Scarlet Woman by Shelley Munro Page B

Saber felt a moment’s panic before he replied. “I wasn’t expecting to find a mate.”
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    Shelley Munro
    “You should hold onto her,” Leo said, his cheeky grin absent for once. “Keep her here no matter what it takes. Make her believe that staying here in Middlemarch with you is the only alternative.”
    Footsteps in the passage silenced them, and Saber took the opportunity to skew the conversation away from him. “What did you and Leo get up to? Meet anyone?”
    Leo snorted. “Nice try. We were talking about you and the luscious Joanna.”
    “Morning, Joanna,” Felix said.
    Saber took in her appearance with possessive pride. His woman. His sweats dipped low on her hips. She’d turned up the legs so they were the right length for her while the worn T-shirt clung to her breasts. A sharp intake of breath reminded him his brothers were present. He turned to nail them with a warning glare. “Mine,” he snarled softly before he went to her and tugged her against his side. Saber touched her because he had to. His. Her pulse quickened beneath his fingers. Her body recognized they were right for each other even if she didn’t understand.
    “When does the train go? I need to go home.” Jo caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
    Her pale face called to him. Her eyes were red… “Your eyes are brown.”
    She shrugged, peering at him owlishly. “Contacts. The train? I have to explain to Maggie.”
    A tense silence enveloped the kitchen. Saber signaled his brothers with a jerk of his head. For once, they took the hint and faded from the room in total silence.
    “Perhaps you should give her time to cool down. Stay with me for a few days.”
    Joanna yanked from his touch. “Why?”
    Saber wanted to curse. This wasn’t going well. His vision of cozy families and steamy sex was a hundred miles away from this scenario. “We’re good together.”
    “In bed. It’s not as though we made promises of forever. It was about animal lust. Scratching an itch. Sex, dammit. That’s all.”
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    Scarlet Woman
    Saber stared, speechless, his gut churning as he absorbed each verbal blow. “Maybe it is just sex,” he said finally. His mind railed at him, but he forced the words out knowing if he didn’t tread carefully, he’d lose her. She didn’t understand the connection between them. Not yet. “I’d really like you to spend a few days with me. We don’t need to have sex. We have plenty of spare bedrooms. You can take your pick.”
    “Why do you want me to stay if it’s not for sex?”
    Saber hated the suspicion he saw in her brown eyes. The vulnerability. Her husband had hurt her deeply. The fool. How the hell could he fight a ghost of the past?
    “We could be friends. A person can never have too many friends.” For a fleeting instant, he wished the shifters in his line hadn’t lost the power of subliminal suggestion. When he was a kitten, his mother had spun tales of their ancestors defeating their enemies with this extraordinary power. Saber concentrated hard on sending her a silent message despite knowing the decision had to come from Jo. He wanted her to stay so badly but didn’t have a clue of what to offer for incentive. They didn’t know each other well enough—that was the crux of the problem.
    Jo took a deep breath, her breasts rising and falling as the expression in her eyes turned hard and angry. “I might as well stay,” she muttered without warning. “Maggie will run blurting tales to her family.” She opened her mouth to say something else then closed it without speaking, a shimmer of pain reflecting in her eyes.
    “Great. There’s a spare bedroom right at the end of the passage. I’ll get Joyce, our home help, to make it ready for you.”
    “I’ll sleep with you,” Jo said with an irritable shrug of her shoulders. “I might as well since that’s what they’ll all be accusing me of. Among other things,” she added, her face set in a dark scowl.
    Saber nodded, trying to pull up