Seduction of Saber (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend #3) (14 page)

Seated in a private box that viewed the entire
sand-filled arena, Julia accepted a glass of white wine with gratitude. A cute
waiter in blue jeans and cowboy hat gave her a wink and sly grin to match. He
was trying to hit on her, but she was making life difficult for the man. In
fact, she completely ignored these normally conducive actions, keeping her eyes
glued on the Bull Men who came out of the chute.

One right after the other, each man was trying his
best to outdo the other. Some made it by two seconds. Others achieved limited
success in three. The longer they hung on, the farther up the standings than
the previous rider they would place. To a certain degree, this was bettering
their chances at being discovered, and perhaps moved to where the big money was—the
professional bull riders.

Her father had taken her to a professional bull ride a
long time ago. She’d forgotten how exhilarating it could be to watch. Could,
not was.

One rider got as far as six seconds—more than impressive.
He’d dusted off his britches and slapped his crushed hat to the side of his
chaps with a lopsided grin on his face. This gained him a packed makeshift
arena on its feet toward the grand achievement. Preacher’s Bend hadn’t been
this entertained in a very long time.

Another rider, in particular, did not get up as
quickly when his bull threw him into the hard metal gates surrounding the
spectators. Julia could’ve sworn she’d heard bone crack. He was removed from
the floor on a stretcher by the help of the rodeo clowns.

Later on, two of those clowns kept the bull at a
distance until another man could limp off with the aid of a third clown’s
shoulder. The crowd cheered this rider on as he made his way out of the arena.
One man’s pain was another mans’ entertainment, she supposed.

She’d been holding her breath the moment he’d hit the
dirt. There was no cheer coming out of her mouth.
No siree
! Her fingers
white-knuckle gripped to the wine glass during the full six seconds ride. And
damn! Six seconds had never felt so long before tonight. She couldn’t fathom
how long eight would feel.

A well-dressed woman—pink cowboy hat, tight fitting
designer jeans, white cowboy boots and a barely concealing tank top—leaned over
and whispered into her ear, “Isn’t that the sexiest thing you ever saw?”

No
.
No,
it isn’t. It is the most damned foolish, pigheaded, and idiotic
…

Her brain kept her mouth shut for a change. But, it
added more to the cajoling thoughts, once the woman turned her head the other
away.

He could have been seriously injured…

Or, worse.

Doesn’t anyone care?

Julia had no real desire to make any one of these
ladies her enemy. By judging their significant other’s mental capacities, it
would surely put a large target on her back. Riding bulls for a living was
crazy. Saber Patterson was crazy.
To be doing this?
When he could be
doing something else completely worthwhile with his life? Something far less
dangerous. Accounting perhaps.

Even Jake Giotti wouldn’t have dared try his hand at riding
bulls for a living. Moreover, Jake was as wild and crazy as they came.

Another of the women seated in the VIP box suddenly
blurted out her surprise. “They’re keeping Patterson back!” This gained the
attention of the remaining women as if a bomb exploded; all eyes darted his way.
“Must mean he’s getting the nastiest bull alive. Damn. His should be a fun ride
to watch.”

She saluted Julia with her wineglass, hoping to share
the secrets of the ‘wives’ club’. A fun ride to watch meant the man would come
off that bull happy as a lark, and make his significant other happy, if still
capable of making any woman happy.

Julia felt her face lose its color, however. This was
an elite group of women she was among. The wives club wasn’t the place to voice
an opinion. Each woman seated in this private section, the significant other of
the more entertaining riders on the circuit, was fed, wined, and gloried
upon…until Julia’s head was spinning with such buzzing activity she didn’t know
where to turn. Numerous cameras flashed in their faces. Autographs were asked
for. She’d even been handed a phone number on the sly, the cowboy stating that
if Patterson got his head kicked in, he would be more than happy to make up for
Eight Second Wonder’s
lack.

Julia had a very hard time blending in. She’d never
thought for a single second that being asked by Saber to come to the rodeo as
his guest had meant
this
. It was all too much to take as an evening’s
entertainment.

As she turned her thoughts into the happenings of the
chute, and tuned out the women’s chatter as best she could, her breath caught
and held. She could just make out Saber’s jet black hat and red shirt through
the men crowded around him. All in chaps and cowboy hats, those men knew how to
handle the bulls, and handle them well. Not a single animal got out of hand.

Her mouth started to water, her hands got all clammy,
and she nearly dropped her wine glass to her feet as Saber climbed over the
metal gate, settled his muscular thighs on the bull, and then grabbed the rope
with his left hand. His right tried to tighten the rope over the leather glove,
but his bull was making this difficult. The audacious creature slammed Saber
and another man into the side of the chute, causing Julia to jump.

They gave him a second to readjust. No one would open
that chute door unless the rider and the bull were ready. No one wanted to
scrape a man off the ground.

Saber yanked on the hemp surrounding his palm. He then
dared a quick look at her. His smile didn’t convince her he was at all sane.

A nod of his head, he had the crowd to their feet and
the cheering into an uproar. Another nod and the chute opened.

The creature bucked, snorted, tossed its hind legs
into the air, left the ground with all four hooves by a good three feet, and as
the cheering became so loud to where Julia could barely hear her own thoughts,
the bull then dropped its head to the ground. This caused Saber to lean too far
forward and from that moment on all hell broke loose.

One brief millisecond of life and the control of a
two-ton beast became a tragic mistake made by the man.

**

Five hours later, Julia was in the waiting room of the
nearest hospital down in Sparta. She was wringing her hands together, pacing
the floor, and crying quite relentlessly, due to a man’s dire need for
unnecessary danger.

She’d used up all the tissues from the box, choosing
instead to pace some more, cry even more, then start to hate every horse, bull,
and living creature with four legs that she could possibly think of. If riding
ostriches was a sport she would hate them too.

The minute Liddy showed up at the hospital Julia had
reduced herself to flipping through a stack of uninteresting magazines, biding
her time. All they could do now was wait it out, but waiting sucked.

Therefore, she started pacing again, started hating
Saber Patterson with every fiber of her being.
He could have gotten himself
killed
! She started hated men, in general, just to kill time.

That white-hide monster could’ve sent him to his grave,
but it hadn’t. However, the man was damn close to dead. He had a broken right
arm, a badly damaged left leg, six cracked ribs on his right side—count them,
Six!
His head split wide open by a dinner-plate sized hoof. Not to mention
numerous other ailments the doctors were still checking out through MRIs and
the whatnot. And why, do you ask? Because the damn blond fool let a two
thousand pound angry devil toss him to the ground, right over its head. Then,
it started to smash Saber to pieces before any one of six rodeo clowns could
pull the beast’s attention away and get
Eight Second Wonder
the medical
attention he desperately needed.

His ride had certainly gotten the crowd to its feet.
But there hadn’t been any cheering, just enormous gasps and a lot of quick
thinking amongst the sudden tears.

She darted a glance to her arm. One of the wives had
sunk her three inch nails in Julia’s arm.

Julia had been on the edge of her seat all night long.
She’d barely looked at any of the riders in particular; barely breathing. Unfortunately,
she drank far too much wine to settle her nerves; so much so, that when they’d
announced Saber in the chute, all she’d wanted to do was run the other way and
hide.

The other women said she ought to pay close attention
or she would miss the show. Julia had wanted to close her eyes; not watch any
of it. When she’d dared herself to keep a close watch on the entire spectacle,
lest they saw her fears, was when Saber’s chosen bull tossed him ass over tea
kettle, and when Julia started to hold her breath, for good.

She was still holding her breath. Her very own life
had flashed before her eyes within those few seconds. It wasn’t a pretty life.
A young woman, a teacher, she was the spinster of Preacher’s Bend who now ran
the boarding house.

Boring. Boring. Boring.

She’d seen what being one of those other women would
become, what it would be like, and it wasn’t pretty. It was scary.

He’d promised her he would not get hurt.
He
promised her, damnit.
And she believed him?

She’d never been so afraid for someone else’s welfare
in all her years. That angry bull hadn’t desired to throw Saber onto that arena
floor; it wanted to crush him into it. And it very nearly had.

“You’re wearing a deep hole in their linoleum.” Liddy
was looking up at her, yet Julia couldn’t stand still.

“It’s a hospital. They can fix it,” she snapped
childishly. She closed off her mind to the horror that replayed itself inside
her head.

“Sit down, Julia.” Liddy tossed yet another magazine
onto the table. She leaned back in her chair, a heavy sigh let loose from her
chest.

Julia sat then stood. Then she started to pace all
over again. “I can’t sit. These chairs are uncomfortable. God, I hate this
place.”

“He’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” she suddenly yelled. “What if
he’s not?” She turned her face from her friend, wrapping her arms around her
middle. “What if he’s really hurt this time?”

When she looked at Liddy, her friend rolled her eyes,
sighing. “You did not just say that, did you? Of course he’s really hurt, you
idiot. He’s in the hospital, for Pete’s sake, with forty-six stitches keeping
his head together. A ton of bandages wrapped around his busted up middle. Two
plaster casts. And I’m sure there are IV’s filled with just about everything
imaginable. . .”

Julia glared at her friend’s face. “You’re not helping
here, Liddy.”

“He’ll be fine, Julia. The guy rides angry bulls every
day of his life.”

Liddy made a move toward yet another magazine. This
time, outdoorsy, and one Julia had already skimmed through. “So what if one of
them got the better of him? He’ll bounce right back… and start riding bulls all
over again. Mark my words, men like Patterson take their licks, then get right
back in the saddle and do it all over again—so to speak.”

This seemed so callous coming out of Liddy’s mouth.
Big help.

Saber Patterson wasn’t fine. He’d gotten a damn good
beating. Thank God, he’d not been gored by those four feet long horns.

“Good God, Liddy, you sound like an advertisement for
pathetic clichés
.
”

“Maybe so. But I’m right. He’ll be fine.”

Liddy’s cell phone rang out. She answered it quickly,
held up one finger to hold off the rest of Julia’s thoughts, and said, “Giotti
here.” Her eyes rose to Julia as she rushed out angrily, “No. No comment, Pal. Oh,
yeah? Well, she’s not saying anything to the likes of you either, asshole.” She
slammed her phone shut.

“Who was that?”

Liddy did not normally slam a cell phone shut unless
really miffed.

“Nothing. No one.” Liddy stuffed the cellular phone
back into her purse.

“No one? Really? Just a boatload of crap stuck in a
dry desert? You were talking to someone, just called whoever it was an asshole,
and to me it sounded as though it was about me. I’m not stupid. What did they
want?”

“Some dumb ass reporter, asking some pretty dumb ass
questions. Who, unfortunately, got ahold of my cell phone number somehow?” She
mulled this fact over, staring at Julia.

“Why is a reporter calling you? What did he say?”
Julia sat down quickly. She was barely able to stand on her legs much longer.
She was dead tired and hungry. Saber had promised her dinner. The only thing
she’d eaten since consuming two glasses of wine during the rodeo was a bag of
potato chips out of a hospital vending machine down the hall.

He also promised her he would not get hurt.

He lied about that, too.

“Nothing that the rest of this town won’t be asking in
a day or two.”

“The rest of…why?” Julia rushed out.

“Kiddo, you were seen inside the private box of the
man they call
Eight Second Wonder,
along with all the other wives. That
says, more than anything, that you are his girl. And it gives every reporter
within a hundred mile radius covering the rodeo circuit the right to ask
personal questions when Patterson gets his ass hurt this badly.”