by Karly Lane
‘What about last night?’ Linc prompted after Griff stopped talking.
‘Never mind.’
‘No, really. What happened?’
He watched as his brother leaned sideways and picked up his cup once more, slumping in his chair and staring moodily out across the paddocks. ‘I kissed her.’
‘And?’
Griff slid him a sideways glance. ‘You practising to be a relationship counsellor or something?’
Shit. He must have sounded desperate. Get a grip, dickhead.
‘Nothing,’ Griff finally said, sounding defeated.
‘What do you mean, nothing?’
‘I mean,’ he said after tossing down the remainder of his coffee and getting to his feet, ‘I kissed her and … nothing. She wasn’t into it. She practically ran away.’
A silent cheer went up inside his head before he tackled it to the ground and pushed its head into the dirt to shut it up. ‘Maybe you misread the situation,’ he said.
‘Yeah, maybe. Who knows. Anyway, I got work to do.’
Linc stared after his brother thoughtfully. He felt bad for him—no one ever liked rejection—but what the hell was he doing chasing after a woman like Cash anyway? They had nothing in common—nothing he could see anyway. She had more in common with—No. He wasn’t going to make a play for his little brother’s girlfriend … or whatever she was supposed to be. Maybe coming back home for this long was a mistake after all.
Linc let out a long breath and cleared his thoughts. Coming home was exactly what he needed. A few weeks of good, honest hard work and he’d be back to his old self again. He just needed to keep busy and stay out of trouble—which meant staying away from Cash Sullivan. That woman was trouble with a capital T.
Nine
Cash had spent the night tossing and turning and woke up feeling out of sorts. After her second cup of coffee on the front verandah, she felt slightly more human and ready to face clients for the day, but she couldn’t shake a lingering uneasiness. She’d been curious to see if anything would happen with Griff. She really liked him, but if the bazinga wasn’t there when they kissed, then there wasn’t much hope that it was going to appear any time soon. Sadly, attraction, the feel-it-in-your-bones kind of attraction, was something that was either there or it wasn’t.
An image of Lincoln Callahan flashed through her mind and she clenched her jaw. No. No way. She’d spotted that guy a mile off. He was trouble—a heartache waiting to happen. She knew it as certain as she knew her own face in the mirror on the wall—the one that was glaring at her now. He was exactly the kind of man she needed to stay away from. Him and his sexy stubbled jaw and sleeve-busting biceps. And those perceptive blue eyes, the kind that seemed to strip back her layers and see everything she wanted to hide.
Nope, she wasn’t going to shake that particular apple tree. There had to be plenty more decent, nice … normal men out there if she wanted to pursue this stupid theory of Savannah’s and try a decent guy for a change. This was the country, for God’s sake!
Linc pulled up outside the farmhouse and blew out an irritated sigh. This had not been his idea. Griff was taking last night’s flop badly. It wasn’t something Linc really understood—so there’d been no chemistry? What was the big deal? If he’d had a less than thrilling experience with a woman, he wouldn’t be moping about it the next day. He’d be putting it down to a lesson learned and moving on. Clearly Griff didn’t work the same way.
There were plenty more women in the sea; at least, there always had been … although now he thought about it, this was Rankins Springs and maybe the area had been overfished in recent years … Maybe Griff did have a reason to pout after all.
When their mother had asked Griff if he’d mind dropping off some baking to Cash this morning, he’d stood up from the table and walked away, muttering some excuse about being too busy, leaving their mother to turn her baffled expression onto Linc. Seeing as he didn’t think his little brother would appreciate him explaining what the problem was, Linc had ended up agreeing to the chore just to keep the peace. Not that seeing Cash was exactly a chore. Still, he wasn’t sure why it was so important to deliver the woman biscuits … today.
When he went to knock on the front door he noticed the sign that instructed any enquiries to be directed to the day spa through the side gate. He was tempted to leave the goods on the bench seat next to the door, but he didn’t want to be in trouble with his mother if any of the contents weren’t supposed to be left out in the sun. Dropping his head in silent defeat, he headed towards the side gate and followed the path that wound through a gravelled garden. Inside he could hear the low murmur of voices and again hesitated. Was it frowned upon to interrupt whatever the hell they were doing in there? He really didn’t feel like getting yelled at. He was just about to place the container at the door when two women came out from a back room, stopping at the front desk.
He saw the surprise cross Cash’s face when she saw him, but she managed to smile and finish her farewells without skipping a beat. He nodded at the woman who exited the salon; she smelled like coconut oil and was very shiny. She also wasn’t from around here if the silver Audi she got into was any indication.
‘What are you doing here?’
Cash’s irritated tone snapped him from his pondering. ‘It’s nice to see you again too,’ he said, cocking an eyebrow at her. ‘Mum’s been baking.’ He held up the container.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered, rubbing her arms before crossing them defensively across her rather delectable chest. ‘I didn’t sleep well last night.’
Interesting, he thought, watching her body language. His presence seemed to make her feel threatened. ‘Yeah, well, Griff’s been walkin’ around like a bear with a sore head too, thanks to you.’
‘How is that my fault?’
‘He’s got it in his head that you’re not interested in him anymore.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘He told me what happened last night. Put the poor bloke out of his misery and call him or something.’
Cash lifted an eyebrow at him, jutting out a hip with her arms still crossed. ‘I’m pretty sure that’s none of your business.’ Then she turned abruptly and headed into a nearby treatment room.
‘Normally I’d agree with you,’ he said, following her into the room and watching as she began tidying up, ‘but you’re not the one who has to live with him, and it’s really starting to bug me. So what’s the deal with you two anyway?’ he asked, reaching out to pick up a bottle of something that was labelled face exfoliant and inspecting it curiously.
Cash took it off him and put it back down on the table. ‘There is no deal.’
‘The way everyone’s been acting, you two should be just about ready to tie the knot.’
‘Oh, for goodness sake! Doesn’t anyone have anything better to do around here than gossip?’
‘You’re really not from here, are you?’ he said with an amused shake of his head.
‘What gave it away?’ she asked sarcastically.
Linc braced his arms on the side of the bed behind him and gave her a slow grin. ‘The fact that you’re surprised people are talking about you. Haven’t you ever lived in a small country town before?’
‘No.’
‘Huh,’ he said, as though turning this unusual prospect over in his mind, before pushing away from the bed and moving across to the table as something else caught his eye. ‘What the hell kind of kinky torture instrument is this?’ he asked, looking perplexed at the plier-shaped plastic gadget.
‘It’s a sculpturing tool for brows. Look, thanks for dropping this over, but I have to get the room set up for the next client.’
‘Okay, fine,’ he said, replacing the instrument before turning back to face her and catching a subtle blend of lime and vanilla, ‘but just do me a favour.’ She looked up at him, and her eyes seemed more muted today, the colour more fern-tree green in the centre. He swallowed and tried to concentrate on what he’d started saying. ‘Don’t
write off Griff so fast. He’s … he deserves a shot at—’ He stumbled on his words all of a sudden. No, Griff didn’t deserve a shot at her, he’d had his shot and blown it! What the hell? Linc shook his head slightly and winced when he saw her eyes squint a little as she regarded him curiously. ‘He’s one of the good guys,’ he hurried to finish.
He saw her expression soften and then sadden. ‘I know he is.’
All of a sudden Linc wished he hadn’t witnessed this moment of vulnerability, hadn’t seen how much this woman cared about his brother’s feelings. It made him feel even worse for having a moment of complete disregard for anything else other than his own selfish interests. Her tone told him everything he needed to know. There was no hope for Griff. Linc cleared his throat. ‘You should probably tell him. So he knows.’
‘Yeah. I will.’
Linc gave her a sharp nod before turning away. He was a basket of mixed emotions himself. He felt shitty for his brother who was about to get the ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ speech, but he also felt a strange anticipation beginning to fill him. Cash would soon be free again.
Yep, he was most likely going to hell …
Cash was a little surprised when she heard a car pull up outside late the next afternoon and opened the door to find Griff standing there. He cleared his throat after saying hello, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
‘Would you like to come inside?’ she asked, opening the door wider.
‘Ah, yeah, sure.’ He took hold of the screen door as she turned and led the way into the kitchen, automatically going to the fridge to grab some drinks. As she handed Griff a beer, she watched him stare at it silently for a while before saying in a rush, ‘About the other night …’
Cash swallowed nervously and put her own beer on the table in front of her as she waited. She really didn’t want to have this conversation, but it needed to happen. It wasn’t fair to let him hold out hope, but she felt terrible and she genuinely liked him.
‘I wanted to know if you’d like to go out to dinner with me … Being thrown to the wolves like that with the family wasn’t really fair … I think it kinda had something to do with what happened … later.’
‘Griff, I—’
‘If we had a chance to do it over again, it’d be different, I reckon,’ he said finally as he looked up at her.
‘I had a lovely time with your family the other night … it wasn’t that,’ she said slowly. ‘Griff, I really like you, but—’
‘No. It’s okay. You don’t have to say it.’ He quickly got to his feet. ‘It was a stupid idea anyway.’
‘Griff, wait. It wasn’t.’
‘Yeah. It was. I was kidding myself that someone like you would be interested in a guy like me.’
‘What? No, that’s not true. Griff, I really like you. You’re funny and good-looking and kind …’
‘And not your type.’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You didn’t have to. I might be from the country but I’m not stupid. I could tell you weren’t interested after we … You don’t have to spell it out for me.’
‘If you knew there was nothing there, then that means you didn’t feel it either, Griff,’ she said quietly, hoping he’d lose that kicked-puppy look.
‘That’s the problem, Cash. I did feel it. I’ve felt it from the moment I set eyes on you. It was always there for me.’
Cash felt her heart sink at his quiet words, unable to say anything to stop him as he calmly let himself out of the house. Why couldn’t she just be a normal person who fell for normal men? She felt too miserable to make any dinner for herself, instead taking her unopened can into the bedroom and switching on the TV to let the mindless babble drown out the lecture she was giving herself inside her head.
Ten
Lincoln reversed the ute into the machinery shed, turned off the engine and grabbed his hat from the passenger seat. He’d been out fixing a neglected length of fencing that had been placed in the ‘one day when we get the time’ basket. There were a lot of those jobs around the place, the kind of things that needed doing but weren’t urgent. While he was home he hoped to clear a few of them off the list for his father and brother.
He’d never seen the appeal of farming for a living. When they were kids they’d been expected to do their fair share of the work and it had been intense. By the time he was old enough to leave school, he was well and truly over it. But now it was different. He didn’t see the work as tiresome and boring, it gave him a chance to unwind. He craved the peace and quiet of the land, and working with his hands gave him a quiet sense of achievement.
As he headed into the house he heard voices out on the verandah, indicating his parents had visitors. He washed up briefly before heading out to make an appearance, hoping to make a quick exit afterwards. He really didn’t feel like company tonight and hoped it wasn’t anyone he’d feel obliged to stay and talk to for too long. His hopes were dashed when he saw it was the Dawsons, long-time friends and neighbours. He bit back a groan, fixing a smile to his face as he came forward to greet them.
‘Here he is!’ Bill said, shaking his hand heartily. ‘It’s good to see you.’
He greeted the man and then turned to kiss his wife, Sue, before taking a seat and gratefully accepting the can of beer his father handed him.
‘Your dad’s been telling us about your new venture. Bloody interesting.’
Griff appeared around the corner, having finished up for the day as well. He took a long swallow of his beer as he listened to the conversation, his arrival seemingly going unnoticed by the others. Linc envied his brother—they didn’t all look at him so expectantly, hanging on his every word as though he was some kind of celebrity. This was what he hated the most about coming home to visit. He knew his parents and friends were proud of what he’d done in his years serving in the military, but he hadn’t done it for the accolades. It was his job. It was what all those years of hard work and pushing himself to the limit, both physically and mentally, had prepared him for.
It’d been the damn medal that had changed everything. It didn’t matter that it had been years ago, all everyone ever remembered was the bloody medal. Good men had died that day. Friends. It’d been one of the worst combat fights he’d ever been involved in—a veritable blood bath. He hadn’t done anything that every single man there wouldn’t have done given the opportunity. His actions may have saved the lives of the majority of his unit, but he couldn’t save all of them and that’s what hurt the most.
When he’d joined the army, he’d already known he wanted to be a commando. He’d had a plan fixed firmly in his head even back them. He’d wanted to be part of something bigger. He’d wanted to challenge himself. He’d wanted to be the best of the best. Even though he knew what was ahead of him, what it would take. When he’d finally gotten selected for the commando course, it was much harder than he’d expected. Nothing had prepared him for the absolute limits he’d be pushed to and the strength it would take to overcome the fears and physical pain in order to push himself and make it through selection. But he’d done it for himself—not to become some kind of hero. Although maybe in the beginning he’d had a bit of an ego, and knowing how proud his dad was of him after he’d been such a disappointment to him as a farmer had been pretty huge, but that was before. Before the years of dealing with the reality of war and witnessing the very worst of humanity.
‘You’ve done so well, Linc,’ Sue added, nodding in agreement with her husband. ‘You should be very proud of yourself.’
Linc forced a weak smile, even though his insides were recoiling. Proud was the last thing he felt. His gaze fell away from Sue’s beaming face and landed on his brother’s, catching the silent snort he gave before downing the remainder of his beer. Griff was the only person not caught up in the hype and praise. It should have annoyed him that his kid brother thought he was an absolute tool, and maybe it did a bit, but strangely it was refreshing. Around Griff at least he didn’t have to preten
d. It was as though Griff could see through all the bullshit. He didn’t enjoy the feeling, but at least he didn’t have to feel like a fraud, the way he did right now.
‘I better go and have a shower,’ he said, backing away.
‘I can’t believe you’re putting him to work, Bob!’ Sue exclaimed. ‘He should be resting.’
‘Yeah, Dad. War heroes can’t be expected to lower themselves to work around here like the rest of us mere mortals,’ Griff drawled, eyeing Linc cynically as he crumpled his empty can and brushed past him on the way inside.
Linc stared after his brother as the screen door shut behind him, the words replaying in his head. Linc thought they’d gotten past this. Griff’s resentment had started slowly. At first Linc had thought he was just being the usual pain-in-the-arse kid brother he’d always been, but with each visit over the last few years, it seemed to grow. He’d thought this visit would help change that. He’d thought that by coming home to work, it’d show Griff he was serious about wanting to help out, but apparently even helping pissed Griff off.
‘You wanna tell me what’s got you so ticked off?’ Linc said later as he went into his brother’s room.
‘Not really, no.’
‘Well, do me a favour and stop being such a dick.’
‘Me? Look who’s talking.’
‘What did I do wrong?’ Linc demanded.
‘Nothin’. You never do anything wrong. You’re the golden child, remember.’
Linc stared at his younger brother. Not this old argument again. ‘Give it a rest.’
‘Yeah. Whatever. We don’t want to upset the hero.’
‘If you’ve got something to say, man up and say it. Stop poutin’ like a freakin’ kid. I’ve had a long day and I don’t need your shit.’
‘Long day?’ Griff gave a snort and shook his head and Linc immediately bristled.
‘I came back to help you and Dad out. I don’t have to, you know. I could sit out there on the verandah and watch you bust your arse if I wanted.’