Free Choices of the Heart by Julia Daniels

just enough to question her husband.
    “I read a newspaper article in the World Herald some months ago about the bootlegging here in Nebraska. The writer said how a lot of it was gettin’ sent in motorcars up to the Great Lakes. Chicago, Milwaukee, even St. Louis. There are organizations there, in an underground sort of way, which disperse the hooch.”
    “And you think our Ronnie got involved with them?” Mrs. Lloyd looked pale, having much the same reaction as Reese had when Chloe broached the topic the day before.
    “It’s possible. Remember them war buddies who came out here to visit? I sure as hell—pardon me, Chloe,” Mr. Lloyd excused his language, “didn’t trust none of them as far as I could throw them.”
    “They were just different,” Reese argued. “Streetwise. They’d just returned from the war.”
    “Now, Reese, you mighta been young, but you ain’t stupid. Them Chicago boys were no good.” Mr. Lloyd went back to eating.
    Chloe watched anger pass across Reese’s face. She was not at all surprised when he shoved his chair back and stalked out the door. He was never good at confrontations; he’d get tongue-tied and red in the face. Flustered and frustrated. They never argued, he and Chloe, but she’d seen it happen enough with his father and brother.
    Bobby crawled off his chair and followed Reese out the screen door.
    Chloe was torn. She wanted to follow Reese outside but wondered if that was appropriate anymore. Could she offer him comfort? Would he even want her comfort?
    “Excuse me.” She stood and placed her napkin next to her plate. She left the table, passed Reese’s dirty clothes piled in the mudroom and then exited through the back door.
    She found him right away, leaning against the porch railing, smoking yet another cigarette. “I can’t imagine those things are very good for you.”
    He glared at her then looked away and took another drag.
    “Hot out here.” She moved closer to him and sat on a wooden rocker where she could watch Bobby chase the chickens in the barnyard. “I like what you’ve done to change the place.”
    “It’s slow going.”
    Reese was so handsome, brawny, muscular and strong. His warm brown eyes did something to make her heart flip-flop in her chest. When a lock of his curly dark hair slid across his forehead, Chloe wanted to push it away. She longed to touch Reese…in any way. Her fingers itched to feel his naked skin again. He was her drug of choice. It was rather obvious she felt the same as she had when she left.
    Desperately in love.
    “Doing all the work myself. The porch I put on last summer. Had to replace some of the siding. I just tarred and shingled the roof in May.” He smiled. “Little by little.”
    “The house is pretty old, right? Didn’t your granddad build it before he married your grandma?” The occasional farmhand had lived in it, but until about four years earlier, it had been empty for a long time. Reese had all kinds of ideas back then, ways to fix it up, to make it special.
    “Yep. ’Bout fifty years ago. Could use a coat of paint, too, I reckon.” He shrugged. “Maybe after harvest this fall. No time to get started now.”
    She met his eyes. They pierced her heart. The heat of the sun had nothing to do with the warmth flooding through her body. His eyes were causing the reaction. She knew what he could do to her body with his hands, but his eyes—they spoke volumes without saying a word.
    Chloe stood up, as if hypnotized by his stare, and walked the short distance to where he sat on the low rail of the porch. He held out his hand to her, although the look on his face seemed less than welcoming, almost questioning of her motives. She took his hand in hers and intertwined their fingers.
    Dare she lean forward and fulfill her urge to kiss him?
    He pulled her into his arms and her resolve caved in. The temptation was too great. She leaned in to him on that hot, sticky July day and took another bite of the forbidden