Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3)
Read Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) Online
Authors: Elizabeth Rose
Judging Judas
Tarnished Saints Series
Book 3
By
Elizabeth Rose
Copyright © 2014 by Elizabeth Rose Krejcik
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual organizations or persons living or deceased is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the author’s written permission.
Cover by Elizabeth Rose Krejcik
Cove
r images provided by Shutterstock
♔
(Legacy of the Blade Series)
♛
(Daughters of the Dagger Series)
♛
Ruby
♖
(Madman MacKeefe Series)
♖
Onyx
♖
Ian
☀
(Elemental Series)
☀
The Dragon and the Dreamwalker
✛
(Tarnished Saints Series)
✛
Saving Simon
(NEW)
✛
Wrangling James
(coming soon)
✭
(Greek Myth Fantasy Series)
♡
(Short stories)
☂
(Single Title)
☂
The Caretaker of Showman’s Hill
❒
(Boxed Sets)
Website:
elizabethrosenovels.com
Author’s Note:
Tarnished Saints Series
is a twelve book series about the twelve Taylor brothers. Each book can stand alone, but so as not to ruin any surprises it is best to read them in order if possible. Because of the amount of characters this will entail, I have listed the names of the brothers according to their age as well as kept characters to a minimum in each book. The names and descriptions of the main characters for each story can be accessed by clicking the cast of characters’ link that will take you to the back of the book. You can expect a new book in the series to be released every few months.
Seducing Zeb
– Book 4
is available as well as my NEW release,
Saving Simon
– Book 5
.
Watch for
Wrangling James
– Book 6
coming this fall. Visit my website at
http://elizabethrosenovels.com
for sneak peeks of upcoming covers and excerpts, and also take a look at my ongoing project, my recipe page, where my characters give recipes of some of the things you’ll see them eat in the stories. You can click the following highlighted words to read about
Laney’s Steel Cut Oatmeal
or
Judas’s Jazzy Breakfast Sandwich
.
Enjoy,
Elizabeth Rose
The Taylor Brothers:
(Oldest to youngest, book title and number.)
Thomas
–
Doubting Thomas
– (1)
Matthew
Levi
–
Luring Levi
(2)
Judas
–
Judging Judas
– (3)
James
Zeb
edee (Twin) –
Seducing Zeb
–(4)
James
Alphaeus (Twin) –
Wrangling James
– (6) (soon)
Simon
–
Saving Simon
– (5)
(NEW)
Peter
-
Praising Pete
– (7)
John
–
Loving John
– (9)
Philip
–
Teaching Philip
– (8)
Andrew
–
Igniting Andrew
– (11)
Nathanael
–
Playing Nate
– (10)
Thaddaeus
–
Taming Thad
–(12)
Cast of Characters for Judging Judas
A goat on the roof wasn’t a common occurrence, but in the little town of Sweet Water, Michigan, anything could be expected.
Sheriff Judas Taylor squinted in the hot August sun, not able to believe what his lunatic brother, Levi had done now.
“So what do you think?” asked Levi, crossing his arms and looking upward proudly at the roof of Margery’
s Diner, now covered with grass - not to mention three goats. He squinted his blue eyes and with a flick of his head he flipped a stray piece of dark hair out of the way. He’d become mayor and also half-owner of the town’s main eating establishment a month ago. And now he was trying every crazy trick he could think of to bring back customers to the dying restaurant.
“I think you’re insane
,” said Judas, pulling his sunglasses from his shirt pocket and slapping them on his face. The goats were bleating and eating the grass that now covered the roof of the building. The sight was causing the summer tourists to stop and stare. And in his opinion, it was downright embarrassing. “You’ve got to get rid of them,” he told his brother, knowing it was his job now to make sure the town stayed respectable. Not that it didn’t already have enough seedy businesses giving the town a bad name, but he didn’t need anyone saying the restaurant was unsanitary or the goats were being abused. Lord knows the kind of things he’d seen being in law enforcement.
S
ince he’d been made sheriff of Sweet Water just recently, the townsfolk were starting to come to him with all their petty complaints from barking dogs to the fact they didn’t like the music being piped outside the feedshop. The latest complaint was that it wasn’t right to put goats on a roof.
“Why should he get rid of them?” asked their eldest brother, Thomas, standing next to them with
his arms crossed over his chest too, and a smile on his face. He reached up and adjusted the mountain-man hat on his head to get a better look, and put his hand on his chin in thought. “They’re exactly what this town needs. A novelty to attract more tourists.”
“Tommy’s
right,” agreed Levi, calling his older brother by the name that only he could get away with using. “And as the town’s mayor, I’m telling you right now, Judas, the goats stay!”
“Levi,” Judas said in a low voice, glancing out of the corner of his eye to
see the crowd growing bigger. “I’ve had three complaints in the last hour since you put the damn goats up there. I’m telling you, you’ve got to take them down.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Levi, getting that
defensive look about him. “Issue me a citation for having a couple pets? Or maybe throw me in jail if I don’t heed your warning? After all, it wouldn’t be the first time,” he said with a phft of air from his mouth.
“Don’t even start with tha
t again,” said Judas, knowing Levi was never going to forgive him for turning him in for tax evasion years ago.
“I spent seven years of my life behind
bars because of you,” Levi reminded him. “And if you don’t leave me alone about this, I’ll make certain to make your life as sheriff a living hell. And being mayor, you know I can do it.”
“
You didn’t go to prison because of me,” Judas reminded him. “It was your own fault for not paying your taxes.”
“All right, boys, enough of this,” said Levi’s wife, Candace, coming out of the restaurant with bite
-sized samples of cheesecake on a tray. Her auburn hair was twisted up into a knot and she wore a pair of purple glasses instead of her contacts, reminding Judas of a school teacher, or maybe a librarian. “If you two don’t make up already, I’m going to sic Thomas on you.”
“Me?” asked Thomas, holding out his hands. “Th
is isn’t my fight,” he told her. “And these two are beyond help. They fight more than all my seven kids put together. You two are on your own,” he said walking away rather than to get involved. “Judas, don’t forget, the rehearsal dinner is at seven,” he called over his shoulder.
“I’ll come by after I pick up Pete from the airport
,” Judas told him, speaking of their minister brother who was flying in today from South America.
Judas
noticed Levi just shaking his head at him and he had that look on his face that meant he was about to cause trouble.
“I’m not sure y
ou’d better come tonight,” Levi warned him.
“Why not?” Judas asked
with a challenging grin. “Because I might get hit by a falling goat or something?”
The rehearsal dinner was at Levi’s restaurant
but there was no way he’d be keeping him out. Judas wanted to be there for Thomas, not to mention he hadn’t seen their brother Pete in years and wanted to catch up with what was new in his life as well.
While Thomas was already married to Angel, they’d gotten hitched quickly
in order to keep Thomas’s kids from going to foster homes. Now they’d decided that they wanted a real wedding, and it was to take place tomorrow at the church their late father started, the Twelve Apostles Church. Judas had eleven brothers and their father had been a minister. But Judas knew more than anyone that none of the Taylor Twelve were saints. Matter of fact, they were nothing but trouble.
“Care for a cheesecake?” asked Candace, holding out the tray to Judas.
“No,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Nice goats!”
came a shout from behind him, and Zeb, one of their twin brothers walked up and reached over and grabbed two cheesecake samples from the tray.
