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A Heart Divided by J.M. Snyder Release Date: May 3, 2009
Publisher: Amber Allure
ISBN-13: 978-1-60272-511-9 (Electronic)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60272-870-7 (Paperback)
Publisher Link: http://amberquill.com/AmberAllure/HeartDivided.html
Amazon: A Heart Divided
Blurb: Confederate Lieutenant Anderson Blanks has grown weary of the War Between the States. He is all too aware of the tenuous thread that ties him to this earth—as he writes a letter home to his sister, he realizes he may be among the dead by the time she receives the missive. His melancholy mood is shared by other soldiers in the campsite; in the cool Virginia night, the pickets claim to hear ghosts in the woods, and their own talk spooks them. Andy knows the “ghost” is nothing more than a wounded soldier left on the battlefield, dying in the darkness. With compassion, Andy takes the picket’s lantern and canteen in the hopes of easing the soldier’s pain. After a tense confrontation with the soldier, Andy is shocked to discover none other than Samuel Talley, a young man Andy’s father had chased from their plantation when the romantic relationship between the two boys came to light. The last time the two had seen each other, Sam had been heading west to seek his fortune, and had promised to send for Andy when he could. Then the war broke out, and Andy had enlisted in the Confederate Army to help ease the financial burden at home. Apparently Sam had similar ideas—he now wears the blue coat of a Union solider. Sam is severely wounded and infection has begun to set in. Andy can’t sneak him into his own camp for treatment because all Union soldiers are taken prisoner. But Andy’s Confederate uniform prevents him from seeking help from the nearby Union camp, as well. It’s up to Andy to tend his lover’s wound and get Sam the help he needs before it’s too late...and before Andy’s compatriots discover Sam’s presence...
Excerpt:
With his thumb, Sam rubbed a soft spot along Andy’s palm, smoothing the skin between his forefinger and thumb with a ticklish touch. Suddenly he laughed. “Remember the first time we kissed? The first time ever?”
Andy smiled. “By the river, wasn’t it?”
Surprisingly, Sam shook his head. “No, that…” His laughter lit up the light, and a wicked gleam crept into his eyes. “That was a first, all right, but I got more than just a kiss from you that day.”
Andy could feel his face heat up. “True.” The kiss on the riverbank had led to much more, and by the time the sun fell from the sky, the two had become more than friends—they’d become lovers. As they had walked back to the main house, holding hands until they reached the edge of the cornfield, a dull ache had settled between Andy’s buttocks, a sweet stretch, a lingering burn, that with each step reminded him of the feel of Sam within him.
But their first kiss, before that…Andy mulled over his memories, each kiss standing out in his mind. He counted back through them, through hugs and touches and more, until he found it. No one had spoken of secession then, and the nation had still been whole. How old had he been?
Seventeen, and Sam a few months younger. It’d been years ago, but the time spent seemed as inconsequential now as dust in the wind. When Sam had hired on at the Blanks’ farm, there had been something about him that made Andy’s heart quicken whenever he was around. Boyish friendship and innocent flirting made them inseparable, and they spent every waking hour together if possible. Andy loved him, he knew he did, but he kept it to himself because this was Sam, his father’s stable hand and his own best friend. The feelings growing within him as the boys matured were the devil’s doing, the preacher told him so, and it was anathema to dwell on things he shouldn’t, like the way it’d feel to touch and hold and taste his friend.
Sam was hired to care for the horses and, while he worked at the farm, Andy trailed along after him, in the barn or in the field, pitching hay, riding the steeds. One day while they were out in the lower field, trying to break in a couple new ponies, Andy’s mount spooked, tossing him to the ground. In seconds Sam was at his side, hands rubbing away the pain, the fear and love in his eyes so great Andy almost cried. “I’m fine,” he said, slapping away Sam’s hands as he struggled to stand. Each touch was a brand on his skin, burning him. It hurt to have to push those hands away. “Sammy, really. I’m fine.”
Without warning, Sam brushed his lips against Andy’s in a quick, relieved kiss. Then he stood, pulling at Andy’s hand to help him up. A thin blush crept into his pale cheeks, until they blazed as red as the hair on top of his head. He scuffed his boots in the grass, unable to meet Andy’s gaze. “God,” he sighed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…”
Andy had laughed. “Damn,” he drawled. “If I’d have known all it took was falling off a horse to get a kiss from you, I’d have done it much sooner.”
With a relieved grin, Sam asked, “So you’re not mad?”
“Mad?” Despite the ache in his arms and back from tumbling off his horse, Andy tackled his friend, wrestling him to the ground. Pinning Sam beneath him, he rubbed his nose against his friend’s and murmured, “Do it again.”
