Seduction of Saber (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend #3) (12 page)

Damnit
!

And now she was aware he had a large tattoo on his
body—all thanks to his showing it to her and Liddy.
Double damnit!

He knew exactly what she needed, when she needed it
most.
Good grief
!
Triple damnit!

Was he really heaven sent? Or just a wryly devil in
disguise?
Fate tended to send only
the devils to the very worst sinners, especially into the lives of those living
in Preacher’s Bend.

“Before we head back inside the house, perhaps to a
million asked questions and a four man firing squad, are we going to be okay with
this?” He cocked his brow, baiting her for the answer.

“Okay with what?” she wondered aloud, moving her eyes
to his.

“About us, this.” He rubbed his thumb over her
slightly swollen lips. “This thing that’s going on between us, whether we’d
meant for it to happen, or not.”

“And what
thing
is that, Mr. Patterson?” Julia
played dumb on purpose.

“This unbelievable attraction I have for you, Ms.
Hillard.” His dimples came out tenfold as supposedly incentive—or just to get
her goat
.

Well, it’s not going to work.

“Oh
. That
thing!” she teased recklessly.

“
Yeah,
that
thing,” he mimicked
.

Julia shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I suppose
as long as you don’t plan on telling me what to do, this
thing
between
us should be fine for the time being.”

“And if I do plan on tellin’ you what to do? What
then?”

“I’ll have to call my father,” she responded, smiling
back.

Saber grinned even more. “Making useless threats
against me, Ms. Hillard? Threats you can’t possibly keep?”

“Threats, my dear man, are all I have left when it
comes to dealing with you. You’ve pretty much manhandled me into handing over
the complete running of my life. Using threats of bodily harm toward your
person are all that I have to keep you in check for the coming week…Bull Man.”

“Or, you could just skip the threats and do something
else much more interesting if you actually wanted to keep me in line,” he said,
as his eyes smiled into hers.

“Such as?”

Saber leaned down and whispered exactly what this was
into her ear.

Julia pushed at his chest, blurting out, “Mr.
Patterson!”

“Yes, Ms. Hillard?” He cocked a lone brow in jest.

“Are you trying to make promises you couldn’t possibly
keep?” For the time being, she was using his words against him.

“No. I never make a promise to a woman that I do not
intend to keep.”

“Is that so?”

“Very much so, I’m afraid,” he conceded, leaning down
to kiss her. Right out in the open. Right on her late great-grandmother’s front
porch, while harsh white lighting from the only porch lamp in sight illuminated
their actions.

Though her conscience told her to back off and give
Saber some space, he was far too tempting to ignore, and far too irresistible
not to kiss.

Far too dangerous to resist, as well.

**

While unable to pull his eyes from Julia’s across the
dinner table, Saber had figured out the true meaning of life. He lived for
danger; for the risks allowed him, for the fear of riding on the edge—on the
seat of his pants, so to speak. But if not for all that, nothing kept his
interest up.

Julia was the first to pull away; the first to take a
deep breath of crisp evening air into her lungs. She responded, “We should
probably go back inside the house, don’t you think?”

Licking her lips and smiling didn’t quite convince him
of this lie.

“If you think that best, Little Darlin’.” His hands
placed firmly on the small of her back, he worked his ten fingers into a bit of
magic with her lower spine.

“Yes, it’s for the best, Mr. Patterson. You’ll only be
here for one week. And if I keep letting you do this to me, I get to spend the
rest of my life wondering why I’d fallen into a pot of stupidity.” Her eyes
rose. “I don’t want that. I don’t want to wonder why I have no backbone. And
I’m quite certain you don’t want that either.”

“How about you let me worry about what I do or don’t
want, Little Darlin’. And you worry about having a bit of fun while I’m here,”
he offered instead.

“Are you suggesting I have a quick affair with a man
who will be gone in a week? That I set myself up for a pretty big fall the very
minute the rodeo leaves town?”

“No. I was suggesting you have a little fun, Ms.
Hillard. It won’t hurt you to have a little fun. Trust me. An affair, though
promising, is the furthest thing from my mind,” he lied.

“How can I trust someone who openly offers to break my
heart?”

He put thoughtful consideration into this, then
produced, “If I do, I’ll just have to fix it for you.”

Thank God she didn’t know his profession, because she
skipped right over this slip of tongue.

“What if I don’t want you to fix it? What if I want it
to remain that way for the rest of my life, just to remind me never to be so
foolish again?”

“I’m not suggesting spending a lifetime here, Little
Darlin’. I’m merely suggesting a little fun. You got something against having a
little fun?”

“Yes. A lot. Especially when it comes with a hefty
price tag attached by nylon thread not so easily cut.”

“What if it comes free?”

She responded to this test easily enough. “Nothing in
life is ever free, Mr. Patterson.”

“There you go. Some things are. My room and board, to
start with. Your blueberry muffins. Some pretty startling kisses, with a rather
startling woman.”

“Which could all change,” she reminded him.

“Yes. This could all change.” His smile turned
devilish. “But it won’t.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Well, if you do, you’ll have allowed your father to win
this round. And I can tell by the way you’re suddenly glaring at me, bringing
him up for the sake of simple conversation, having your father win any ongoing war
is not something you can actually live with.”

“I am not glaring at you,” she tried reasoning
against.

Her sweet smile tightened his gut, both Sabers brows
rising.

“No?”

“No.”

**

Julia was trying her best not to be affected by this
man, and failing, miserably.

So what if her father was angry with her at this
moment, and wanted this man removed from Preacher’s Bending the most painful
way possible? That did not mean she should bump her head on a rock on purpose,
knock out what little sense she had left, and suddenly fall into his baited
trap with open arms.

Just because her father was angry did not equal an
equation she should turn incredibly stupid.

Saber’s hands fell from her back and they rose to her
shoulders. “Let’s get you inside. You have a count to take. I have a few things
to settle once you actually show me a room.” Julia gasped at this. “Yeah, you
sort of forgot to do that, too. Didn’t you? I’m still waiting for a bed. Single,
double, makes no difference, so long as long as it’s comfortable and close to
yours.”

Julia never liked to be reminded of her failures.
“Well, if you would stop kissing me every second of every hour, whenever you
feel the sudden urge to do so, I might actually start remembering things I
normally do in my life.”

“Yeah?” He grinned back.

“Yeah!”

She had to slap away Saber’s well-intentioned hands
sliding down her arms.

“And before I forget, for the second time today, my insulin,
I will get you that room.” She turned on her heel and stormed toward the front
door.

Saber followed closely, chuckling.

“And that room won’t be anywhere near mine, that’s for
damn sure,” she threw over her shoulder.

The man’s chuckle behind her back turned into a snort
of the worst kind, as though he was going to do everything imaginable to prove
her wrong.

Julia figured she needed her head examined. If not,
then she’d already lost her mind to the realms of insatiable stupidity.

She was letting a man get away with murder.
And did
not care!
Saber Patterson could do what he wanted, whenever he wanted, and
she simply hadn’t contradicted his actions.

She’d shown him to a room; the furthest one located
from hers, near the attic door and absolutely minuscule in comparison to the
size of the man. But a room was a room nonetheless, bed sheets and all. There wasn’t
anything printed on the large sign out front that spoke of the boarding rooms
being of a particular size.

And what did he do? He traded—
traded!
—with dear
sweet, oh-so-trusting Uncle LeRoy. That’s what.

How dare he?
There
was no trading allowed! Not on her watch.

Now the virile, unsettling cowboy was right down the
hall, a little to the left of her room, and way too close for personal comfort.
She’d never be able to sleep tonight, or any other night for the remaining
eight days the demanding individual was to be in town.

A light tap sounded on her bedroom door. Julia did her
very best to hide under her bed pillow and pretend sleep. But the knock sounded
again; this time, more urgent, since the door rattled on its hinges.

She groaned under her breath, then tossed aside the
pillow—knew it was futile to pretend sleep—and made her way to the closed door.

“Yes?” she asked.

Without opening, she already knew who would be
standing on the other side. A damn aggravation of the worst possible kind.
Wanted.

“May I come in?” His tone lowered to a bedroom
sexy-induced rasped, drawing little lines of ecstasy down her spine.

“No!” She groaned even more, pressing the word through
the wood.

Deep regret hit her hard and fast. In a previous life she
would’ve yanked open the door, dragged him inside her room, and would’ve had her
way with him, or vice versa. She was game for adventure. If the man wanted his
way with her, she wouldn’t put up too much of a fight.

But this wasn’t a previous life. Things had changed.
She’d changed. No longer did she have that spontaneous, presumptuous, easily
reachable guidance to life. She had responsibilities, houseguests to keep
happy, and kids to teach come fall.

“Why not?” he pleaded.

“Because you’re a dangerous man, Mr. Patterson, and
it’s late. And I already gave you a room, of which you traded off. So, no, you
cannot come into my bedroom. Go to bed, please? Tomorrow is a busy day, and I
would like to get some sleep, if you don’t mind.”

“I can’t,” he said.

“Can’t what?”

“Go to bed.”

Julia stomped her bare foot in utter frustration to the
unbreakable determination in this man. “Why the hell not?”

“I need someone to tuck me in,” he whined playfully.

Julia groaned, yet again. Then she smiled. “You are
truly hopeless. Do you know that?” She placed her forehead on the hard wooden
door, closing her eyes, her chest tightening to the strange pull he seemed to
have on her.

“I was going for hopeful. But hopeless will have to
suffice, for now,” he said.

Julia unlocked her bedroom door and yanked it open
quickly. She wore little more than short silk shorts and a matching tank top
because she’d been too hot to be wearing anything else. And the fact that her
other, more matronly pajamas were in the dirty clothes hamper, she’d been
reduced to this.

Flannel would have been so much better the instant his
eyes drew to her chest. As said, foolish is that foolish does.

**

Saber had an extremely difficult time at maneuvering
his gaze away from Julia’s sensual attire and enormously enticing body. And
those long legs? Jeez! The skimpy silk shorts covered very little of her person.
He had a hard-pressed time to remain in tempered control. He wouldn’t even dare
his eyes to go anywhere near the thought of her tank top. A man could only
stand for so much torture.

“Do you always greet your late night visitors wearing only
that?” he asked recklessly, standing on the threshold, dressed in blue jeans
and T-shirt, his boots off, both socks still on.

Julia glanced down at what others would certainly call
sexy bedroom attire and smiled sweetly. “No. But I don’t usually have late
night visitors that knock on my bedroom door, uninvited, either.”

“You don’t?” A slow cock of his brow stated he did not
believe her.

Julia’s answer was brisk. “No.” She even glared at his
face. “I don’t. Especially at one o’clock in the morning.”

“That’s too damn bad, Little Darlin’. It’s really nice
at this time of day. And the scenery’s not that terrible to look at.” This time
his rakish gaze roamed her entire body, head to toe.

Julia’s smile fell as she wrapped her arms around her
torso. “What do you want, Mr. Patterson?”

He knew he was making her think, and right now she
looked as though she wanted to clear her head and forget all about him. He
couldn’t have that, since she’d already tempted his sanity into the realm of no
return by opening her door.

“Can’t I come into your room, invited?” He took it
upon himself to lean his large frame against her door jamb, crossing his arms
over his chest. He wanted to look at ease, despite the late hour that it was. And
despite not one single molecule of his body was at ease.

While she was dressed like this, he was anything but.
But he was preventing her from being able to shut the door in his face, or shut
him out, so it was a win/win.

“You coming into my room would be like the bend in a
willow tree during a hurricane. Eventually something will give. And I don’t
want that something to be me.”

His brows rose even higher. “I’d like to come into
your room so we can discuss what it was I want, in private, minus any
hurricanes.”

“The answer is still no,” she quibbled.

“Okay.” He shrugged his shoulders, making a move to
stand. “Goodnight then.”

Julia’s eyes widened. Her arms dropped quickly.
“That’s it? Just
‘Goodnight’
? No wise cracks? No taking the bull by the
horns? No forcing your way into here by way of a sweet-talking man with
devilish dimples who’s trying his best to get my goat?”

“It is night, Ms. Hillard. And now, has turned into a
very good morning, thanks to what you’re wearing.”
And
that it was
nearly one-fifteen in the a.m. “But I never force myself into a woman’s bedroom
when not asked to come in. Nor do I do anything else by force. So, yes.
Goodnight, Little Darlin’. Sweet dreams.” Saber turned to go. He took only a
few steps from Julia’s tempting body before pausing.

She’d showered before bed, smelling of sweet intoxicating
lilac. He was certainly going to regret coming to her door, and regret doing so
for the remainder of his night. But such was a foolish man’s life.

“What is it you really came to me for?” she breathlessly
asked, barefooting it into the hall as he stopped to turn toward her.

Jesus! If he could only remember what he’d come to her
door for, without her looking at him as she was; eyes wide with promise, her
lips pouty, her fiery red hair a tangled mess.

Saber cleared his throat, willing his body to respond.
“I wanted to ask if you’d be my guest at the rodeo on Friday night.”

“You wanted to ask me
that
at one o’clock in
the morning?” She sputtered out her surprise.

“You weren’t asleep.”

“Neither were you, apparently.” It was simply too hot
to sleep.

She drifted her sight over his everyday attire,
lingering on his chest.

Saber could have sworn her eyes could touch his flesh.
He could swear her fingers had been set against his pecs. He had to clear his
throat again.

“I’ve been scheduling my practice rides with Butch.
What’s your excuse for not being asleep?”

Butch was one of the older gentlemen inside the
boarding house. Gray, stingy, he wasn’t very good with the ladies, and tended
to force his way around things. The older Butch got, the worse he acted. Yet
Butch was a good guy, when it came down to it. He was the one the four others
could count on when times were tough.

“I don’t need an excuse. This is my home, remember?”

Saber’s one eyebrow shot up, reaching heights he could
only imagine. “I am more than aware of this. So, what’s it going to be, Ms.
It’s-my-house
Hillard?”

“What’s
what
going to be?”

He watched in amusement the fact he’d caught her
staring at his chest again.

“Will you bend to my every desire and be my guest at
the rodeo Friday night? Or should I ask someone else? I’ve heard around town about
this woman, Rachel.” He was pretending that he would even consider it an
option, hoping to get a rise out of her.

Julia glared at his heated suggestion. “Do I even have
a choice in this?”

“No. Not really. It’s you or Rachael. Take your pick.”

“Then yes, I will go, but only as your guest, not as
your date.”

Saber chuckled openly. “Did I say a word about it
being a date?”

**

Saber’s tempered arrogance had come out, full tilt;
hitting Julia squarely in the chest. She felt the absolute fool, the
humiliation burning deep and bright.

She’d thought he meant as a date. Now, she wasn’t so
sure about Mr. Patterson’s intentions. Most men in town weren’t as open as
being players, as this man was. He’d take some time getting used to.

“No. I am, um …No, you did not. My mistake.” Her line
of sight lowered hurriedly to the floor.

Saber stepped forward to stand mere inches from her
overheated body. “If I was askin’ you out on a date, Ms. Hillard, it sure as
hell would not be to a smelly, horse-infested rodeo.” His voice velvet smooth
to her ears. “Now would it?”

“Um, I don’t know. It could. It might. Where, exactly,
would it be then? If you were ever to ask me, that is.” The words stumbled over
her tongue like a giddy schoolgirl who’d been asked out on her very first date
and didn’t know the correct way to respond.

“Are you, by chance, offering the pleasure of such a
thing?” he taunted.

“No!” she blurted. “No. I am doing no such thing.
That’s completely ridiculous.”

“Seems to me it is exactly what you are doin’.” Saber
proved it by producing a devilish grin aimed directly at her pride.

“But I’m not!” she sputtered; much afraid he’d just
read her mind. And, somehow, figured he’d use it against her at a later date.

“If you say so, Little Darlin’. But if you were
actually offering to go out on a date with me, it would be to dinner, then a
long walk. Definitely not the rodeo. And there would be a whole lot of kissin’
along the way just to spite your tongue. And what a lovely tongue it is.”

She’d licked her lips, so he was being purposely
merciless.

Saber then backed up. “But as you say, you are not
offering, and I’m not askin’.” As final insult, he grinned from ear to ear.

Julia could barely hold her anger in check. She
stormed into the sanctity of her bedroom and slammed her door right in his
face; careless of the fact she may have startled the other men out of their
deep slumber at one in the morning.

He tapped at the closed panel. Moments later, he
muttered, “Are we still on for Friday night?”

“In your dreams, Cowboy.” Thank goodness there was a
two-inch thick door between him and her and she could get away with calling him
this.

“How does six o’clock sound?” he asked, ignoring her
quick retort.

“I said…”

“I know what you said, Julia Margaret,” he warned. “I
have ears. This time, how about doin’ better at makin’ me believe those words?”

“Go away!”

“I’m goin’. But you know I’m right, Little Darlin’.” To
pour even more salt in the wound, he whistled Dixie all the way back to his
room.

His chuckle had created the gooseflesh to rise on her
entire body.

**

Saber couldn’t check his grin as he strode toward the
other end of the hall where his bed was. His
borrowed
bed. His small,
uncomfortably narrow; not worthy of a man’s snot …Hell, Uncle LeRoy usually
more astute to what his nephew desired, this had been one of those times when
good old Uncle LeRoy had made Saber sweat it out, proving the elder as a man of
his worth—and, of consequence.

If Saber wanted to get closer to Julia Hillard, he
would have to pay for it. Unfortunately, Friday night, a full week from now,
was an awful long time to wait to pay such a hefty due for a hot date with an
even hotter woman. And it would be a date. Make no mistake about that.

Little did she know he’d already set up a candlelight
dinner, bottle of wine, and a whole lot of romancin’—before, during, and after
the rodeo. He had it planned down to the very last detail. Huge bouquet of
roses included in this ‘non-date’.