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Stifling a yawn, she sat up straighter behind the wheel

The house was dark when she pulled into the drive and pressed the garage door opener Slade’s red pickup was there, parked in its usual place Good, he must be asleep She’d be less likely to disturb hih the clinic

Taking her e from the outside and went around to the clinic’s front door Her hand found the lock and inserted the key

The instant the door swung open, Natalie sensed so Heart in her throat, she found the wall switch and turned on the light Her knees eak beneath her

The clinic had been colass broken, files scattered across the floor The computer had been smashed, the instruments and medical supplies crushed as if they’d been stomped by heavy boots There’d been no anies were toppled and bent as if they’d been kicked across the room

Everything was ruined

CHAPTER 9

Natalie stared at the chaos that had been her clinic Fro voice screamed, Run! Get out of here! But she was frozen in shock She stood rooted to the spot, taking in the nightmare What had happened here—and why?

Then, as Slade appeared in the hallway, she knew

Even at a distance she could smell the liquor on him He was dressed in rumpled work clothes, his beard unshaven, his eyes narrow red slits Natalie willed herself to stand her ground as he lued bear Somehow she found her voice

“Stop right there, Slade Haskell! Have you gone crazy? Why in heaven’s name did you do this?”

He paused, close enough to cut her off from the clinic’s front door “Because you been screwin’ that bastard Beau Tyler That’s why!”

Natalie’s heart slammed She and Beau had come close

to the brink, but what Slade was accusing her of hadn’t happened “That’s not true! I was at the Tylers’, but I went there to treat a mare with colic!”

He shook his doubled fist at her “Don’t you lie to ot an eyewitness that seen the two of you in the barn For all I know, you were there with hiht”