Second Chance (25 page)

“Your woman?” Peter repeated, eyes
widening as he took in the dusty jeans and old work boots Grant wore.

“How very old fashioned.”
Anthony’s lip curled a little.

One long stride and Grant was
toe-to-toe with Anthony.  Looking down at him, Grant growled, “You better have
a bloody good explanation for browbeating Tam.”

“Browbeating?”  Anthony took
several steps back.  “No such thing.  And as for being
your
woman-”

Recognising the storm clouds in
Grant’s eyes, the way his fists clenched, Tam hurried forward to grab his arm. 
“Grant, please-”

One long arm wrapped around her
shoulders as he drew her into him, his gaze dropping to search her face with
concern.  “Are you all right, baby?”

“Yes, I just-”

“Who are these two?”

From the safe haven of his arms,
Tam looked at the two men.  They watched her, so confident in their own beliefs
and prejudices.

“Actually,” she said.  “They’re
Dingbats 1 and 2.”

“What?”  Peter looked a little
shocked.  “You can’t mean-”

“Dingbat 2.”

“That’s a little strong,” Anthony
said.

“Dingbat 1.”

“The infamous Dingbats 1 and 2.” 
Danger fairly throbbed in the air, the menace in Grant’s tone clear.  “Their
phone calls always made you unhappy.”

“They used to.”  Leaning into
Grant, she looked up at him.  “Until you made them completely null and void.”

“And let me guess.”  His arms
around her tightened a little, hugging her closer, drawing her ever nearer into
his shelter.  “These are the two dickheads who never appreciated you for who
you are.”

Both men stiffened.

“It wasn’t like that,” Anthony began.

“These are the two who never
showed you any affection in public.”

“There are boundaries,” Anthony
said stiffly.

Grant moved faster than Tam had
ever seen a man move.

In a split second he shot forward,
fisting his hands into Anthony’s fancy cowboy shirt and hauling him up easily
onto tip-toe, jerking him close to snarl right into his face.  “You’re the
reason behind Tam’s unhappiness.  You didn’t treat her the way a woman should
be treated, and you damned well don’t deserve to have a woman like her in your
life.  Luckily for me, I know who and what she is, and I value her more than my
own life.  So take your pathetic reasons and get the hell out of my town!” 
With that, he shoved Anthony backward through the tent flap.

Dingbat 1 disappeared in a whir of
flaying arms and legs to land outside with a muffled
‘whoof!’

Whirling on the hapless Peter, who
looked distinctly alarmed, Grant advanced.

“Tam-” Peter began nervously.

Grant grabbed him, twisted one
fist in his pricey shirt front and hoisted him up.

Tam could only stare,
dumbfounded.  Geez, she knew the muscled leanness of the vet held a lot of
strength, but crap on a stick, she’d never have guessed how much his fury lent
him added strength.

Grant stabbed one finger under
Peter’s nose.

“Let go!” Peter demanded.  “Let
go!  Tam!”

“You expect a woman to get between
two men?” Grant grated.  “You protect your woman, you idiot, you don’t call her
to rescue you!”  He gave him a shake that had the sparkling veneers in Peter’s
head fairly rattling.

The tent flap opened, Simon and
Moz striding inside.  The firie and the hulking RSPCA inspector took in the
view and eased to the side. Instead of pulling Grant off Peter, they merely
exchanged a glance of approval and moved to stand beside Tam, Simon sliding one
arm around her shoulders while Moz gave her head a brief pat of comfort.

Grant started snarling again,
which took all her attention from Simon and Moz.

“When you love a woman,” Grant
fairly roared, “you treat her with respect and dignity!  You shower her with
affection, you be there for her, you let her know how wonderful she is, how
much she means to you!  You take that gift and you cherish it, you moron!”  He
shook Peter again.  “When you find your other half, you count yourself bloody
lucky and you hold on with both Goddamn hands!  You get me?  Now get your
worthless arse
out of my town
and
away from my woman
!”  Dragging
him to the tent flap, he ripped it open and shoved Peter out.

There went the familiar arms and
legs windmilling, the familiar
‘whoof!’
as Dingbat 2 hit the ground.

Turning, he dusted off his hands,
strode across to Tam who could only gape up at him, and reached out for her.

After that show of testosterone
plus, she half expected him to swoop her up and ravage her mouth in true
caveman style.  Instead, he took her shoulders, leaned down and peered into her
face.  “Baby, are you all right?  Did they hurt you?  Upset you?”  The fury was
banked, he practically vibrated with it, but true concern was at the front of
his emotions now.

From outside came Ryder’s voice. 
“That’s a mighty big tear you have on your fancy duds there. You look a might
pale, sonny.  I’m an ambo - ambulance officer to you city folk.  Can I get you
a Bandaid?”

“The tear is on my clothes, not my
skin,” Anthony retorted irritably.

“We do things backward up here. 
Duct tape for cuts, Bandaids for tears.”

“What is wrong with you?”

“Goodness.  How about you, sonny? 
You with the fancy shoes?  I do great CPR.  Tongue and all.”  He paused. 
“Tongue’s extra, of course.  Even in these hills we backwoods folk have a price.”

Dee laughed.

“Get away from me!”  Peter yelled.

“Baby?”  Grant kneaded her
shoulders.  “Are you okay?  Are you hurt?”

“Um…no.”  Tam blinked up at him. 
“I…um…”

“What’s wrong?”  He cupped the
back of her head, slid his palm down to massage the back of her neck.  “Did
they hurt you?  Just tell me.  I’ll kill them.”

“No!  No.”  She didn’t know what
to say, how to say it.  His words were ringing in her ears.  The words he’d
said. 
When you love a woman.
  She swallowed.

Moz and Simon exited quickly, the
tent flap lifting and dropping, leaving them alone.

“Ah shit.”  Grant closed his eyes,
took a deep breath.  “I upset you.  I lost my temper and I scared you.  Baby,
I’m sorry.  I just saw those two drongos, knew what they’d done to you, and I-”

“No.”  Reaching up, she placed her
fingertips on his lips.  “No, Grant.  Not that.”

He opened his eyes, puzzlement
within the pale grey depths.  “Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just…”  She swallowed, scared
to voice it, to ask.  To know, scared she was putting more meaning to his words
than he’d meant.

“Talk to me, honey.”  He cupped
her cheeks, kissed the tip of her nose, leaned his forehead against hers as he
looked deep into her eyes.  “Don’t be afraid.  You know you can tell me
anything, ask me anything.”

“You…um...”  She took a steadying
breath, mentally stiffened her spine.  “Grant, what you said.  About when you
love a woman…”

He didn’t blink, just looked at
her, his expression softening.

Making her heart pick up pace.

“You heard that, huh?” His voice
was as soft as his expression.

“Yes.”  She felt like she could
happily drown in all that pale grey that now had the essence of soft rain
clouds.

“I meant it.”

“You did?”

“I did.  Do.”  He didn’t smile,
his gaze didn’t waver.  “I wasn’t going to say anything yet.  I was worried it
was too soon for you, I wanted to give you time.  But hell, Tam, I do love
you.  I’m not afraid to shout it from the rooftops, I’m not afraid to smother
you with kisses, but most of all, I’m not afraid to tell you.  I love you.”

He loved her.

As she gazed into his eyes, seeing
the love within, she felt the answering warmth blossoming up.  Just like she
felt her eyes fill with tears at the knowledge that what she’d said earlier was
true.

“You don’t have to answer,” Grant
said softly.  “You don’t have to say a word.  I know it’s been too quick, too
soon.  It’s okay.”

“Is it okay if I said that for a
long time I thought I had what I wanted?”

“Sure.”

“Is it okay if I said I didn’t
know what I needed until I came here?”

His eyes crinkled a little at the
corners.  “Sure.”

“Is it okay if I said that I found
everything I need right here in Gully’s Fall?”

“Sure.”

“Then I’m guessing it’s okay to
say that I found you here, and that rounds my life off so perfectly.”

His thumbs gently traced back and
forward on her cheekbones.  “That would be a most definite ‘sure’.”

“So it’d be okay if I said ‘I love
you’ back?”

“Tam.”  He smiled.  “That is so
very
okay.”

“That’s okay, then.”  She smiled
back at him.

He caught her mouth in a kiss so tender
if fairly wrung her heart, deepening it gradually, holding her so gently as though
she were fragile glass before he suddenly lifted his head to ask, “Is it too
early to talk babies?”

“What?”

He laughed, turning and pulling
her into his side as he steered them towards the tent flap.  “Don’t worry,
baby, we’ll take it a bit slower for now.”

Leaning into him, Tam walked
across the tent by his side, feeling like her world had just turned the rosiest
it could possibly go.

He flipped open the tent flap -
and everyone outside clapped and hooted.

“That a boy!” Farris yelled,
waving his old hat in the air while keeping his arm around a smiling Marion.

“About time, son.”  Leaning on her
four-wheel walker, Mrs Preston beamed.

It seemed like everyone in the
town was present, all clustered nearby.

Grant and Tam stopped dead.

“What on earth…?” Tam began.

“What is all this?” Grant looked
at Ryder, who was standing with his hands in his pockets and a big shit-eating
grin on his face.

“Oh, didn’t you know?”  Dee, standing beside Ryder with one of her hands in his back pocket, smiled widely.  “The
tent you went into?  Just happens to be the speaker’s tent.”

A sense of foreboding crept
through Tam.

“I’m guessing you didn’t notice
the microphone on the table,” Ryder said.

Blushing, Tam looked up at Grant. 
“Uh oh.”

“‘Uh oh’ what?” Completely
unconcerned, he looked down at her.

“Um…I think everyone heard
everything.”  How embarrassing.

“Oh sweetie,” Aunt Maree called
out.  “There’s no
thinking
about it.  And I totally approve!”

The laughter that went through the
townspeople was happy, friendly, nothing jeering.

“Don’t care.” Hooking an arm around
her neck, Grant used his hand beneath her chin to tilt her head back so he
could drop a kiss on her lips.  “Really don’t care.”  He smiled at her.

He really didn’t care who heard,
who saw.

Because he loved her.

Tam melted into him.

“Come on.”  He propelled her
forwards.  “I want fairy floss.”

“All right, folks, show’s over,”
Ryder announced.

“I think that’s my line.”  Kirk
appeared behind him.

“You weren’t here, I had to take
control.”

“You?”

“I’m a man in control.”

“You just keep believing that.”

“You just gotta love this town,”
Grant said.

“And it’s people,” Tam added.

“Absolutely.”

Happily taking their place in line
at the fairy floss stand, Tam soaked in the happiness of everything - herself,
Grant, love…it had turned into a perfect day.

When it was their turn, the woman
handing out the fairy floss refused payment.  “Congratulations,” she said. 
“I’ll never forget today, that’s for sure.”

“Pretty sure I won’t, either,” Tam
replied.

“Pretty sure?”  Grant held the
fairy floss out of reach. “You might want to rephrase that if you want some of
this.”

“What if I promise to be good?”

“Try again.”

“If I promise to be bad?”

He pursed his lips thoughtfully,
eyeing her up and down.  “You’re getting closer.”

“Listen, love,” the fairy floss
woman said.  “Once you get that inheritance, you can buy your very own fairy
floss machine.”  Her gaze slid over them to the next customers.  “What’ll it
be?”

“So, Grant.”  Taking his arm, Tam steered
him away from the line. “I think there’s something I forgot to tell you.”

“You don’t say.”

“It’s no big deal.”  Leaning her
hips back on a railing, she waited until he’d settled beside her.

They both took some fairy floss,
ate the sticky froth in companionable silence.  Grant didn’t press for
information, and she knew he could care less about an inheritance.  But still… 
“Anthony and Peter-”

“Dingbats 1 and 2.”

She smiled.  “Yeah.”

“What about them?  Apart from the
fact they’re a pair of clueless bastards?”

Okay, there was still some anger
tinging his tone.  She looked sideways at him.

“So it might take me awhile to get
over their treatment of you.”  He shrugged.

“Fine.  I get it.”

“Glad you do, baby.”

“So anyway, they chased me because
there was a rumour my rich great uncle was going to put me in his will to
receive a great deal of money.”

Yep.”  Grant broke off some more
fairy floss, offered her the packet.

“Thanks.”  She broke a piece off. 
“Funny how money makes people do things they wouldn’t normally do just to get
their hands on it.”

“Root of all evil and all that.”

“It’s only a rumour.”

“Yep.”

“I don’t believe it.  My Great
Uncle barely knows I exist.”

“More fool him.  He has no idea
what a wonderful great niece he has.”

“Plus I recently read in a
magazine that he’s found himself a new young wife.”

“Amazing.”  He took another
mouthful of fairy floss.