Seduction of Saber (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend #3) (11 page)

He leaned forward and kissed her again. He doubted a
brilliant sunset could ever compare to how hot she felt when in his arms. He
set his hands on either side of her face, and this time held on for dear life.
His fingers splayed across her heated skin.

Julia’s hands had found themselves at his chest. They
were pressed against the vast expanse of pure muscle under a now infamous
T-shirt.

“You taste so good,” he admitted, easing his lips from
hers; with a bit of reluctance and while trying his damnedest not to take
advantage of her vulnerability in the darkness. She would be so easy to have
right now.

She’d be so easy to hurt.

“You taste pretty good, yourself,” she responded.

One brief second, he prayed she could not see the
hunger he was unable to hide, or the large bulge under his jeans. He’d promised
Liddy he wasn’t going to hurt Julia.

“No, really. By kissing you, you’ve made me hungrier
than I already was.” He added, “For food,” to clarify this need.

“Well then…” She paused, grinning. “I guess we should
do something about that. Shouldn’t we?”

Julia was the first to pull away and break the shared
heat of their bodies. She donned the gift of the jacket and shoved her hands
into its pockets.

Saber gained his feet. His hands moved to the front
pockets of his faded jeans, stuffing them in hard. Neither was able nor ready
to look at the other. Both had to adjust to what just happened under an old oak
tree.

“Come on,” he announced, shrugging in the direction of
the boarding house.

“After you,” she added.

Saber moved forward. Seconds later, Julia slammed into
his backside in the fading light.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

He’d come to a complete standstill right in front of
her. He looked first one way, then the other. “I don’t know how to get back,”
he reluctantly admitted.

“Then it’s probably a good thing you’ve got me.” She
moved ahead of him to lead the way home.

Saber smiled. Her shapely hips climbed over fallen
logs and forest debris and had a grown man crying aloud in frustration. He had
to pull at the taut juncture between his legs behind her back. All he’d wanted was
to watch her walk.

She’d been found at the edge of a wood that covered
the entire west side of Preacher’s Bend. He, at first, had asked for directions
just to get here.
And for a man having to ask for directions?
Doing so
had taken him a few steps backwards in the evolutionary department.

Once he’d swallowed his masculinity and figured out
asking was a whole lot easier than running around in circles as if his head cut
off, Saber bet his luck on a wild card, winning without trouble. Not many of
the residents in Preacher’s Bend trust strangers. Most of them gave him the
third degree on why he’d wanted to find Julia in the first place. And why he
thought he had a right to do so.

Apparently, Gill had made his rounds rather quickly,
telling anyone who would listen that a strange man was trying to ruin his
daughter’s life; and that he’d done what damage he could to that stranger’s
face before his own flesh and blood threw him out of the boarding house.

Saber rolled his jaw, the pain still there. Every
ounce of available charm when encountering a sweet darling by the name Theodora
Rosebud, became more than he’d been willing to use to locate Julia’s secret
hiding spot. It had taken the old woman two full hours to give out the precise
location; and throughout their entire conversation, she’d continuously referred
to Julia as ‘
Little Julia Hillard’
.

Jesus! If he’d known she was in the old hag’s
backyard, he would have come here straight away.

Saber again looked at her tempting backside then smiled.
There wasn’t much little to her. She was well filled, in all the right places.
Damn, as far as he was concerned, there wasn’t a thing wrong with the woman, other
than a malfunctioning pancreas that a proper dose of insulin would temporarily
fix, and a healthy diet to go along with it.

She was truly more than he deserved.

That was the real problem, wasn’t it? Julia Hillard
was a grown woman; he was a grown man, particularly, a horny man who was turned
on by only watching the woman weaving her way home. If that did not speak ‘
In
Need of Shrink’,
nothing ever would. Saber Patterson, MD wasn’t a shrink.
He was a heart surgeon, for Pete’s sake. Or, at least he had been until he
chose to give it all up; choosing, as Liddy had put it, to hide from the world.

Thankfully, Liddy hadn’t been able to tell Julia what
he was. Or, what his deep dark secret was. He’d wasted precious moments of his
time to talk to Mrs. Giotti, only to make certain of this.

He now had another secret keeper in another small
town; another lie added to all the others he’d been forced to make. How many
more would there be? How many more women would want to ask him about something
he had no desire to talk about?

Dr. Patterson did not perform miracles. He’d been
trying to save the life of his own son. And he had, until his darling ex-wife
upped the ante.

She’d taken him, and everything he’d ever had in his
life, away. In the end, she purposely destroyed an innocent child with her
dangerous lies; thereby destroyed the very life he would have put his entire
career on the line to save.

Just to spite him, she ripped apart what was left of
that career into a billion shreds by dragging his good name through the courts.

Women could be evil when provoked. As Saber watched
Julia Hillard move through the dark with the ease of an alley cat, he knew women
could be quite cunning, too.

He quickly erased this diseased thought from his head.
Julia Hillard wasn’t evil. And she most definitely did not have a cunning bone
in her body. Stunning? Yes. Incredible? Oh, yes, in every way imaginable to a
man. Intoxicating? Without a doubt. Saber was feeling a bit lightheaded just watching
the sway of her hips.

Was she the most desirable woman met thus far? A most
definite
Yes!
to that. Julia was as desirable as they came. Red hair,
blue eyes, and the cutest mole on her left cheek, she was in need of a good man
in her life; one that wouldn’t hurt her.

But was he looking to be that man, that savior of all?

Not on your life!

Riding bulls was the only thing he dared want in his
life. At the moment, to be tossed into the dirt proved something to those who
could not. Without the rodeo, without sweat, grime, dust and pain, he had
nothing. There was no family to speak of; other than a few larger than life
uncles who roamed about loose, rich, and unstoppable, wreaking havoc and mayhem
in small towns like Preacher’s Bend. He no longer had a profitable career in
heart medicine. No happy, fulfilling marriage to go home to. Now, there was no
child to call his own. The only one he’ll ever have was buried in a cemetery
back in Miami.

According to his calculations, he’d failed the most
important person in his life. Saber failed his son. So, without the rodeo, he
had nothing.

But wasn’t that exactly how he wanted it? Nothing had
always been good enough before coming here—before he met Julia. Why was he
getting a change of heart now? Surely it could not be that he wanted to be this
woman’s savior. Or, that a pretty set of blue eyes could make him forget ten
years trapped inside a terrible marriage. Even forget the very reason his son
had to die.

No. Nothing could ever make him forget grand betrayal
to mankind, or so much utter devastation. He would rather cut out his own heart
than feel the kind of pain from the ultimate betrayal of a vengeful woman.

Over a cup of coffee, after a rather boisterous
unplanned dinner of takeout chicken from Rachel’s Café, with four aging men and
one extremely gorgeous
Eight Second Wonder
, Julia took her only
opportunity of the evening to glance at the man seated at the far end of the
table. His glance back was alarming, to say the least. He looked almost sinful;
too good to feast the eyes upon. In fact, he looked as if he was thinking of
nothing other than how he could take off most of her clothes without getting
his lights punched out.

Gill was on his way to Ohio. Young Cody in tow.
Brittany Hillard was out of town. Ms. Theodora Rosebud was fast asleep in her
nice warm bed. There was no other Hillards around to punch out the man’s lights—if
somehow Mr. Patterson felt inclined to follow the actions of his heated gaze. And
Julia, unfortunately, was no longer in the mood to stop him if he dared. She
was even egging him on.

They shared a brief illness together, a few chaste
kisses, and a lot of light teasing. They’d shared a sunset and simple
confessions, for lack of a better word. No one else within her life had ever
willingly shared or wanted to share a sunset with her. As well, remain mute
until it was over.

His earlier actions of the evening had spoken volumes
to her. He really
was
a good guy, one worth keeping.

He’d not tried to kiss her again. Surely, the one he’d
given her under Theodora’s oak tree would be good enough to sustain her for the
remainder of her days. Hot. Passionate. Beyond imagination. Then why did she
have this deep unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach about the man? As
if he was merely a shell of whom he was actually saying he was.

Was he hiding behind a mask of charm and charisma, and
very large bulls, and the danger that came with those bulls? Was Saber just a
shell of a man who could hurt her badly? Could this be possible?

Stranger things had certainly happened in Preacher’s
Bend.

But, if not, why was she even questioning every move
this man made? Like now. Mr. Patterson was taking a huge second helping of
biscuits and laughing at what one of the other four men was saying to him. A
little too forced, she suspected. He looked right at home at her kitchen table,
as though he’d been there for years.

Julia was barely listening to their conversation to give
this much more thought than just a mere second or two. Her head was stuck in
the spin cycle, and a clogged drain was at the other end. The men were talking
about what was coming to town in less than two days, of who was to do what when
the big trucks arrived; each were planning every detail down to the very last
man.

It was a good thing she had another room to rent out
otherwise this conversation would’ve taken place over at the Café under Rachel
Rosebud’s watchful eye. Once Rachel’s claws sank in, it took an awful lot to
get them to retract.

Even the kindhearted Saber was offering his services
to help set up the rodeo. The more hands, the better. Given that he was one of
their prized bull riders, he didn’t need to lift a finger and help. But Saber
was a good guy. He’d quibbled he had a perfectly useable pair of hands to aide,
so long as he did not damage those hands in the process.

Julia sat at the far end of the table reviewing in her
head her week thus far; gave little to the thought process toward the setting
up of a rodeo. And Saber was just that, a stranger to her. She knew very little
about him. He came from Miami. A lot of people came from Miami. He had an Uncle
LeRoy. Lots of folks have Uncle LeRoys. He liked fried chicken. Who wouldn’t? Staple
of American cuisine. He was one hell of a kisser. At his age he damn well should
be.

Sure, he had gorgeous silver-blue eyes that could
change shade at the drop of a hat. He could kiss so incredibly wonderful that
he made her feet start on fire. Nevertheless, she did not know much more than
simple superficial things about him.

Christ! Even Liddy knew more about Saber than Julia
did. And Liddy was saying very little. Almost as if when Julia had left the
room to make the three of them a cup of coffee, Saber and Liddy had made a pact
to keep quiet about his identity. But that could not be,
could it
?

Again, he moved his attention toward her.

Julia pulled her gaze away quickly; lest he read her
thoughts and use them against her in some way. Her throat lodged when he set
down a half-eaten biscuit, pinning her with a silver-blue stare to melt the
polar ice caps. Seconds later, he rose from the far end of the table and moved
toward her.

Julia rarely shared her evening meal with her guests,
but they’d asked that she join them this time, providing more than enough food
to feed a small army as incentive.

“If you don’t mind too terribly, Gentleman, I have
need to speak to this pretty lady, in private.” He pulled her right out of her
chair, his fingers wrapped around her upper arm, and giving her little in the
form of escape, as he tugged on her arm.

Julia did not argue with him. Nor, did she try to
escape from his grasp. She had a lot to say to him, as well. Like,
how in
the hell could he get under her skin so quickly
? Now that he was under
there
how can she get him out
? Before it too late and she fell for him
like a fool?

This rather intense attraction to Mr. Patterson was
causing all sorts of mixed emotions inside her to run in circles. Emotions she
could not deal with right now. She had to deal with what her life had become
first. The rest would have to take a number and stand in line.

Mr. Patterson tugged her into the living room. Not
stopping there, he moved her to the front porch, shoving her into her great-grandmother’s
rocking chair, as he physically knelt down in front of her.

He placed both large hands on her knees and grinned up
at her face.

All Julia could muster was openly staring at his face,
since his actions were so bold and strange. Perhaps they were a little too
bold, for being a complete stranger to her. The neighbors could be watching at
this very minute the goings on at the Tressle Boarding House, taking notes,
sending pictures over the Internet to a slightly mistrusting father. She could
hear the tiny voice inside her head, her ears suddenly ringing. A voice telling
her this was all wrong, that something wasn’t right here, that it was going to
blow up in her face.

Saber started. “Do you have any idea how badly I want
to…” He closed his eyes, drawing in a breath. “Damnit, Julia!” He could barely
get out his thoughts before he had to stand. Seconds later, he pulled her from
the rocking chair and straight into his arms, kissing her, hard.

With such heat, such a need, she began to melt like a
stick of butter set to boil. When he eased his mouth away, she questioned
breathlessly, “What do you want so badly?”

Saber cocked a blond eyebrow upward.

“Oh!”

He stepped back, but kept her within his grasp. “All
night long you have been staring at me over that table as though you wished to
eat me alive. If given half a chance, I do believe you would. And Little Darlin’,
if I could do the same, I most definitely would try.”

She had no idea what to say to something like that, so
she kept mum.

Still.

And flushed.

But it was nice to hear things like this. Nice that
someone cared for her as a woman for a change. Most knew her for her brains and
the usefulness of her skills; a teacher in a small town.

Growing up in that same town had its definitive
drawbacks. Not many cared to tell her they had the hots for her. They knew
Gill.

Saber added more. “But there are four other men inside
this house. Unless I was lying about my reputation being what it’s not, I can’t
do a damn thing about what I want to do to you, without at least one of those
four finding out and somehow using it as a promotional tactic to get the rodeo
on its feet.”

He paused until she clearly understood where this was
headed.

“I’ve seen it before. When one of the riders finds
someone he actually likes, she suddenly has her name and face plastered across
every single newspaper within a fifty-mile radius. A sort of
Rodeo Groupie
Gone Wild
trash piece. I don’t want that for you, Julia. You deserve better
than that.” His smile came about his face, slowly, almost tentative; the cold
breath of insecurity looking to have stalled any remaining thoughts.

Julia shook her head. “What would you even know about
what I may or may not deserve, Mr. Patterson? You don’t know me.” She was still
smarting over Liddy knowing more about this man than she did.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt, sweetheart. You
have enough on your plate to deal with most days. I will not be responsible for
adding insult to injury, by allowing you to display your emotions, or fanning
your pretty little tail feathers just to get noticed.”

“I—I wasn’t fanning…” she sputtered out, tugging hard,
trying to get out of the man’s grasp. “Are you trying to pity me, Mr.
Patterson? Because if you are, you are doing a really fucked up job at it, and can
easily kick you harder than any little brother of mine could ever do. And it
won’t be in you shin, you wretched Bull Man, if that’s what you’re after. Or,
even what this is all about!”

“Don’t get all ornery on me for trying my best to
protect you from getting hurt, sweetheart.”

Julia jumped on his hide faster than a fox on a mole
caught out in an open hayfield. “I don’t need yours’, or anyone else’s
protection
.” She actually growled on the word. “I have done fine all on my
own. It’s you who should think twice about finding protection from your highly
inflated ego while in Preacher’s Bend. You’re the one who they’re all talking
about. Not me. And if you think that my having diabetes gives you an actual
right to shun me from the living, you can go straight to hell!” Her voice had
risen, her temper equally so.

“I never said any such thing, Julia. And never would
I.” Saber’s voice had risen, too. “I just meant …,” he started with, pausing.

“I know exactly what you meant, Mr. Patterson.” Julia
couldn’t help but glare as the damaging awareness of heartache kicked into
overdrive. “You meant to give me advice and I will not stand here and simply
take that from you. As I have said before, you don’t know me. You have no right
to tell me what…”

Stinging tears filled her eyes before she could finish
the rest of the sentence. Moments before, he’d had been so kind, so caring, so
tender. To now this? What happened from then to now to turn Saber
against her?

He dragged his eyes from her face and sighed. Heavily.
“That’s true. I don’t know you. Yet you aren’t exactly up to date on who I am
either, Little Darlin’.” His eyes slipped back to hers and they held this time.

“Then tell me exactly who you are, Mr. Patterson. Tell
me where it was you come from, why you are here—in Preacher’s Bend.” She would
give him about two seconds to do so. “Tell me why it is I can’t stop feeling
something for you I’ve never felt in all my life. And please,
for the love
of God!
Tell me why such a good guy could turn into such a complete,
clue-less jackass so quickly.”

He smiled at that. “How long do we have?”

“What?”

“I said how long do we have for me to tell you all of
that? I’m only here for the one week, Julia. It’ll take some time to give you
all the answers you need.”

This made the sting of her anger smart even worse than
before. She balled her fists, pressing them firmly against her thighs.

“I, on the other hand, have the rest of my miserable life.”

A half second later, Saber stepped forward, put his
mouth mere inches from her lips, and said, “If you ever forget your insulin
shot again, Little Darlin’, you won’t have much left to the rest of your life.”

It took Julia a few more seconds to comprehend the
meaning of his words. “God, damnit, Patterson!” she blurted out. “You did it
again!” She was angry, and knew no man would want a fire-breathing vixen under
his touch, unless controlled.

“What? What did I do?” he ruled. “I did nothing.” He
looked shocked.

“Yes. You did. You kept looking at me across the
table. You pulled me out here, against my will. Now I have forgotten to check
me levels again. Damn you!” She had to look the other way. The tears suddenly
fell out of her eyes unchecked. “Why does this keep happening to me?”

He put his hand to her chin and his thumb wiped the
slow and steady path of moisture away. “I may have been looking at you …Christ!
Who wouldn’t? But you came out to this porch on your own free will, Ms.
Hillard. I did not force you out here. And there is still time. It’s only been
a half hour since dinner. You still have time to check your blood sugar
levels.”

“A half hour could easily set me back for the rest of
the night, and you know it.”

“No. It won’t. Trust me. You’ve plenty of time.”

Julia tried to pull away; tried as best she could to
step away from a know-it-all, arrogant human being. But it was hard to do, and
much too hard to force the will upon herself. Saber Patterson was magnetic and
dangerous.