Real Men Don't Break Hearts (3 page)

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.”

“
Ally
still lives here.” He waited for Seth to say something, but his cousin’s silence turned a little sullen. “You do still remember who Ally is, don’t you? She’s the girl you didn’t have the guts to face, the girl you left standing at the altar—”

“Okay, you don’t have to go on and on. And by the way, technically I didn’t leave her at the altar; she was in the back office or something. It wasn’t like she was waiting for me at the altar in front of everyone.”

If they’d been talking in person, Nate would have hit his cousin. He’d heard several justifications as to why Seth had left his bride-to-be without a word, but never one so lame. “You can spin it all you want, but the fact is you don’t treat someone like that.”

Seth heaved a heavy sigh. “Yeah, yeah, but you didn’t like Ally anyway. You were glad we didn’t get married.”

“You did the wrong thing, and you know it.” He bit out each word. “And how do you think Ally will feel when she hears you’re marrying Paige right here in Burronga?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows already,” Seth gloomily replied. “Paige told her mother a couple of days ago, and apparently Crystal’s been working the phones nonstop. The whole town probably knows by now.”

Nate’s stomach made a bilious nosedive. The memory of his encounter with Ally in her gift shop seared through his brain cells. Had she already heard about Seth’s wedding? He recalled her blazing blue eyes, her voice cracking, the soap flying past his head… Yes, she’d known, all right. And what had he called her? A prissy Goody Two-shoes? He winced. She certainly wasn’t that girl anymore, not by the way she’d sparked and flared as she’d hurled the soap at him. With her hair tumbling around her flushed cheeks she’d looked anything but prissy. In fact, she’d looked kind of appealing. And now she had even more reason to hate his guts. What kind of bad karma had connived to make him walk into her shop as the new landlord just when she’d learned the fiancé who’d jilted her was marrying someone else, and in the same town?

“You’re not going to use the same church, are you?” he asked.

“God knows. You know women and weddings. As soon as we decided on the date, Paige was off and running. She’s got a whole file of what she wants—the dress, flowers, cake…jeez, everything. Apparently all her friends have wedding files, too. Did you know women do this?”

“Not the women I date,” Nate retorted.

Seth sighed. “Well, it’s out of my hands now. All I have to do is turn up on the day.”

Silence built between them, prickly, uncomfortable. “You know how I feel about marriage, so I won’t bore you again,” Nate said. He was reluctant to ask the next question, but he brought it up anyway. “Are you sure you want to marry Paige?”

“Yeah, mate, I do.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but neither of them could be accused of being sensitive new-age guys. He didn’t ask Seth if he was in love with Paige. Didn’t want to know, didn’t trust the answer. He’d never been in love, so what could he add? Paige was an attractive young woman, but he’d never really clicked with her. For him she was too spoiled, too sure of herself. She was like a million other women he knew, and privately he wasn’t sure what Seth saw in her. But it wasn’t his problem—he wasn’t marrying her.

There was only one more question he needed to ask his cousin.

“So,” he said. “Have you told Paige about Ally?”

Chapter Three

Ally shut her car door and hurried toward her sister’s house. Jess’s place was always open to her, and tonight she needed her sister’s company, but when she entered the kitchen via the back door, there was only Brian, her brother-in-law, pulling off his work boots.

“Uh, hi, Ally.” He looked slightly perturbed at her sudden appearance.

“Hi, Brian.” Ally’s gaze darted past him. Brian was a sweetie, but he was about as garrulous as a lamppost. “Is Jess around?”

“She’s still picking the boys up from daycare. She’ll be back any minute.” He toed a boot off, leaving a crust of dirt on the floor. “Um, you all right?”

I must really look strange
, Ally thought,
for Brian to say that.
He was the type of guy who wouldn’t notice if she dyed her hair blond or started wearing glasses.

“Actually, I’m not all right,” she said, unable to contain her frothing emotions any longer. “I’ve had some bad news this afternoon that’s really got me worried. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it.”

Brian stood, alarm spreading across his blunt features. “Oh yeah, the wedding. We heard about that.”

“You did? Already?” She blinked at him in surprise.

“Your nana called Jess this afternoon…”

“Nana! I should have guessed.” Her grandma lived nearby in a retirement village, a hotbed of gossip, so by now the news would be halfway across the continent.

A rubber toy squeaked under Brian’s foot as he moved toward her. “It’s bad news but, um, these things happen…” He listed from side to side, gave her an awkward little pat on the shoulder. “You mustn’t be too upset, y’know…”

She gaped at him. Brian was a man’s man. He toiled all day, played rugby on the weekends, and the only cooking he did was on a barbecue. Now, he was sounding like a Dear Abby columnist because he thought she was too fragile to cope with the news of Seth’s wedding. Because she knew he didn’t—
really
didn’t—want to see her break into tears, especially with Jess not around.

“Oh, Brian, I’m not upset about the wedding! It’s not like I’ve been pining for Seth all these years. It was a shock hearing about it, yes, but…” But she would have handled it if it hadn’t been for Nate sauntering into her shop, looking at her in that derisive way, calling her a…a prissy Goody Two-shoes. Is that how he really saw her? How everyone saw her? A stitched-up prude with no sense of humor and all the attraction of plain low-fat yogurt? Without warning, a lump rose in her throat, her chin started to quiver, and—oh, no—hot moisture dammed up behind her eyes.

“Oh! Ah…ah…” Brian shuffled about, his brow contorted, big hands flapping uselessly. He dove for a box of tissues and thrust it under her nose with a mute plea.

Sniffing, Ally waved away the tissues and swiped her fingers across her eyes. She couldn’t do this to poor Brian. Especially when he thought her tears were for Seth. They weren’t. They were for herself, for the way Nate had made her feel.

The back door creaked, and two toddlers burst into the room, followed by Ally’s sister.

“Jess! You’re back!” Brian’s voice throbbed with relief. He dropped the box of tissues and hurried toward his wife and twin boys. “Why don’t I give the boys their bath tonight?” Wedging a toddler under each arm, he dashed off without waiting for a reply.

Jess hefted two shopping bags onto the kitchen counter and frowned after her husband. “What’s up with him? He hardly ever volunteers for bath time.” Then she glanced at Ally. “Oh, no. What did he say to you?”

“Nothing.” Ally dashed the back of her hand across her eyes one last time.

“Oh, honey, it’s not so bad.” Jess darted across the room to fold Ally into a hug before sinking them both onto a squishy, toy-strewn couch. “Don’t let him get you down. That scumbag isn’t worth crying over.”

Why did everyone think she still had a thing for Seth? Ally eased out the piece of Lego digging into her butt and threw it across the floor. “I know that. I’ve known that for years.”

“Of course you have,” Jess cooed, as if humoring a fractious kid.

“No, really, I’m not upset over Seth. I’m upset because Mr. Cummings sold the building today. Guess who’s my new landlord?” She paused a couple of seconds before announcing, “Nate Hardy.”

“Nate Hardy?” Her sister pulled back, her brows drawing together.

“Incredible, right? He came into the shop this afternoon, swaggering like a pirate, not the least bit embarrassed that his feckless cousin is planning to get married right here,
again
. That’s what really got me—he’s so damned arrogant. Gah!” Grabbing the stuffed monkey lying next to her, she twisted its ear. “Nate’s never liked me. He turned Seth against me, broke us up, and now he’s going to be my frigging landlord! Of all the people Mr. Cummings could have sold to, why on earth did he have to pick Nate?”

“I’m sure it’s just a business investment for Nate.” But Jess was still frowning, and she didn’t look too convinced. “You won’t have much to do with him, as long as you pay him on time.”

Ally groaned and hugged the monkey to her. “That’s another problem. I’m behind on my rent.”

“Oh, no. How much?”

She bit her lip. “Two months. Mr. Cummings has been very understanding about it.”

“That’s a lot of rent to owe.”

Guilt coursed through Ally as she saw how worried her sister was. She shouldn’t dump her problems on her. Jess had her own concerns: a struggling florist business, two hyperactive twenty-month-old twins, a mortgage, mounting bills. She didn’t need Ally’s business woes as well.

“I’m working on it. I’ll find a way to clear the debt.” And fast, before ownership of the building transferred to Nate. “But I don’t know what will happen when Nate takes over as landlord.”

“He’s not going to evict you, is he?”

He’d have every reason to, considering all those soap bars she’d let fly at him. The memory of his strapping hands holding her wrists surged through her mind. He’d been so close she’d felt the heat pulsing from his body, heat suffused with power and virility. A frisson rippled through her. Nate was a jerk, but he was an attractive jerk, damn it.

“Nana would be crushed if you had to close the gift shop,” Jess said. “Probably best not to tell her about the outstanding rent. At least, not for the time being.”

They both fell silent, imagining their grandmother’s reaction if the gift shop she’d started so many years back were forced to close. A boating accident had orphaned Ally and Jess when they were young and left them in the care of their grandmother, and Helen Griffin’s gift shop had become the family’s major lifeline. The shop was her crowning achievement, and she’d hated giving it up when her worsening health problems made it impossible for her to continue. Only the knowledge that her own granddaughter was taking over the reins had softened the blow, but even in retirement she couldn’t help interfering with the running of the shop, and though she loved her grandmother dearly, Ally was often frustrated by her meddling. If Nana found out about the outstanding rent, she’d be bitterly disappointed, and if she suspected the possibility of the gift shop closing… Well, Ally didn’t even want to contemplate that.

Jess stood and started unpacking the shopping bags. “Nana rang this afternoon to tell me about Seth’s wedding.”

Ally slid onto a bar stool at the kitchen island and rested her chin on her elbow. “Mmm. Brian told me.”

“She’s worried about you. I’m surprised she hasn’t called you.”

“I’ve been letting everything go to voice mail.” She wasn’t up to dealing with her grandmother yet. Later she’d give her a ring, but right now she needed Jess’s calming presence. Her older sister had always been the perfect one in the family. Petite and beautiful like a china doll, popular, responsible, caring, and kind. Without being the least bit calculating, Jess had a life that pretty much turned out the way she’d wanted it—an adoring husband, two terrific children, a business, and a home in the town she’d grown up in. Sure, Jess had problems, but they were nothing terrible, just minor hiccups that were part of a very happy life.

Sometimes, when Ally was down in the dumps, she couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit envious. Like Jess, she’d had plans, too. She’d thought she and Seth would be together forever. They’d run a coffee shop in Burronga, buy a house in the area, and one day start their own family. But it turned out Seth didn’t want to marry her or stay in Burronga or run a coffee shop with her. He’d had other dreams, dreams he’d never confided, and when he’d left her, it wasn’t just a groom she’d lost but a whole future life as well.

Jess emptied a packet of fish fingers onto a baking tray and tipped frozen peas into a glass container. “Maybe you could take a break for a few weeks. You haven’t had a holiday in ages.”

Ally pulled herself upright. “I couldn’t do that. Who would look after the shop, and where would I go? It’s not as if I can afford a fancy trip overseas.”

“Between me, Nana, and Tyler we could work out a roster for the shop, and you could visit Katrina. You haven’t seen her in ages.”

Katrina had been Ally’s best friend in high school. Ally had thought they would be in and out of each other’s lives forever, but Katrina had moved to Far North Queensland. They e-mailed and Skyped often, but it wasn’t the same as hanging out together like they used to. Visiting Katrina would be great, but the thought of running away didn’t appeal to Ally.

“No, I’m staying right here,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Jess pulled out bowls and cutlery, a line still creased between her brows.

A spasm tightened Ally’s shoulder blades. “Do I look like a fragile, neurotic person? Why does everyone think I’m going to fall to pieces just because my ex-fiancé is getting married?”

Jess worked her lips, seeming uncomfortable. “It
has
been six years, and you haven’t had another proper boyfriend since.”

Ally sputtered. “But I’ve been on dates! And—and what about Jackson? Doesn’t he count?”

“Jackson ended up stalking you. No, weirdos don’t count. And you haven’t been dating much recently. When was the last time you went on a proper date with a man you were interested in?”

“I don’t know.” Ally picked at the corner of the counter to avoid her sister’s gaze. “Last autumn, I guess.” She’d gone to dinner with a teacher and spent the entire evening regretting saying yes. It wasn’t that she’d had anything specific against him, but it had felt as if she was just going through the motions, agreeing to a date just to prove to herself that she could still catch a man’s attention. Thinking back, she realized over the past six months she’d lost more and more interest in dating. It was as if gradually she’d given up on men. “He was okay, but I wasn’t interested in taking it further.”

“That’s what you always say about your dates. Is it any wonder we think you’re still subconsciously hung up on Seth?”

“We?”

“Me, Brian, Nana, your friends.”

A splinter of ice twisted into Ally’s heart. She’d never really considered how other people viewed her, but now it dawned on her that they must think she was still heartbroken over Seth’s betrayal, that her life had never moved forward after that aborted wedding day. She was a modern-day Miss Havisham, a bitter, jilted spinster trapped forever in her moment of misfortune. A creature to be pitied.

She tossed back her hair. “It’s kind of you to be concerned, but you don’t have to worry. I really am over Seth, and if I haven’t found another steady boyfriend, well, maybe I’m just choosy. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice. I want to be sure to pick someone right for me.”

“But maybe that’s the trouble. Maybe you’re looking for the man to spend the rest of your life with, whereas you should be just going out there and having fun.”

“Having fun?” Ally gaped at her happily married sister who’d been Brian’s sweetheart since the age of twelve and had never spared a glance for another man. “You’re telling me to go out and have fun with just any guy I happen to pick up?”

“I’m not saying be a tramp.” Jess toyed with a wooden spoon, seeming hesitant but determined at the same time. “Just maybe…loosen up a little.”

Loosen up a little. Ally crimped her lips together. So her sister thought the same thing as Nate. Although she’d never couch it in those terms, she also thought Ally was a prissy Goody Two-shoes.

Turning, Ally caught her reflection in the darkened glass of the sliding door. She tried to view herself dispassionately. Because she jogged three mornings a week, her figure wasn’t bad—athletic and trim rather than curvy. Her breasts were okay, her legs better. Her skin was good, but her shoulder-length hair was unfashionably curly and plain brown, not a waterfall of shiny black like Jess’s. The skirt and blouse she wore were suitable for working in the shop, but they were nothing special, and her flat pumps were practical but kind of boring. In fact, her whole appearance was washed out, unremarkable.

The crack in her heart widened. For the first time in years she was seeing herself as she truly was, and she didn’t like what she saw. She pressed a hand to her sternum as panic welled up. What had she been doing all these years? What was she going to do now? Was it too late to change?

A chorus of toddler noise interrupted them as two naked boys tore into the kitchen, pursued by a harassed Brian clutching two sets of pajamas. With a snort of laughter Jess corralled her twins and began helping her husband clothe the squirming boys. Ally watched the everyday family scene while her inner storm continued to squall. She was an onlooker. She’d always believed one day she’d have a starring role in her own happy family play, but maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d never get this part. Maybe her role was something else altogether.

Whatever it was, it was time to go looking for it.

Friday night was just warming up at the Red Possum when Ally drove past. A small crowd had spilled out onto the sidewalk, their gales of laughter swirling into the night. She glanced at the women lounging in their tight jeans and high-heeled shoes, drinking and chatting with the men, and she wondered if they were having fun. Maybe they were. Maybe she should pull over and join them.