Love and Dreams: The Coltrane Saga, Book 6 by Patricia Hagan Page A

coldness that was now enveloping her once again; why did she have this terrifying premonition that something bad was going to happen to somebody?
    Just as they reached the gates of the Coltrane mansion, Colt suddenly turned to Jade and in an imploring voice, eyes shaded with worry, said, “Let’s not mention anything about what Dani asked. We don’t want to upset them, especially Pa.”
    “Of course,” Jade was quick to agree.
    She reached out to touch his hand, and he wrapped his arms about her, kissed her forehead. “I love you so much, my princess.”
    “And I love you,” she responded huskily, blinking back tears and not knowing why she felt like crying.
    They found Travis sitting on the terrace that overlooked Kitty’s prize rose garden at the rear of the mansion. He looked, Jade decided at once, hearty and fit, except for slight shadows beneath his eyes. He was not wearing the robe and slippers she’d expected but was attractively dressed in casual gray trousers and a shirt of soft blue cotton. He stood up, embraced Jade, kissed both her cheeks, and said, “You’re even more beautiful than at the wedding,” then shook hands with Colt, gave him a hearty slap on his back, and laughed. “And you’re even uglier!”
    Jade couldn’t help exclaiming, “You look wonderful!”
    “Of course,” he assured her, gesturing for them to join him at the wrought-iron table, where he’d been enjoying afternoon wine and cheese. “Just because a few Reb balls are moving around in my chest doesn’t mean I’m done for. They couldn’t kill me thirty years ago, and I’ll be damned if I’ll give up now without another fight.”
    They enjoyed a glass of wine as they told him of their honeymoon cruise. He was, Jade noted, especially interested in hearing of their travels in Greece, but she remembered he’d been there with Colt, when Colt went after Briana, Gavin Mason, and the Coltrane fortune.
    Eventually, the conversation turned to Dani, and they glossed over the situation as much as possible. Travis listened, raised an eyebrow, then echoed aloud the thoughts of all, “Let’s pray everything turns out all right.”
    Kitty waved from where she was pruning late summer blossoms, and Colt left them to join her. Travis watched him leave, then bluntly asked Jade, “Well, did you promise to raise the baby if Dani doesn’t make it?”
    She gasped and turned to stare at him in amazement. “How did you know she asked me about that?”
    He reached to touch her cheek with gentle fingertips and smiled sadly. “We’ve gotten to know each other, my little girl and me, and she talks to her old pa now and tells him what makes her heart cry.”
    “Travis,” Jade dared to point out, “I think you’ve been doing a lot of needless worrying.”
    He gave her a sharp look, unused to anyone besides his wife daring to criticize—or disagree.
    Jade, undaunted and seldom intimidated, plunged on. “It seems to me that’s all this family is doing lately—worrying about everybody else. Kitty worries about you and Dani. Dani worries about her baby. Drakar worries about Dani. You worry about them all…and Colt worries about everybody including you.”
    “That happens to be the way it is when families love each other, Jade,” Travis said a bit gruffly.
    “But needlessly? When you can’t do anything about it?” He stared at her thoughtfully for a moment; then, with his usual astuteness that never failed to astound those around him, he quietly pronounced, without accusation or condemnation, “You’re afraid Colt is going to want to postpone leaving for America.”
    “That’s true,” Jade replied softly. “Quite frankly, I don’t know how I’m going to react if he suggests it.”
    “You’re going to be honest with him.”
    She gave him a wry smile. “I am? And what, sir, is my honest feeling on the matter?”
    “Don’t play games with me, Jade,” Travis said almost sharply. “One of the reasons I respect you is your