scene at the train station,” she snapped impatiently. “If he does come back, it will only be to get their brat.”
    “He will come back,” Kitty shrieked, beating at the floor with her fists, “and he’ll kill both of you.”
    “Oh, shut up, damn you. I’m sick of listening to your squawlin’.” He reached down and twisted his fingers in her hair and yanked painfully. She continued to scream, and he yanked harder, warning, “I’ll pull every bit of it out if you don’t shut up, woman. There’ll be plenty of time for you to yell later, and you can bet I’ll give you somethin’ to yell about!”
    Kitty fell silent, and Luke released his grip. Reaching down, he jerked her to her feet. “Now we’re leavin’ here, girl, ’cause I want to put some distance between us and this town by daylight. If you make one sound, I’m gonna stop ridin’ and beat the hell outta you. You understand?”
    She nodded, head aching, face stinging yet from his slap. She stared at Nancy silently, conveying her hatred in a look that made Nancy step backward, startled. “I will get you for this, Nancy,” Kitty said in a low, ominous whisper. “And if I don’t, you can be sure you will answer in hell one day for all your evil.”
    She screamed sharply as Luke gave her hair another vicious yank. “I told you to shut your mouth, and I mean it. Now let’s get goin’.” He gave her a quick shove in the direction of the mare. “Get on that nag and don’t try nothin’ funny, or I’ll tie you across the saddle.”
    Kitty stumbled, throwing her arms around the mare’s neck for support. Looking at each of them in turn, she could feel the heat of her own hatred emanating from her eyes. She knew she should feel terror, for the memories of past encounters with Luke Tate were branded on her soul. But for the moment, she was too enraptured with fury to be scared.
    “I’m not afraid of you, Kitty,” Nancy sneered. “I never was. You deserve everything you’re getting. Maybe now, with you out of the way and Travis Coltrane out of the South, poor Nathan can rest in peace.”
    “You’d better be afraid of me, Nancy,” Kitty retorted, forcing herself not to leap for that smug, spiteful face. “Your day will come.”
    “I told you