Second Chance (14 page)

~*~

Tamara Banner was avoiding him.

It was ridiculous.  Gully’s Fall
was a small town, where the hell could she go?

Twice he’d gone around to her
Aunt’s house, both Tuesday and Wednesday evening, only to be told that she was
out both nights.  He didn’t know if it was true but Maree wasn’t giving any hints. 
She smiled, she nodded, she told him.

Apart from demanding the key to
the garage so he could check if her car was inside, Grant had to accept it.  He
cruised around town, he checked the usual places, but there was no sign of her.

But tonight he was going to find
her if it killed him.

It almost did.  He walked into the
pub on Thursday night to find Tam sitting at a table near the window with
Farris, of all people.  She was laughing, the young farmhand was joking, and
they were eating.  Like a full-on meal, not just a snack.

He felt like he’d been kicked in
the guts.  Then he felt like walking over, hauling Farris out of the bloody
chair and shoving the harmless bloke away from his woman.

Whoa!
  Grant blinked,
sucked in a sharp breath.  What the hell was that about?  Tam wasn’t his woman,
she’d only turned up a couple of weeks ago.  They’d shared a kiss and from
there -
pfft
.  It had all gone to hell in a hand basket.

Farris leaned closer, said
something softly, and damned if Tam’s cheeks didn’t redden just a little even
as she waved whatever he said away with a smile and a shake of the head.

That greasy sheep herder was
flirting with her.  Grant ground his teeth.

At that moment Farris spotted him
and waved cheerfully before nodding his head towards Tam.  She turned, saw
Grant, and the smile fell from her face.

Drawing in a deep breath, he
managed to plaster on a pleasant expression and cross over to the table,
stopping beside it to nod at them both, being all congenial and shit.  “Well,
fancy seeing you both here.” 
Yeah, fancy
.

“Not on call tonight?” Farris
queried.

“Willis is covering tonight.” 
Grant watched Tam twirl her fork in the plate of spaghetti.

Brave woman.  He’d never dated a
woman game to eat spaghetti in his company.  But then Tam wasn’t just any
woman.  And she wasn’t with him.

No, she was bloody here with Farris.

“Having a good time?” He couldn’t
help but ask.  Being all congenial and shit.

Being congenial and shit wasn’t as
easy as it looked.

“Took your advice.”  Farris
grinned widely.

Grant looked blankly at him.  “My
advice?”

“About asking Tam out.”

Oh shit!
 “Ah…”

Tam chose that moment to look up
at him.  Her smile might have been sweet but her eyes glared daggers.  “I kind
of feel like I’m palmed off, but I know you wouldn’t mean it like that.”

“Heck, no.”  Farris laughed. 
“Grant’s a good bloke.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”  Her
smile was all teeth.

Play it smooth.  Play it cool
. 
“You were new to town,” Grant said carefully.

“Thank you for thinking of me.” 
Sugar had nothing on that sweet tone.  Neither did arsenic.

“So, you here to meet someone?” 
Farris glanced around while waving a fork with steak on it in the air. 
“Girlfriend?”

Jesus
.  “No.”

“Oh.”  Farris winked.  “Yvonne?”

That had Tam’s eyebrow quirking. 
“She has the hots for you.  Did you finally give in?  Desperate times and all
that?”

Ouch.  Bite like a spider’s.  He
could just about feel the burn.

“Not my type,” he returned calmly.

“Who is your type?” Farris
grinned.  “Her cousin, Jaci?”

If this fool didn’t shut his trap,
Grant’d shove that steak down his throat.  “Not my type, either.”

“Going solo?” Farris looked
sceptical.  “That’s not like you.”

Grant cut his eyes to him.

Farris didn’t take the hint.  The
idiot farmhand continued in blissful ignorance, “Whatever happened to that cute
little sheila you went out with the other month?”

“She was a tourist.” Grant kept one
eye on Tam who had resumed eating.  “She’s gone now. 
Long
gone.”

“Never mind, I’m sure another
pretty girl will catch your eye.”  Farris winked at Tam.  “Just like this
pretty girl caught mine.”

Grant’s hands fisted.  God, he was
going to flatten this little prick any second.

Tam chose that moment to lean back
in the chair and study him coolly.  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

Farris looked expectantly up at
Grant.

Okay, he could either cause a
scene - not his style - or punch Farris out, toss Tam over his shoulder and
storm from the pub.  Causing a scene.  Not his style.  Though the thought was
pleasant in a darkly satisfying way.

He actually contemplated it for
all of five seconds as he held Tam’s gaze.

“There you are.”  A brawny arm was
slung around his shoulders, the heavy weight leaning on him almost buckling his
knees as Moz grinned down at him.  “I’ve been waiting for you at the bar.”  His
gaze swept over Tam and Farris.  “Hi.”

“Hey, Moz.”  Farris, gosh-darned
the happy little bastard, was all grins and good nature.  “Don’t tell me the
whole mob of you is here?”

“Some of us.”  Moz angled his head
towards the bar.  “Del, Dee and Ryder are over there.”  He gave Grant’s
shoulders a friendly squeeze.

Really friendly.  Like really
strong.  Like a little painful.

“Coming?” He looked down at Grant. 
Behind his friendly façade was a warning glint in his eyes.

Tam calmly returned to eating.

“Yeah, better let you go.”  Farris
popped the piece of steak in his mouth, managing with admirable dexterity to
speak around it without spitting.  “Tam and I plan to cut up the dance floor
tonight.”

“Is that right?” Grant said through
gritted teeth.

“Yep, you know.  Dance real close.” 
He winked.

Grant could feel the fire building
inside him.

It didn’t help when Tam looked at
Farris and smiled.  Widely.  “I do love to dance
real
close.”

Had she actually said that?  To
another man?  His vision went a little black.  Holy heck, he
was
going
to grab her, toss her over his shoulder and-  Grant started forward.

“Well, you kids have fun.”  With
an iron grip, Moz turned him around and steered him towards the bar.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Grant
snarled.  “I’m going to grab her and-”

“You’re going to keep your shit
together,” Moz said pleasantly, his iron grip not relaxing as he shoved Grant
forward.

The big ox took full advantage of
his height, width and muscles.  Grant had no choice but to barrel forward and
almost slam into the bar.

“Hi.”  Leaning against the bar,
Ryder eyed him up and down as Grant straightened.  “What’ll it be?  Humble pie? 
Diazepam? Straight jacket?”

Catching sight of his own face in
the mirror, Grant sucked in a deep breath.  Cripes, his eyes were burning,
there was colour in his cheeks, and his jaw looked like it was carved from
granite.  Not to mention there was a muscle flexing the hell out of itself at
the corner of his mouth.  And he was gripping the bar so hard his knuckles were
white.

“Hey.”  On his other side, Del gave his back a gentle rub.  “You okay?”

“He’s going to be,” Moz said
mildly.

Grant tossed a scowl over his
shoulder at the giant standing at his back in a friendly fashion.  Blocking the
way.

“Shazza.”  Ryder held up a finger. 
“A beer for grumpy, please.”

Without batting an eyelid, the
barmaid pulled a long glass of icy beer and placed it on the bar in front of
Grant.  “There you go, love.”

Luckily it was a busy night, she
hurried away instead of lingering.

Dee peered around Ryder.  “So
what’s going on with you and Tam?”

“She’s upset with him,” Ryder
said.  “He made her cry.”

“Shut your gob,” Grant growled.

Ryder just grinned.

“Not like you to lose it,” Moz
observed.

Grabbing the beer, Grant took
several mouthfuls, feeling the icy coldness slip down his throat.  “I didn’t
lose it.”

“Mate, you looked like you were
going to rip Farris’s head off.”

“Farris is harmless,” Del said.  “What’d he do?”

“I’ll tell you what he did,” Ryder
said.  “He’s sitting with Tam while numb nuts is going crazy.”

“You and Tam?”  Del looked back to
the table at the woman in question.

“Told you.”  Ryder took a sip of
his drink.  “Our vet has the hots for the sheila he made cry.”

Grant glared at the ambo.  “Keep
this up, Montague, and I’ll rip your nuts off.”  Then, remembering there were
ladies present, he added, “Sorry, girls.”

Del shrugged  “Don’t hold back on
our account.”

“But I prefer his nuts in place.” 
Dee patted Ryder’s shoulder.  “You can go for his arse though.”

“Do you mind?” Ryder pinched hers,
making her squeal.  “My arse is mine.”

“So is mine.”

He leered.  “I know.”

“I meant, my arse is mine.”

“No, babe, your arse is mine.”  He
smacked Dee’s rounded derriere heartily.  “All mine.”

Ignoring the byplay which
inevitably ended with Ryder smothering Dee’s insults with a deep, hot kiss,
Grant brought his fury under control.

Damn.  It was his own bloody
fault, he had told Farris to ask Tam out.  It was just…  He hadn’t thought…  Damn,
he didn’t want her going out with any man but himself.

Shit, wasn’t that a revelation.

“Want to talk about it?”  Moving
in beside him, Moz rested his big forearms on the bar.

Lifting his head, Grant noticed
that Dee and Del had slipped away, no doubt choosing to give the men some
privacy.  “No.”

“It’ll do you better than looking
like you want to murder someone,” Ryder pointed out.

Grant grunted.

“Look, man, any drongo can see you
were ready to punch Farris and take his girl.”

Grant glared at him.  “Tam’s not
Farris’s girl.”

“Huh.”  Ryder looked thoughtful. 
“Whatever, any drongo can see you were ready to punch and take.”

“Any drongo being you?”

“Any drongo being almost everyone
in the bar.”

That had Gant glancing around. 
The bar wasn’t full, most people doing their thing, but there were definitely
speculative glances being sent his way.  Not to mention a few glances being
sent Tam’s way.

Not one to like a scene, Grant tilted
his head to one side, hearing the tension crack in his neck as he took another,
deeper, calming breath.

“Need a neck brace?” Ryder asked.

“I’m good.”  Meeting Moz’s gaze,
Grant added more forcefully, “I’m good.  Fine.  Not going to punch and take.”

“Good to know.”  Moz studied him. 
“What’s going on?”

“Don’t know.”  Grant scrubbed his
face with one hand before leaning back on the bar.

“Tell me what you do know.”

“Tam arrived.”

Moz nodded.  Ryder took a mouthful
of drink.

“I kissed her.”

Ryder slid his gaze Grant’s way
but surprisingly refrained from speaking.  Moz nodded.

Grant sighed.  “I don’t know what
happened.  One second I’m reaming her a new one for being alone, she cracks
some shit about not being tempting and an attacker wasn’t fussy or some crap
like that, and next thing I’m kissing her.”

“To prove a point?” Moz asked.

“No.  Yes.  I mean, I kissed her
because she was damned tempting.  Tempting as all hell.”  Made his nuts burn
just to remember how she felt against him, all soft and lush and warm.  “How
could she not know how tempting she is?”

Ryder’s eyes were strangely
sympathetic.  “How long have you had the hots for her?”

“I haven’t…”  Grant caught Moz’s
level gaze, switched to Ryder’s knowing one, and growled, “Hell, I don’t know. 
Since I kissed her, I guess.”

“Must have been before that,”
Ryder stated.

“How would you know?”

“Mate, you’re talking to the man
who had no clue who his woman even was until one day - bam!  Hit me between the
eyes like a freight train.”

“We should be so lucky,” Moz
murmured.

Ignoring him, Ryder tapped the
bar.  “You want this woman?  You take her.”

“Oh boy.”  Moz took a mouthful of
his beer.

“I could have lost Dee if I hadn’t pulled my head out of my arse and realised what she meant to me.”

It was the first time Grant had
seen Ryder so serious.  It made him regard the bad boy ambo in a different
light.  He studied Ryder’s face, saw the honesty in his eyes.  Just as he’d
seen the softness and love when his wife was around.  Ryder might be a first
class arsehole when he wanted to be, but his wife came first in all things.

Well, his wife and his cats. 
Grant wasn’t too sure who fit where and had no intention of finding out.  But
he knew that Ryder would hurt anyone who upset his beloved Dee.  Regardless of
her sharp tongue and sardonic quips, he was besotted with her.

“Plus she makes my dick hard when
she walks in the room,” Ryder added.

Shaking his head, Grant looked
back at the mirror.  The reflection showed an empty table where Farris and Tam
had been.  What the hell…?

Swivelling sharply, he instinctively
looked straight at the dance floor, and damned if there wasn’t Farris grinning
like he’d won a million dollars, his arms around the curvy woman who dimpled up
at him.

The music didn’t mean they had to
dance so close.

Clenching his jaw, Grant turned
back to the bar, his grip on the glass tightening.

For once his friends didn’t say
anything.  That lasted all of three minutes.

“So,” Ryder drawled, “what are you
going to do about getting your woman back?”

Grant slanted him a look.  The man
looked right back at him, serious as all shit.

Grant slanted a look at Moz.  The man looked right back at him, serious as all shit.