The Outlaws: Sam Read Free Page A

Andy out of this. He has nothing to do
with you and me."
    "Who's the boy's father? Is it Wiltshire? Why
wouldn't he marry you? Oh, that's right, you were already married.
Whose name does the boy carry?"
    "Mama, Mama! Rita made sugar cookies. Can I
have one?"
    The lad who burst into the room was the image
of Lacey. Right down to his blond ringlets and pert nose. Only his
eyes were different. They were a clear, guileless blue. Sam knew
immediately the boy wasn't his for the Gentry men were all
dark-haired and dark-eyed. Obviously the lad belonged to the blond
Captain Wiltshire, just like he'd suspected.
    Sam watched dispassionately as Lacey held out
her arms and Andy ran into them.
    "Can I, Mama? I promise to eat all my
lunch."
    "Of course, Andy, run along now. Tell Rita
you can have a cookie. But only one."
    Andy beamed at her. Then he noticed Sam for
the first time. "You're new here, aren't you, mister?"
    The boy was so appealing Sam couldn't stop
the smile that sprang to his lips. "I just hired on. My name's Sam.
What's your name?"
    "Andy."
    "Andy what? You have a last name, don't
you?"
    "Sam..." The warning came from Lacey, but was
promptly ignored.
    "Andy Gentry," the boy said. My papa's dead.
He died in the war. Mama said he was a hero."
    Sam stared at Lacey, his expression fierce.
"She did, did she? How old are you?"
    Andy puffed out his chest. "Five. Almost a
man. Man enough to take care of Mama, anyway."
    "Run along, love," Lacey said.
"Mister...er...Sam and I need to talk."
    "I'll see you around, Sam," Andy called over
his shoulder as he flew out the door.
    "You gave him my last name!" Sam hissed.
"He's the picture of Wiltshire. Why does your bastard bear my
name?"
    "I don't owe you any explanations," Lacey
blasted. "What do you intend to do about our marriage? Will you
apply for a divorce or shall I?"
    The stubborn streak in Sam spoke before his
saner self thought his answer through. "I'm not going to do a damn
thing."
    Anger made him want to hurt Lacey. If
throwing a monkey wrench into her wedding plans hurt her, then so
be it. Let her suffer as he had suffered. He had married her
because he'd loved her. She had found him in a field littered with
bodies after a battle in Pennsylvania. His leg had been broken by a
minnie ball and she'd taken him in and healed him, hiding him from
the Yankees.
    They had fallen in love...or rather he had
fallen in love. Her father had caught them making love one night
and dragged the preacher out of bed to marry them. He was nearly
recovered when the Yankees came for him. Tom Peters, Lacey's
father, led him to believe that Lacey had betrayed him, and Sam had
no reason to doubt him. He was told she had done it to save her
brother. Captain Wiltshire had informed them that Ron Peters was
being held in a Southern prison and so ill he might die. It was
Sam's belief that Lacey had offered Sam as a trade for her
brother.
    Lacey paled. "What did you say?"
    "You're not getting out of this marriage that
easily. Does your intended know your son is a bastard? Have you
told him anything about your background?"
    "Damn you," Lacey hissed. "Taylor Cramer
knows I'm a widow. Andy's birth was legal in every way."
    "But you're not a widow, are you? And Andy
isn't mine." He paused, suddenly appalled by what Lacey had done.
"How dare you give your son my last name!"
    "What other choice did I have? I was your
wife, I bear your name."
    "Wife, bah! Do you know how betrayed I felt
when the Yankees came for me? Do you have any idea the anguish you
put me through? I loved you, dammit! It sickens me to think how
young and foolish I was back then."
    "I wasn't even there when Captain Wiltshire
came for you. It wasn't my doing. Do you know how I felt when you
showed up alive and well today? My first reaction was shock. Then
anger took over when I remembered all the years you let me think
you were dead."
    "You were dead to me, why shouldn't I be dead
to you?"
    A frisson of guilt passed through Sam, but he
pushed it