My Hero
Sahara Kelly
Time Guardians
Book Three
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2013 Sahara Kelly
Cover art copyright 2013 Sahara Kelly
For P and N Graphics, LLC
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Acknowledgements
This book is dedicated with a great deal of respect to murder mystery writers everywhere. The idea of doing one of my own had been nagging in the back of my head for quite some time, but it wasn’t until I began that I realized the vast challenge lying before me. That I met it, is obvious. That I beat it? Well, that’s for you to decide. I will note that this is my only murder mystery, and although I’m very proud of it, I’m in no hurry to write another one.
To my family, who wisely stayed out of my way during the process, my thanks. To those who complimented me on the original version—I still cherish every word. And to my writing partner and best friend, eternal gratitude for making me believe that I could do it. On more than one occasion.
I did my best to verify the facts in this story, shocking my family physician by asking for some information about stabbings and blood flow. He was a good sport, since he knew what I did for a living, and got into the spirit of it by offering very helpful suggestions.
So any errors in this book are entirely mine; I hope they don’t interfere with your enjoyment of Peta and Max’s adventures.
(Originally published elsewhere as “Peta and the Wolfe”, this edition has been substantially revised and re-edited for your digital reader. The poem quoted herein,
I Am Not Yours, by Sarah Teasedale, is—to the best of my knowledge—now in the public domain.)
Prologue
Bloody hell.
Peta Matthews fought with the wheel of her small two-seater, struggling to keep it in the ruts carved through the snow by the tires of other cars. Other larger cars.
Most people in Mayfield had either minivans or SUVs, but not her. One look at the green low-slung convertible and she’d drooled. It was the car of her dreams, but in these damned New England winters it became more of a nightmare.
And this late snowstorm was one of the worst. Heavy flakes piled up around her windshield wipers, and even with the defrost control on full she had a hard time seeing more than a couple of car lengths ahead.
She slowed even more as the road curved toward the bridge leading to Acorn Street and her house.
The fact that she was in a blazing temper didn’t help matters much either.
Damn Max Wolfe.
She’d gone to the bar to find him and try and explain to him, in the politest of terms, that he was a week late finishing up an edit she needed two days ago, and if he didn’t get his arse in gear she’d take great pleasure in firing him.
She gritted her teeth as the road tried to wrench the steering wheel out of her grip.
Her life seemed as out of control as her driving at this moment. She’d found Max, all right, but he’d been plastered all over some little tart with breasts the size of cantaloupes, and she had turned away disgusted, without delivering the pithy diatribe she’d rehearsed so carefully on the way there.
She gripped the wheel tightly as she negotiated the tricky road surface.
To top it all off, Cary Stiles had come in just as she was leaving, and made yet another pass at her. Life, she thought, as yet another patch of ice made her rear end skid, really did suck at times.
It would have sucked a lot less if she could rid her mind of Max’s image. Even as she peered through the sludge on her wiper blades in an attempt to keep her car on the road, she could still see him. His tall muscular body and his darkish blond hair haunted her dreams, a vision that drove her to toss and turn and wake up in a sweat, sometimes milliseconds away from climaxing. His hazel eyes had captivated her, his sexy voice echoed in her ears, and sometimes she wondered if she was becoming obsessive about him, and should seek professional help.
She sighed and tried to banish all thoughts of Max from her mind as she squinted through the snow and tried to find the turning for the bridge.
There—there it was. She flicked on her turn signal and moved the wheel to the left.
Obediently, the car turned left. But not quite far enough. There was little traction beneath the small rear wheels, and not enough weight to keep them where they were supposed to be.
With a gasp, she realized she wasn’t going to make the turn. Her foot stamped on the brake in an automatic response to the sight of the wooden railings looming in front of the headlights.
It was too late.
With a crash and a shriek, Peta Matthews and her little convertible sailed off the icy bridge into the swirling blindness of the snowstorm and the River May beneath.
Oh bollocks…
Chapter One
Someone was playing the drums. Loudly and energetically, and behind her right eye.
Lovely. I’m dead and in heaven with a migraine.
Peta groaned and shifted a little, waiting for the pain to shoot through her body. She remembered the odd sensation of her car flying, but not much else.
“Easy, dear. Just rest a moment.”
The voice was quiet and soothing, and she obeyed it without question, since it was telling her to do what she wanted to do anyway. Rest. For perhaps a few thousand years.
“Mama, she’s got pitty hair.”
Heaven had child angels? What were they...oh yes, cherubs.
“She does, doesn’t she, Lalla? Now why don’t you go and play with Hannah for a little while so that Mama can take care of this nice lady and make her feel better?”
“Don’t wanna.”
Oh good. Cherubs were annoyingly obstinate too, just like their earthly counterparts.
“Lalla?” The voice held all the maternal authority common to a mother whose eyebrows were raised and whose hands were planted firmly on her hips.
“It’s not faaaaiiiir.” That was definitely a whine.
“You may come back later and say hello if there’s time.”
There was silence for a moment, and Peta imagined the cherub’s wings fluttering as she thought about this statement.
“Hooookay.”
“Good girl. Now run along.”
Footsteps fading away indicated that the cherub had left. Walking. Perhaps she hadn’t graduated from flying class yet.
Cautiously, Peta raised one eyelid, and then the other.
A lovely woman bent over her, stroking soft hands over Peta’s body, and looking worried. Risking a quick glance around, she observed that the room was large, and sunlight shone through the wide openings in the walls. Birds sang loudly, a little too loudly for her comfort, and a couple of other women were fussing with something in the far corner of the room.
They were all gorgeous, and clad in something soft and silky.
Oh fuck. Heaven really is a lingerie catalogue. No wonder they’d put those fluffy wings on their models.
So why was she here? Were they going to introduce a new line of lingerie for the volume-enhanced? Girdles that could shape her body into something resembling an hourglass rather than a grandfather clock? Victoria must truly be an angel with incredible powers if they were going to try that.
“How do you feel?” The woman spoke quietly, still touching Peta, running her hands across her naked skin.
“Headache,” she muttered, wincing. “And I’m naked.”
The woman grinned. “I can help with both. Close your eyes.”
Too confused to do anything else, Peta lowered her eyelids as she felt the woman’s hands on her forehead. They moved slowly and felt both cool and strangely warm at the same time. Within seconds the pain was gone.
“You may open your eyes now.”
Cautiously, she did. The woman was drawing a soft silk sheet up over Peta’s body, and with a sigh of relief, she found she could move and tug it all the way up to her chin.
She said the first thing that came into her mind. “Where am I? This is heaven, right?”
A low laugh greeted her words, and the woman pulled up a chair next to the bed. “Some people think so,” she smiled. “Actually, it isn’t. This place is called Anyela, and it exists outside of your time. Outside of most people’s time, as a matter of fact.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Neala. My husband is the Guardian here.”
“I’ll bet he is,” answered Peta wryly. She glanced at the other women. “What is this, some kind of harem or something? I never learned about this in church. Must give St. Peter a few gray hairs.”
Neala chuckled. “There is much to tell you and little time in which to do it. But I should let my husband explain it all to you.” She looked carefully at Peta, her black eyes focusing intently on her. “Headache gone?”
“Now you come to mention it, yes. And the rest of me seems to be intact, which is odd...” Questions and images flooded her mind. “I drove off the bridge...my car...I—”
“Relax, my dear. All will be explained to you. Ah, here is my husband now.”
Peta turned her head on the pillow and watched a tall man entering the room. His long hair was tied back and his eyes were the most unusual turquoise blue. In his arms he carried a very innocent-looking little girl, who was snuggled comfortably against his chest.
Neala stood up. “Lalla. What did I tell you?” There was no anger in the words, just a typical motherly reprimand.
“But Mama...” Big blue eyes widened. “You said to go play with Hannah and I was going to go play with Hannah. But I found Papa on the way and you said it was good to spend time with Papa, and Papa said...”
“Enough, Lalla.” The man’s voice was deep, and accompanied by a light kiss on the top of his daughter’s curly blonde head.
He looked at his wife and they shared an identical eye-rolling moment of parental communication. They grinned.
Peta watched the byplay with interest. Two gorgeous people—beings—angels, whatever they were, and they still let themselves be manipulated by a tiny elfin child. Some things never changed.
The man nodded at Peta. “I’m glad you’re awake. We have to talk.”
Neala lifted her daughter from the man’s arms. “We’ll leave you to it.” She headed off, letting Lalla wave a little hand in farewell.
Peta, to her surprise, found herself waving back. Those big eyes were irresistible.
“Now, Ms. Matthews. I expect you have lots of questions.” He seated himself in the chair next to the bed, and crossed his long legs. “Do you know where you are?”
“Um...Mrs...Neala said something about being out of time? Is that a polite euphemism for being dead?”
He laughed. “No, my dear. You’re not dead. You’re in Anyela. This is a special place where the Time Guardians keep an eye on the Universe and its progress. Occasionally, things go wrong and it’s up to us and our representatives to correct any problems. It’s not really in your time. It has a location in the time streams all its own.”
“Ah.” Peta’s head swam as she tried to follow his words.
“I am the Guardian, one of the people who supervise the entire process.”
He settled back in the chair, and Peta found herself staring at his unusual eyes. He was a corker, all right.
“You are Peta Matthews, born and raised in...um...” He frowned a little in thought. “...England, yes?”
“Correct. How did you know—“
“Never mind how I know. I just do, that’s all. You’re here for a special reason. It was not time for you to die.”
She gulped. “I suppose that’s a good thing?”
“Well, yes and no. It meant that we had to bring you here before sending you back. There are things you must do, Peta. Important things.”
“Oh?” She couldn’t imagine what. Publish a best-seller? Clean her kitchen floor? Her life wasn’t exactly what she’d call important to the overall scheme of things. Not as far as she could see, anyway.
“Your life is now entangled with a certain person’s, and that person must continue to live out his allotted time span. I can’t tell you why, but it’s imperative.”
“Really? Who?”
“Max Wolfe.”
“Oh shit.” Peta closed her eyes. “Excuse my language.”
The Guardian laughed. “Don’t apologize. I’ve heard worse. And from my own genies too.”
“Genies?” She opened her eyes at that. “You mean like magic lamps and stuff?”
The Guardian cleared his throat. “Upon occasion, yes. But not this time. We do train suitable candidates for our genie program. They’re men of great—er—prowess, shall we say? But you, you’re a special case.”
“Oh. That’s nice.” Her mind was still struggling with a variety of concepts, none of which made any sense. And it figured that Max would have to be in there somewhere.
The Guardian grinned. “Let me see if I can simplify this for you. We need you to return to your world, almost to the moment you went off the bridge. From that point on, events will unfold that will place you in a position to be of the utmost assistance to Max Wolfe. You will temporarily be functioning as an Anyelan representative. A genie.”
“Do I get my own lamp?” Visions of belly-dancing costumes and veils flashed through Peta’s mind.
“No. Sorry. We can’t use that technique on this occasion. In fact, you won’t even remember you were here. It is essential that time progress along its prescribed path, and that you both follow the course which has been set out for you. The storm and the accident were random, but the effects would have been catastrophic further on down the line. We—and you—have to correct the error.”
“I don’t get any inside information? Any useful tips? What am I supposed to do?”
“Sorry again,” said the Guardian. “Our job is simply to make sure that the timeline continues uninterrupted on its course. Your death at that moment would have messed it up. Badly. This is one of the main purposes of the Time Guardians and our position here on Anyela. We fix messes like these.”
“But Max Wolfe? I can’t help him. He’s too busy chasing every randy little skirt that blinks at him.”
The Guardian snorted. “You overestimate Max’s interests, and underestimate your own potential, my dear.”
“Oh, right. I have mirrors, you know.”
“But do you see clearly when you look into them?”
The Guardian’s question took her by surprise. She thought for a moment. “Look, Mr. Guardian or whoever you are. I have no illusions. I know what I am. There are no lavish breasts here. No slender waist. It’s all dropped to my hips. Which, I might add, wobble on occasion. Yes, I see quite clearly what I am when I look in the mirror.”
The Guardian’s lips curved in a warm smile. “Not all attraction is based on the physical. And Max is already interested.”
“He is?” Damn. She’d squeaked.
“He is. And that attraction must be allowed to grow, to develop into something special between the two of you. It is imperative that Max learn to trust you.”
“Why?”
The Guardian’s face turned sober. “Because you, Peta Matthews, must save Max Wolfe’s life.”
Chapter Two
“Oh Max...oh Max...oh Maaaaxxxx…”
The woman screamed his name long and lou
d, and he winced at her ear-splitting enthusiasm. The fact that he was buried to his balls inside her pulsating body and doing his best to keep her going until he reached his own orgasm was not very helpful against such a vocal assault. The steady squeaking of the bedsprings didn’t help either.
He closed his eyes and imagined riotous chestnut hair and a pair of stern gray eyes that would have softened when he slid into her. She would be panting now, not screaming loud enough to shake the plaster off the peeling walls. She wouldn’t have peeling walls.
She’d have him. Max Wolfe. Deep inside her. He grinned to himself and came, spurting hotly into the still-whimpering woman beneath him.
“Oh Max.” She sighed and deflated into a smiling and boneless heap of satisfied hormones. The old bed gasped out a last creak and stopped its infernal racket.
Enormous breasts pillowed his chest as he tried desperately to remember her name.
“Well, my gosh, um, honey...” he improvised. What the hell was her name? Something calendar-ish, May? June? No, wait, it was April.
“That was some fuck, April.” He smiled winningly at her.
Surprisingly, she scowled and pulled away from him sharply, ripping her sweaty flesh from his like an old band-aid and almost taking the condom along with her.
“The name is Tuesday.”
“Oh. Sorry. I knew it was something from the calendar. Tuesday, that’s an unusual name...” He removed his protection with a deft twist and deposited it neatly in the trashcan beside him.
Max stretched out on the bed and put his arms beneath his head as his erstwhile playmate struggled into her too short and too tight dress.
“That’s what you said in the bar. God, get yourself some new lines, will you? You’re a good fuck, but not much of a conversationalist.” She pulled her thigh high boots up with a snap and grabbed for her coat and purse.
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