His gaze wandered around the packed pub and stopped short. Ellie sat at the other end of the bar, dark waves framing her flawless profile as she smiled up at Jeb and accepted the glass of white wine he placed in front of her. Despite the thirsty crowd, Jeb lingered, wearing the shit-eating grin he insisted made him look like Tom Cruise.
“Something caught your eye, Tyler?”
Ginny’s question pulled his attention back to the redhead, who was now watching him with keen interest. He knew better than to give her anything to speculate on. “Just mulling over what you said about Melody and Roger. It sounds a little far-fetched to me. Those two have been joined at the hip since high school. I can’t believe it took this long for them to discover he wants triple-X action in the bedroom and she’s not willing to go a notch above PG-13. Where’d you get your information?”
“Straight from Melody,” she shot back. “You know I don’t spread rumors.”
“’Course you don’t.” Unable to stop himself, he let his gaze drift back to Ellie…and Jeb.
“Telling people I saw you and Ellie Swann cruising out to the river on your bike last night, saying y’all looked real snug—that would be spreading a rumor.”
It took some effort, but he kept his poker face in place…he hoped. “Good thing you’re not like that, huh?”
“I know. I mean, just ’cause something looks like a hookup doesn’t mean there isn’t some other explanation.”
“Exactly,” he agreed and took a drink of his beer.
“For all I know, you’re her patient. I mean, I’ve got eyewitnesses saying a week ago Junior stumbled in here at last call, saw Lou Ann cozying up to you, and shot your nuts off.”
He nearly choked on his beer. “Jesus, Ginny, where do you hear this crap? Your so-called eyewitnesses are worthless drunks.”
She laughed. “Talk is cheap, Tyler. You’ll have to do better than a verbal denial if you want to dispute my facts.” She turned away, and threw him a challenging smile from over her shoulder. “Any time you want to prove Junior didn’t turn you from a stud to a gelding with one well-placed bullet, I’m available for a demonstration.”
Not tempting. Elbows propped on the bar, he crossed his ankles and smiled back. “It’d take a much bigger caliber than Junior’s overblown BB gun to put a ding in my family jewels.”
Ginny merely shrugged and kept walking. Tyler pinched the bridge of his nose to ease the slight headache settling there and wondered how many people sitting in Rawley’s tonight seriously thought he couldn’t lay pipe anymore. What the hell. He really didn’t care, he decided, as he straightened and steered toward the one person in Bluelick who knew his equipment functioned just fine.
Jeb laughed at something Ellie said and slid his hand over her forearm. Tyler decided enough was enough and quickened his pace. He refused to believe Jeb Rawley had inspired her recent interest in sex education. Jeb had never done anything in his lazy life except practice his smirk and wait to inherit his daddy’s bar. And if she wanted to perfect the art of the barstool seduction, well, fine, but she already had a practice partner.
He drew up behind Ellie and placed a proprietary hand on her shoulder. One glance at Jeb confirmed the bartender got the message, because he straightened and removed his paw from her arm. Ellie turned those dark maple-and-molasses eyes on him, and for a moment, he simply fell into them.
“Tyler, hi.”
“Hey Ty,” Jeb echoed, far less enthusiastically. “Another beer?”
Tyler claimed the empty barstool beside Ellie, held up his mostly full bottle, and said, “I’m good,” keeping his eyes on her the entire time. Although it was a Saturday, she looked as if she’d come from her office, easily outclassing the jeans and T-shirt crowd at the pub. A sleeveless blouse the exact shade as her eyes left her arms and shoulders bare. A sleek, tan skirt stopped high enough to showcase her gorgeous legs. Ice-pick-thin heels suggested she didn’t plan to do a lot of running around.
“What brings you to Rawley’s, Doc? Looking to buy someone a drink, make small talk, and…?”
“No, I’ve seen how that turns out and I didn’t wear my Kevlar underwear.” Her lips curved, but the amusement didn’t reach her eyes, which looked shadowed and a little sad.
Before he could offer a snappy comeback, Melody walked up. “Imagine seeing the two of you here together.” The blonde nudged his shoulder playfully. He nudged back, but his playful feeling fizzled when Ellie immediately said, “Oh, we’re not together. We just ran into each other. Complete coincidence, right Tyler?”
Melody gave them a smile that made the Mona Lisa look like a grinning fool. “Interesting how that works sometimes, isn’t it? Y’all have a good night. I’ve got to…um…find Ginny.”
Ellie frowned as Melody sashayed away. “Sorry, I think she got the wrong idea after walking in on us the other day. I tried to set her straight, but I guess I didn’t quite get the message across.”
“What message?” He couldn’t care less what anybody thought about their relationship, but he wasn’t too flattered by Ellie rushing to correct Melody. What was “the wrong idea” anyway, damn it?
“I told her we’re not romantically involved, that our relationship is, well…” She lifted one slim shoulder and let it drop.
“Purely academic?” he suggested drily, realizing everything she said, while technically correct, bothered the hell out of him. And the fact that it bothered him bothered him even more.
“No! Of course not. I’d never tell her such a thing. But whatever I said, it fell short of convincing, because she obviously thinks you’re interested in me.”
He hadn’t quite worked out why that was such a horrible, unacceptable thing, when she laughed and nodded down the bar. “For someone in such a hurry to catch Ginny, Melody got easily sidetracked.”
Tyler looked over and saw Melody standing with Fire Chief Bradley, giggling prettily at something he said to her. The chief, one of Bluelick’s newest residents, had relocated a few months earlier after spending nearly a decade as a deputy chief in Cincinnati.