Scarlet Woman

by Shelley Munro

  “Coward,” he taunted. “You’re scared.”

  Jeez, was she that transparent? Too bad. It was obvious he was irritated with her, but she wasn’t going to be pushed into a hasty decision. She wasn’t going to risk it, even though her heart skipped a crazy beat each time she looked at him. Emily suspected she was halfway in love with the man then she scoffed at the notion. Love at first sight didn’t exist, but this feeling felt suspiciously close to the faithless emotion. It terrified her.

  “Can I use your phone? I’ll call a cab to take me to the café. I’ll find somewhere else to live as soon as possible.”

  “This is the country. We don’t have a cab service.” His voice held an angry edge, but Emily didn’t feel the slightest fear of physical violence. Saber stalked toward her. “I’ll take you to the café, but there aren’t many houses available for rent in the town.”

  “I’ll stay at a motel until something turns up. Charlotte will help me.”

  He stopped a body’s width away from her, his naked chest close enough to tempt. As she stared, his chest expanded. Emily swallowed again and chewed on her bottom lip. Touch. She badly wanted to run her fingers across his muscled body, close the distance between them and slant her lips over his masculine nipples. There were so many things she still wanted to do to him, with him. Explore her sexuality. Different positions. Even try some of the toys she’d seen on the Internet. Taking a simple walk together on a summer’s evening. The list was endless. But dread and worry were there, too. The worry that the blame lay with her and history would repeat.

  She turned away, gathered up her clothes and wadded them into a ball, trying to avoid looking at the bed. Her gaze hit the floor and the tangled mess of covers instead. A shaft of pure longing zapped through her heart, but she ignored it, knowing to give in was a mistake. Emily walked away, taking her fear with her.

  Saber thought about trying to talk her into staying but discarded the idea. He needed to think. Think, dammit. He came up with a big blank. Shit, he’d never had this sort of a problem with a woman before. They usually chased him—they didn’t run away. “I’ll drive you to the café.” Great solution, Mitchell. Offer to help her leave.

  “Thanks.” The firm set of her mouth told him she was prepared for an argument, so he bit back the orders that tickled the tip of his tongue. Firm set—huh, she looked plain mulish. He needed to do some serious thinking and come up with a sound strategy to change her mind.

  “Half an hour okay?” At her nod, Saber padded into the bathroom and turned on the shower. There had to be a way to convince Jo—no, Emily—to stay with him. It was too early for talk of love, but she had an innate integrity and goodness that would make her a good mate. They were sexually compatible. And it wasn’t as if they had any say in the matter. Emily Scarlet was his ordained mate. It was there in the way she called to his feline blood. Even though she didn’t know it now, she would soon, and she’d just have to get used to the fact they were meant to be together. He should have pierced her skin and let their enzymes mix to make their relationship permanent. Once his enzymes crawled through her body, she’d understand. Saber grunted without humor and stepped under the warm water, grabbed the bar of soap and scrubbed it across his chest. Should have. Too late now. He’d thought he’d acted with restraint and honor, not binding them together. Pride made him want a willing mate, not one who was forced…

  * * * * *

  The drive to the café was conducted in silence. He pulled up outside the stone building. “Thanks.” She fumbled with the door and hustled from the car with enough haste to dent his masculine conceit. Emily Scarlet walked away without looking back.

  Saber’s gut churned with tension, and he badly wanted to stomp into the café and drag her off to the nearest bed. Once in bed, he’d keep her there until she agreed to stay. He’d seduce her into staying. And this time he wouldn’t be so restrained in binding them. His hand thumped against the steering wheel and a low, pithy curse escaped. He glared out the window and swore under his breath. That bloody reporter woman again. The woman was questioning everyone in the area, being systematic about it by starting at one end of Middlemarch and gradually working her way through the town and surrounding district. She hadn’t arrived out at the Mitchell station yet, but it was only a matter of time. Saber slipped a pair of sunglasses on and slid down in the driver’s seat, hoping she wouldn’t notice him. No such luck. The woman glanced up and down the street, a grin stretching across her face when she saw his vehicle. No doubt, she’d memorized the number plate. She changed direction, heading straight for him, determination written in every step of her petite body. Saber straightened abruptly and started the vehicle. He planted his foot on the accelerator and burned rubber as he took off. A glance in the rear vision mirror told him he’d pissed her off.

  Good.

  No reason why he should be the only one out of sorts. Saber drove down to the end of the road. The reporter woman stamped from sight. One down. Back to the problem at hand.

  A plan.

  If ever a man needed a plan it was him.

  He’d go back to the farm and spend some time in feline form. Do some thinking and format a plan. Emily Scarlet was worth the fight, and he didn’t intend to let her go without a struggle. This was his mate. His mate.

  * * * * *

  Saber screeched to a halt outside the house. He stomped inside and headed straight for the kitchen. Felix and Leo were sitting at the table eating breakfast. Saber grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee.

  “What?” he snapped when he glanced up to see his brothers watching him.

  Felix sighed and shook his head from side to side. “Sad. Pitiful really.”

  “Never thought I’d see the day when the great Saber Mitchell was stymied by a woman.” Leo leaned back in his chair and smirked without trying to hide his amusement.

  Leo’s glee made Saber’s hands curl to fists. Brothers or not, they needed to stop prodding at his temper. If they knew what was good for them they’d button it. “Oh, yeah. You wait until you meet your match. See how much fun it is for you.” Saber’s glare didn’t make the slightest bit of difference to the size of their smirks. “I’m going to shift the sheep in the west paddock. The weather forecast this morning said it might snow.”

  “It feels cooler,” Felix said.

  “We’ll help.” Leo let his chair settle on all four legs with a loud thump. “I could do with a long run.”

  Felix picked up his mug and took a sip. “Do you think it’s safe to shift with that reporter creeping around Middlemarch?”

  “Like you were worried yesterday,” Saber snapped. “Bloody idiots. I told you after the first story appeared in the newspaper that you’d have to take more care. Each time you fool around like that you put us all in danger.”

  “Nah, not a problem,” Leo said with a careless shrug. “We’ll smell her coming. She wears this god-awful perfume. It’s enough to make a good, self-respecting shifter sneeze. Believe me, she won’t creep up on us even if the wind’s blowing in the other direction. Besides, she only skulks around between nine and three. No one sees much of her outside these hours. Weird, huh?”

  An hour later, Saber parked his SUV on the gravel shoulder of the road, near the gate into the west paddock. There was a set of sheep yards just inside the fence and an old wooden woolshed. “We’ll split up and herd the sheep down to the yards,” Saber said. “Might as well drench them at the same time.”

  Felix and Leo climbed out of the vehicle and Saber joined them. Once they clambered over the fence, Saber opened the main gate leading into the yards. Felix and Leo were already stripping their clothes off and stuffing them in a watertight container they’d placed at the back of the yards for storage while they were in feline form. Habit made him glance in all directions before he stripped. He formed a picture of a black leopard in his mind and automatically the change started. In his peripheral vision he was aware of his brothers shifting, too.

  Bones lengthened, teet
h grew and his jaw rearranged. The sense of disembodiment occurred as bones and sinew reshaped. A long tail grew and short black fur formed on his body. Saber dropped to all fours. His tail swished. A grunt came from deep in his throat and he prowled over to the nearest tree to mark territory.

  A low cough from Felix signaled his brothers’ readiness, and Saber raced toward them in a mock charge. A friendly scuffle, punctuated by growls broke out until Saber ended it with a snarl. They split up, each going in different directions to search out the sheep.

  The tussock ground was soft underfoot, the soft breeze ruffling his fur as Saber loped across the open ground, heading for the stand of trees their great grandparents had planted.

  The faint bleat of a sheep snagged his attention. Saber slowed his pace, careful of each footfall. Cats and sheep weren’t a natural fit, but despite this, their flock had come to accept their presence. Saber crept through the long tussock on his belly until he was above them. He stood to reveal his presence, letting out a short bark. The sheep’s heads jerked up. He gave another barking growl and the sheep bunched together. Saber advanced on them. The closest sheep stamped its front feet uneasily before starting down the hill. The rest of the sheep hesitated for an instant then trotted after the leader.

  Saber growled again for good measure, sending the sheep speeding on their way to the yards. Satisfied he’d find them later, Saber loped off, heading up the hill.

  How the hell did he convince the woman to live with him? How did he tell her they were destined mates? Just being apart brought an uneasy panic to his gut. There were all the other single men in Middlemarch for a start. Saber imagined she’d present a temptation, and when the single men found she wasn’t staying with him, it would be like an open invitation. They’d converge like a group of starving children wanting after-school snacks. Saber’s whiskers twitched in irritation as he converted the analogy to adult terms. Yep, like single, sex-starved men who hadn’t seen a woman for months. A rumbling growl started low in his throat. His mate. He must take action to make sure everyone else knew and accepted it as truth. But the how eluded him.

  Saber spied half a dozen sheep on a ridge. He leapt across a bubbling stream and bounded up the hill to drive the sheep down to the yards.

  Two hours later, sides heaving with fatigue, and dust and mud coating his fur, he herded the last of the stragglers into the yard. Felix who had shifted to human form, slammed the gate closed behind the last of the sheep.

  Saber shifted, his bones popping as they shrank back to human form. “Must be getting old.”

  “Huh. Leo, he said he’s getting old. That’s a new excuse for tiredness from spending the night with a woman. I’d say it was at least four times they did it last—”

  “Enough.” Saber grabbed his jeans from the clothing safe and yanked them on. He tugged the zipper up. “I can’t wait for the day when you meet your mates. I’m going to get a cold beer, pull up a seat and sit back to watch the show. And you can bet I’ll be laughing long and loud when you’re blundering around trying to get your mate to do what you want her to.”

  “I think he’s a little testy,” Felix said.

  “Damn right I’m testy. Jo, I mean Emily—her name is Emily—wants to find a place of her own. She’s moving out.”

  Felix and Leo gaped at him.

  Leo frowned. “But that will be like open house in Middlemarch. Every single male in the area will try to move in on her.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” Saber headed to the shed for the drenching gun.

  “You could always get in first and ask her out on a date,” Felix called after him.

  Saber halted abruptly and spun to face his brothers. “A date?”

  “Yeah. Radical idea, huh?” Felix smirked, a wide toothy grin that made Saber’s bad mood deepen.

  Leo jumped the fence to grab the drench from the SUV. “Yeah, good idea. Play your cards right and she might even sleep with you on the first date.”

  Saber growled deep in his chest and his lips curled back to reveal sharp teeth. His brother was damned lucky there was a fence between them.

  * * * * *

  Children spilled from the school seconds after the bell went. A school bus pulled up and several parents arrived to collect children. Loud screeches and laughter filled the air, drifting through his open window. Saber parked as close to the café as he could, given the number of parents’ cars clogging up the available parking, and climbed from his vehicle to wait for Emily Scarlet. Charlotte had said she would cope since Emily had prepared everything for the evening meal. The food only required reheating, and she and her waitress could cope with that this early in the week. He had a plan of sorts. Talk. Date. Bed. The plan was full of holes, which didn’t help his temper any. Saber scanned the faces of the parents and did a second take when the reporter exited the main entrance of the school with a small girl. She had a kid? Well, this was a surprise his brothers hadn’t mentioned. The presence of a kid explained the regular hours she spent trying to question the locals. She saw him, and Saber took pleasure in the way her dark eyes narrowed in frustration. It seemed she drew the line when it came to mixing business with her duties as a parent. Saber waved, feeling his mood lighten as she walked away with her child.

  When Emily didn’t come, he went looking for her. The café was busier than he’d thought it would be. Several small tables had been dragged together to form one long one. It was covered with a decorative cloth bearing an assortment of cartoon characters. The tabletop groaned with food—plates of sandwiches, bread faces decorated with the colorful candy sprinkles called hundreds and thousands, sausage rolls, small cheerio sausages and lots of other things that looked and smelled delicious even though he wasn’t completely sure of their identity. The door from the café garden opened and at least ten small children trotted inside followed by their parents and Charlotte. They slipped onto the empty chairs at the table, chattering loudly with much excitement. A children’s birthday party.

  Smiling, Saber went searching for Emily. He found her in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches to a huge birthday cake decorated like a medieval castle complete with toy figurines and animals. “That looks great.”

  “Ohh!” Her hand flew up to cover her heart. “You scared me.”

  She wore a pair of glasses with brown and gold rims. Sexy. He liked them. A smear of chocolate icing decorated her chin. Her hair was confined in a ponytail, but tendrils had escaped, softening her face. Saber’s gaze drifted to her lips.

  “What? Do I have icing on my face?”

  “Yeah. I’ll get it.” Saber closed the distance between them. Grasping her upper arms, he pulled her against his chest and lowered his head to claim those tempting lips. He’d get the icing later. It was like coming home. Familiar yet exciting, too. His mate. He nibbled her lips and urged her to open for him. Her scent washed over him, the light floral scent reminding him of the outdoors and relaxing the spiral of tight need inside. One good bite would allow their enzymes to mingle. She’d accept him fully. Without reservation. Saber took the kiss deeper, thrusting his tongue into her warm mouth, enticing a reaction from Emily. While a part of his mind demanded he bite, the other, more human side fought for free choice. Saber shuddered, fighting his feline as Emily started to participate in the kiss. Her mouth moved against his, and she wound her arms around his neck, pressing her soft breasts against his chest. His senses intensified as the feline pushed. She tasted of coffee and icing and mystery. Acute arousal simmered beneath the surface, and Emily felt it. She sighed against his mouth then pulled free.

  “I’ll lose my job,” she chided, her brown eyes sparkling behind the glasses lenses. “Just when Charlotte’s asked me to stay on until the end of the year. Go away, I need to finish off the cake.” She picked up a packet of candles and started to push them into the top of the castle.

  Saber’s chest rose and fell. “So you’re staying?”

  “I said I would. She wants to take a holiday and cut ba
ck on her hours when she gets back. We’d split the shifts between us.”

  Charlotte had asked her to stay. Excellent. “I missed you.”

  A blush crept to her cheeks. “I…I missed you, too.”

  Satisfaction eased through Saber on hearing the soft confession. Yes, hope! The need to push was a drug in his system, but he fought, instinctively knowing she’d baulk at high-handed behavior. “Need a hand?”

  Emily gulped. Why had she told him she missed him? It wasn’t what she’d meant to say at all, even if it was the truth. “Thanks, but I’m almost done.” She pushed the last candle into the chocolate icing and stood back to study the end result.

  “Ready to go home?” he asked.

  Home. Emily froze at the thought. It was funny how much at home she felt in Middlemarch even though the thought of a more permanent relationship with Saber scared her half to death. “I need to go to see the real estate agent about renting somewhere. I presume there is a real estate agent in Middlemarch?”

  “The farming supplies store doubles as an agent for the area,” Saber said. “You might have trouble finding a property.”

  “I know. That’s what Charlotte said. The only house she knew of is already rented out to someone else. That reporter.”

  Saber glared at her. “So the reporter really is staying in Middlemarch for a while?”

  “It sounds like it. She has a daughter who’s attending the school. Sounds like a permanent thing to me.”

  “Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Let’s go. You know you’re welcome to stay with us.” Saber strode to the door, and she couldn’t help but admire his butt. A tremor slid downward from her breasts to settle in her lower belly. Edginess assailed her without warning, and it was all sexual. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. Throughout the day, she’d found herself daydreaming about this man, and that scared the hell out of her. Emily hadn’t thought she could trust a man again, but she wanted to trust Saber Mitchell. Deep down she knew he was worthy. Honorable. She was trying hard, but it wasn’t easy to forget and give her heart so easily again.