It was sweet of Jenna to include Tansy but sometimes seeing Jenna’s little family just made the whole thing with Bradley that much more painful. That’s what she had wanted. That’s what she had thought she was getting. “Let me see where I am.”
“What you need is a good healthy dose of a real man.”
In a moment of spectacular timing, Rooster McFie practically crowed from his spot across the restaurant/bar/pool hall. The shock of red hair and beard weren’t the only aspects that had earned him the Rooster moniker. He had the most disconcerting habit of almost crowing when he was excited. Dear God, she couldn’t imagine what he must be like when he was in the throes of sexual fulfillment. Ugh. It was one of those things she really didn’t want to imagine but crowded into her brain regardless.
Truthfully, she was all kinds of open to a sweet, gentle knight showing up on a figurative white steed—yes, she was a hopeless romantic—but she simply wasn’t seeing that happening in a small town in the middle of Alaska.
“I’m not holding my breath.”
Jenna looked past Tansy, and a slow smile bloomed on her face. “Don’t look now, but I believe that man is just what the doctor ordered.”
Don’t look now had to be one of the worst phrases because it fairly begged you to do just that.
She looked… and couldn’t seem to look away as something hot and real and slightly dangerous seemed to slam into her and through her, leaving her breathless and shaken.
Tansy didn’t know who he was, but she definitely knew, at first glance, precisely what he was—tall, lean, dark, wounded, inaccessible and somewhere the other side of sexy.
She finally looked away, feeling flushed and disheveled, as if he’d touched her, run his fingers through her hair, brushed against her skin, marked her in some way.
She also knew exactly what he wasn’t. This stranger was definitely no gentle knight on a white steed.
2
LIAM SCANNED THE ROOM for Bull. Sixteen years wouldn’t render his uncle unrecognizable. Even though he wasn’t a tall or loud man, Bull Swenson was a man of presence. Gus’s was nearly full, though, so Liam continued to search the crowded room.
And then, suddenly he saw her midscan, across the room. The hair on the back of his neck stood at attention. Short dark hair. Glasses. Slightly round face. Average height. Lavender T-shirt. Her eyes locked with his.
It was as if everything slowed down inside him, the same way it did when he was about to take a shot. His heart rate slowed. His breath stilled for several counts.
And then she turned around and the rest of the room came back into focus. He wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened, but something had. He felt shaken and there was very little that shook his composure. It was as if she’d sighted him in her crosshairs.
He mentally shook his head, dismissing the feeling, and continued his scan. Bull. Four o’clock. At the bar.
Bull looked Liam’s way and without a word to the guy sitting next to him, stood. Liam met his uncle halfway. Bull’s handshake turned into a one-armed hug. “You made it.”
There was a whole hell of a lot that went unsaid in those three words. Bull wasn’t just talking about Liam arriving in Good Riddance. It was an acknowledgment from one soldier who’d survived combat to another.
“I did.”
“I’m glad you’re here. It’s a good place to be.”
For the first time in a long time Liam felt as if he could exhale, at least a little. He still didn’t know what the hell he was going to do with his life but for now, being here felt right.
“Yeah, it seems to have treated you well.”
Liam had seen some things—terrible things, but it was nothing compared to Bull’s experience. As a POW in Vietnam, Bull had been to hell and back.
Bull grinned. “Can’t complain, can’t complain. Nice job on that mission. How’s the leg?”
Liam shrugged it off. “Not a problem.” The only problem had been when they’d been patching up what was little more than a flesh wound they’d found his faulty heart valve. That was the damned problem, not his leg.
Bull simply nodded and moved on to ask, “You hungry?”
Liam grinned. “Damn near starving.”
“Then belly up to the bar and we’ll feed you while you meet everyone.”
Throughout the entire exchange with Bull, Liam had had an undercurrent of awareness, always sensing the presence of the woman sitting in the booth to his left. He would find out who she was, but he’d wait until Bull had made introductions and see if one was forthcoming. Two characteristics had been honed by his training, his instinct and patience. He could wait, but in the meantime he was cognizant of her.
Several minutes later he felt as if he’d met damn near everyone in the joint… except her. However, the blonde at the booth with her, a woman named Jenna, had stopped by on her way out. Liam now knew the other woman’s name. Tansy. Tansy Wellington. She was Jenna’s sister and was here visiting from Chattanooga.
He’d never met anyone named Tansy. But he’d also never reacted that way to a woman, either. In an instant she’d slid beneath his skin. It wasn’t as if his guard was down because his guard was a permanent fixture. Nope, she’d just slipped in, marched straight through and set up camp. He didn’t like it a damn bit.
A tall, raw-boned woman plunked a plate heaped with a healthy portion of potpie on the counter before him. “Thanks,” he said with a nod, picking up his spoon. He turned to Bull. “So, congratulations. Merilee says the two of you tied the knot.”
He took a bite. The potpie was damn good.
“Yep. When you find a good woman you’ve got to hold on to her, even if you have to spend twenty-something years to pin her down.”
Liam spoke frankly to Bull. They’d always had that kind of relationship, even though they didn’t see each other often. Both of them were straight shooters. “I’m surprised you and Merilee married after all this time.”
“Yeah? Well, that’s because the crazy woman was still married, but just hadn’t mentioned that minor detail. Hell, I’ve been trying to marry her since I met her. When you find a good one you have to keep her.”
“No kidding? She was still married?”
“Yep. Her old man wouldn’t give her a divorce. Picture an asshole with control issues. She kept thinking she’d get a divorce at any time and then it just became a thing. He showed up a couple of years ago engaged to Jenna, the woman who just left.”
Jenna had mentioned her husband and a baby. “Merilee’s ex lives here and they just had a kid?”
“Hell, no. Merilee ran his ass out on the rails once she got her paperwork signed.” He grinned and nodded his satisfaction with his woman’s actions. “Jenna decided to stay. She married a guy she knew from high school last year. Nice fellow. Speaking of marriage and divorce, sorry to hear about Natalie.”
“How’d you know about Natalie?”
“Dirk. He rolled in last September, stayed a couple of months and then rolled back out.”
Liam’s cousin Dirk did that. He’d show up for a while and then vamoose. Dirk was something of a rolling stone. And they’d had some damn good times together as kids and teenagers. Dirk was a year younger than Liam and Lars and a year older than Liam’s baby brother, Jack. The four of them had spent many a summer vacation and holidays fishing, hunting, making slingshots, four-wheeling, skinny-dipping, generally doing a bunch of fun stuff at