Read Online Just My Luck by Rosalind James - Free Book Online Page A

got distracted in the first place. By the look she’d seen on his face when she’d turned around, especially. That look still had her steamed up, two hours and a couple of pretty good bruises later.
    She was lying on her bed now, another pair of icepacks having been hauled out of Hannah and Drew’s freezer, which, not surprisingly, held a pretty good supply. Hannah had made a comforting fuss over her for somebody who, Ally knew, had seen more than her fair share of bruises, most of them a whole lot more spectacular than her own. Drew, meanwhile, hadn’t looked pleased at all, had given Nate a long, frowning look. As if it had been his fault that she’d fallen. Drew was a throwback, no doubt about it.
    Her attention was gradually pulled from the book she was reading by the sound of voices outside her window. Nate and Liam, she realized, standing in the driveway. Liam had come by to help Kristen take Jack to the playground and for a picnic lunch while she and Nate had gone on their hike. Giving Drew and Hannah some time, he’d said. But he’d really come to see Kristen, Ally knew. He was going about it the right way, too, allowing Kristen the safety of their pint-sized chaperone, not rushing her or asking too much. Maybe the shark thing really was just about rugby.
    She didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Really, she didn’t. But what could you do when people insisted on talking outside your open window? They must not have realized her room was back here. Everyone else was in the lounge at the other side of the house, she knew.
    She started off amused at their conversation. And then it changed to something much less comfortable.
    “I’m just saying, be careful,” the voice she recognized as Nate’s was saying now.
    “I wouldn’t do anything else,” Liam growled. “I need to be careful, don’t I. Because she’s fragile.”
    “That’s what I mean,” Nate said with obvious exasperation. “That’s one high-maintenance woman. And an expensive one, too. She’s already got one failed marriage behind her, from what I hear. How d’you know she’s not over here hoping to bag Number Two? And finding an All Black, first time out of the gate, ready to get soft about her?”
    “You’re dead wrong about her. And there are two of us over here today,” Liam pointed out. “I could say the same to you.”
    “Yeh, but I’m not the one flirting with career suicide, looking to mess with Drew’s sister-in-law,” Nate said, keeping his voice low. But not low enough. “And I’m not about to get trapped either, or get myself off track. I know how to keep them from expecting too much. Look, it’s one thing to have a bit on with a pretty girl when you see something you want. Have some fun, no strings attached. That’s what I’m doing here. But it’s another thing entirely to strap that dynamite around your neck and light the fuse.”
    “We’ve been mates a long time.” That was Liam, the edge in his normally soft voice evident even to Ally. “And I control my temper these days. That’s why I’m giving you fair warning. Shut up about Kristen. You’re wrong, and you’re out of line. And as for you . . . Well, I’m sorry for you, Toro. That’s all I’ll say. One of these days, you’ll find out what it’s like to care about something besides footy. When you do fall, you’re going to fall hard. And I reckon it’s going to take a lot for you to bounce back.”
    Silence, then, followed by the sound of car doors slamming, the ute reversing out of the driveway. And Ally, her book forgotten in her hands, doing a complete reassessment of her big day out. And taking a good, hard look at her spectacular lack of judgment, out here in Dating World.
     

Something More Special
    Nate pulled into Drew’s driveway again the next morning, stepped out of the car. His program for the day had begun as planned, with a visit to the gym. But afterwards, he’d found the car seeming to steer itself here. Well, of course he was popping