Free Lacy by Diana Palmer

surge of pure power.
    Katy, sitting beside him, suddenly felt as if
she'd won a lottery. So there wouldn't be any disgrace. She'd be a respectable
married lady, and Cole wouldn't come and kill Danny. She closed her eyes and
smiled. She wondered what Turk would say when he found out. He'd probably be
relieved to hear that she was out of his hair once and for all, she thought
bitterly. She comforted herself with the hope that she wouldn't be pregnant.
Turk had tried to spare her that shame. It was one thing to go to Danny without
her chastity, quite another to present him with another man's child. She had
too much character for that kind of dirty trick. But.. .what if Turk's actions
had been too late?
     
    FAR AWAY, ON THE NORTHERN end
of San Antonio, Lacy was clutching her husband's sleeve as he helped her on
board the morning train that ran down through Floresville and stopped on a
siding near Spanish Flats.
    He was deadly quiet this morning, all business.
Still in his work clothes, he drew feminine eyes nevertheless. But he never
returned those sly glances, or even acknowledged them. He helped Lacy into a
seat and slid lazily down beside her. Deceptive, that slow movement of his
lean, hard body. She'd seen him in a hurry once or twice, and he was as quick as
greased lightning and twice as dangerous.
    "Katy will be glad of some young
company," he remarked as the train pulled slowly out of the station,
lurching with the first movements.
    "What's he like, this Chicago man she's
seeing?" Lacy asked.
    He shrugged. "Italian. Dark, well mannered,
a little shady. Turk doesn't like him."
    "Turk doesn't like anybody around Katy, and
you know it," she murmured dryly, glancing up at his hard face.
    Dark, angry eyes cut down into hers. "Turk
is the best friend I have in the world. But even he isn't permitted that kind
of familiarity. Katy isn't going to become one of Turk's castoffs."
    "Oh, no," Lacy said demurely, folding
her hands over the lap of her dark skirt. "But she's perfect for a
gangster?"
    "It isn't that kind of relationship. She's
young. She's just having a fling," he said.
    She watched him cross his long legs and roll a
cigarette. He was so capable, she thought. Always in perfect command, taking
charge, making everything all right. She'd felt secure with him, even in their
early days together. She'd never been afraid when Cole was anywhere around.
    "Why won't you let Turk near her?" she
asked bluntly.
    He turned in the seat, with his arm draped
carelessly over the back, and studied her. "Because he seduces everything
in skirts," he said matter-of-factly. "Katy would be easy prey. Then
it would be impossible. He'd be embarrassed and guilty about it, and she'd be
compromised or worse. I'd have to do something about it, and that wouldn't help
anybody. No. It's better this way."
    "You don't think he could settle down,
maybe get married?" she persisted gently.
    "He was married,"he said. "She
died. He's never wanted anyone else like that. I'm not sure he can. He likes
his own company now."
    "Like you," she said, smiling faintly.
    His broad shoulders lifted and fell. "I'm
used to it. It takes too much time and effort, letting people get close. More
often than not, they find a weakness and exploit it. If you keep them at arm's
length, that can't happen."
    "It's a pretty lonely life," she reminded
him, gray eyes soft and searching.
    "Loneliness and independence are different
words for the same thing. Freedom. I like mine. I don't think I could survive
being hog-tied and smothered."
    "I never tried to smother you," she
said, defending herself. "I just hated being ignored constantly."
    "And the one time I didn't ignore
you," he replied quietly, watching her blush, "you cried all night
long. I heard you, even through the wall."
    She turned her face away, but he caught her chin
and jerked it back around to search it, his eyes dark and fierce.
    "You walked away," she said
unsteadily, glancing around. There was no one near enough to hear