Free Scarlet Woman by Shelley Munro Page A

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?”
    55
    Shelley Munro
    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.”
    56
    Scarlet Woman
    “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