What a Bachelor Needs (Bachelor Auction Book 4) by Kelly Hunter Page B

coming.”
    “So’s Christmas.”
    “Give me five, ten, minutes.”
    “They’re going to know. It’s not that busy.”
    “They’ll wait.”
    Mardie delivered the drinks eventually and the shots were gone before she’d delivered the last of the beers. She snuck a glance at the pool table as she passed the beers around.
    “There’s another bar over by the railway called the Wolf’s Den,” she told the leader as she picked up the tray of now empty shot glasses topped with a pile of money. “You’ll get cheaper drinks and better pool tables there and it’s open until three.”
    “Sweetheart, we’re not after tourist information.” He was a big, meaty man with hard black eyes and a pock-marked face. “We like it here. Service is a little slow, though. Maybe we should order that next round of drinks now. Unless you’d rather stay and play with us, in which case we might be happy to wait.”
    “I’m working.”
    “Take a break.”
    “Someone’s already played the break. And someone’s got to get you those drinks.”
    “Keep the change,” the lead biker said.
    No one stopped her as she left, but Mardie’s hands were shaking by the time she reached Reese. She could feel the crawl of hot gazes along her back. She could sense the predator sniffing after prey, and she hated it. “They want another round.”
    The news didn’t surprise Reese.
    Mardie handed him the tray topped with money and Reese rang the order up and put the money through the till. He handed her back two one hundred dollar bills plus some change. “That your tip?”
    “That’s what they said.”
    “They want any more food?”
    “No. How soon can the others be here?”
    “Soon.”
    “They wanted me to play pool.”
    Reese shot her a sharp glance. “Stay off their radar.”
    “Too late.”
    “Then stay where I can see you.” He looked down at her still shaking hands and then back up at her face. “What else happened?”
    She tucked her turncoat hands beneath her arms. “Nothing. Just old business of mine that sometimes comes along for the ride.” Reese had never asked her about her marriage, but he knew her history in the same way that Ella knew it, and Jason Grey had known it when she’d turned up at his bar newly pregnant, newly single, and sporting fresh bruises. She’d been replying to the waitstaff wanted poster in the window. She’d never waited a table before in her life, but Jason had taken her on when so many others had turned her away, and kept her on while she’d learned how to do the job. “You know how I get on occasion. Doesn’t have anything to do with the here and now. I can deal with it.”
    Reese looked as if he wanted to argue.
    “I can do my job, Reese.”
    “Stay where I can see you. I mean it.”
    Picking up an empty tray, Mardie nodded and set off to collect empty glasses from her side of the bar. Carla was working the other side of the room with her usual panache. Carla had great legs and a sway in her stride that people tipped well for. They met at booth four and Carla transferred her lone empty glass to Mardie’s tray. “You need a hand on your side? I’m all caught up over here.”
    “Table seven might be ready for more drinks.”
    “What about the bikers? They getting any more drinks?”
    “They’ve got another order in. The drinks are going down a little too fast for Reese’s liking. He’s called for reinforcements.”
    “Yay.” She and Carla exchanged glances.
    “Shall we try corn chip persuasion before the testosterone gets here?” Mardie suggested. “Many a battle has been averted by corn chips.”
    So true.
    They filled a dozen or so baskets and started delivering them to the booths and tables at the front of the bar and then to the bikers. The atmosphere grew friendlier. People liked freebies.
    “Sorry about the wait,” she said to the big biker boss as she cleared the glasses from around him. “We’re tapping a new keg for you.”
    “Does the vodka need tapping