by Tina Leonard
“No, thank you,” River said. “I’m sorry, but I hate being rushed. And I’m not happy about your uncle and what he said. I don’t like to make big decisions when I’m not happy.” She looked at Running Bear. “Thank you for the offer, though, Chief. It would be a great honor to have you bless our marriage. But your grandson is too wild-eyed for me. We don’t know each other very well. I hope you can understand, Chief.” She went back down the trail the way they’d come.
“Shot down,” Ash said with a sigh. “I’m so sorry, brother. On the other hand, I’m not really surprised. That Jace business annoyed her, but she has spent more time with him over the past year. She and Ana both. Of course, we know they just see him as an irritating kid brother, but...” Ash shook her head, sending him a sorrowful look. “Even Storm Cash’s lady friend, Lulu Feinstrom, asked me if Jace and River were an item when I was in town today. So you see why Wolf easily found your underbelly on that one.”
Tighe sighed. “It’s all right. Well, it’s not all right, but it will be soon. I hope.” He’d work on River a little more, try to get her to see that he adored her from her toes to her nose, and then, maybe, she’d realize she just simply couldn’t live without him.
He certainly couldn’t live without her.
* * *
IN THE UPSTAIRS library where the private Callahan meetings were held, Tighe didn’t fare much better than he had with River. His brothers and sister gazed at him with sympathy, approbation and some disappointment.
“We need every one of us to be clear-eyed and clear-minded,” Galen said. “No more risky behavior.”
The gazes landed on Tighe again.
He didn’t say anything for a minute, but when it became clear that his siblings expected to extract a promise of better behavior from him, he sighed. “My leg will be fine in a week or so. Then I’ll be right back to my old, lethal self.”
“Good.” Galen nodded. “Jace, until then, you stick close to the women.”
“No,” Tighe said. “He can manage every other woman on the ranch. I’ll handle River.”
“No one’s managing or handling anyone,” Ash said. “Galen wants one guard near the houses, and one on Fiona and Burke. He wants the canyons staked out, and the outlying bunkhouse, and so on. Don’t make this difficult, Tighe.”
There’d been enough gossip about Jace and River. Tighe aimed to set folks straight on that really quick—just as soon as he could figure out how to get his elusive girlfriend to an altar. Girlfriend? He pondered his brandy. Would River call herself his girlfriend?
He doubted it. “River’s having my children, so it makes sense for me to stay close to her.”
“I wouldn’t put it exactly that way to her,” Ash reminded him. “River thinks she’s looking out for you, and I can’t argue with her, considering your physical condition.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my— Never mind.” He was darn tired of everyone reminding him that he was the weak link. “You guys can keep ribbing me about Firefreak, but I’m telling you, riding him was the moment I found my destiny. Just like Dante.” He glared at his twin.
Dante shook his head. “I didn’t find my destiny on the back of a stupid hunk of meat. I found my destiny in Ana’s bed.”
His brothers all whistled, and Ash looked disgusted. “I hope whoever I end up with doesn’t talk about me the way you meatheads talk about the women in your lives.”
“I’ll chat with Xav Phillips about it. Let him know you don’t go for possessive, alpha males.” Galen ruffled his sister’s hair, and she spared him an aggrieved glance. “Back to business. It probably would be best if you stayed here at the ranch, Tighe. You’re not much use at the fence or in the canyons, since you can’t ride a horse. So you’ll stay with the women and children.”
“Oh, for the love of Mike,” he grumbled. “Leave me a shred of dignity?”
“Jace, you ride fence. Ash, you stick with Fiona.” Galen looked at Sloan and Falcon. “I’ll cover the outlying bunkhouse and talk to the foremen.” He glanced around the room. “Does anybody have anything they want to bring up?”
“Yeah,” Tighe said. “As soon as I’m able, I’m planning to ride Firefreak again.”
They all stared at him.
Ash smacked her forehead with her palm. “Next time, I hope you land on your head!”
“If you hadn’t sent River to my room to keep me from riding—” he reminded his siblings, and they all booed him down.
“I’m going to be a father now, and my lady won’t marry me. It’s because I didn’t finish exploring my calling. I’m playing matters too risk averse.”
“Nope. It’s because of the wish I made of the universe,” Dante said with glee. “It’s going to happen to Jace, and Galen, too. To all of you, because you all made my life such a living heck on my way to true love.”
“What wish?” his siblings demanded.
“I wished you all would fall for partners who understand the thrill of the chase, and would give you a good long slippery run, where there’s lots of crow to be eaten at every bend in the road.” Dante looked pleased with himself. “I said it into the wind, and the words took life. Obviously.”
“That’s terrible,” Ash said. “How could you?”
“I don’t believe in that kind of nonsense,” Tighe said. “My problem has nothing to do with you. River is superindependent, and she thinks our one night together was a mistake. A setup.”
Ash sighed. “This is all my fault.”
Tighe nodded, glad to see someone taking responsibility for his situation. “You didn’t stop me from riding.”
“No, I didn’t, but not for lack of trying. I hope you’ll be a better father than you are a bull rider,” she said. “I hope you have three darling little girls to run you ragged. It would be your just deserts.”
His mouth turned down. “I’m having three boys. I’m positive that’s what I’ll have. I like the color blue, and I like boy sports. I don’t think I could handle three Fiona-type youth-size blessings in my life.” He gazed at his sister, taking in his petite firecracker of a sibling. “Or a female like you, for that matter.”
Galen stood. “Let’s get back to our ranch issues. Running Bear is worried about the fact that Wolf has practically made himself at home on our land.”
“Home is where the heart is,” Tighe muttered. “Wolf’s heart isn’t here. He’s just greedy. And I believe scared.”
“Scared?” Jace demanded. “How do you figure that?”
“I think the cartel’s hanging something over him. My gut tells me he cut a deal with them and now he needs to deliver. The fact that Wolf’s followed this thing for so long makes me think either the payoff is huge or he made too large of a promise to the cartel and now they’re forcing him to ramp up his activity here—or both.”
“Either way, it’s not good,” Sloan said.
“No. I keep trying to figure his next move, but he always surprises me,” Ash said.
“What are we going to do about Storm?” Tighe asked. “Sloan, you honestly feel good about having Storm’s niece, Sawyer, guarding your twins?”
Sloan shrugged. “River keeps a pretty tight eye on Sawyer, if you haven’t noticed.”
He hadn’t, probably because he was too busy trying to keep a tight eye on River without looking like an overpossessive, sex-hungry doof. “River’s not going to be able to do that for long. She’ll be housebound before she wants to be.” There was no question River wouldn’t be the kind of woman who enjoyed sitting in her bed watching TV and reading books, even for a few months. Or a few hours.
She’d probably think it was the nearest thing to incarceration. No doubt she wouldn’t look on him any more kindly than she did now, once she hadn’t seen sunlight and ridden a horse in the fresh air for a couple of months.
“Earth to Tighe,” Ash said. “Are you listening?”
“Probably not too well,” Galen said. “Does he ever?”
“It’s true,” Tighe agreed. “I don
’t always have the best auditory skills.”
“Selective hearing is what ails you, bro,” Jace said.
“Maybe. The key is to say something important. That’s the way to command my attention,” he said helpfully.
Ash sighed. “Let’s adjourn this meeting. We’re all strung too tightly to make much headway.”
“I’m not strung tightly. I feel just fine.” Tighe got up, limped to the door. “But I don’t have a problem with adjourning.”
“Because you want to go find River,” Ash said.
“True. Seems like something a wise man would do at this moment.” He thought about the beautiful bodyguard and wished he knew how to romance her better. “Just can’t figure out where I’m going wrong with that little lady.”
His brothers and sister gathered around him, thumping him on the back. They stared out the windows of the upstairs library, gazing out over the ranch.
“Listen!” Tighe said suddenly, his ears on alert. It was unmistakable, the sound of hooves pounding, rushing along rock trails that time had cut into the canyons. “The Diablos.”
The Callahans glanced at each other, standing together united. The mystical Diablos were a portent of things to come, according to legend. Tighe’s scalp prickled. There had already been so much change—but he’d felt the signs in the wind, too. He’d known something was coming.
Running Bear had warned of impending darkness. He’d warned of a hunted one. Was the warning coming to pass now?
If it’s me, I’ll go off and live in the canyons where no one can find me. I’ll never hurt this family in any way. I was brought here to save it.
Ash leaned her head against him. “Whatever it is, we stand together.”
He nodded, and their brothers murmured their agreement.
The bond was unbreakable.
Chapter Six
Tighe was pretty shocked when his bedroom door creaked open, the sound somehow loud in the still bunkhouse. He didn’t move while the intruder crept slowly, deliberately toward his bed. Tighe’s gun was under his pillow, and the element of surprise would be on his side. By his military watch, he could see the time was 2200 hours. Late. So he waited, holding his breath, coiled like a spring.
His nocturnal visitor bumped the bed, and still Tighe didn’t move.
The sheet and blanket lifted, and a warm body slid in next to him.
“Hello?” he said, just as River’s sexy form melded against his side.
“Hi. Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” His brain raced with relief and the good fortune that something had brought her to his bed. “What’s going on?”
“I want to talk to you. This is the best place to do it. No prying eyes and listening ears.”
So much curvy softness pressed up against him it was smoking his synapses. It was hard to think about conversation when her perfume teased at him. “Sawyer watching the twins?”
“They’re with Sloan and Kendall. I think Sawyer went to see her uncle. I’m off duty, Kendall says, because she wants me to rest.” River sighed. “I don’t want everyone babying me just because I’m carrying triplets.”
He hadn’t expected her to feel any differently. “So what can I do for you?”
“Fiona wants me to try on the magic wedding dress. She says I’m running out of time if I want to know the truth.”
He frowned in the dark. “Truth about what?”
“Whether we belong together.”
“Listen, you know you belong to me, because we’re having three babies. It has nothing to do with Fiona’s myths.”
“Ana says it’s not a myth.”
He sighed. “Trust me, I’ve heard this tale over and over again. I’m a big believer in spirits and angels and things that guide us. Probably no bigger believer in the family than me. Tell me a story about things that go bump in the night, and I’m all over it. But a magic dress is too much for me.”
“I thought you’d feel that way. So I told her I’d try it on if you didn’t object.”
He sat up to lean against the rustic wood headboard. “Anything that gets you to thinking about a wedding is worth encouraging. So now that I’m wide-awake and thinking about it, I vote yes on trying on the infamous gown. I’ve got a fifty-fifty chance it goes my way, right? Either I’m Prince Charming or I’m not. I’m feeling good about it.” He smiled, pleased with himself. If there was truth to the gown’s fantastical leanings, then it would definitely reveal him to be River’s one true love. She was having his triplets, and nothing could deny that. There wasn’t a charm on the planet that could take away the fact that he and River were together forever.
Maybe she’d fall so in love with the gown she’d be anxious to head straight to the altar. The sooner the better. There was a time constraint issue here. Tighe knew River pretty well, and figured if he wagered on her being the kind of woman who wouldn’t get married once the three little boys added their sweetness to her already sweet figure, it was a wager he’d win. “The more I think about it, the more I believe you ought to listen to Aunt Fiona.”
“Why do I have the feeling that your initial reaction was your gut, and true, reaction? Even though I can’t see your face, you’re not that hard to read, Tighe.”
“I’m an open book,” he said cheerfully. “Is that all you came to visit me about? Get my permission to try on the family gown?”
“I don’t need your permission.”
“So go for it. I don’t hold much stock in it, but the other Callahan ladies swear by it. Although they never share their experience, so all I know is that the gown seems to be a good luck talisman of some kind, since all my brothers end up at the altar. Including Dante, which was a miracle, in my mind.” Tighe tucked his arm around her, pulled her up against him, but she wriggled away. He felt her leave the bed. “Hey, where are you going?”
“Back to my room.”
“I enjoyed you flashing me the other night. I wouldn’t mind a repeat performance, beautiful.”
That didn’t win him anything but a raised brow, so he shifted gears as fast as he could. “Stay awhile longer. I’ve got some things on my mind, too.”
She slid back in, but he could feel her tension, so didn’t try to wrap her against him again. “I want to go with you to your next doctor’s appointment. If you wouldn’t mind.”
“That’s fine.”
Easy. Almost too easy. Tighe decided to press his advantage. “I’m hoping you’ll let me give my children my name.”
“You mean if we don’t get married.”
“Right. Does seem the right thing to do.” He was asking as nicely as he knew how without downright putting his foot down.
“I think that would be best. Thank you.”
Great. All hurdles cleared—except the big one. But now wasn’t the time to press her about marriage. He’d have to be satisfied with tiny steps.
“Tighe, I don’t want you riding bulls anymore. Including Firefreak.”
He blinked in the darkness, surprised. “Why not?”
“Because you’re apparently not that... I mean, I’m going to need help with the children, after they’re born. You’ll have healed in the next several months, before I give birth. After that it will probably be as exciting around here as riding bulls.”
“You’re right. I agree.”
He felt her turn her face toward him, longed to put his arms around her and kiss her thoroughly.
“So you’ll stay away from the rodeo?”
“If you’ll stay out of the canyons and close to the house, where one of my brothers—or preferably me—will be with you at all times.”
“That won’t be a problem,” River said, “if you put a recliner near a window for me. I don’t think I can bear to be in a bed for a month without looking out the window.”
“I’ll buy you a top of the line, brand-new recliner. You’ll feel like a queen.”
She slid out of the bed. He didn’t ask her to remain—he knew she wouldn’t. But at least she’d come to s
ee him, felt comfortable getting into his bed.
“Good night, Tighe.”
The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Make love with me.”
He felt her hesitation.
“How?”
“Well, first, you get back in my bed,” Tighe said, “and then I’m going to kiss you. Then I’ll probably slide your clothes off one by one, with my teeth, no doubt, just because it sounds like fun and we didn’t do that last time. And then—”
“I meant,” River said, interrupting his wistful soliloquizing, “if we’re not getting married, how could we make love? Why would we repeat what got us into this mess?”
“Details, details.” Reaching out, he pulled her back into his bed. “We don’t have to make love tonight. Let’s just sleep together. Get to know each other better. It’s hard to get to know someone very well unless I’m in a bed with them.”
“I’ll bet,” River said, and he laughed.
“You’re going to be such a feisty little mother.”
She sighed, but he noticed she didn’t wriggle out of his arms. “I’ll try not to let the females of this family down.”
“That’s right. Tradition is very important to us.” She felt so good he could barely stand to keep his hands to himself. “Any chance you’re cold? Need a tall, dark, handsome blanket to warm you up and maybe make you the happiest woman on earth?”
She giggled. “You don’t think much of yourself, do you?”
He snuggled into her neck, smelled the flowery scent of her hair. “I believe I recall it was all you could do not to yell down Ms. Sherby’s B and B, beautiful.”
River pinched him. “You were the only one making noise, cowboy.”
This was true, as he recalled. Making love to River—finally, after months and months of dry-mouthed mooning—had been a dizzying, crazy ride. “Let me relive that moment. I promise not to yell this time.”
“Personally, I think you’ll always be noisy, Tighe. Because of your reputation for being silent, you’ve repressed a lot of sound.”
He kissed her cheek, inched a hand across her stomach, slowly making his move. “Let’s find out.”
