The Bridal Path: Sara by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

wouldn’t do. He might get the idea she was actually eager to marry him when nothing could be further from the truth.
    His kiss was more controlled, more deliberate than she wanted. He coaxed and persuaded and taunted. She was weak-kneed and trembling before his tongue ever skimmed her own. That set off another round of lightning, thunder and fireworks, plus what sounded like a crash of cymbals.
    Awestruck by the effect and desperate for more, she fought disappointment when he pulled away.
    “Jake?” she implored, gazing into eyes every bit as dazed as her own.
    “I think we’re in Annie’s way,” he murmured.
    For a moment, Sara couldn’t think who the heck Annie was or why she had anything to do with ending such a glorious, monumental kiss. Then she connected Annie and the cymbals. Apparently the housekeeper had been slamming around a few pots and pans to get their attention.
    “Oh, geez,” she murmured, as heat flooded into her cheeks. Annie was the next best thing she had to a mother and she had just caught Sara and Jake making out in her kitchen.
    Apparently guessing her embarrassment from her expression, Jake offered a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. She won’t talk. Annie and I have a deal. She never discusses what she catches me doing in her kitchen, isn’t that right, Annie?”
    Sara was intrigued despite herself. “Exactly what kinds of things has she caught you doing?”
    “I’ll never tell,” Annie said dutifully, winking at Jake.
    “And neither will I,” Jake said. “By the way, didn’t you say something to your father about an appointment?”
    Sara glanced at the clock. It was almost eight. She was going to be late to her first appointment with Zeke. Something told her he wasn’t going to be happy about it. Jake admitted that he heard her tell her dad about the bronc riding lessons, so of course he knew where she was going.
    She regarded Jake suspiciously. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
    He returned her look innocently. “Did what?”
    “Tried to make me late.”
    “Not me,” he swore. “I just developed this sudden urge for a little sugar before breakfast.”
    Annie guffawed at that. For a woman who’d practically raised all three of the Wilde sisters, her loyalties seemed somewhat misdirected. No doubt Jake had that effect on a lot of women. Sara scowled at the pair of them.
    “Well, next time you’re in the kitchen and decide you want a little sugar,” Sara said, “I suggest you try the pantry. Just make sure you avoid the kind that’s laced with arsenic for the other rats.”

Chapter Four
    A dmiring her spirit, if not her assessment of his moral character, Jake watched with masculine appreciation as Sara sashayed out of the kitchen. Deliberate or not, the taunting swing of her hips in those formfitting denims was enough to make a man’s blood sizzle. Combined with that seemingly unconscious seductiveness she’d displayed at his house, it added up to one dangerously provocative woman.
    “You hurt that girl and you’ll answer to me,” Annie O’Leary announced, waving a rolling pin at him menacingly. “And that’s before Mr. Wilde gets his hands on you.”
    Somewhat daunted by the unexpectedly serious warning, Jake deliberately tried to lighten the mood by dropping a kiss on the housekeeper’s furrowed forehead, bringing a blush to her round cheeks. “I thought you adored me, Annie, my love.”
    “How I feel about you isn’t the issue. It’s how I feel about that girl. I love her as much as if she were my own and I won’t see her hurt.”
    She said it as if Sara were some fragile little thing, incapable of looking after herself. Jake knew otherwise. “Trust me, Annie, Sara’s no shrinking violet. She can take care of herself.”
    Annie wasn’t persuaded. “I don’t doubt it in most situations, but she hasn’t met up with the likes of you all that often. You’re handsome as sin and twice as dangerous. More experienced women than Sara have