Linc had to draw on every ounce of his patience to see out the day. Other than a few brief moments, he hadn’t been able to get Cash to himself. He’d thought dancing with her would help ease the frustration, but all it had done was remind him of how badly he wanted her.
Thank Christ the party was finally winding down—well, at least for most; some of the younger guests looked like they were only just getting started. Jesus, he must be getting old. He even sounded like an old man. He stood up and managed to catch Cash’s eye, discreetly nodding his head in the direction of the door. He saw a ghost of a smile dance across her lips as she picked up her bag and said goodnight to the few people remaining at her table.
He followed her with his eyes, loving the way her hips moved as she walked. He loved everything about her. A surge of pride flowed through him; she was with him. He wanted to tell the whole damn world—but the shearing shed would do in a jam, only he was pretty sure no one would really care right now. It didn’t matter, tonight was the last time they needed to be careful—the wedding was all but over, the bride and groom having already departed for their honeymoon, and that only left his brother to worry about. Tomorrow he’d take Griff aside and he’d tell him. Man to man, brother to brother, he’d just tell him and get it over with so they could all move on. Griff would handle it—he didn’t have any choice. Cash was his and there was no way he was going to give up the chance at a life with her just so his little brother’s nose didn’t get put out of joint.
Outside, a row of torches had been set up to light a path towards the paddock where guests had parked. Linc detoured off the path and crossed to the house, figuring Cash would have headed there to collect her things before going home.
Linc saw light spilling from beneath the door of the spare room and softly rapped his knuckles against the timber before opening it.
Cash stood with her back to the doorway, the soft fabric of her dress falling away to reveal a long, smooth back as she undid the zipper. She glanced over her shoulder at his arrival and smiled, holding his gaze as he moved toward her.
There was no hesitation as he reached for her. She turned, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her tightly against him and kissed her. She tasted of champagne. He’d wanted to do this all night. He ran his hands up through her hair and cupped the sides of her face as their kiss became almost feverish in its intensity. He felt her hands tugging at the shirt tucked into the waistband of his trousers moments before the cool softness of her hands touched the hot skin of his abdomen. His harsh intake of breath made her smile, until he lowered his face and sucked gently on the soft skin of her neck, dragging a long, deep moan from her in response.
‘What the hell?’
Linc swore violently under his breath as he looked up and saw his younger brother staring at him, a mix of anger and disbelief written across his face. ‘Griff—’
‘You didn’t waste any time, did ya,’ he snarled, his eyes narrowing dangerously and his mouth a straight, angry line.
‘It isn’t like that,’ Cash said, quickly wriggling her arms back into her dress while trying to calm the potentially volatile situation. ‘Linc was just—’
‘Yeah, I know what he was just doing,’ Griff said with a harsh laugh. ‘He was doing what he always does. Whatever the hell he likes.’
‘Mate,’ Linc said wearily, positioning himself in front of Cash as she finished dressing. Damn it. This was not how he wanted it to happen.
‘If I was one of your mates,’ he almost spat the word and Linc’s gaze snapped up, ‘you’d never do this. You and your bloody army mates with your codes and your brothers-in-arms shit. Don’t worry about the real brother you have—clearly that’s not worth anything. I didn’t fight alongside you in a freakin’ war somewhere, so I’m not good enough to worry about stabbing in the back, am I?’ ‘That’s not true.’
‘Bullshit. You don’t give a rat’s arse about anyone or anything other than yourself—you never have.’
‘What the hell?’ Linc started to protest.
‘You took off from here without a backward glance. You stayed away for years on end without bothering to visit. You put Mum and Dad though hell riskin’ your damn life. You only ever come home when you’ve got nothing better to do, or when it suits you. Lincoln Callahan,’ Griff said dropping his tone scathingly, ‘the big war hero. You can fight for your country but you couldn’t give a toss about your own family.’
‘You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.’
‘Course not. I’m just a dumb farmer. What would I know about anything? Do whatever you want. You will anyway,’ he said and stalked off, the angry strike of his boots echoing along behind him in the sudden stillness.
‘I knew this was going to be an issue,’ Cash said.
‘There’s nothing we can do about it. At least it’s out now.’
‘I’m not talking about him finding out about us, I mean causing a problem between you two,’ Cash said miserably.
‘He was just striking out. He’ll calm down.’
‘He might have been saying things to hurt you,’ Cash said, suddenly feeling overcome by weariness, ‘but I think there was a lot of truth behind it, at least in his mind. You need to talk to him.’
In the distance the last of the partygoers were saying goodnight. Linc’s jaw clenched as he replayed Griff’s scathing words over and over in his mind. What a bloody mess, but Cash was right—he had to set the record straight. Griff was way off the mark if he thought Linc didn’t have his brother’s back. He did—always had. They may have drifted apart over the last few years, but Griff was his kid brother. He’d just explain, rationally and calmly, about Cash. She wasn’t just some chick he’d hooked up with. She was important.
Linc’s footsteps slowed as he heard a rhythmic sound and rounded the corner of the huge machinery shed, yellow light spilling out into the darkness, to find Griff pounding a tyre rim out of a tractor tyre with a large mallet. He’d wanted to wait till tomorrow, let Griff cool down a bit, but Cash had been so upset about coming between the two of them and he couldn’t stand the torment he saw in her eyes. It had to be done tonight.
He saw Griff glance up as he approached and pause mid-stroke before hitting the tyre with even more force. His chest was bare but he still wore his dress pants from the wedding. Jumping down, holding the handle of the long mallet with one hand, he wiped his brow with the other and gave Linc a steely-eyed glare. ‘Here to gloat?’
‘Don’t be a dick,’ Linc started, then regretted it when he saw the fury mount in his younger brother’s eyes.
‘Me be a dick?’ he yelled. ‘I’m not the one who swooped in on his own brother’s girlfriend.’
‘She wasn’t your girlfriend,’ Linc protested.
‘It doesn’t matter. You knew I liked her.’
‘Yeah, I did. And I’m sorry, all right? I swear, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere near her. It just … happened.’
‘You accidentally tripped over and fell into her bed?’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘It was exactly like that. How long has it been going on for?’
‘It doesn’t make any difference.’
‘How long, Linc?’ Griff demanded, squaring his body towards him.
‘A few weeks.’
‘Weeks! Are you shitting me?’
‘Look, we didn’t want to cause a problem with the wedding coming up.’
‘You two have been sneakin’ around behind my back for weeks!’ He gaped at Linc, fury in his eyes. ‘You stood there and listened to me tell you how I thought I still had a shot with her at Christmas. Guess that must have given you a laugh.’
‘Not really, no. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell you.’
‘Why the hell not?’
‘Because you’re my brother and I didn’t want to hurt you!’
‘So you just let me make a fool of myself instead. Thanks a lot.’
‘Aw, come on, Griff, how would it have been any better if I’d said anything? We’d be doing this exact thing on Christmas Day and Dad would have skinned us both alive for getting Mum upset.’
‘I’m so sick of your shit, Linc.’
‘My shit? What about yours?’ Linc shot back. ‘You’ve been moping around the place, takin’ out your bad mood on everyone for weeks and giving me nothing but a hard time. I’ve been bustin’ my arse around here trying to help.’
‘No one asked you to come home and work.’
‘No one had to. Last time I checked I was part of this family too.’
‘When it suits, right?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘When was the last time you gave a shit about this place?’
‘What are you talkin’ about? I’ve always cared about Stringybark.’
‘Bullshit. You couldn’t wait to leave. When was the last time you stayed up all night harvesting? Or mustered sheep in the rain to get them to higher ground during a flood? Or watched Mum and Dad stress over paying bills? You think spending a few days out there fixin’ a bloody fence makes you part of this place?’ he asked disdainfully.
‘I never claimed farming was in my blood the way it is with you and Dad,’ Linc growled. Griff might as well have kicked him in the guts, he felt such a dull, aching pain deep in his stomach.
‘Do you have any idea how sick and tired I am of hearing how great you are from everyone?’ Griff continued, his fury simmering down to just plain pissed off. ‘Mum and Dad think the sun shines out of your arse. It doesn’t matter what I do around here, how I hold the bloody place together, the minute Linc walks through the door, everything’s fine again. They’re happy. The bills suddenly don’t matter. “The prodigal son has returned”,’ Griff said, using his free hand to throw the words, like a newspaper heading, in the air.
‘I never asked to be treated any different, Griff. You can’t blame me for the fact Mum and Dad are happy to see me. Jesus, how old are you? Four?’
Griff threw down the mallet and came towards him.
‘You’re going to fight me?’ Linc asked incredulously.
‘Someone needs to bring you down a peg or two,’ Griff said, and the punch landed surprisingly quickly across Linc’s jaw, snapping his head back with unexpected force.
Linc instantly saw red. Brother or no brother, he wasn’t going to be anyone’s punching bag.
‘You couldn’t leave her alone, could you?’ Griff circled him and his fist struck out, lightning fast, clipping the side of Linc’s head. He let loose a torrent of expletives as the sting of contact to his ear burned.
‘Just this once, you couldn’t walk away. You couldn’t find any other woman in the district to hit on—it had to be her, didn’t it.’
This time Linc was ready and he dodged the next sharp jab, blocking a second one and landing one of his own in his brother’s stomach.
There was a flurry of fists and swearing, grunts and groans as the two brothers fought their way through years of pent-up frustration. It felt good to hit something, Linc thought as he felt another punch make contact. Then he forgot who he was fighting—there was just pain and fear and anger, so much anger he’d kept tightly under wraps for so long. Anger at himself. Anger at that one, brief moment in time that had changed his life forever—that had ended any misconceptions he’d had of being a hero. It was the moment he’d found out he was a coward.
‘I said enough!’
His father’s roaring voice finally managed to cut through the red veil of pain and fury long enough for Linc’s vision to clear. He saw his brother lying beneath him, bloodied and beaten on the ground.
‘What have you done?’ His mother’s voice, sobbing and fearful, floated somewhere in the mist that surrounded him. He saw faces staring down at him and briefly thought he saw Cash as he felt himself being pushed aside onto the floor. The smell of dirt, diesel and blood filled his nose and flooded his senses. Blood. So much blood. The air smelled of explosives and burnt flesh. The heat rolled across him in waves as everything around him burned. And the face of the men he’d served with stared back at him, sightlessly, as they lay dead, scattered around him in the street.