Seduction of Saber (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend #3) (17 page)

Eight Second Wonder
Saber.

Mr.
Eight Second
Wonderful
.

From the moment they’d met on her great-grandmother’s
front porch, he’d been a doctor to the rest of the world—a heart surgeon, no
less. She shouldn’t have pushed this fact aside, once discovering it for her
own.

Dr.
Patterson
had much quicker reactions than she, even though still recuperating from his
numerous injuries. The man’s hand snaked around her arm faster than a coiled
Cobra could strike. “And that’s where you are horribly wrong,” he warned.

“Wrong about what?”

“I am not mistaken about this.”

He pulled hard on her arm, dragging her toward his
body, and slamming her into a chest made of steel.

Julia’s hands slipped up to stop the impact.
Breathless, she shifted her eyes to his, as his mouth descended upon hers. With
fascination, she did nothing at all to stop the kiss. And boy, what a kiss it was.
Hard, then soft, then demanding, then so damn gentle it made her head swoon. It
was a kiss that pulled at her inner being, her inner sanctity, her inner
psyche, until she physically begged for him to let her go. It was broad
daylight. What would the neighbors think?

Damnit all!
Exactly
who was she trying to kid? She
didn’t
give a crap what her neighbors thought of her. Let them watch. Let them wonder.
Let them be in awe!

She drifted her fingers up to his neck and kissed him
back, all on her own. God, she missed this man so terribly. It was all she
could do not to throw her body at him; then beg for mercy and forgiveness.

She shouldn’t have walked away from him as she had.
The timing of his injuries somehow coincided with her inner misgivings about
being with him. Each had canceled out the other. Until, in the end, she’d been
left with nothing but a terribly broken heart and a few more months of complete
loneliness to notch into her belt.

“There. Now that’s a
much
better ‘Hello’ out of
you,” he teased, circling her slender waist with his fingers; dropped the cane
to the garage floor to better hold onto her.

“So? Where do we go from here?” She regretted these
words the instant they’d left her mouth.

“Go?” he teased.

Julia punched a smiling man square on the arm. “You
know what I meant, Dr. Patterson. Don’t play dumb on me now.”

“Do I, Little Darlin’?” A blond brow arched upward. “I
did get my brains kicked in a little while back. Perhaps you should enlighten
me as to what you meant, exactly.”

“You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

“No. And I never intended too,” he warned. “From the moment
we met on your front porch, nearly three months ago, I get hurt by something or
someone coming from inside this house.” He was reminding her of their first day
together, when she didn’t need such a swift remembrance. “This go around I
intend to keep my body intact. What’s left of it, that is.”

“How?”

“How?” he repeated. “By doing what I should have done
in the first place.”

“And what is that, Dr. Patterson?”

He moved his head down to whisper this single thought
into her ear.

Julia’s entire body covered in goose flesh from head
to toe because of it.

“Are you certain you can still do that?” she teased,
eyeing the man up and down, crown to boots. Her grin meant to be contagious
when her sight stalled on well below the waistline.

“Why, Ms. Julia Margaret Hillard, that vicious bull might
have broken my arm, cracked open my head, busted up my spleen, damaged my leg,
and broken more than just a few of my wimpy ribs—not to mention everything else
a mean bastard tried to get in—in less than five seconds, I might add. But the
rest of me is still fully intact and quite functional.” He lowered his gaze for
a split second, then winked. “And when I say
functional
, I mean…,” he
started, pausing.

Julia cut him off at the pass. “We’ll just have to see
about that. Won’t we, Eight Second Wonder-boy?”

Saber smiled a salacious smile that caught Julia by
complete surprise. “Can I ask when?” he dared.

She tapped his chest. “When you take me out on that
date you promised me three full months ago.”

Before Saber got the chance to react to Julia escaping,
she moved quickly toward the house. He found her inside the kitchen. Her hands
were submerged in hot sudsy water at the sink, trying to wash off the spatters
of paint from her arms.

Having taken a seat at the table without asking he
stretched his left leg out from under it and groaned. His skin looked ashen as
Julia turned her head to him, smiling. The tiredness was in his eyes.

That storm cloud gaze locked onto her. “Seriously,
Little Darlin’…This might be askin’ a lot, but is there somewhere I could lie
down for a bit? Where I could catch my breath?”

Oh, God! She hadn’t given much thought to how he would
be feeling; mentally kicked herself in both shins the moment she took in the
pallor of his skin. Three short months to heal from all he had to wasn’t near
long enough for a body not to still feel the pain.

Hurriedly moving to his side, Julia helped Saber to
his feet and moved him directly to her bedroom. She hadn’t been lying when she
told him there wasn’t room available for another. For the remainder of this
week she had a house full of elderly ladies on their yearly excursion to catch
the fall colors. Every available room inside the boarding house was occupied.
That left only her double bed for Saber to use.

She led him there.

Once inside the bedroom, he took in the sight of the
extreme clutter and teased her relentlessly. “I can see you still don’t clean
your room, but expect it of your boarders.”

He dropped to the bed with a thud while she removed
his boots and tossed them carelessly to the floor. With a bit of effort, he got
both legs onto her mattress, his head placed on two of her scented pillows.

“Not many are ever allowed in here. So how big the
mess is shouldn’t matter all that much,” she ascertained.

“Not many?” He’d cocked a blond brow upward, baiting
her. “Or none, Ms. Hilliard?”

A man could easily die in this bed and be happy about
it.

Saber turned this over within his thoughts, watching
her struggle with his presence. He’d been out of her life for two months, nearer
to three. Julia might have moved on within that time; taken a boyfriend while
his back had been turned, and his ass stuck in a sling. She was a beautiful
woman. She might be seeing someone. Whereas, he would be intruding upon
territory already marked if this were the case.

Saber had high doubts he’d be able to survive an ass
kicking from an angered, jealous man, while still healing from an ass-kicking
bull.

Julia gave him an all-teeth showing grin. “None, Dr.
Patterson.”

“Only me?”

This gained him a snort. “Yes. Only you.”

She pulled a quilt over his large frame, tucking in
the sides. She was about to leave him in peace when he snaked his hand around
her wrist, yanking her to the bed.

“What? Leaving me just laying here? Vulnerable?
Helpless? Or so soon?” he said.

“The sooner I leave you to get some rest, the sooner
you’ll get color back into your face. By the looks of things, you haven’t been
doing much resting lately, have you?”

She’d not been told as of yet about his newest tattoo.
He couldn’t let her go until he showed it to her.

“Can’t you stay with me Little Darlin’?” His grin
slightly lob-sided, he was drawing from reserves.

“Why?”

“It helps with the pain.”

“You have women stay with you to help with the pain?”

He could see she was unable to stop these potentially
damaging words from spewing forth.

“No,” he said.

“Then why do I have to? I have things to do today and
I’d been doing them until you showed up, unannounced,” she promised. “I can’t
sit here holding your hand while you nap.”

“What could be more important than holding my, um …hand?”
he asked rakishly.

Julia ignored the innuendo. “Well, like baking, doing
a load of dirty dishes, and washing a near ton of bedding. There are five other
women inside this house for the week. I have to take care of them first and
foremost, before I can even think of caring for anything else.”

“Are any of them as pretty as you?” he teased,
adjusting the pillow; at the same time letting go of her wrist.

“Not a one. They are all over the age of sixty plus.
More your Uncle LeRoy’s age. You wouldn’t be interested. And they probably
don’t like Bull Men to begin with.”

“Sixty huh?” He mulled this over, testing her.

“If not a day over.”

Saber stopped her, yet again. “Can’t I at least have a
kiss to tide me over until your return?”

“Why?”

He pinned her with a look meant to startle her. “So my
dreams are actually livable.”

“Are you having nightmares, Saber? You should
certainly tell a doctor about that.”

“Julia, I
am
a doctor. And he certainly knows
he’s having nightmares.”

Sheepishly, she muttered, “Yes. I keep forgetting that
you are one. You never seem to act like one.”

“What is a doctor supposed to act like, Ms. Hillard?”
This, he had to hear.

“Well, for starters, he’s supposed to be old, and
stuffy, and a really big
Know-it-all
. A real doctor doesn’t sit his
gorgeous ass on a stark raving lunatic of a beast just for kicks and to make a
few bucks.”

“This one’s not doing that anymore,” he promised,
stalling the rest of his words.

Up until this moment he hadn’t been certain. Now he
was.

“You mean…”

“I mean for good, Little Darlin’.”

**

Julia let go her held breath. She’d not even known she
was holding it until the rush of air left her body so swiftly it made her
lightheaded.

“You truly mean…”

“Ms. Julia Margaret Hillard,
Eight Second Wonder
has officially retired from the rodeo circuit. Under doctor’s strict orders, there
will be no more bull riding. No more stupid moves atop a wild, uncontrollable mammal.
No more rodeo or rodeo groupies to contend with. No more late night endeavors
that can’t be reasonably explained to the woman’s husband…”

She didn’t dare react to that.

“But you’re a Bull Man. You said so yourself. What
ever will you do if you can’t ride bulls?” Again, she was unable to keep her
thoughts in check.

“I was hoping I could get myself hitched, have a few
kids, grow old, and practice medicine again.” He held her gaze steady, as well,
his breath.

“With, um, whom?” she pried cautiously.

“Well, my ride kind of dropped me off at your
doorstep, Little Darlin’. So if not with you, then I guess I’m plum out of luck
at this point.”

“That was pretty presumptuous of you, Dr. Patterson, being
dropped off on my doorstep again, with no way to leave. What if I say no to
you?”

Saber started to chuckle. He very easily pulled her to
his side, pinned her to the bed, and trapped her into a submissive state. Her
red hair was falling into her eyes and Saber took but a moment to brush it away
with a glide of his fingertip. His gentle touch sent heat waves of desire to
rush through her in near record time.

“I haven’t asked you anything yet, Little Darlin’. But
if you say no to me, it’ll probably be the biggest lie you’ve ever told.”

He then started to kiss her with everything he had,
every ounce of strength left inside him that did not pertain to his injuries,
turning her into jelly within his hands.

Bull Men certainly did not waste time when they knew
what they wanted.

“So? What’s it going to be?” he asked, while she
caught her breath.

“Yes.”

“Yes?” His silver-blue eyes turned to liquid mercury
in mere seconds.

“Yes,” she answered. “I guess I could find the time to
marry you.”

“You
guess
?” He turned so quickly, she didn’t
have the time to react, placing his large body over hers to look directly into
the depths of her soul. “Or you
will
?”

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” she said playfully.
“I do seem to be head over heels in love with a Bull Man.”

“Oh? And just when did this happen? Last thing I knew,
you were running from one in particular, with your heels on fire.” He brushed a
light kiss to the tip of her nose.

“When?” Julia gave it thought. “Probably the second
you took off your damn T-shirt when standing in my great-grandmother’s living
room and showed me your snake tattoo.”

He pulled from her body and deftly lifted his T-shirt
over his head, tossing it to the floor. For a guy who was so dead tired, and
said he felt the worst for wear, Saber made quick work of discarding the
article. “You mean this one?”

Julia ran her fingertips over the scarred flesh, his
body memorized by her gaze. His rippling muscles, his sensitivity, his true
masculinity, they all drew her in.

“Yeah, this one, Bull Man,” she promised, her voice
barely above a whisper. “I’ve always been a sucker for a guy with a tattoo.
Especially a tattoo right here.”

Julia reining her body in could barely hold back the
desire to make love to this man.

“That’s good, because I’ve got a certain something for
a girl with long red hair and iridescent eyes who can’t seem to stop smiling at
me.”

He lowered his face, sealing the deal. Somehow, she
felt Preacher’s Bend was never going to be the same with Saber Patterson in its
midst. Then again, hadn’t this town thought the same thing about Gill Hillard
and Jake Giotti the days they arrived, kicking and screaming from their mother’s
womb?

Julia didn’t give a damn about Preacher’s Bend staying
the same. All was good. All was right with the world. The man of her dreams was
undressing her, as gently and as considerately as any man could undress a
woman; with every fiber of his being and every intention to make love to her
caught in his gaze. She never felt so free or so alive in all her life.

When both were completely naked, and Saber hovered
over her, he asked, “Is your father in town by chance?”

“Yes. Why?” Last she knew Gill was down at Rachel’s,
eating a late lunch. He’d stopped by a full hour ago only to see if she’d
needed help with cleaning out the garage.

“Did you lock the doors?”

“No.” She hadn’t locked any one of them. Her other
boarders would not be able to get into the house.

“Damnation, Woman! You want me killed?”

“No. I want the two of you to actually like each
other,” she ruled sweetly. “Gill’s not so bad once you get to know him. He
bites hard, at first, but only when he has to. My father means well, really.”

“Do I have to get to know the man, enough for him to
take a bite out of me? He already rearranged a few of my facial bones.” A quick
grimace done in memory. “I don’t know if the rest of my body can take another
assault from the man’s fists. It’s been through enough.”

“If you intend on doing what it is that you intend on
doing within the next few seconds, then yes, you have to.” She made a sensual
move to guide him to where she meant.

Saber groaned playfully under the pressure of her
insistence. Three seconds more and she wouldn’t have been able to hold back
from digging in her own bag of tricks to get to this man.