by Tina Leonard
“Oh, I think they probably always have openings. Ms. Dowdy felt I’ve gotten a bit too big for Tempest. Do you mind moving out of the booth? I need to walk Josh after I feed him. It’s the only way I can get a burp out of him. Gage belches like a smokestack, but this one requires a little walk and rock.”
Shaman moved out of her way. “Cupertino,” he said, as she slid out, “don’t divorce me yet. I don’t know these babies, and I don’t really know you.”
“I don’t know you, either,” she said, her voice soft. “But I don’t want you trying to hurt Bobby. He may be horrible, but he’s not going to harm me.”
Shaman bit the inside of his cheek, wanting to rebut her words. How could he be certain? Of course Bobby might want to hurt her—he was convinced she’d given away his birthright. He’d said so. “I don’t know that I can promise you that.”
“I know you can’t.” She gazed at him sadly. “And I understand how you feel. Until Xav makes it, you have every right to be mad. Furious. Angry.” She took a deep breath. “Even more because he also attacked you. I understand that. But I want to let Sheriff Nance handle it. And I don’t think your pride and your instincts for vengeance will allow that.”
She was asking a lot of him. Shaman swallowed hard. “I’ll agree if you let me stay in the bungalow with you and the boys.”
Her eyes went wide. Josh burped, and she rubbed his little back, then gently replaced him in the pram, straightening his tiny blue T-shirt and navy blue bottoms. She took Gage from him, smiling with satisfaction when Gage blew a burp that would have made the Callahan brothers proud—Shaman was pretty impressed himself—and put him next to his brother, tucking them together for their nap. Then she looked up at him.
“All right,” she said. “Just until Sheriff Nance has this all sorted out. If you don’t try to exact any revenge on Bobby yourself. It shouldn’t take long for the sheriff to pull all the pieces together. I’ll ask Shinny if he has an extra key.”
She walked off, pushing the pram, and Shaman didn’t even think to ask her where she was going, or even to say goodbye. He was so thunderstruck that she’d actually said he could stay with her that he sank back in the booth, relieved.
He could spend a lot of time with his sons.
He could do a little casual, inauspicious wooing of his wife. At least she hadn’t mentioned the D word again, because he certainly didn’t want a divorce.
He wanted a marriage.
The only problem was, he’d made a promise he wasn’t certain he could keep. He wasn’t as trusting as his sweet wife, and as far as Shaman was concerned, something had to be done about Taylor. He was itching to pull Bobby’s head from his shoulders and...
Shaman took a deep breath. He’d made a promise.
And if the promise he’d made was the only way he was going to get into his wife’s house, then he’d just have to eat a little crow and behave where Taylor was concerned.
But if Bobby got anywhere near Tempest or his sons with the same intention as what he’d pulled on him and Xav, then all bets were off.
It was not going to be easy to turn off the protective soldier that still lurked inside him.
* * *
“THIS IS HOME SWEET HOME,” Tempest said, opening her front door. She pushed the pram inside and Shaman followed her silently, picking up a baby once they were there. She got the other twin out, and turned to the man who was her husband, though she still couldn’t believe that.
He wouldn’t be for much longer.
“This is the sofa where you can sleep. It’s a pullout,” Tempest said. “Shinny designed this place to sleep a family of six. There are two and a half baths, so you’ll have your own. Really, there’s no reason we have to come in contact with each other that often.”
He nodded, holding Josh to him, cradling the baby’s head.
She wouldn’t admit it to Shaman, but she felt better with him here. Perhaps that didn’t make sense. She knew they’d divorce sooner rather than later, but she also remembered how kind and loving he was. He’d changed her life, even if he hadn’t meant to. And it was all for the better.
She was a little afraid of Bobby, though she wouldn’t admit it. Nothing would happen to her or the children with Shaman here.
“I have an ulterior motive in letting you stay here,” she said. “Beyond the basic caring of the children.”
“Diaper duty isn’t why you’re giving me the sofa?” he asked, raising a brow.
“Partially,” she said, her tone cool. “I want to keep an eye on you. I don’t trust you not to make Bobby’s life miserable.”
“You’re still not being honest,” Shaman said.
“What does that mean?” Tempest demanded, suspecting she knew very well. He was referring to when she’d first met him, and began visiting him. She felt a blush rise on her cheeks.
He was right. She wasn’t being honest.
“We belong together, Cupertino.” He sank onto the sofa with his son. “Never mind that right now. Hand me the other tyke.”
“You can’t hold two.”
Shaman laughed. “When I was six, I carried Kendall and Xav across a street because they were too afraid to cross it. I know twins, doll. Give me my brother’s namesake.”
Reluctantly, she handed him Gage. The baby settled into his arm, and he held Josh across his lap. Both babies were too satisfied from their feedings to do more than snooze with contentment. They barely noticed they’d been moved.
“You go shower or whatever you need to do,” Shaman said.
“I do need to store some breast milk.”
He held up a hand. “Consider me on diaper duty.”
She thought he’d looked a bit squeamish about the mention of breast milk. “Call me if you need anything.”
“We won’t. The three of us are going to catnap.”
He did look tired. Tempest went into her bedroom, relaxing a bit now that Shaman was with them. No one would dare mess with him. Shaman looked wild-eyed as it was, and he was tall and big and sturdy. Handsome.
She was madly in love with him.
It was not good to be in love with a man you knew you couldn’t stay with.
She was lost in her thoughts and wondering where the happy ending was when she realized her makeup had been scattered across the marble counter in the bathroom. Tempest gasped, and fear skittered through her as she read the words that had been scrawled on her bathroom mirror.
I’m watching you.
Her heart thundered, her knees weakened. He’d been here—in the only place in the world besides her villa in Tuscany that felt like home. This B and B was her special place, the home she ran to when she needed comfort.
Shaman was right: Bobby wasn’t going to stop.
She peeked around the corner at Shaman. He was sleeping comfortably with his sons, her three guys snug and happy to be together. Shaman had had a long, stressful day, too, with Xav’s accident.
Which of course had been no accident.
There was only one thing to do.
She slipped out the door past Shaman into the twilight. She was the one Bobby Taylor hated for giving away what he thought was his. She’d been protecting him, understanding what it was like not to feel you had a base, a touchstone.
She drove to her house, the tiny shack where she’d grown up and where she knew she’d find her half brother. She walked inside the house, not hearing anything. “Hello? Bobby?”
No answer. She waited another moment, her heart hammering, the blood rushing painfully in her ears. If she didn’t do this, Shaman would do something rash and find himself in deep trouble. She knew too well that he wasn’t geared for patience.
There was nothing else to do. Only good things rose up from cleared ground; the future could have a happy ending only if the past was burned away.
She took a deep breath and looked at the caved-in sofa where her mother used to sit and wait for Bud Taylor to call.
Tempest needed to be free of the past, once and for all.
She saw a pack of cigarettes across the room on the kitchen counter. Bobby smoked. A shiver ran over her at this evidence of her half brother living in her house. She moved to the counter and picked up a book of matches, turning it over with her fingers.
No. As much as she wanted to destroy this place and flush Bobby out, she couldn’t do it. There had to be another way to cut the ties with the past.
She walked out the front door and drove away.
* * *
BANGING ON THE FRONT DOOR woke Shaman from the soundest sleep he’d had in days. He’d been dreaming that he was in bed with Tempest, and she was naked and willing, like she’d been when she’d first come to the farmhouse.
He did not want to lose that dream.
He settled the babies carefully on the sofa, putting pillows around them so they wouldn’t roll off. “Who is it?”
“Sheriff Nance.”
Shaman opened the door. “Howdy, Sheriff. Come on in. I’m watching the little men.”
Sheriff Nance eyed the sleeping babies. “Wish I felt that peaceful.”
“Everybody does. Tempest is in the back, if you’re wanting to talk to her.”
“I don’t think she’s here,” the sheriff said.
Shaman shoved a hand through his hair, commanding himself to wake up faster. “Yeah, she is. She said something about needing to put away some breast milk. Tempest!” he called. “Will you watch the boys for a second, Sheriff? I’ll get her.”
He walked into the back of the bungalow, peering around rooms he’d never seen before. “Tempest?” The rooms smelled like her—wonderful—and he wondered how he could bear it if she told him she really wanted their marriage to be over. “Tempest?”
He walked into the bathroom, his stomach tightening like a fist when he saw the words scrawled across the bathroom mirror. “Dear God,” he muttered.
He strode back out to the den. “You’re right. She’s not here.”
“Kinda figured.” The sheriff had settled himself next to the babies, and now he didn’t look up. He kept his gaze on the boys for a long moment. “The old Cupertino place burned to the ground about a half hour ago.”
Shaman’s blood froze. He looked at the sheriff, who met his gaze without blinking. “I see.”
The sheriff nodded. “I need to search this place.”
“Don’t you need a warrant?” Shaman asked.
The lawman handed him one.
“Damn. I was hoping you’d need to go get it.”
Sheriff Nance shook his head. “Things move pretty fast around here when necessary.” He walked past Shaman, who heard him stepping through the rooms. This could only mean one thing: the sheriff thought Tempest had burned down her home. The only reason she might do that was to flush Bobby out. Knowing that her half brother had been in the B and B and had threatened her would make Tempest furious—and frightened for her children. She was far too independent to let anybody push her around, and the tiger instinct had probably risen to the fore because of the boys. Shaman glanced at his sons, not surprised when Sheriff Nance came down the hall, his face wreathed with annoyance.
“You weren’t going to mention the love letter on the mirror back there?” he asked.
“I just saw it myself. Trust me, Sheriff, I’m in the dark here.”
Nance nodded. “Shaman, I’m going to have to take her in for questioning on suspicion of arson.”
Shaman glanced at his sons. They were both sleeping soundly, blissfully unaware that their peaceful lives were about to be changed forever. “You don’t know that Tempest did it.”
“People saw her Land Rover driving out that way.”
Shaman shook his head. “Means nothing. You know very well that Bobby Taylor’s been squatting there. He could have dropped a match.”
“He could have, but I just saw him at Cactus Max’s.”
“The house was old, ramshackle. It was a firetrap waiting to happen.”
Sheriff Nance nodded. “I like that theory the best of all. I love Tempest just like you do, just like this town does. She put us on the map.” He took a deep breath. “The problem is that Bobby’s bringing charges. He says she tried to kill him, since Tempest’s car was seen in the area, going down the lane to her old home. The law’s the law and has to treat everyone fairly, even roaches like Bobby.”
“And the love letter on the mirror? Come on, Sheriff. You know he was threatening his sister.”
“That I don’t know. I don’t even know that you didn’t write that note.”
“I don’t write with lipstick when I have a point to make. And I don’t do much threatening. I’m a man of few words, and spring-loaded for action.” Bobby had finally found a way to spring a trap on his half sister. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken. That Land Rover you saw isn’t Tempest’s.”
The sheriff studied him. “Oh?”
“Check the registration papers inside. You’ll see it’s owned by Gil Phillips, Inc., or what we like to call The Family, Inc.” He smiled grimly, glancing one last time at his sons. “That’s my car you saw going down the lane. And I started the fire. You know I was in the church, where I went to ask God Almighty to forgive me for what I was about to do.”
That part was absolutely true; Tempest had just beaten him to the punch. “Bobby Taylor laid open my skull and then my brother’s, and to be honest, it’s in my DNA to take a man out when necessary. Burning down Tempest’s house means Bobby Taylor has no place left to go in this town.”
Nance stared him down, then shook his head. “All right, soldier. Call Shinny and Blanche to watch these bed fleas of yours, so I can take you in.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.”
The lawman let out a long breath. “Don’t thank me. I don’t know how long I’m going to buy your story.”
“At least until I can get Tempest to go to my family’s home in Hell’s Colony,” Shaman said.
“I’ll give you until tomorrow,” the sheriff said. “And good luck with that. Zola Cupertino always made her own decisions.”
Shaman knew that. He loved that about her. But this was the way it had to be.
Chapter Fourteen
“Uncle Shaman,” Cat said ruefully, looking through the bars of the Tempest jail. “What are you doing in prison? Dad says you’re the rebel in the family. All brains, all glory. Is that why you’re here?”
Shaman grimaced and stuck a hand through the bar to ruffle Cat’s hair. “I’m not really in jail. I’m...thinking deep thoughts. This is where I do it. It’s quiet.”
“Yeah, right.” Cat grinned. “Dad said a bad word when Kendall called to say you needed to be sprung. She helicoptered in a couple lawyers so you’d be represented properly. It’s pretty wild in the courthouse right now. Dad says that’ll teach you not to be tossing Molotov cocktails and pulling military stunts in small towns, which is what he figured you did, because you never do anything halfway.”
“That’s so nice,” Shaman said. “I appreciate my brother’s support.”
“Aunt Kendall said she’d be here, too, except that Uncle Xav woke up and she’s not leaving his side. He’s going to be fine.” Cat’s pixie face perked up with delight. “He said to tell you he wished he was here with you to raise hell, and that really made Aunt Kendall mad. She says there’s something in the H2O in Tempest that’s made all her brothers certifiable.”
He tried to peer out the window toward the courthouse as Cat rambled through her laundry list of family gossip. “Do you know where Cupertino is? Where my sons are?”
“I heard her down the hall trying to sweet-talk Deputy Keene into letting her have the key to your cell.”
Shaman turned back to Cat. “The key? Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. She told me to go take a look at my numskull uncle.” Cat smiled at him. “I think that means she’s not happy with you.”
“I’ve been in the doghouse with her a long time.” Shaman wished it wasn’t true, but he didn’t think anything was likely to change very soon.
Tempest appeared next to Cat, looking like a sweet dream. She wore blue jeans and loafers and a T-shirt that read I Love NY. Her hair was in a knot on her head, she had on no makeup, and she was the sexiest lady he’d ever seen.
“Hi,” she said, unlocking the cell. She stared at him a long moment before seating herself on the wooden bench beside him. “Idiot. What were you thinking?”
“Hello to you too, gorgeous. Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes.”
Cat seated herself next to Tempest.
“Oh, honey, I don’t know if your daddy wants you in a jail cell,” Tempest said.
“I know,” Cat said. “He’s probably going to say that Shaman’s dragging the family down. He said he always did have to dig Uncle Shaman out of trouble.”
“That is not how the story goes, niece. I’ll straighten your father’s faulty memory out later. Where are my sons?” he asked Tempest.
“With Shinny and Blanche. They said this is not a healthy environment for them.” She looked at Shaman. “Why did you tell Sheriff Nance that you did it?”
“Because I was going to,” he admitted. “It’s just coincidence that the house went up before I could.”
“This is so dumb,” Tempest said. “You’re sitting in jail and Bobby the rat is free.”
“I’m thinking I’m going to build you a new house for a wedding present,” Shaman said. “That adobe bungalow you live in is too small for my sons. I figure they’re going to be big boys. They’ll need a basketball court and a soccer field and some horses. An upstairs for their own hangout, and cabinets for their rodeo buckles.”
Tempest sighed. “Let’s not talk about anything except how we’re going to get you out of this.”
“It’s going to be all right, Aunt Tempest,” Cat said. “Aunt Kendall said she’d sent in the Marines to get Uncle Shaman out of the mess he made. She said these lawyers are the best in the business.”
Tempest giggled. “You do not fully appreciate your sister’s strength.”
“Yeah. I do. Believe me, Kendall is stronger than all of us.” Shaman sighed, about to protest about the two of them sitting in the cell with him when Fiona Callahan appeared. She was dressed in pink from head to toe, complete with a straw hat decorated with pink flowers. Just looking at her made Shaman grin. “Howdy, stranger.”
