Read The Raging Hearts: The Coltrane Saga, Book 2 for Free Online

won’t leave my home.”
    “I think we had better talk about this later, Kitty. When we ride into Goldsboro, and you have a chance to see what kind of reception you receive, you will realize that our only chance for happiness is to put down roots elsewhere.”
    He began sloshing water over his body. Kitty began scrubbing herself, but her thoughts were on the farm and her promise to her father. She loved Travis, but she had to make him see that part of her heart was here.
    It had to work out, she thought fiercely, scrubbing at her skin. She had been through too much, suffered enough, without more heartache lying ahead. With Travis beside her, she could face anything. Together, there was no obstacle they could not conquer.

Chapter Three
    Travis reined his horse in line with General Sherman’s troops as they prepared to ride into Goldsboro. Kitty, sitting behind him, arms about his waist, was self-conscious and uneasy. The other soldiers were staring openly at her. One of them, a burly man in a bloodstained uniform, grinned with rotten teeth and called, “Hey, Cap’n Coltrane, you already enjoying the spoils of war? That filly don’t look spoiled to me.”
    The others guffawed.
    Kitty felt Travis tense. Then he wilted the grinning soldier with a look. “Watch your tongue, mister, or you may lose it.”
    “It’s going to be this way. I know it is, Travis,” Kitty said nervously, clinging to him even tighter. “I can’t ride into town with you. Just let me go. I’ll find my way in alone. I know every inch of these woods. I can meet you later in town. Everyone is going to wonder why you have a woman riding with you.”
    “I can’t let you go, Kitty. You see how these men are reacting, even when you ride under the protection of an officer. They’re marching into a town they’ve taken without a fight, and they’re out to celebrate. You wouldn’t last five minutes before they’d have you stripped and raped.” She shuddered. He felt the movement and reached to pat her thigh. “I’m sorry, Kitty. I have to ride in with my men. It’s the general’s orders. Once we arrive, I’ll find a room for you at the hotel and keep you out of sight.”
    “I want to go to the hospital.”
    “I thought you said you were sick of war, that you didn’t want to be around dying and suffering any longer. The hospital will be full of soldiers from both sides.”
    “I know that,” she said quietly, pushing back a strand of her strawberry hair. “I feel I have to go there. I’m not the only one who’s tired of war. Everyone has had their fill. But Dr. Holt was understaffed when I left, and he’ll have his hands full with both sides bringing in wounded.”
    “Johnston took his with him.”
    “I know. I was going, too, when Nathan forced me to go with him. Oh, God, if only he hadn’t.”
    A bugle sounded and she felt Travis straighten in the saddle. All about them, men came to attention. They were bedraggled, weary, filthy—but at the sound of the brass, they came alive.
    As the bugle’s call faded, the men moved their horses forward in columns of four abreast. As though a silent command had been given, they broke into song. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…”
    Kitty frowned. The Battle Hymn of the Republic. They could sing of God in a battle song, as though using His name gave them the right to plunder and kill. She bristled. The song was a sacrilege.
    They finished their patriotic tune, and before they could join together in another Yankee song, Kitty straightened and lifted her face to the wind, her voice ringing out clearly. “Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten, look away…look away…look away…Dixie Land…”
    She kept on singing, every line, every chorus, and her voice grew louder and carried farther as the soldiers grew quiet, frowning, as they turned to stare at her.
    Travis wanted to strangle her. Here he was, a respected cavalry officer in