Free Lips That Touch Mine by Wendy Lindstrom Page B

the eye. "Write a note for me."
    "What?"
    She released the door knob and rushed to the
table. She took a pen from a crystal inkwell and thrust it at him.
"Let your handwriting prove that you didn't write the note." She
pushed a sheaf of paper in front of him.
    His eyes flared with anger, but he bent over
the table.
    With bold, angry slashes, he wrote on the
paper, then tossed the pen down.
    Claire studied the slant of his writing. The
author of the original note had slanted the top of his letters to
the left.
    Boyd's slanted right. His script was bolder
and more controlled than the script in the note she'd received.
    But her heart stuttered as she read his
scribbled words.
     
    I'm not leaving until you stop questioning my
integrity.
     
    She cursed herself for being foolish. Without
her gun, there was no way to evict Boyd Grayson from her home. Why
had she been so rash to challenge him? Had she wanted to believe
him innocent because she was beginning to like and respect his
brother? Because she suspected there was more to Boyd than the
rakehell he seemed to be?
    Sailor nosed her thigh, and she reached down
to stroke his half-mast ears. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult
you."
    "Then you believe I'm innocent?" She didn't
know what to believe, but couldn't voice the truth. "Your writing
is different from the script on the note."
    "I could have purposely changed my script—is
that what you're thinking?"
    Her fingers trembled as she pressed them to
her nauseous stomach. "I don't know what to think."
    "For God's sake, Claire." He gaped at her.
"Do you honestly believe I would hurt you?"
    She didn't answer.
    He moved toward her, and his shoulder
collided with the edge of the door. He elbowed it closed.
    The loud slam made her recoil. She backed
away from him, willing to agree with anything he said to get him
out of her house. She didn't know him. She didn't know what he was
capable of. A cruel, calculating man could be lurking behind his
handsome face.
    Tremors snaked through her stomach, and she
struggled to keep her breathing even. "I...I don't want anyone in
my house right now." She pointedly reached for the doorknob to show
him out.
    He clapped his hand over hers and trapped it.
"I didn't threaten you."
    She pulled away. "Then who did?"
    He stepped around his dog, trapping her in a
narrow space between his tall, hard body and the wall. "I don't
know, but it wasn't me."
    She tried to move past him, but he blocked
her escape.
    His nearness smothered her. Her chest jerked
with quick, consuming breaths. Jack had stalked her like this,
torturing her with his cat-and-mouse games. He'd always won.
    And she'd always lost in the most humiliating
and painful way possible.
    As if the dog sensed her distress, he wheezed
and pushed against her side, effectively blocking her exit from one
direction. The wall was at her back. Boyd was directly in front of
her. The kitchen door, her only escape, was to her right.
    To her shame a whimper of panic squeezed from
her throat as she planted her palms against Boyd's chest and shoved
him aside. She bolted for the door and yanked it open. The scuffle
behind her sent ice through her veins as she sprinted into the
woodshed.
    A second later Boyd's strong arms clamped
around her waist, and the sound of her own scream filled her ears.
It was useless to fight. She knew that. But she fought anyway.
    o0o
    "What the...?" Boyd stared in shock at the
wild, gasping woman in his arms.
    Her futile struggles and frightened
whimpering wrung his heart.
    She gasped and tried to wiggle out of his
arms.
    He tightened his grip. "I'm not going to hurt
you. Shhhh...I won't hurt you, Claire." He kept his grip firm,
holding her back to his chest as she struggled against him. "Easy.
I'm not going to hurt you. Stop fighting me, and I'll let you
go."
    She stilled, but her chest jerked with every
frightened breath she drew.
    "I want to talk to you. That's all."
    He felt the tension rippling through her
stiff body.
    "I'm only