Shaking his head dizzily, he struggled to uncork the fresh whiskey bottle. Della was a good listener, but he didn’t need a confessor. He didn’t want to end up telling his troubles to Della….

“I doan wan’ her love.” He heard the slurred protest from a distance. “I loved Doe. A man only … fines love like that onessh in his life.”

“Who says, Sloan?” When he frowned obtusely, Della smoothed back a lock of hair which had fallen over his forehead. “Seems to me, a man can love two women in a lifetime.”

“No.” He put the bottle to his lips and drank.

When he coughed, choking a little at the fiery effect, Della gently took the bottle from him. “I think I know what your trouble is. I think maybe you’re in love with that purty wife of yours and you just don’t want to admit it.”

Fury surged through him, slicing through the numbing effect of the liquor. “No, goddammi’… I cannnn love ‘er. I love Doe.”

“Doe’s gone, sugar—may she rest in peace.”

“Not gone … sheesh still here…” He pounded his chest weakly. The pressure in his heart was sharp and heavy.

“Maybe so, but you’re here with the living. You gotta get on with your life.”

Sloan squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could die like Doe had. He loved her … and yet her cherished memory was fading. He couldn’t help it, sweet Christ….

Panic gripped him. The grief, the sorrow that had once swamped him, was gone. The love he’d once felt had faded. He couldn’t feel it….

He breathed a savage curse. No matter how hard he tried, he no longer could see Doe’s face clearly in his mind. All he could see was Heather’s beautiful image, her eyes defiant and sad as she declared her love for him. As she insisted Doe was dead … that he had to forget her.

With a groan, Sloan rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, fighting the emotions that were strangling him.

He barely heard Della as she rose from the bed. “I’m going to send for your brother, sugar. He can take you home to your wife.”

“No, doan wanna go home… it hurts to much.”

His wife was the last thing he wanted. He’d fled here to escape her, to remove himself from the temptation of her body and the obsession he could no longer control.