Scarlet Woman

by Shelley Munro

  Saber took one look at the pain in her eyes and knew he had to react quickly. “Maybe toast wasn’t such a good idea. Let’s go.” He seized her hand and dragged her from the room, refusing to let go despite her furtive tugging. Saber led her out the back way and handed her a pair of boots. “I know they’ll be too big. We’ll stuff the toes with newspaper.” He didn’t give Jo the opportunity to speak, hustling her to his vehicle and helping her into the passenger seat as soon as the boots were on her feet.

  His brothers were going to get an earful the next time he saw them. He climbed in behind the wheel. Jo didn’t like cats. He slid a cautious glance across at her. What woman didn’t like cute kitty cats?

  An uneasy silence filled the vehicle as he drove down the dusty gravel track. Great. The woman was his mate—he sensed it with every fiber of his body—yet they were like strangers. She didn’t like cats for crying out loud. That should make for a strong relationship. He couldn’t seem to get past the fact. They were so compatible in bed. Physically.

  “Is this your land?”

  “Yes, both sides of the road. This is our first stop.” Saber pulled up on a grass verge and climbed out, taking pride in showing her the prosperous acres he and his brothers toiled over in all seasons. In the distance, the Taieri River curled through the wide Strath Taieri valley, flanked by the Rock and Pillar Range on one side and the Taieri Ridge on the other. A flicker of black seen from the corner of his eye brought a curse. His brothers were playing chase in and out of the rocky schist outcrops up on the hill. Bloody hell, he didn’t believe it. This day just kept getting worse. He took a deep breath. Maybe Jo wouldn’t see them. Or perhaps…

  Saber rounded the front of the car with a purposeful stride, intending to hustle Jo out of sight. A shallow stream gurgled as it trickled over rocks and small pebbles, heading down the hill and under small bridges to join the river running through the valley below. The thunder of feet running through crackly poplar leaves sounded like an approaching storm. Damn, his brothers had covered the distance between them quicker than he’d figured they would. He opened the door for Jo.

  “I thought you said those cats were shy of strangers.” Jo stared at the three cats racing toward them. “It is the cats, right?” She squinted a fraction, a tiny frown forming on her forehead. Saber wanted to smooth it away.

  “Just ignore them and they’ll go away.” They’d better. Saber shut the passenger door and stepped up close to Jo. He lowered his head and stole a kiss, marking her with his scent at the same time. Her lips were warm and tasted sweet with a hint of the coffee she’d drunk earlier. It was like coming home. Familiar. Right. He took the kiss deeper, feasting on her mouth. When she gasped, he took advantage, sliding his tongue inside, exploring the softness of her inner cheek and the contrasting hardness of her teeth. Arousal roared through him. His cock stirred. Damn, he wanted her again even though they’d made love several times during the night.

  A deep, rough cough sounded behind him. A short growl followed in a higher register. Saber pulled away from Jo, breathing hard.

  “Um, Saber,” Jo said, her eyes big and wide. “I know I don’t have my glasses but they’re so close I can see their whiskers.” She frowned and rubbed her eyes before looking again. “There are three of them.”

  Since the twins had taken Jo’s friend to Dunedin, that left Leo and Felix. The third would be their neighbor and friend Saul. Probably come to check out Jo. Saber turned slowly and narrowed his eyes on his two brothers. They wore smirks, their green eyes alight with feline humor.

  “You’re right. There are three.”

  Leo coughed then stalked closer. Saber moved Jo behind him, not moving his gaze off his brother. “That’s close enough,” he snarled.

  Leo sat on his haunches, and Felix ambled forward to sit beside his brother, his tail lashing slowly from side to side.

  “Jo, the cats haven’t hurt anyone as far as I know, but remember what I said earlier about not getting too close to them unless I’m with you. I don’t know what’s up with them today. Usually we don’t see them for months on end.” He took her hand and led her past the cats, hoping she didn’t have too many questions. Her eyes were so wide it was lucky she wasn’t wearing her contacts. They would have dropped out. Saber kept walking without looking back until the crackle of dried leaves underfoot told him his brothers and their friend were following. “I am going to find them a mate each if it’s the last thing I do.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” Saber muttered.

  “Ooh!” Jo squeaked. “It licked my hand.”

  Saber fumed inwardly and whirled to narrow his gaze on his brothers. Enough was enough. Despite his liking for Jo, she was still a relative stranger. None of them could be sure how she’d react to the truth about the Mitchell clan and the other shifters who secretly lived among the humans of Middlemarch. They needed time so they could all adjust and learn to trust. As he watched, Felix nudged her leg gently with his head and not to be outdone, Leo licked her hand again. Saul stayed aloof, a feline smirk hinting at his amusement and the smart-ass comments to come.

  A smile of delight flickered across Jo’s face. She reached out and stroked a tentative hand over Felix’s shoulder. Felix let rip with a loud purr.

  Jealousy surged through Saber. His woman. “Enough,” he roared, tapping Felix smartly on the flanks. “Go. Away. Now.” He seized Jo’s hand and tugged her down a dirt track to a wooden gate. His brothers, luckily for them, stayed put. “I didn’t think you liked cats,” he snapped.

  “I’ve changed my mind. They seem friendly enough.”

  He’d give her friendly. His mouth slammed down on hers again. Plundering. Taking. Reassuring himself with her taste, her touch. A rough growl vibrated deep in his chest. Mine. Saber only relaxed when Jo slipped her arms around his neck and leaned into him.

  He gentled the kiss, nibbling at her lips in a playful manner. Pulling away, he grinned down at her. “Well, just remember they’re unpredictable and keep clear. Ready to check the sheep?”

  “What a romantic suggestion,” Jo said, her kiss-swollen lips quirking upward in amusement. “I’d love to help with the sheep, although I’d be more help if I had my glasses. I can’t even see the scenery properly.”

  Saber chuckled, pleased to see her looking happier. After opening the gate, he snared her hand in his and stepped into the paddock. “I can describe it for you—if you want.” On seeing Jo’s enthusiastic nod, he viewed his home of Central Otago through the eyes of a visitor. After a pause, he started. “That’s the Taieri River down there. In the summer we go there fishing for trout and salmon. There’s nothing better than fresh trout filets cooked on the barbeque. If you’re very lucky, you might see a falcon gliding on the air currents. They’re rare, but there are still a few around here. Sometimes we have floods and the Taieri spills over its banks, but you’re safe enough now. Our autumn season is typically dry.”

  Jo turned in a slow circle. “There’s not much green grass up on hills here.”

  “No, there’s a lot of tussock. The snow covers most of this area during the winter. You ready to look at the sheep?” Saber wrapped his arm around her waist, taking pleasure in the intimacy. Dammit, the urge to purr was so strong he nearly followed through, but covered by turning the sound into a cough at the last second.

  “What exactly are we looking at?”

  “We’ll check their water supply to make sure they have plenty, check the amount of feed they have and do a visual health check.”

  “Hmmm. Do you like being a farmer?”

  Saber tried to imagine living in the city and failed. Freedom to run whenever he felt the urge, the fresh air ruffling his fur. Being able to open his bedroom window and see trees and mountains and snow in the wintertime was important to his sense of well-being. “I enjoy living in the country. I have friends and family here and like working with animals. What do you do in the city?” Saber glanced at the trough and saw it was full of water. Enough feed
for another three days. Good. Their rotation grazing plan was working well.

  “I haven’t worked since I was married.” Jo seemed more interested in the scenery than looking at him. Her voice was low and it wobbled a fraction. “Michael didn’t want me to work. After he died…well, Michael’s mother didn’t handle things very well. The family needed me. It wasn’t as if I needed money and had to work. For all his faults, Michael provided well.”

  Damn. Bad choice of question. The shadows had returned to her eyes. As he watched, she closed them briefly and took a deep breath.

  “Before that I was a qualified chef.”

  A chef? Hope surged strong and hard. This might work yet. “My friend Charlotte runs the local café. She tripped over the dog last week and broke her right arm. Sid was saying last night that the replacement isn’t working out and Charlotte’s desperate. I don’t suppose you would consider filling in as a temp?”

  Jo stopped walking suddenly. She nibbled her bottom lip, a nervous habit he was beginning to recognize. “No, I couldn’t. As I said, I haven’t worked as a chef for over three years. You lose the knack if you don’t do it all the time.”

  Saber hid his frown. What was she so worried about? Surely she wasn’t frightened of him? “Would you talk to Charlotte? Her husband is away for a month on an overseas assignment so he can’t help. Not that Charlotte’s told him from what I hear.”

  She worried her lip between white teeth and it turned a deep pink. Saber wanted to soothe away her worry and kiss her until she thought of nothing but how it was between them. Another first. It had always been about sex before. With Jo, it was about sex too, but there were more layers, and it scared the hell out of him.

  “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to talk to…um…Charlotte, but I’m sure she’ll find someone more suitable.”

  Not if he had his way. And Saber was sure Charlotte would see things the same way once he’d chatted with her. And if not, he’d just call in the favor Charlotte owed him. Jo didn’t need to know. “I’ll give Charlotte a call when we get back.”

  With his hand Saber indicated a narrow track that zigzagged up the side of the hill. He let Jo go first and spent an enjoyable five minutes watching the gentle sway of her ass while she climbed up the hill, heading toward the tors that jutted out like sharp teeth at the top. Oh, yeah. He was sure Charlotte would help him if it meant another woman moving to Middlemarch.

  Finally, they arrived at the top. Jo was breathing heavily, unused to the exercise while he had an erection that made walking painful.

  “Want to sit for a spell?”

  “Good idea,” Jo muttered, collapsing onto the ground with a moan. “I am so unfit. I’m going to ache all over tomorrow.”

  “As it happens, I have a good massage technique,” Saber murmured, lowering himself to the ground at her side. “You should keep that in mind.”

  “I will,” she said, a hint of amusement in her tone. “It’s beautiful up here. I wish I had my glasses so I could see properly. The scenery in the distance is a bit of a blur.”

  Saber scanned the land below them and froze. His brothers were going to send him to an early grave. If he was a human, he’d worry about gray hair. They were shifting the cattle for him, which was fine, but they were in cat form. With Jo around and the reporter snooping about, it was stupidity. “Looks like Felix and Leo are shifting the cattle for me.” Difficult to keep the bite from his voice when he felt like throttling them.

  “What else do you need to do today?”

  “Nothing pressing.”

  “Then we can stay up here for a while? It’s nice.”

  Saber yanked on a long grass stalk and grinned lazily, leaning back to sprawl full length on the tussock. They were alone, and no one would sneak up on them up here without him hearing. “Give me a kiss,” he demanded.

  “Do you think you deserve one?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been a good boy. One kiss.”

  Emily suppressed a snort. Good boys didn’t look like him. With his dark hair and the dark stubble shading his lean jaw, he looked bad. Add in the sexy smile and she came up with positively sinful. Emily thought about Maggie for all of two seconds and pushed her friend to the back of her mind. Saber was right. They needed time before they could make things right between them. She’d stay a day or two before heading home and exerting her independence, rebuilding her life. Emily couldn’t let herself lean on another man. She refused to make that mistake again.

  Emily shrugged out of the jacket she wore and lifted her T-shirt over her head. She tossed them both aside. The rocks acted as a barrier, blocking the worst of the wind. The sunshine warmed her bare skin and breasts. Saber’s eyes widened, making her laugh.

  “I’ll raise your one kiss and see you,” she quipped.

  Chapter Five

  “I like the way you think.” Saber stood without taking his eyes off her. He stripped off the khaki green shirt he was wearing and dropped it to the ground.

  Emily licked her lips and scrambled to her feet. “I’m looking at you.”

  Saber flicked the metal stud fastening his jeans and it popped open. He pushed his jeans down his legs and came to a sheepish stop. “Better get the boots first.”

  Emily giggled, the nerves in the pit of her stomach dissolving with the flash of humor. While he finished undressing, she bent to unlace her borrowed boots and kicked them off before shimmying out of the sweats. Once she’d removed her socks she was completely naked since her damp bra was back in Saber’s bathroom drying and her panties were history.

  “I’m looking at you, too. And I’d have to say it’s a very nice view. Come closer.” His whisper held promises of pleasure to come. His gentle fingers seduced as they trailed across her cheekbone then traced her lips.

  Unbidden, her mouth opened, taking his finger inside its warmth. His eyes seemed to darken and shine at the same time with strange gold flecks. Emily stroked her tongue along the length of his finger and sucked. Saber groaned, and corresponding frissons of excitement arced through Emily. A tightening sensation deep inside her womb brought a soft gasp.

  Saber pulled his finger free. “I want to make love to you.”

  “Yes.” Emily shivered at the flare of desire in his beautiful eyes. He gathered together their discarded clothes, arranging them on the ground in a rough bed. Without warning, he swung her into his arms and set her down on top of their clothes.

  “Let me look at you.”

  Emily lifted her hands over her head and arched her body in a seductive pose. “Look all you want. It makes me hot,” she whispered.

  The sun played peek-a-boo behind clouds. When Emily gazed straight up, she caught the graceful V of Canadian geese flying overhead. She shifted, looking back at Saber and parting her legs in silent invitation.

  “You’re beautiful.” Saber placed a finger in the middle of her chest and traced a path around her breast before touching the tip. They both watched her nipple contract at his faint touch. “Show me what you like, kitten, how you want me to touch you.”

  Emily frowned, searching his face for signs of teasing. He wanted her to touch herself in front of him? Michael— Jeesh, she had to stop thinking of the two-timing scumbag, stop comparing them. Saber wasn’t Michael. They were poles apart. Or at least she thought they were. She was finding it difficult to trust her instincts when it came to men. A sharp breath leveled out the traces of anxiety that started to beat at her. Michael was in the past. She had to push beyond the way he’d treated her, the way he’d beat her confidence down, making her totally dependent on him, then trampled on her feelings, discarding her like a piece of litter. Forget it. Emily forced her attention back on Saber. “And will you do the same for me?”

  “Yes,” he said simply without hesitation. Saber blew a stream of warm air across the sensitive tip of her breast. Molten heat gathered between her legs. He took her nipple into the warmth of his mouth and drew gently with approximately the same force she’d used on his finger. Moving slowly, he seduced
her even further with his slow, purposeful moves, plucking and playing her like an instrument.

  Emily burned with his every touch, a prickly awareness throbbing in her womb. “You trying to torture me?”

  Saber let her nipple pop from his mouth. The rigid peak glistened in the bright daylight. “Yeah. Is it working?”

  “What do you think?”

  “That you answer questions with questions.”

  “I’ve got to be tricky with you.” Her pulse pumped slow and steady. Every color seemed brighter and more dazzling. And Saber…he studied her as if she was a tasty piece of apple pie. Emily melted inside. “You make me crazy.”

  “Likewise.” Saber grinned. “Are you going to cooperate and show me what you like?”

  “Sit back and observe,” Emily instructed. She pinched a nipple and let her other hand drift across her stomach. Gently, she combed her fingers through her pubic curls, and using one finger, she parted delicate nether lips, exposing her clitoris to his gaze.

  Saber made a choked sound. “I thought I could wait, but you make me impatient. I want you now.” He leaned closer and raked his tongue across the soft swell of her stomach before moving between her legs and copying the exact move she’d executed less than a minute before with both fingers and tongue.

  She arched into his questing finger. It felt better when Saber parted her folds and teased her feminine flesh. He seemed to know exactly how to drive her higher with quick flicks of his tongue. Clever fingers skimmed across the sensitive nub, branding her flesh with his touch and making her body sing. The warm, wet rasp of his tongue traveled the length of her cleft. Fingers probed. Dipped and delved in her slippery folds until she wriggled impatiently, straining for release. Instead, the tight knot of exquisite pleasure ballooned. She was so close, but she wanted Saber to fill the emptiness that assailed her, to plug the holes left by… A scowl marred her face for an instant and she shoved away the barely formed thought. The man who pleasured her was considerate, responsible, infuriating and worth ten of Michael.