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.
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.
Chapter Thirteen
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.
Seduction of Saber (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend #3) Page 10