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

to get on that goddamned horse.” Luke took a menacing step forward and Kitty quickly mounted.
    He began to lead her from the cabin, and Nancy hurried alongside. “I’ll follow you back to town.”
    “No. Hell, we ain’t goin’ back through town. We’re movin’ in the other direction.”
    “But…but you said you’d see me back to town,” Nancy stammered, whining, suddenly frightened. “It’s a long ride, and it’s nighttime and raining, and I’m all alone. It’s not safe for a lady to be out alone.”
    Luke snorted his laughter. “Pity the man who happens upon you, Nancy. It’d be the best thing that ever happened to Jerome Danton if lightnin’ struck and killed him on his way home tonight. Then he’d never have to put up with your misery again.”
    “That…that’s a fine thing for you to say after I set you up with all that money,” she sputtered. She slipped in the mud, almost falling, then righted herself quickly as she rushed on. “I set you up good, I did. And you got Kitty. You said yourself you’d always wanted her.”
    “Makes me feel even better to know I’m taking her away from that sonofabitch Yankee that killed all my men,” Luke mused aloud.
    “Listen to me,” Nancy shrieked as the rain and wind snuffed out her lantern. “You can’t just ride off and leave me here. I gave you the money to get all the way to Nevada.”
    “Damn right you did. You wanted her out of the way, and I’m obliging you. That money ain’t gonna last forever, you know, and I want to go after silver. Folks are gettin’ rich findin’ silver in Nevada. But my main concern right now is gettin’ the hell out of these parts as quick as I can before people start lookin’ for her, and that won’t be long.”
    Kitty listened to them argue as the rain pelted down. It no longer mattered that she was cold and wet and hungry. She could think only of John. What would he think when his mommy did not come home? What would Mattie tell him? How could she hope that anyone would search for her when no one but Nancy knew what had happened?
    Think! She commanded her weary, angry brain. Think! You’ve been in bad situations before, and you’ve survived. Four years in that damn war and you survived. You’ve got a son to think about now.
    Suddenly hope sprang all the way up from the depths of her tormented soul, and she cried out, “Have either of you thought about Travis? He’ll move heaven and earth to find me. And he’ll kill both of you.”
    “Keep talkin’, woman, and I swear, I’m gonna gag you and tie you across that saddle,” Luke cried. “You can forget about that bastard. He won’t know where to start lookin’.”
    “I certainly won’t tell him,” Nancy spoke up in her high-pitched voice. Then she begged Luke once more, “Please ride with me back to town. You can’t leave me out here.”
    They had struggled through the mud and reached the dark outline of a grove of trees just across the road. Luke found his horse tethered there and mounted. He stared down at Nancy and said evenly, “I’m not goin’ back to town and that’s final. Now if you’re scared to go by yourself, the best thing for you to do is go back inside that cabin and wait till daylight. We’re gettin’ out of here.”
    Her shrieks and curses carried above the wailing of the storm as Luke headed in the direction opposite town, leading Kitty’s mare by the reins.
    They had not gone far when Kitty realized she had a chance to escape. Nancy was sure to have left a horse somewhere nearby. All she had to do was leap from the mare, run into the darkness and follow Nancy, then take the horse from her.
    Gasping, Kitty threw her right leg over the back of the horse and jumped to the ground, miring ankle-deep in mud.
    “Hey!” Luke cried, and as she ran she could hear him scrambling from his horse.
    She ran through the muck as fast as she could, desperation driving her.
    “You’re gonna be sorry you did that!” Luke cried hoarsely,