Real Men Don't Break Hearts(5)

“Yes, I didn’t like you one bit, and I made no bones about it,” he continued relentlessly, “but I didn’t sabotage your relationship. You did that all on your own. And you’re dead right: I’m not sorry Seth dumped you. You were all wrong for him, and I’m glad he realized that just in time. Marrying you would have been the worst mistake of his life.” He paused, his voice losing some of its razor sharpness as he added, “And your life would’ve been ruined as well. You both had a lucky escape.”

At last she found the strength to yank herself free. A chill settled over her, cooling the hammering in her ears, snap-freezing her stomach into a cramp. “Get out of my shop.”

His expression faltered as though his conscience had finally been pricked. “Ally, I—”

“I said, get out. You don’t own this place yet, and until you do, stay away from here.”

“Look, I know we—”

“Get out!” The chill was evaporating, and everything inside her was starting to seethe again. She seized another bar of soap.

He raised his hands. “Okay, I’m going. We’ll talk later when you’ve calmed down.”

Growling, she raised her arm. He backed away slowly. Only when he’d left the shop did she let the soap fall.

…

So much for a fresh start. If he had any sense he’d drive straight back to Sydney and never visit this damn town again. But since when did he act sensibly? He’d never been one to back down from a fight, and he wasn’t going to let one pissed-off jilted bride from six bloody years ago drive him out of town.

Nate slipped into his Maserati parked outside the Red Possum and gunned the engine. If he were younger he’d have roared away as fast as he could, but now he forced himself to stay under the speed limit as he motored down the road in the direction of Robbie’s house. His house.

What was Ally’s problem, anyway? Was she really still hung up on something that had happened years ago? Sure, it was pretty humiliating to be left at the altar with all the wedding guests waiting, and Seth had been a weasely coward for going into hiding. To this day Nate was still disgusted with his cousin’s behavior. But still, did Ally really wish she’d married Seth? Couldn’t she see what a terrible match they were? And then to lay the blame squarely on him, well, that was just bullshit. Still, he shouldn’t have laid into her so hard. She’d surprised him the way she’d stood up to him. Ally was all grown up now and, he had to admit, surprisingly attractive even when she was riled.

Why did he have to buy the one building containing Ally’s shop—not to mention her apartment, too? He groaned at his rashness. Of course, he didn’t have to go through with it. Property purchases had a cooling-off period, and he could take advantage of that to extricate himself from a tricky situation. But he knew he wouldn’t. He’d promised Mr. Cummings, and Nate never went back on his word. Old-fashioned, maybe, but there it was. Also, by buying Mr. Cummings’s less-than-prime piece of real estate so the old man could go fishing in the sun, he was doing the right thing by the bloke. Making amends for the past. Even though the man had no inkling of Nate’s reasons. Reasons he didn’t want to think about too closely right now. And regardless of that, why the hell should he back down anyway, just because of Ally?

All too soon he reached his house. It was situated on what had once been the outskirts of town, but recent subdivisions meant the old timber-clad home on half an acre was now surrounded by modern villas on small allotments. As he got out of the car, he glimpsed the curtains twitching at the front window of the place next door. Mrs. Bennett, his old neighbor, being a busybody. Just like old times.

Opening the front door, Nate was greeted by a cold, musty smell tinged with a hint of mildew. A cleaner went through the place once a month, but an old house like this needed living in to disperse the ghostly damp.

Ghostly damp? Where’d that come from? He wasn’t exactly the sensitive type. Yet, walking through the house, he couldn’t get rid of a sense of an otherworldly presence hovering over his shoulder. Ignoring it, he flicked on lights, opened windows, turned on heaters. Ghostly damp or not, he was determined to spend the night here.

He fetched his bag from the car, found some sheets, and made up his old bed. Every movement echoed through the house; he’d forgotten how quiet it was around here.

When his mobile phone rang, the caller ID told him it was Seth. The muscles in his abdomen tensed slightly as he answered. “Hey, Seth.”

“Hi.” Seth sounded disconcerted. “Er, are you okay to talk right now?”

“Sure.”

“Wasn’t expecting you to pick up. Thought on a Friday night you’d be on a date.”

Oh, yeah? Nate’s mental antennae bristled. He knew his cousin pretty well. Seth had chosen this hour to call on purpose, hoping to get his voice mail, and wasn’t keen to speak to him directly. Why?

“No, no date tonight.” Just a flipped-out woman hurling soap at him.

“So…where are you?”

Nate frowned, his suspicions growing. Seth didn’t normally indulge in phone chit-chat. “I’m down in Burronga.”

A half-strangled choke bounced against Nate’s eardrum. “Burronga! What the hell are you doing there?”

“Just checking up on my place.” He paused, deliberating whether to confide in his cousin. Why not? It wasn’t as if he had anything to hide. “As a matter of fact, I’m planning on moving back here.”

“What!” Nate held the phone away from his ear until the coughing died down. “I don’t believe it. Why would you want to do that?”

Good question. He’d wrestled to come up with a logical answer but had failed. He had very strong, very personal reasons, but he wasn’t prepared to bare his soul to all and sundry. Seth was his cousin, Nate had helped him get his start in Sydney, but they weren’t exactly confidantes.

“I need a change,” he said briefly.

“So you’re resigning from Praxus?”

“I’ll be doing some part-time consulting for them sometime down the line, but yeah, I’ll be gone in two weeks.”

Seth let out a low whistle. “Jesus H. Christ. I don’t believe it. Didn’t they give you a six-figure bonus last June?”

“Money isn’t everything.” Nate rolled his shoulder, irritated. Hell, if Robbie could hear him now. Money had been almost everything to his brother. If only he hadn’t been so bad at making it and keeping it.

“So you’re going to move to Burronga and what, grow tulips?” Seth let out a half-derisive, half-disbelieving snort.

“Actually, something like that. I’m going to restart Robbie’s landscaping business.”

His cousin choked again. “You’re crazy, man.”

Probably. Robbie would have guffawed the loudest, but maybe he’d have been secretly pleased, too.

“You don’t know anything about landscaping,” Seth continued.

“Not true. I helped Robbie when I moved in with him.” Weekends, after school, holidays, he’d toiled and sweated alongside his older brother. Robbie had even paid him a small wage, though Nate would have done it for nothing. That was how grateful he’d been for Robbie taking him in after their prick of a stepfather had driven him out with his constant beltings. “And I’ve completed a landscaping course in my spare time.”

“Burronga, man…” He could picture Seth shaking his head. “That place is the worst. You’ll go stir crazy there in two weeks, I guarantee it.”

Nate had epitomized the wealthy, fast-living bachelor for so long that he had his doubts, too. Did he have it in him to swap his Italian suits for khakis, his air-conditioned office for the scorching sun and drenching rain, his computers and conference calls for digging dirt and hauling compost?

He hoped so.

“Well, thanks for your ringing vote of confidence,” he said crisply, tiring of the conversation. “Why did you call me?”

“Ah. Well, I have some news for you, too.” Seth’s voice reverted to its original hesitant tone. “My transfer came through. I’m leaving for London at the end of next month.”

“Hey, that’s great. I know you’ve been hoping for that for a while now.”

“Thanks, yeah, I’m over the moon…but there’s something else.”

Finally, Nate thought. It wasn’t Seth’s transfer that was making him so cagey.

Seth cleared his throat. “The thing is, I want Paige to come with me, but she won’t unless we make things official, so the upshot is we’re getting married. In four weeks’ time. In Burronga.”

It felt as though a fish had swum into Nate’s ear. His cousin’s words swirled through his brain, making no sense.

“I know you don’t believe in marriage and all—”

And then he realized what he’d just heard and shook his head vigorously. “I don’t care about you marrying Paige. I care about you getting married here in bloody Burronga.”

“Paige grew up in Burronga, and she’s the only daughter.” Seth sounded defensive. “She wants to have a big white wedding with all the trimmings.”