The King’s Alley Cat

by Lee-Ann Wallace

  She’s always been his, even after he broke her heart.

  Allison Thompson isn’t going home to see the man who broke her heart four years ago. She has an idea she wants to talk to her brother about that could change both their lives, for the better. A change that would mean she’d never step foot in Ainsworth again.

  Cole Matthews let her go once, and he has no intention of letting her go again. But meddling family, a broken car, and an old man aren’t the only things coming between them.

  Ally will have to stop running long enough to give Cole the chance he needs to apologise and explain, and catching the king’s alley cat has never been easy.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The King’s Alley Cat

  Copyright © 2017 Lee-Ann Wallace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-1120-6

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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  www.eXtasybooks.com or www.devinedestinies.com

  The King’s Alley Cat

  By

  Lee-Ann Wallace

  Chapter One

  Ally opened the door of her car and breathed in the hot, dusty November air. The sun scorched her bare skin, and the dry—almost summer—heat evaporated the sweat on her body before it even had a chance to run in little rivulets down her spine.

  Home had never felt so good.

  Closer to the coast, the dampness made your clothes cling to every inch of you, but here at home in Ainsworth, in Queensland’s west, the air was dry as dust. Summers didn’t kill you with humidity, they just killed you with heat.

  She climbed from her car and closed the door of her old rust bucket with a bang. Her poor girl had done so well to get all the way home without conking out.

  The blazing sun drove her off the street and onto the timber-planked veranda of Sullivan’s General Store. It was the same as it had been four years ago. She paused for a minute, staring at the display of leather riding boots in the front window. A multitude of memories welled up and tried to choke her.

  Cole helping her on a pony when she was five. Cole making her wipe her muddy feet before going inside. Cole pulling her boots off for her because she was too tired to do it.

  Everywhere she turned and looked, there he was, a pain in her heart, and a memory she’d tried hard over the last four years to forget. Maybe coming home hadn’t been such a smart idea.

  No.

  She was here for a reason, and Cole played no part in it. But he was one of the reasons she was here in town, not at home.

  Troy had said Cole didn’t start work at the shop until midday so he wouldn’t be here yet. She wouldn’t have to see the look on his face when he realised she’d broken her promise.

  That was if he even remembered the promise she’d made to him all those years ago. One among many, the silly promises of a child with a crush on a young man who probably hadn’t cared.

  Nor would she have to see her parents. She didn’t want them thinking she was home for good. She didn’t want them thinking she was about to do what they wanted and settle down with some nice farmer’s son and have babies.

  Ally strolled down the footpath, keeping to the shaded fronts of the stores as much as possible. Cole’s tattoo shop was the last store in Ainsworth’s main street. It sat opposite the pub, which sat on the other corner and sent him business on the odd occasion.

  She grasped the old brass door handle and peeked through the little glass window, but the front of the store was empty. Things sure had changed in there in the four years since she’d been home last.

  Ally glanced down the street. Maybe she should go home first. She didn’t know what was going to be worse, the guilt she was going to feel when Cole found out she’d broken her promise or the argument she was going to have with Troy when he saw her.

  There would be an argument, she was sure of it. She’d pretty much done everything he’d told her not to while away in Brisbane. All except get pregnant. He couldn’t accuse her of that one, but everything else? Yep.

  She took a deep breath and shook her head. Well, she was here now, she may as well go in and get it over with. Ally twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

  A rush of cool, crisp air flooded out and was as welcome as an icy beer sliding down her throat on a hot day. The air con was new, as were the two sofas and coffee table in the waiting area she saw when she stepped through the door and closed it without a hint of noise.

  Two large images on the wall behind the sofa snagged her gaze and held it fast. Troy as she’d never seen him before and beside it a photo of Cole.

  Ally stood transfixed by the photo, blown up to poster size, on the wall behind the sofa. Immortalised as he looked up from working on the back of a client, Cole had his trademark wicked grin in place and tattoo machine in hand. Her heart fluttered, the same as it always had since the day she’d turned fourteen and fallen in love with that grin.

  Nothing had changed, inside her at least. After four years away and all the crap he’d said to her before she’d left, she still loved him, but outside? Things were going to be very different.

  “You after some work?” a deep masculine voice asked.

  Ally startled, dropping her sunglasses back into place. That was not Troy. Where was her brother, and oh god, why was Cole Matthews at work at ten in the morning? Troy’d said he didn’t start until twelve. She turned away from the photo on the wall, and stared at him, her eyes wide behind her glasses, trying to decide if she wanted to run or throw up.

  Pain speared through her chest, making it hard to breathe. God, he looked good. He looked like he’d been working out, or just working. There was more ink on his arms, and he’d grown a beard. The skinny teen and young man she’d grown up with who’d stolen her heart had turned dangerously sexy.

  He lifted one eyebrow and stared back at her. Damn, she had to say something, or she’d look like a nut case. He obviously didn’t recognise her, and she didn’t blame him. The overly plump country teen was gone, and in her place was the person she wanted to be.

  “Hello, Cole. I thought Troy worked in the mornings.”

  His icy blue gaze raked up and down her, lingering on the bare stretch of her legs below her cut-off jean shorts, only to come back to her face. He tilted his head to the side, just a little, in that sexy way he had that had always made her breath catch before she’d left to go to Brisbane.

  She wasn’t supposed to be home for another month. Not until the end of December, but... things had changed. Depending on what happened in the next twenty-four hours she might be getting straight back into her car and leaving again. She already had plan B all sorted, and although she hated living on the coast, a firm in the city had already offered
her a position.

  “Do I know you?” he asked.

  She turned away before he could see her sad smile. No, he didn’t really know her. He never had. She’d always put on a front with him, been the good little sister of his best friend, except for once, and it had ruined everything.

  The fact that he didn’t recognise her cut her to the quick. Losing twenty kilos didn’t change a person that much. Nor did changing the colour of your hair, wearing different clothes, and having your nose pierced.

  “You know, I always loved that photo of you. I always thought it showed the real you,” she said, staring at his photo.

  Cole said nothing, but heavy footsteps rushed towards her, and a rough hand gripped her upper arm. He spun her around and ripped the sunglasses from her face. She glanced up into his eyes, a gasp caught in her throat, and saw the recognition in his eyes.

  “You broke your promise, alley cat.”

  Ally’s eyes widened at the roughness of his voice, but her heart squeezed at hearing his nickname for her.

  “What promise?” she whispered. Did he remember?

  He threw her sunnies on the couch in the shop’s waiting area, then grasped her other arm and pulled her against him. “The one you made when you were twelve. That’s not my ink, Allison.”

  A little noise slipped from her. He did remember. God, it had been almost ten years ago. She’d hoped he wouldn’t bring it up. How could he have expected her to keep a promise like that, after everything he’d said?

  Ally pulled at his hands trying to break his hold. “I was a kid, Cole. I didn’t even like tattoos then, and I thought I was the last person you’d want to be touching.”

  He looked away and grimaced, but didn’t let her go. The heat of his big hands was far hotter on her arms than the scorching heat outside the walls of the small tattoo shop.

  “I made a mistake,” he said. “I said things to you I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t until Dad died a month after you left that I realised I’d fucked everything up.”

  She shook her head. Was that supposed to be an apology? If it was, it sucked. She hadn’t come home to talk about what Cole had said to her. She was grateful he’d said it because it had forced her into accepting the place at Griffith University in Brisbane.

  Seeing Cole while she was home hadn’t played any part in her plan, not after he’d so clearly told her how he felt about her four years ago.

  “I’m sorry about your dad, but I didn’t come home to see you. I came home to see Troy.”

  Cole shook his head. “I don’t care about Dad. I hated him, and I know you’re not here to see me, but I’m not going to let you leave without hearing me out.”

  She raised one eyebrow at him. Pushy bastard. Fine, he could say what he wanted to say, and she’d leave. “So talk.”

  But he didn’t start talking. He pulled her tighter against him, against the hard length of his torso and wrapped his arms around her, delving one hand into her hair and pressing her cheek against his chest.

  Ally stopped breathing. What the hell? This was not the Cole Matthews she remembered.

  “Thank you,” he murmured into the top of her head.

  “For what?” she asked, her arms hanging limply by her side.

  Her heart squeezed. He was too close, too warm, and whatever cologne or deodorant he was wearing smelled like citrus and spice. Ally’s body heated in the cool air-conditioned shop, her heart pounding.

  “For giving me the chance to apologise. I was an arsehole, alley cat, and I went about things all wrong. I should have explained the situation we were in, and let you decide what you wanted to do. Instead, I hurt you and drove you away.”

  She stared across the room, hearing his heart thump a rapid beat under her ear. Why was Cole’s heart racing?

  “Explained what? You said everything you needed to say, Cole. I mistook your affection for more than it was and made an idiot of myself.”

  He squeezed her tighter. “You didn’t make a mistake, Ally. I lied to you.”

  Her heart stopped she was sure, then it joined Cole’s in racing so fast it felt like it was about to explode.

  She clung to Cole’s t-shirt at the waist, needing something to hang on to now that he’d pulled her world out from under her feet.

  “Lied how?” she whispered.

  Cole gripped her shoulders and pushed her back. Ally looked up to find him looking down at her with an expression on his face she’d never seen before.

  “Cole?”

  “Before I tell you, I want you to understand why I did it. Maybe if you understand, you won’t want to rip my balls off before you leave and don’t ever come back.”

  Ally raised one eyebrow. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, then talk. All I’m hearing from you is evasions.”

  His eyebrows rose. “What did they teach you at that fancy Uni, alley cat? How to be pushy?”

  There was the Cole she’d known all her life. The smart arse who preferred to be sarcastic and make jokes instead of talk about what mattered. She shoved at him and pulled away.

  Cole made a grab for her, and Ally evaded him as she rounded the furniture on the way to the door. Stupid arse. If he wasn’t going to be serious, he could go jump in the lake. But he slammed a hand against the door, stopping her from leaving.

  “I told you, I’m not gonna let you go until you’ve heard me out.”

  He was so close behind her she could feel the heat of his body down her back like a blanket. God, he was potent, like an aphrodisiac in the air. One sniff and the need to be touched shot through her like she’d never been held before.

  She yanked on the door, pulling it open a bare inch only to have Cole slam it closed. She felt like she was seventeen again, and she was about to tell him how she felt. She’d never forget the way he’d told her she was just the fat kid sister of his best mate, and he wasn’t interested in anything she could offer him.

  God, she was such an idiot. It didn’t matter what he wanted to say. Nothing would change what had happened in the past.

  “Let go, Cole. I’ve changed my mind, I don’t want to hear whatever it is you want to say,” Ally demanded.

  Rough hands spun her around, ripping a cry from her. Cole pressed her up against the wall beside the door and pinned her in place with his hips and a muscular thigh between her legs.

  “You’re not fuckin’ leaving, Ally.”

  Ally shoved against his chest. “Arsehole, let me go!”

  “Yeah, that’s right. I am an arsehole.” He slid his hands down her arms to her wrists and pinned them against the wall above her head. “You’re going to listen, alley cat, even if I have to force you to.”

  She glared at him, and a slow sexy smirk tilted one corner of his lips up.

  “And how do you plan to do that?” she demanded.

  His smirk turned into a grin. “Like this.”

  Chapter Two

  Her eyes widened as his head descended towards hers. Oh God, was he going to kiss her? Ally gasped, her lips parting when Cole’s brushed hers. He took the opportunity and dove in.

  He tasted like fresh mint, and the soft slide of his tongue against hers sent a cascade of heat shooting through her. She’d dreamed of this, being right here in Cole’s arms kissing him like her life depended on it. But none of her fantasies could have prepared her for the devastation he would wreak with one simple kiss.

  If the men Ally had kissed in the past were good, then Cole was a master. When she tried to turn away, he grasped her chin and forced her to take everything he gave, and to give everything she had.

  Ally felt like Cole had turned her world inside out and upside down. She wanted to run, but she wanted more than anything for this to be real and not some kind of painful game he was playing with her.

  She wanted it to go on forever, to feel the soft brush of his beard against her chin, and the wet slide of his tongue as he stroked hers and tempted her into tasting him
back. She wriggled, wanting to slip her hands into his hair and hold him to her so he could never leave, so this moment would go on forever.

  “I guess something better came along and you decided you weren’t in love with Ally after all.” Troy’s voice came from the back of the store.

  Cole ripped his lips from hers and said, “Troy, shut the fuck up!”

  Ally licked her lips and frowned. She peeked over Cole’s shoulder and found her brother standing in the doorway between the waiting area and the back of the shop. Did Troy just say Cole loved her?

  His gaze fell on her, and he frowned for a moment before his eyebrows rose, and he grinned at her. “So I take it you explained how much of an idiot you were, Cole, and Ally forgave you?”

  Cole let her go and turned towards Troy. “I told you to shut the fuck up before you ruin everything.”

  Her brother scowled back at Cole. “Mate, you’ve been burning my ears with how much you regretted what you did for four years. I’ve had to put up with you going on about Ally and how much you love her. She isn’t going to forgive you if you keep acting like an arsehole.”

  Ally stared at her brother. There it was again. He’d said Cole loved her.

  Had he known that Cole loved her and regretted what he’d said for four years? In all the phone calls she’d had with him over the last four years to tell him how she was going in the big city, he’d never said a thing.

  And Cole...

  He’d loved her all this time and never rang her once to tell her or to explain, but he expected her to forgive him? After four years?

  She shoved Cole with everything she had and sent him stumbling forwards, straightened her spine and lifted her chin. She’d spent four years pretending she wasn’t walking around with a broken heart. She could do it for the two minutes it would take her to get out of there.

  Ally yanked the door open beside her, and slipped out, pulling the door shut before either man could stop her.