Love and Fury: The Coltrane Saga, Book 4 (7 page)

There had been one last hope, the letter from Travis informing Dani that she could claim her inheritance. But Dani, damn her, had dashed that hope with her damned religiosity. Where did the girl get such craziness from? Certainly not from Alaina. Religion had never meant a thing to her.

“Oh, damn you again, Travis Coltrane,” she cried vehemently. “You’re torturing me again—this time through your daughter!” She covered her face with her hands and began to weep. She did not hear the movement at the door, did not know anyone had entered until the soft, hesitant voice spoke.

“Aunt Alaina, please don’t cry.”

Her head jerked up, eyes narrowing as she stared into Dani’s serene face.
She looks like a Madonna,
Alaina thought bitterly.
Why, there’s almost an unearthly light around her.
She saw the small bag Dani was carrying, and snapped, “What have you packed? I thought you had to give up all your worldly goods,” she said spitefully.

“Just my personal toiletries, Aunt Alaina,” Dani replied. “I suppose they’ll take them from me when I get there and give me whatever I’m supposed to have. But it’s a long trip, and I didn’t know what I’d need in the meantime.”

Alaina turned her face toward the window, as cold and hard as marble. Dani set her bag down and dropped to her knees before her. She tried to caress Alaina’s hands, but Alaina snatched them away. “Please,” Dani beseeched her, eyes filling with tears, “don’t let us say good-bye this way. Be happy for me, Aunt Alaina. I’m doing what I am called to do. God has spoken to me, and I’m giving my life in service to the church. I’ve never been happier. Won’t you share in the glory of my decision?” She searched her aunt’s face hopefully.

Alaina continued to stare out the window. “Just go,” she said icily. “You’ve made your decision, turned your back on me and all the love and care I gave you. If you can find happiness in breaking my heart, do.”

“I’ll never forget all you’ve done for me, Aunt Alaina. I love you. Please remember that,” Dani begged.

“This is how you show love? By entering an order of fanatical nuns who turn their backs on their families, on the entire world?” She turned around for long enough to give Dam a look of loathing. “You are insane, Dani. You should be entering an asylum, not a convent.”

Dani sighed. They had been through all of this before, and she’d tried over and over to explain the deep peace and joy she felt, but Aunt Alaina had not understood, and nothing was going to change her. But, oh, how she hated leaving this way!

She got to her feet and picked up her bag, saying quietly, “I will pray for you, Aunt Alaina.”

“And we will pray that you come to your senses,” sneered a mocking voice. Gavin stood in the doorway, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He swayed slightly, then downed the rest of his drink. He moved accusing eyes over Dani and sneered, “You selfish bitch! You don’t care about anyone but yourself. Doesn’t matter that your aunt and I will have to beg in the streets, doesn’t matter that you’re turning your back on a fortune—to say nothing of my marriage proposal. Just desert us, and spend the rest of your life counting rosary beads. Don’t forget to pray for your soul, which,” he hiccupped, “I hope burns in hell for your sin of being so goddamn ungrateful.”

Dani winced. “The fortune you mention means nothing to me. I won’t claim it. If I should die, I’ve directed that anything meant for me should go to the church.” She paused and eyed him carefully. “And as for your proposal, we both know what inspired that.” She turned once more to Alaina. “Please. Wish me well, Aunt Alaina. Give me your blessing.”

Alaina remained rigid. “You have my
curses,
you ungrateful bitch!”

Pressing a hand against trembling lips, Dani ran from the room, out of the house, and into the twilight.

Alaina began to weep. Gavin took his silver flask from his coat and, not bothering with his glass, drank directly from it. He then slouched into the chair opposite hers.

They sat in brooding silence for a long while, and then Alaina sighed. “Will you stop that?” Gavin snapped. “I’m sick of your making those little noises all the time. You don’t hear
me
moaning, for heaven’s sake.”

Her eyes flashed. “I should like to remind you of your place, Gavin.”

“My place!” He barked a laugh. “How long will I
have
a place? Or you, either? Six months? Can we keep the hounds at bay that long? Maybe we can sell the furniture, piece by piece, to keep from starving. Or maybe we should save it to chop up for firewood when winter comes. Shall I take a cup now and go out on the street and start begging? My
place
is about to be taken away, my dear.”

“Shut your insolent mouth!” Alaina rose and began to pace the room, speaking more to herself than to him as she railed. “Damn Travis Coltrane! Damn him for getting the last laugh! I am to grovel in poverty while he and his wife live in splendor in Paris!”

Gavin tipped the flask once more, drained it, shook it, then sent it sailing through the air. It landed against the fireplace hearth, and Alaina jumped, startled. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again, do you hear me?” she shrieked. “I won’t tolerate drunken behavior. Your father was a man. Why can’t you act like one? Can’t you go out and get a job? You’ve never done a thing in your life but live off my money, chase harlots, and—”

She stopped as she caught sight of Briana in the doorway, nervously fingering the hem of her apron.

“What do you want?” Alaina snapped. “You know I hate servants eavesdropping.”

Briana stared at the floor, miserable. “I wasn’t eavesdropping,
madame
.”

Alaina regarded her coldly. “Well? What do you want? I didn’t ring for you. We don’t want to be disturbed.”

Briana took a deep breath, trying to muster the courage to say what she had spent the past hour rehearsing. Finally she plunged ahead. “I wanted to ask you to please be kind to Dani when she comes to say good-bye. Her heart is breaking because of the way you feel about her entering the convent. It will do no good to harbor ill feelings, and her last memories of you should be happy ones. She loves you so much.”

Alaina stared incredulously. Who did she think she was, interfering in their personal affairs? She was a
servant!
Alaina knew she should have put her foot down long ago about Dani’s treating Briana like a member of the family.

Alaina pointed to the doorway with an angrily quivering finger. “Get out of here! And don’t you dare ever speak to me of things that are none of your business.”

Briana shook her head. She had to try, just once more. “Please,
madame
. Dani has talked to me about this. She is hurting so badly. Please, please, try to be kind to her when she comes to say good-bye.”

Gavin laughed, a nasty sound. “She’s already gone. Left a while ago, crying her pious little heart out. Too bad you missed it. Quite a performance.”

Briana gasped. Dani must have been terribly upset to go without telling
her
good-bye.

“Well, don’t stand there with your mouth hanging open,” Gavin ordered irritably, holding out his empty glass. “Make yourself useful. Get me another bottle of whiskey.”

“Get out of my sight,” Alaina chimed in. “You even remind me of Dani.”

Briana turned and ran from the room.

Alaina began ranting again, but Gavin ignored her, staring at the spot where Briana had stood. His eyes were narrowed, his brow tense with concentration. Slowly, ever so slowly, a thought began to take shape in his mind. A scheme. It was absurd, of course it was, he told himself. But still, it was something, a light in the darkness.

Would it work? He didn’t know, couldn’t plot clearly because his thoughts were fuzzy. He’d been drinking all afternoon. The cobwebs had taken over. He remembered what he’d been planning to do to get his mind off his troubles. He needed a woman. A few hours in the loving arms of a hot, eager
jeunesse
was just what he needed.

He looked at Alaina, who was still stomping around, talking. “I need some money,” he said.

She turned and looked at him as though he had taken leave of his senses. “What do you think I’m screaming about? Are you so drunk that you don’t understand how desperate our situation is, you ninny?”

His temper exploded. Later he would blame his whiskey-soaked brain for his feeling so outraged. But just then, he knew only that she was railing at
him,
God damn it, and he didn’t take that from anyone, especially a woman. Leaping to his feet, he caught her wrists, squeezing so tightly she cried out with pain. And then he was shaking her, hard, until her head was bobbing uncontrollably and she was screaming that he had gone crazy, was going to kill her. He kept shaking her, yelling all the while for her to shut up, leave him alone, stop goading him.

She wrested one hand free and slapped him, but that only incensed him further. He slammed his fist at her in a stunning blow, and she fell backward, knocking over a table. A lamp crashed to the floor in a shower of crystal and glass.

He advanced toward her, maniacal fury in his eyes, and she held up her arms to fend him off. “You stupid bitch!” he roared. “You challenged me to act like my father! Do you think you could ever have slapped him and gotten away with it? I’ll show you how a man reacts—”

Suddenly he fell to his knees, unconscious, sprawling forward onto the floor. Behind him stood Briana, holding the footstool she’d hit him with.

Alaina scrambled to her feet, sobbing, looking from Gavin’s body to Briana’s shocked face.

“Oh,
madame
,” Briana whispered tremulously, backing away. “I didn’t know what else to do. I thought he was going to kill you.”

“You
may have killed
him,”
Alaina cried. “Go and get help!

“
Madame!
”

Alaina and Briana turned toward the stricken face of Gerard, the elderly butler, whose eyes held pity as he looked at Briana and said, “It’s your brother.” He spoke quickly, nervously. “He’s been taken to the hospital. Go at once.”

Briana ran from the room, dismissing Gavin from her mind, terror over Charles blotting out everything else.

Alaina beckoned to Gerard, commanding, “Help me get him to his room, then go for the doctor.”

Gerard, elderly and frail, bent over Gavin. Just as he was about to lift him, Gavin moaned and looked around.

“Shall I go for the doctor now?” Gerard asked, relieved that Gavin was alive.

Alaina decided there was no need to bring an outsider in to witness the family’s problems. There had been quite enough gossip and scandal about the deBonnett family, thanks to Claude’s death and debts. “No. Help me get him upstairs, Gerard. And then bring me cold towels and brandy.”

They struggled to get Gavin onto his feet, but once he was standing, he irritably shoved them away from him. Rubbing the back of his neck, he growled, “Where is she? I’m going to kill the bitch. I know it was Briana. I recognized her voice.”

“She’s gone.” Alaina quickly told him of the message that had come about Charles. “Come upstairs and lie down, Gavin. You need to rest.”

Gavin told Gerard to forget the towels and brandy, and then he allowed Alaina to guide him up the stairs to the comfort of his bedroom. He lay down, head throbbing, and she sat beside him. “I’m sorry,” she began carefully. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way. It’s just that I’ve been so upset lately.”

She bit back tears and shook her head. “What are we going to do, my darling? There’s no point in our hurting each other this way.”

He trailed warm fingertips up and down her arm, smiling. “Alaina,” he murmured, “a thought has been playing with my mind. There just may be a way out. Go see what you can find out about Charles, then come and tell me all you learn.”

“Charles?” Alaina blinked, thoroughly confused. “What does that have to do with us? You’ve never concerned yourself with Charles before.” Had the blow to his head deranged him?

“Just do it,” he ordered harshly, and with a last, searching look at him, she rose from the bed and left the room.

An hour later, Gavin was fresh from his bath and sipping sparkling champagne from a crystal glass, feeling much better. Alaina returned and related that there was a great deal of pressure on Charles’s spine, caused by his crippled legs. He needed an expensive operation immediately, done by specialists in Paris, and Briana was hysterical.

She settled herself beside Gavin on the divan, accepting the glass of champagne he offered. “Of course,” she continued, “Briana could never pay for anything so expensive. Charles will probably die, and I guess it’s just as well.” She sighed.

Gavin nodded. “Would an operation be successful? Wouldn’t it be experimental, at best? He’ll always be crippled, won’t he?”

Alaina shrugged. Sickness was so depressing, and poor people were always a burden. “The doctors here told Briana that Paris was the only answer. With surgery, they might even be able to make it possible for Charles to get around on crutches.”

“Is Briana at the hospital now?” he asked.

“Yes,”
she said, and her eyes suddenly narrowed. “Why all these questions about that boy? I should think you’d have better things on your mind, Gavin.
We
have troubles, too.”

Gavin moved his arm along the back of the divan until it was around Alaina’s shoulders. He pulled her close. “I
do
have better things on my mind, my dearest. This.”