Seduction of Saber (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend #3) (15 page)

“I—I am not his girl,” Julia sputtered, biting on her
lower lip.

“You’re not?” Liddy raised a brow. “Then what the
bloody hell were you doing in that VIP box? And now, pacing a hole into a
hospital floor, if not?”

Julia gave her friend the evil eye as she muttered
out, “Well, I’m not. Not technically.”

“Oh, yeah?” Liddy ruled. “Well, I would say
technically
you are.”

And Liddy should certainly know the definition of the
word. She’d tried using it to describe that she was
technically
not
married to Jake when Mack Wells proposed to her.

One of the doctors, who came out to hand Julia a very
injured Saber’s personal effects, cut off the rest of Liddy’s argument. “He
said to give you these if surgery was required.”

Julia felt ill.

Liddy rose quickly to help her sit down, fast, before
she fell and they’d have two injuries to deal with.

“Is surgery required?” Liddy asked.

Julia’s white-knuckled fingers wrapped themselves
around a pair of dusty cowboy boots, size 12, which were a little worse for
wear. The left side of his boot had a huge hole in the leather from the bull’s
horn.

Oh God. That horn missed his chest by mere inches and
milliseconds. If there was a shade worse than white, Julia knew she was it.

“He has a torn spleen. One of many broken ribs decided
to make a quick detour and head in the wrong direction, doing a bit of damage
to the bottom of his lung. We need to operate. Other than that, he should be
fine in a month or two, with proper physical therapy. Mental therapy I can’t
help him with.”

“Should be?” Liddy grasped upon.

“The guy was thrown by a super large, super angry
bull. He was pounded into the ground for at least a full three minutes before
anyone could get him out of there. He was kicked in the head, numerous times by
a hoof twice the size of my fist. He was beaten to a pulp by a creature twelve
times larger than his body weight. Yeah, he’ll be fine.” The doctor rolled his
eyes to say otherwise, adding, “Once we cut open his stubborn jackass hide and
repair the damage to his internal organs.”

“That’s pretty sympathetic talk, coming from a man of
medicine,” Liddy smarted, likely because she knew Julia would do it, if she
could.

But Julia was too in shock and barely blinking to
state an opinion.

“I’m not trying to be sympathetic here. I’m being
honest. That’s all I can ever be. In my professional opinion, the guy is either
brain dead or he is an absolute fool. He threw away a very promising career in
heart surgery just because his kid died on the operating table while under his
knife. Dr. Patterson was …Well, he’s a damn fool in my opinion. Anyone who
rides bulls in favor of a real job is a damn fool. And it’s professionals like
me, who have dedicated their lives to saving others, and have to stitch fools
back up so they can do it all over again. You’d be better off by not getting
involved too deeply with this one, Miss.”

He looked over at Julia, who found her vocal chords
still intact and her anger readily available. “What did you just say about Mr.
Patterson?”

The doctor looked down at her white knuckled grip to a
shredded pair of size 12 cowboy boots. “I said it’s people like me that have to…”

She swiftly interrupted this with a wave of the hand.
“No, the part of
Doctor
Patterson leaving his kid on an operating table.”

Liddy took over quickly and whipped out, “What does it
matter, Julia? I’m sure this good man needs to get back to prepping Saber for
surgery.”

She seemed as if trying her damnedest to change the
subject as fast as humanly possible. But Julia had to know the truth. “No, he
does not. He needs to answer my question.” She rose from her seat and glared
down at her friend. “Who left whom to die?”

The man answered her—in spades. He told her every
single detail of
Dr
. Saber Patterson’s past history, down to the last
minutes of the son’s life on an operating table. He’d left her visibly shaken
and ready to puke.

“You knew? And you said nothing to me?” She rushed toward
Liddy.

Her best friend in the whole wide world was unable to
look at her face. Liddy had lowered her gaze, while biting on her bottom lip, a
surefire sign that she hadn’t wanted to tell Julia the truth from the very
beginning.

“He told me not to say anything to you. Not until he
could tell you himself. I’m sure he would have, had he not gotten himself so
badly injured tonight,” she justified.

“Would have? Like when, Liddy?
After
I slept
with him?”

Liddy cocked a brow. “Are you planning to sleep with
Saber?” Her interest suddenly piqued.

“No. Heavens no. I barely know the guy.”

Had the opportunity presented itself she certainly
would have tried—af
ter
she weighed out the pros and cons of sleeping
with a man like Saber. However, she’d not gotten that far into their evening,
thanks to fate.

“Then why do you even care? Why should a man’s past
life mean anything to you if you don’t care?”

“It just does.”

“Why?” Liddy would not give up until she got Julia to
admit the truth.

“Damnit Liddy! Neither you nor he said anything to me
about his being a doctor.”

And that was the real gist of it. It mattered because
he lied to her. Well, not really lied. A man could not lie about something he
never meant to tell in the first place.

It suddenly made sense to her. The seemingly natural
ability to give her the required insulin shot, the caring nature from a man
with so many bulging muscles, the compassion toward what others thought, and
the gentle hands of a skilled man.

Julia did not like being lied too, especially by her
best friend. Saber, she could do nothing about. But Liddy?

“He was a doctor and his son died. I care because I
have compassion for a man losing a child. Especially while the father was that
child’s doctor,” she argued, as her friend gave her the room to add more. “I
have compassion, Liddy. Perhaps a little too much. And I am more than certain
there is an answer for whatever purpose he had to keep it from me. Yet, he
should have told me. You shouldn’t have kept this from me, either. We’re
supposed to be best friends, Liddy. Friends do not keep secrets like this from
one another.”

“They don’t?” Liddy smarted. “Then why is it you did
not tell me you were dating
Sexy-as-all-Hell
Patterson before now? Or,
that you dated my husband while I was out of the picture?”

Julia paled, while Liddy covered her mouth with her
hand. They’d been over this a thousand times before. To bring it up now was
Liddy being spiteful because of being called out as a best friend.

It took both women a few seconds to calm down.

“Julia, he’ll tell you when he’s good and ready to
tell you.”

Unfortunately, Julia didn’t believe a word of this.

Liddy’s thoughts moved to the fact friends
do
keep secrets from each other. To protect them by the only way they knew how.

She’d kept plenty of secrets from the woman pacing a
hole in the floor, and now glaring at her. Her living in Miami and becoming
engaged to a full-fledge lawyer, Mack Wells, among one of those more
substantial secrets. She was simply doing her best at making up for all of
those secrets before it was too late, and before it would somehow change the
outcome of their friendship.

If she’d let Julia know the truth before now it would
have done too much damage. Besides, a promise was a promise. She’d promised
Saber she would let him tell.

“But what if he doesn’t confide in me? What if he was
planning to keep me in the dark permanently? Am I supposed to just sit around
and pretend that I don’t know a thing about it? Pretend the both of you made a
pact to keep me in the dark?” Julia asked.

“No. You’re supposed to give him some time,” Liddy
rushed. “You do know how to do that, don’t you? Give a man time? Or are you so
cold-blooded these days, you can’t allow one single guy who comes into your
life the freedom to confess his sins, without stepping over a few dead bodies
lain in the way? He’s only human, Julia. With, I am sure, more than a few
skeletons in his closet. When the time is right, he will tell you. Being such a
bitter bitch isn’t going to get you your answers any sooner than that.”

Her friend turned, took a deep breath, then slapped her
right across the face—a little too hard.

Liddy took it all in stride. She wanted Julia good and
pissed. She wanted her friend to get the initial anger out of her system, then
work past that anger.

Julia was raised by a mother who could’ve cared less
she’d even been born. At eighteen, she was pawned off on her father, a man she’d
never been allowed to see for more than a few months out of any given year. And
most of that time, any allowance done in secret.

Liddy wanted her dear friend to get the anger out of
her future too; where shooting insulin into her body on a daily basis wasn’t on
her mind, every hour of every day.

And, she wanted Julia to let go of what life was
becoming to her; exercise, diet, staying as healthy as she could possibly stay.

Lately, Julia kept things bottled up inside, and she’s
let none of it out. She was going around in limbo over the past few months with
her head stuck in a fog. She had a disease. So what? A lot of people had diseases,
even diabetes. They conquered whatever came their way. It would probably take
her friend time to adjust to the fact any conquering would be done from the
inside out; as it will take all of them time to adjust to her being sick. But
eventually, Julia would be fine.

Saber would tell her the truth when he was ready.

If Liddy could take a bit of the sting out of it,
Julia wouldn’t take her anger out on Patterson. She was simply protecting the
both from the inevitable. But she could not help saying, “Jesus Almighty,
Julia! That really smarted,” as she rubbed her flaming cheek with her hand.

Julia’s hand flew to her mouth. “God Liddy! I am so
sorry. I should not have done that to you.” She looked so shocked at what she’d
done and why she’d done it that it was suddenly scaring her closest friend into
thinking something was terribly wrong all of a sudden.

“No. I deserved that, and more. But still, did you
have to hit me so bloody damn hard?” Liddy quipped.

“I said I was sorry. What more do you want from me?”

A uniformed nurse, who came into the private waiting
room, interrupted the argument. The nurse’s eyes traveled over both women. One
of those women with eyes wide, white as a ghost, the other with angry red welts
splayed across her left cheek.

“Ms. Hillard?” she questioned both.

Julia answered her identity.

With a nod, the nurse spoke. “Mr. Patterson has asked
to see you before he goes down to surgery. If you will come with me, please?”

Liddy looked at Julia; a trepid smile held on her friend’s
face as she stepped toward the uniformed woman. “Not his girl, huh?” she
teased.

When Julia glared back, Liddy added, “He’ll be fine,
Julia. And he will tell you about his past when he is ready to tell you. Don’t push
him. You may just push him away. Don’t blow a good thing on the account of
stubborn Hillard pride.”

Julia nodded. “Here, take these.” She handed Liddy the
man’s boots.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, positive. I’ll need both hands empty so I am better
able to strangle his gorgeously stubborn neck before it’s too late.”

The nurse looked stern, stopping Julia dead in her
tracks. “There will be no strangling of anyone. Not on my watch. This is a
hospital. We do not like to take time out from things far more important in
order to fix strangling,” she claimed.

Both Julia and Liddy startled by this news, Liddy
laughed aloud as Julia grinned at her friend, slowly following the nurse down
to Saber being prepped for surgery.

Liddy did not know what Julia would find, but whatever
it would be, it wasn’t going to be good.

**

Julia cautiously moved into the sterile surgical room.
Stainless steel, bleached whites, and tubes of every shape and size were either
sticking out of Saber or attached to some part of his beaten-to-a-pulp body. To
see him like this made her sick. She had to take deep gasping breaths to steady
her rapidly beating heart; and, to keep from crying the waterworks pooling at
the corners of her eyes.

There were two other uniformed nurses starting the
process of pre-op. They were checking and rechecking the tubes and monitors. A
third was writing something on a chart, barely gave Julia a cursory glance.

The nurse who escorted her to the room leaned down to
Saber and whispered something into his right ear. Saber’s eyes opened. His head
turned toward her with tremendous effort.

“Can we have a moment?” he asked all of them. His deep
dimples growing wide settled the request.

The nurses gave each other a look that spoke volumes,
but moved quickly when the fourth woman physically shooed them out the door.

“Don’t tax him too much. The surgeon is ready for Dr.
Patterson, and we have to get him downstairs as fast as we can. He may fall
asleep on you. Don’t worry about that.” She gave Julia a hasty, reassuring
smile. “It’s only the large dose of sedative that is already stuck in his
veins. Those that are not completely blown apart, that is.”

The nurse grinned down at the sexy
Eight Second
Wonder
, the devilish cowboy winking back as the woman moved out the door.

A badass bull nearly broke every part of his body… but
damned if his eyelids did not work properly.

For one brief moment, Julia was actually jealous of
each of these women. They’d gotten to see Saber completely naked; when it was
she rush-dressing for her non-date earlier tonight, and wanted to be the only
woman who got to see this man in the buff tonight.

She’d missed the only opportunity she would likely
ever have with this man.

She turned her head to smile down at Saber. Her heart
broke in two at the terrible sight of him, as his dimples slowly disappeared.

He raised a battered right hand up to her. His left
arm placed in plaster cast.

She took his hand in hers with trembling fingers. The
IV needle and tubes were barely noticeable by this point.

“I’m glad you’re still here,” he rasped.

“Where else would I be?” she offered. “You owe me
dinner, Patterson, and a walk. And a whole lot of kissin’, once we get you out
of here.” Her eyes wrenched from the numerous tubes that were stuck into his
body, Julia grabbing for air that could not come quick enough. “I will be
expecting payment with interest. And I won’t take ‘
No’
for an answer. No
matter how much you try to get out of it.”

“Yeah, I do owe you dinner, don’t I, Little Darlin’?”
His eyes closed. They seemed to have rolled back in his head. “I owe you big
time.” It took him a few more seconds and a lot of effort to add, “For much
more than just that.”

“Saber? Are you okay? Should I get the nurse back in
here?” Julia was alarmed that his eyes had suddenly closed. His face was
turning paler than before, his skin cold to the touch.

As his silver-blue, melt-her-into-a-puddle of
forgotten promises reopened, he answered. “No. I’m fine. Just a slight …twinge.”

**

This was the absolute understatement of the year.
Saber’s entire body felt as if it had been recently crushed under a twenty-ton
truck. There wasn’t a single inch of him that did not hurt. Nor, hurt badly.
Jesus
A Christ, I’m a damn fool! Riding bulls, just to prove something to myself?

Was it really worth all this pain, or worth hurting
others in the process?

Hell yes!

And, well …
Hell, no!

Maybe there was some good to being insane. He was
famous, after all. Yet he was famous for all the wrong reasons, and not for
what he’d put his heart and soul into, but for what he’d put his muscles and
lack of brains into. Riders hurt as bad as he generally did not take up riding
again. This might be it for him, and if it was, then what? He already gave up a
promising career as a surgeon. What more would there be asked to give up?

“I’m so sorry, Julia,” Saber whispered out, checking
his emotions. “I’m so damn sorry.”

A slow tear fell down her cheek as she leaned closer
to his horribly bruised face. That tear was followed by another, then another.

“For ruining our date,” he added. He was about to go
into surgery and needed to apologize, the risks great.

“Don’t you worry about ruining our date. You just get
yourself healed up. There’ll be plenty of time for us to have that, um,
date
.”

God, it was killing him to see her like this. Would it
always be this way? He knew she wasn’t made of stone. Julia was a fragile
being. She hurt whenever anyone else hurt. Right now, her entire body was
telling him something quite significant. His apology might be a little too
late.

**

God, would it always be this way? Always this much
heartache?

Get out. Get out before it is too late, you fool
.

Get out
and
never look back
.

“I guess you’re right,” Saber answered her, closing
his eyes. “But this was supposed to have been a perfect evening.” He flared his
nostrils to yet another wave of anguish; followed by a heavily dragged-out sigh
as likely the adrenaline was kicking in to slow it down. “This was supposed to
be …
perfect
.”

Julia wanted to speak, choking up momentarily on the sentiment,
her lips pinched. “It will be. Once they get you better and on your feet.
You’ll see.”

The waterfall came out unchecked as he openly stared
at her face. He looked as if he was trying to memorize her in his drug-induced
haze. Very cautiously, he moved his fingers to the side of her cheek and
brushed away a lone tear with only his thumb. Here he was, broken into a
thousand pieces, and he was more concerned that she was crying her heart out
over his many injuries, than he was of being so damn hurt.

“I’m so sorry,” he muttered again.

A half second later, his hand dropped and Saber fell
asleep on the hospital gurney.

Julia stood and gently placed his large hand along his
side. She tucked the warm blanket around his battered and bruised body.

“So am I,” she admitted; her words no more than a
breathless whisper caught on the confining sterile air.

She bent down, kissed the side of his bruised cheek
tenderly, took one last look at the injured man—one last look at a man she was
falling head over heels in love with—then backed out of the room. Once free, to
where she could breathe without feeling as if she was drowning, she ran the
length of the corridor, and directly out the hospital’s front door.

She never looked back. Her heart had broken in two
this time. No amount of promises would ever to be able to fix that. No amount
of foolish pride would force her to believe his lies. He was a complicated Bull
Man, and in her heart she knew she’d never be able to settle her fears about
that.