Real Men Don't Break Hearts(16)

She shook her head in disbelief. “You haven’t told her, have you? About being engaged to me and jilting me on our wedding day.”

“Not exactly.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why haven’t you told her?”

“I don’t know.” He scratched behind his ear. “It never came up. I don’t talk much about Burronga. When I left for Sydney, I wanted a clean break.”

From her. Despite everything, a tiny tentacle of pain brushed against her. “That’s a shoddy excuse, Seth. You should have told her about me, especially when you decided to get married, and even more so when she wanted to have the wedding here. What’s going to happen when she finds out about it from someone else? I don’t think she’ll be very happy, do you?”

He licked his lips, the furtive expression sliding back onto his face. “That’s, uh, why I’m here.”

Her mouth fell open. “You think I might blab to her? Is that it? I don’t know what to be offended at the most. That you would keep me a secret, or that you think I would try to screw up your wedding.” She glowered at him, his muteness only fueling her irritation. She ought to make him squirm and grovel, but the prospect left her cold. She didn’t want revenge. She just wanted him out of her life for good.

She waved him off, tired of his company. “You don’t deserve it, Seth, but I won’t do anything to mess up your wedding.”

His shoulders relaxed. “That’s great, Ally. I really appreciate it. I knew you’d come through for me.”

“I’m not doing it for you; I’m doing it for Paige. I feel sorry for her. It’s none of my business, but you shouldn’t be keeping secrets from her.”

“I—I’ll tell her sometime. Everything’s such a rush at the moment. There’s no time for anything with the wedding just two weeks from now.”

“Why are you guys in such a hurry to get married anyway?” She drew in a quick breath. “Is Paige…?” The word stuck in her gullet. Why couldn’t she say it? It happened all the time. And given the hastiness of the wedding, it was the logical thing to suspect. She wasn’t the first to think it, even if she couldn’t verbalize it.

He wrinkled his brow, looking completely perplexed. “We’re getting married in a hurry because I’m being transferred to London shortly.”

“Oh.” Was that all? “I see. That’s…good.”

“Yeah, it’s great.” With a satisfied air he tucked the bag under his arm and made for the exit. “Paige’s dad didn’t believe us at first. Thought we were getting married because she was pregnant. Can you believe it? As if we’d be so careless.” He opened the door and paused to look back at Ally. “Thanks. I knew I could count on you.”

The bell jingled, and the door banged shut.

Ally forced herself to walk over and lock the door. She leaned her back against the glass, then slowly slid down until she was sitting on the hard floor.

…

One of the drawbacks of Burronga was the lack of late-night eating places, especially on a Sunday. Nate had been painting and cleaning all day, getting his house ready for his final move, and hadn’t stopped until his growling stomach warned him it was time for a break. By then it was almost ten and his chances of picking up a decent meal were slim to none. Which was why he’d resorted to visiting the gargantuan McDonald’s on the main freeway. With the smell of hot French fries permeating the interior of his Maserati, he decided to return home via Burronga’s main street. He had no reason to take this longer route, but something in him wanted to drive past Ally’s building. Just a friendly check, he told himself. Not that he was going to stop and knock on her door or anything. But ever since Friday night he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Even when he was painting and scrubbing she was there at the back of his mind, lingering like a sweet perfume.

He cruised past the Red Possum, just about shut at this time of night. Up ahead he saw Ally’s building, a glimmer of light radiating from the upstairs rooms. So she was still up. His chest tightened a fraction. This was stupid. But he slowed down anyway.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a blur of movement, a shadow slipping through the dimness beneath the awning of the gift shop. He frowned. The hunched figure, obscured by the hood of a baggy sweatshirt, moved toward the door leading up to Ally’s apartment and pawed at the handle. Nate didn’t stop to think twice. He pulled the car to a halt, leaped out, and sprinted the short distance to the door.

“Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing?” He reached out to pull back the hood shrouding the slight figure only to reveal Ally staring up at him. Her face was pale and splotchy, her eyelids swollen, the tip of her nose pink. He drew back in shocked surprise. “Ally?”

She flinched. “Yeah, what?”

“What are you doing out so late?” He glimpsed a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag in her hands. “Alcohol?” He couldn’t hide his astonishment.

“A bottle of wine. So what?”

Her fumy breath wafted over him. She’d had a couple of glasses already. She didn’t strike him as the kind of person who drank much, and definitely not by herself. Uneasiness slithered through the pit of his stomach.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Nope,” she said, tossing her head. Her eyes held an unnatural glitter. They looked as hard as chips of ice. This wasn’t the Ally he was used to; something had happened.

He curled his fingers around her elbow. “Come on, let me help you upstairs.”

“I told you, I don’t need you.” She tried to jerk her arm free but only succeeded in dropping her keys. “Shit.”

He stilled. He’d never heard Ally utter profanities before. But tonight something had happened. He bent to scoop up the keys and in a few seconds had the door unlocked. Not letting go of her, he assisted her up the stairs. She fussed a few times, telling him she was fine and didn’t need any help. He ignored her.

In her living room he steered her to the couch, where she sank down, the fight suddenly out of her. The bottle slipped from her hands and rolled over the carpet. On the coffee table sat an empty wine bottle and a used wineglass, smudged around the rim. Using his toe, he nudged the fallen bottle under the couch before sitting down beside her.

“How much have you had already?” He touched her shoulder tentatively.

“Just a couple. Honest.” She blinked up at him, her eyes huge and hollow in her pallid face. She screwed up her forehead. “Don’t look at me like that,” she muttered.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m some wino you stumbled across.” She pulled herself forward, resting her elbows on the knees of her jeans so she could press her forehead into her hands. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I was just out for a late-night meal.”

“Huh. Don’t let me stop you.”

He shook his head. “I’m not leaving until you tell me why you feel the need to get drunk on your own.”

“Has anyone ever told you how pushy you are?”

“All the time.” He tried to keep his voice light and level. “So why are you feeling so down? Is it because of my buying this building? You should know I’ve got no intention of changing anything. You can carry on renting—”

Stiffening, she lifted her head to glare at him. “I’m good for the rent,” she told him coldly. “I’m making big changes to the store. You’ll see; I’ll pay Mr. Cummings every last cent I owe him. And I’ll pay your rent on time, every month.”

He nodded placatingly. “Okay, so—”

“Did Seth ask you to keep me sweet?” Her eyes grew even harder, her mouth compressing to a thin line. “Is that why you’ve come snooping round here? He didn’t believe me when I said I wouldn’t blab to his fiancée?”

“Seth’s been to see you?” He felt his eyebrows draw together into a tight knot.

“Oh, yes. This afternoon. Didn’t he tell you? He dropped in just to say hello and, oh, by the way, would I mind not saying a word about us to Paige because the poor woman doesn’t know a thing about it.”

Nate clenched his hand on his knee. “I didn’t realize he was down here this weekend.”

She peered closer at him. “Interesting. So you already know that Paige is blissfully unaware of me and the past engagement.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve tried to convince him it’s best he tell her before she finds out from someone else, but he won’t listen to me.” Damn Seth! How deluded and insensitive could the guy get? He had half a mind to tell Paige himself but knew he wouldn’t. He’d interfered in Seth’s love life once; he wasn’t prepared to do it again. He studied Ally’s smudged face and his heart dipped. Had she been crying over Seth? Why did that bother him so much?

“I thought you were over Seth,” he said.

“I am.”

He hesitated, not knowing what to say next. Before he realized what he was doing, his arm slid around her shoulders. She felt light in his embrace, and right, too, fitting into the crook of his arm as if she were made for it. She didn’t resist, just let herself lean against him, and as her hair brushed against his cheek, his nostrils filled with the smell of citrus shampoo and a deeper, more evocative scent, something that made his senses vibrate.