Standing His Ground: Greer (Porter Brothers Trilogy 2)

“Sounds good.” Greer started to open the front door. “I thought you were in a hurry to get home?”

“I am, but I’m going to say hi to Holly before I leave.”

Greer shrugged, opening the door to let them inside. He didn’t miss the curtain dropping as they walked in, nor did he miss the guilty look Holly cast toward his useless dog.

“You been giving that mangy pup treats?”

“Hunter deserves it. He growled at Curt.” She threw him a censuring look as if the dog could understand he was being insulted.

“I told you, Hunter doesn’t deserve a treat unless he runs down what I’m hunting, or when he bites a trespasser. He catch that deer roast you cooking?”

“No, but—”

“I didn’t see Curt nursing a bite mark, either, so he didn’t deserve a treat,” Greer grumbled, going to the fridge for a beer.

“Quit bugging Holly about the treats. The dog is still a pup. It’ll learn.”

“Not with her making the dog too fat to run. Woman, why do you have to make everyone so fat? Is that how you plan to catch a husband? Make men so fat they can’t run away from you?” Greer chortled at the look on Holly’s face. The best parts of his day were when he could disconcert her until she couldn’t come up with a response fast enough to his teasing. She was getting quicker, but she had a ways to go before she could come up with a good enough comeback to take him down.

“Cut it out, Greer. One day, Holly’s going to go for that paintball gun Rachel gave her.”

“She doesn’t have it anymore,” he answered matter-of-factly.

“Yes, I do. It’s in my bedroom closet.” Her eyes narrowed on him suspiciously.

“Not anymore. I took it.” Greer lifted the lid of the crockpot, taking a sniff. Then he wished he hadn’t. It smelled good. Dammit.

“When? I would have noticed—”

“I took it last week when you threatened to shoot me after I chained Hunter up outside when he pissed on my boots.”

“I would have noticed—”

“Not if you were sleeping when I took it.”

“You sneaked into my bedroom when I was sleeping!” Holly screeched, jerking the lid away from him to put it back on the crockpot.

“Yeah. It hurts like hell when you shoot me.”

“Give it back, now!” she demanded. “Rachel gave it to me.”

“It ain’t gonna happen. I put it where you’ll never find it,” he bragged.

“Where? Your underwear drawer?”

When his mouth tightened in consternation, Tate’s laughter broke the heightened tension.

“Still hide what you don’t want found in your underwear drawer? I thought you stopped doing that when Ma passed away.”

“It works. Ma and Rachel never look inside my drawers.”

“Ma was afraid to after she found that stack of magazines and box of condoms.”

“A man’s entitled to his privacy,” Greer stated.

“Just like a woman is entitled hers.” Tate gave Greer a censuring look.

“Then that woman doesn’t need to be shooting me with a paintball gun. Besides, I didn’t see anything, anyway. She was sound asleep.”

“That doesn’t make it all right!” both Tate and Holly yelled at him.

“I thought you wanted to get home to that wife of yours? I need to get back to work.” Greer finished his beer, tossing the empty bottle into the trash.

“It doesn’t go in that kitchen trash. It goes in the recycling bin.”

Holly was still ranting when Greer escaped outside with Tate on his heels.

Greer jumped down off the porch without taking the steps. “I’ll see you at dinner time.”

“Sutton and I’ll be over after dinner. I’m too afraid to eat any food Holly means for you.”

“Don’t worry; I make sure I only eat the food she puts on Logan’s plate.” He threw Tate a shit-eating grin. “There isn’t a woman alive who can pull one over on me,” he bragged.

3

Holly clenched her hands in fists after the men had left.

“One day, that man is going to get exactly what he deserves,” she muttered to the puppy, and he gave her a low whine before sinking to his bottom to rest.

Muttering, she went to her bedroom to get dressed for work. She didn’t have to be at Diamond’s office before nine, but she liked to get there early to go over the mail before Diamond arrived.

Taking a quick shower, she then blew out her hair, still fuming over Greer coming into her bedroom when she was sleeping. She thought about the frumpy pajamas she had worn last week.

“Bastard couldn’t sneak into my bedroom when I was wearing a pretty nightgown. No, he had to see me in those puke-green pajamas Logan gave me last Christmas.”

Just once, she wished she could make Greer look at her the way he did every other woman in town. He wasn’t picky. If a woman had a pair of breasts and legs, she caught his attention. Except for her. When he looked at her, he only saw the woman who had tried to steal his nephew away from his family. That was his belief.