Instructions for Love Read Online Free

stand the dove from her casket flowers in this water bowl.” Maybe the mention of her aunt would add incentive to make him leave.
    Not hearing him move, she glanced at Dane. He was staring at the shut closet door.
    “Well,” Erin said, lifting her teal linen dress from her luggage, “let’s see where I’ll hang this.”
    “Can’t you leave it in your suitcase?”
    “No, it would wrinkle. It’s gotten a couple of wrinkles already from being shoved in here, and as I told you, I’m not the greatest on keeping things neat.”
    Why do I keep chattering? she wondered, answers rapidly coming. She’d always kept her body and mind busy, and she lived in the bustle of constantly moving vehicles and people. And this man was an unmoving, unwanted presence in her bedroom.
    The staunch look in his eye when she headed for the armoire convinced her to hesitate. But only for a moment. “This will be fine,” she said. Erin tried to open its doors and found them locked. “Is everything locked around here?”
    She turned the small key in keyhole. Her peripheral vision let her see Dane moving up near her side.
    “That’s hers,” he murmured.
    Erin yanked the door open, struck by a slight mothball smell. “Aunt Tilly started wearing all these youthful clothes?”
    Dumbfounded, she tried to wrap her mind around images of the slender middle-aged woman with red curly hair wearing them. Her aunt had shopped for these pretty garments, choosing gauzy fabrics and ruffles? Some of the dresses were floor length, and some skirts would have challenged her own as to which would be shorter. Hangers held fine silk blouses. Knit and cotton pieces folded on a shelf would be casual wear. “My aunt must have trimmed down. I didn’t remember her being so petite. And just look at her nighties.”
    He was staring, especially at the flimsy pieces, some pastels, some black and some red.
    “You can’t use this armoire,” he said.
    “I won’t. There’s no space.” Before shutting her view into the past, Erin touched her aunt’s clothes. She let her hand linger on the softest pieces. Moving away from Dane, she said, “I’ll use this closet instead.”
    “The closet?”
    “Is that also a problem?”
    At least he didn’t come near her this time. “Probably not,” he said, gawking from across the room.
     
    Dane watched her open his closet. When she’d opened the doors to Anna’s things, he had wanted to bark at this woman. To shove her hand aside and slam the doors. He had peered inside that space only once after Anna’s death, but the ache was too sharp, the memories too bold.
    His chest squeezed when Erin had Anna’s clothes exposed. But she’d been kind with his wife’s things, her touch gentle on each piece.
    And now she carried her dress over and opened the door to where he stored his things.
    If Erin discovered the whole truth this late in the evening, she’d probably lose sleep after knowing of her adored aunt’s deceit. And she looked exhausted.
    “A man’s clothes are in this little closet.” Erin peered back at him, her expressive eyes extra-wide. “How touching that Aunt Tilly kept her husband’s things.”
    Dane held back the smirk he felt rising. Tempering his words, he said, “Is that so unusual?”
    “I guess not. He didn’t die that long ago.”
    “Would that matter? If you love someone, you want to keep their memories forever.”
    Erin blinked. She returned her attention to the closet. “Let’s see. I saw that my aunt had gained excellent taste in clothing. Her clothes were fashionable for this area and its heat. And all of her pieces are hanging just so.”
    Dane felt a smile tugging on his lips while she held up her own dress and stared at his things. Would she also make positive comments about clothes he owned?
    “Now Cliff,” she said, “could have used some organizational skills from my aunt. His shirts and pants are crammed together. And look down here. He just tossed in his shoes. Maybe it’s