Free Lips That Touch Mine by Wendy Lindstrom Page A

the
fifteen-foot unit behind the bar. It reflected the light and turned
an otherwise ordinary saloon into a palace.
    Boyd pushed away from the bar and grabbed his
heavy coat off the rack behind him. "I'll go talk to Claire," he
said, needing to get some air before he started barking at Karlton,
or dwelling on the past.
    "Don't do that," Duke said. "You'll only
scare her. Just watch her house and see if she gets any
visitors."
    "Pat can do that. If she doesn't want to talk
to me, I'll go with you to see Donny."
    Duke stepped in front of him and blocked his
exit. "Don may not have had anything to do with this, Boyd."
    "I intend to verify that."
    "That's my job."
    "I'm the one Claire suspects. I have a right
to clear my name."
    With a lightning-quick flick of his hand,
Duke snapped a handcuff around Boyd's wrist.
    "What the hell are you doing?"
    Duke jerked the empty cuff up to eye level,
pulling Boyd's bound wrist upward. "I'm making a point. You're not
getting involved in this. Settle down or I'll finish the job."
    Boyd gritted his teeth, hating that his
brother was the sheriff. Experience told him that if he didn't back
off, Duke wouldn't hesitate to haul his ass downtown to that tiny
jail cell, a claustrophobic little room with a cot and a latrine.
His brother was a damned good drinking partner when he wasn't
wearing his badge, but he was a hard-headed son of a bitch when it
came to upholding the law. No man got in the way of his duty. Not
even a brother.
    "Stay away from Don Clark," Duke said.
    "Fine."
    "Stay away from his store."
    Boyd gritted his teeth.
    "Stay away from his house—"
    "All right for God's sake." Boyd yanked his
wrist. "Take this damned thing off me and get out of my
saloon."
    Duke uncuffed him. "Walk me out."
    Boyd whistled for his dog, then stepped
outside into the frigid December air.
    "I didn't want to say this in front of Pat or
Karlton," Duke said, pulling the door closed, "but Jack Ashier died
two months ago."
     
     

Chapter Eight
    Claire was in
the kitchen writing a letter to her sister when she heard a dog
barking in her wood shed. She pushed away from the table, then
opened the door, glad to have some canine company for a while.
Sailor stared up at her with bright eyes and a silly tongue-lolling
grin that made her laugh.
    "Did you come to beg table scraps again?" she
asked, having fed him the past two days.
    With a happy yip, Sailor bounded inside,
nearly knocking her over in his rush to enter.
    "Oh. You rascal" She turned to face the dog,
her hands on her hips. "You are supposed to wait to be invited
inside."
    "Me, too?" asked a male voice from behind
her.
    Her heart careened into her ribs, and she
whirled to find Boyd Grayson standing in the doorway with his arms
full of firewood.
    "I was supposed to fill your wood bins this
morning, but I got delayed," he said, forcing her to step aside as
he entered the kitchen.
    "Oh, well, yes..." She gripped the doorknob
and tried to catch her breath. "Thank you for remembering, but I
...I've decided to do it myself."
    "I can't let you do that." He dropped the
pile of wood into the empty bin by her stove with a loud crash. She
and the dog both jumped. "I made a promise to you."
    "Thank you, but I've changed my mind," she
said, opening the door wider to encourage him to leave. "I'd really
rather do this myself."
    "Why, Claire? Because you think I wrote that
note?"
    Heat rushed to her face.
    "Duke told me you suspect me."
    "I said you
could
have written
it."
    "How could you think that?"
    "You're a saloon owner."
    His brows lowered. "So?"
    "You have as much to lose as anybody if our
marches are successful."
    "That doesn't mean anything, Claire. The
person who wrote that note is a coward without morals."
    She stepped away from him, afraid of the
anger in his eyes. "Would you admit it if you had written it?"
    His face darkened. "I don't threaten women. I
don't commit cowardly acts. And I don't lie."
    "How can I know that?" She lifted her chin
and stared him in