120 Mph (9 page)

He gave Sara a quick peck to her
forehead, then pulled back. Good thing he hadn’t dared state aloud the lack of
having her in any real sense of the word. She looked as though she would have
punched him in the face had he dared said it.

“Sara . . . what is it you are really
trying to say to me?”

She took a deep breath and looked him
square in the eyes.

“I guess what I am trying to say  . . .”
was all she let tumble out.

“Yes?” he prodded.

Christian’s hand had a mind of its own
and slid down her back. The gentle touch nearly his undoing.

Sara tried valiantly to gain the upper
hand to an otherwise losing battle of wills. While he tried valiantly to prove
a battle of wills was only the beginning of their night.

“I guess . . . what I am saying is that
you and I . . . ,” she tried again.

He wouldn’t let her finish. Her painted
lips had been too tempting to ignore, her wide blue eyes too incredible not to
willfully drown within. He set his mouth to hers, kissed her firmly, drove his
tongue deep into her warmth when her lips parted, and not once did they see
another car in his driveway until too late to back away from the wrath of
insatiable desire.

Christ! They were kissing in front of
the bay window. Christian’s hand had lowered from the small of her back to her
barely covered ass, and he had her body very,
very
close to his, while
literally joined at the lips. If not fully clothed, they could have been making
love while standing up.

Without thought put to any dire
consequences of being caught in the act, he’d only wanted to find out for
certain if Sara was truly panty-less, or if she lied to him to make their night
much more interesting.

His sensitive fingertips encountered not
one damn thing under her dress.

Chapter
Ten

Never in his wildest thoughts would
Christian have wanted another’s disappearance to happen without warranted
reason. Nevertheless, he had a damn good reason all of a sudden. Sara was in
his arms. His lips set hers to fire. His hand was planted firmly on her bare
ass. Her fingers were slicing through his hair. And if done right, this should
not have ended.

Alas, yet again, another faithful member
of Grace Lutheran Church was disturbing his night. And this individual, in
particular, was worth his weight in gold. Whatever Reverend Mohr asked of the
man, he would do. Not anything ever asked of Christian was ever questioned. Therefore,
of course he would be the very person to catch them in the act of making out as
if a couple of randy teenagers on a Friday night, the parents gone, and done in
sight of prying eyes because it heightened the adrenaline level all the more.

As the doorbell rang for the second
interruption of the night, Christian physically moaned into her mouth.

Sara snapped out of his arms. A slug from
gun barrel would have been slower.

The heavy fist pounding on the wooden
panel then made things so much worse.

“Reverend Mohr? Are you home?”

The gruff question sounded out, although
its answer already known. His car was in the drive. All the lights were on
inside the premises. Unless he’d taken a long walk in the dark, of course he
was home!

Christian gave Sara an uneasy, lop-sided
smile. He let her slip from his grasp, then made to answer the demanding
summons. If he ignored answering the door, there would be far too many
questions later on, and far too many excuses he would have to make up for all those
questions.

If one thing was for certain, he wouldn’t
purposely lie.

He slipped the lock free, pulled open
the door, and clipped out, “Chief?”

Chief Berken crossed over the threshold
without invitation same as Harriet Thorn had.

Chief Berken’s gaze hit upon Sara, and
he looked nearly as shocked as Harriet had been to catch Sara within a
Reverend’s living room, dressed as she was.

“Reverend Mohr?” The chief’s head
nodded. “I was going to ask you if you’ve seen Sara Ruby around town. Guess I
won’t need to be asking you this, will I?”

The more folks who thought his door
always open, the less time Christian would get to spend with Sara.

“What reason would you have wanted to
know, Chief?”

Christian had to check his growing
mutiny, because Chief Berken’s brow had risen. He became all business within a
matter of seconds.

“Well, I do hate to ruin a man’s
evening, or have to even say this  . . .” His gazed moved to Sara. “But it
seems you have made more than a few enemies in this town, Ms. Ruby, and those
enemies took it upon themselves to ransack your apartment tonight. I got the
call at the station not more than a half hour ago.”

“They what?” Sara yelped, moving
forward, eyes wide.

“Yes, Ma`am. One of your neighbors, Cara
I believe, called in the break-in to your apartment and informed the dispatcher
that two large men in black hoodies and dark jeans went in with crowbars in
hand, and a couple of cans of gasoline.

“Gasoline?” Christian yelped, moving to
stand nearer Sara. He had a real bad feeling that what was about to be said
next wouldn’t be good.

Chief Berken nodded his head at both.
“They didn’t steal anything as far as anyone can tell. They  . . .” The chief
cleared his throat, looking away. “—Well, they torched the place, Ms. Ruby. The
fire department went through your apartment, as best they can until the heat
settles some more. I’m afraid there wasn’t much savable. A few personal
belongings in the living area took on a lot of smoke and water damage, but most
else is a total goner. Looks as though the bedroom was the first place they doused.
The fire spread quickly from there. Thank God it hadn’t left your apartment to
spread to any of the others. Damn lucky, if you ask me.”

As Christian’s gaze moved hurriedly
toward Sara, he saw the tears in her eyes. However, she was being braver than
she should be, under the circumstances.

She calmly asked Chief Berken, “Did you
catch these men?” Her voice tightened, likely due to the furious emotion of
holding back her tears.

He shook his head and looked Christian
right in the eyes. “No. But there was a bit more to this than just arson, Ms.
Ruby.”

“Such as?” Christian asked.

“There was a message left on her car, as
well.”

Sara’s hand had been covering her mouth
to hold her tears at bay. That hand fell as she muttered, “What message?”

Chief Berken produced it from his
official portfolio. A lone sheet of paper stuck inside a plastic guard to
protect it from unwanted fingerprints not those of an arsonist. He handed the
plastic to Sara.

“Can I open it?” she questioned.

With a shake of his head, he denied her the
permission.

Sara’s trembling hands held the sealed
paper, and as she read the scribbled words she let the heavy tears fall.

This is not the only thing that will be
hurt.

Expect more . . .

To physically hold onto the paper would
have been a feat in itself. Sara dropped the covered note to the floor,
followed closely by her entire body. She’d fainted onto his carpeting.

“Damn!” Chief Berken said first while
both men equally thought it; the chief the first to move as fast as he could in
order to catch her.

Only Christian had beaten the man to the
task. He gathered Sara in his arms and carried her to his couch. He then set her
down as gently as possible upon the cushions. Temporarily dead to the world,
both he and the chief stood over the fragile woman, looking down, then a hasty
glance at each other to confirm their worst suspicions.

Chief Berken gave Reverend Mohr another piece
to the puzzle ten seconds later.

“It seems the woman’s neighbor, Ms. Cara
Little, was none to partial about calling the fire department before the blaze got
well under way. She said she’d just gotten home then smelled the smoke.
Unfortunately, that excuse would have been plausible, but her car engine was
ice cold. She’d not been anywhere. I have the woman in for questioning, as well
as a few choice others of Ms. Ruby’s less than informative neighbors. All of
whom seem fine with Ms. Ruby’s personal possessions torched; almost as if each were
gunning for her.”

“I know she closed down the club, but
this  . . .” Mohr started with, shaking his head. He knelt beside Sara, taking
her hand in his. “This goes beyond anything I would have ever thought folks in Preacher’s
Bend could do to one another.”

As Christian’s fingers searched for her
pulse, he found it to be quite rapid. It would be a few moments before Sara
would awake.

“A lot of people are pissed at her, and
not just the men I’m afraid. The Club employed quite a few. Most seem to think
she did a great injustice to their way of life. I know its sick thinking this,
but I only enforce the peace. I can’t create peace to remain in a place filled
with sin.”

“But closing a strip club because of
health violations? I would call using violence and arson as getting a little
out of hand, wouldn’t you Chief?”

“I’d say this has gotten well out of anyone’s
control,” Chief Berken finished. “I didn’t want to tell the poor girl she just
lost everything she owned by fire. Hell, just handing her a note caused the
faint. I sure as hell didn’t want to add more to it—until we have concrete
answers to give the poor lass.”

“What is she to do now?” Christian
asked. “You said she lost everything?” He waited for the chief’s nod before
adding more. “No one is ever willing to forgive and forget in this miserable town,
are they?”

Chief Berken cleared his throat, causing
Christian to look his way. “That’s kind of why . . . well, I’m real glad to
have found her here, Reverend. I know this might sound strange, coming from me,
but . . . well, I would never ask if having any other options  . . .”

“Yes Chief?” Christian interrupted the
man.

Chief Berken looked away. “In the
forgive and forget department, and perhaps the foreseeable future . . . she
ain’t got anywhere else to go. Miriam is booked full.”

Miriam was the woman who ran the local
motel—seedy place, at that. And for the moment, all rooms were occupied.

“All of Ms. Ruby’s neighbors are under
suspicion of arson. I asked around town and every answer was a resounding ‘No’.
The next nearest place is Harriet Thorns’. But you know how Thorn can get over
situations like this. She’ll give the poor girl so much grief it’ll make her
head spin.”

Christian shook his head quickly. “No, Chief.
She can’t go to Harriet’s. We’re all more than aware of Harriet’s sometimes
pious ways.”

Chief Berken tried to hide his chuckle.

Calling Harriet ‘pious’ was Christian
being nice. Adding ‘sometimes’ was just flat out amusing.

Within seconds, Christian made a hasty
decision that would save the day. But would it save him from eternal damnation?
That was the real stickler, the tar to the blackening kettle.

“Ms. Ruby will stay here with me until
you catch the sons of bitches who did this to her. I have a spare room. And per
job description can certainly allow forgiveness in time of one’s dire need.”

Chief Berken huffed out a sigh. “I was
hoping you’d say that, Reverend. I know it might be a little inconvenient,
having an unwed woman inside your home . . . and perhaps a lot of tongues
wagging over this fact. Unfortunately, under the circumstances, your place is
likely the safest for her to be right now.”

He then gave Christian a knowing look
that told Mohr the chief hadn’t seen through the window what they’d been doing
in front of it; else, he wouldn’t have asked such a tremendous favor.

Christian nodded, agreeing with Chief
Berken. “She will be safe here. I can assure you.”

As safe as any woman in need would be .
. .

The feathers put to that sticky tar?
Would he be safe with Sara in so easy of reach?

“I will see what I can do about finding
Ms. Ruby clothes from the local thrift store. The Red Cross is too strapped in
need right now. Last month’s tornado took a huge chunk out of their reserves.
I’d hate to bother them if something else could be done,” Berken said.

Christian shook his head. “No, Chief. I
will take care of everything. You need not bother anyone. Besides, you have
other, more pressing duties to perform than becoming Ms. Ruby’s personal
shopper.” He looked at Chief Berken’s face to confirm this fact.

Christian would make certain Sara had
what she needed. It was the least he could do to make up for the wretched
behavior of this small-minded town and all those living within it.

Sara started to moan. Before she
awakened, Christian asked the chief, “Do you really think you’ll be able to
catch whoever was responsible?”

Chief Berken gave him a hard look but
didn’t answer this in words. That look firmly stated the answer was no. Whoever
did this to Sara Ruby . . . did it well enough to get away with it.

Berken cleared his throat again. “Well,
I had better get back to work. Wish my visit could’ve been on a little better
note this evening, but such is life when the chief of Preacher’s Bend.”

“So do I wish it could’ve been better,”
Christian said, grasping Sara’s hand into his palm. “So do I.”

As Chief Berken left, Sara groaned, her
eyelids fluttered, then reopened and she seemed confused of where she was.

The most beautiful eyes a man could ever
desire to look into stared at him as if she didn’t know him.

“I don’t . . . ,” she whispered, slow
realization creeping in.

Christian set his fingertip to her lips.
“No, Sara. Just listen to what I have to say first.” When those wide blue eyes
locked tight with his soul, he added, “Chief Berken feels the safest place for
you to be right now, is here. And I wholeheartedly agree with him—this time.”

She looked ready to bolt out of his
reach. “I can’t . . .,” she muttered, righting her body on his couch.

“Can’t stay with me?” he added, smiling
at her face.

Sara nodded.

“You can stay. And you will, even if I
have to tie you to the bedpost.”

Sara quickly burst into tears. Therefore,
Christian only did what came naturally to him. He gathered her in his arms and
held onto her until those tears dissipated and she could finally speak.

“What am I going to do? They were inside
my apartment. They touched everything. They were in my car! What else will they
do to me?”

His palm rested at the back of her head,
holding her close. “You are going to take one day at a time. That’s all anyone
can do. And I’ll help you.”

Sara pulled back, looked at his face,
and snapped, “You are a complication to an otherwise completely messed up life,
Reverend Mohr. How can you possibly help me? Why would you even want too?” Her
anger checked at the door when his brows rose.