Tina Leonard - A Callahan Outlaw's Twins (14 page)

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Sloan said. “It’s a smart move.”

She nodded. “Most importantly, it leaves the Diablo mustangs completely free. The importance of that cannot be understated, as you know. This is their home. We’ll keep their land secure forever.”

“We’ll be stretched a bit thin,” Falcon pointed out. “But the good thing is that the mercs are now trespassing on our land.”

Fiona nodded. “Here’s the situation. Land is valuable. We can’t run it all ourselves, of course. I know none of you is interested in staying in one place for very long,” she said, shrewdly not looking at any of them, even though Sloan was pretty certain he was watching a one-act play being performed by a veteran actress. “But if you were of a mind to ever settle down, the land would be available to you.”

“How?” Jace asked. “I’d be interested. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I want a family. I don’t want to be a tumbleweed forever.”

That roused a laugh from his brothers.

“Jace, no one would have you,” Tighe said.

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Ash said. “Of course someone would want you, Jace.”

“Why wouldn’t someone have me?” Jace demanded, annoyed.

“Because you have a new woman every week. And females tend to take exception to that,” Dante pointed out.

“I haven’t had a woman since I got here,” Jace said. “It’s been a good ten months. Long enough for Sloan to have children.
I
want a child.”

Fiona cleared her throat. “Children do factor into this offer, of course. Your grandfather was very clear about that. The land will go to whichever of you are interested in having a family. No bachelor pads.” She smiled. “It’s not good to have lone wolves around. The sheep get nervous.”

Sloan wasn’t certain he understood all of that. Aunt Fiona’s mind worked differently than other people’s at times. “I have a family.”

Fiona blinked. “You do.”

“But you don’t want to live here, Sloanie,” Ash said. “You’re the wild man.”

“I’m not as wild as I used to be.” He smiled, thinking about his sons. “Getting tamer all the time. And my boys are going to need some room to stretch their legs.”

Laughter broke out in the room. Fiona remained serious, studying him. “The way it works is that there’s enough land for all seven of you. But should one of you not marry and have children, that portion is forfeited. Easy as pie, I think.”

“What about me?” Ash asked. “They’ll all get married, and I’ll be the only one without any land.”

“Why?” Fiona asked.

“Because she’s different,” Sloan said. “Ash is our empath. Our shaman. She’ll always blow in the wind. It’s her home.”

“Well,” Fiona said, “your grandfather didn’t mention that you were to be given any different opportunity than your brothers. He figured none of you would take him up on his offer, seeing as how this isn’t your home. He knew you’d one day want to go back to the tribe.”

“Not me,” Dante said. “I’m hitting the rodeo circuit when our assignment here is done.”

“Me, too,” his twin said. “I’m doing nothing but ride bulls until I finally can’t ride anymore.”

Fiona pressed her lips together. Sloan thought she looked a bit flummoxed. “Galen?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve always been responsible for this crowd. I don’t know if I want to be tied to one place anymore.”

“Well, think it over. You have five years to decide.”

Sloan thought their aunt looked a bit alarmed as he walked her to the door. “Then what happens if none of us opts to settle here?”

She smiled at him. “You forfeit. Naturally.”

“I have a wife and children.”

“You’re already eligible, then, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you ready for a home and a place of your own?” Her bright eyes studied him. “Or will you return to wherever you came from?”

He’d been living in a cabin, in a place so remote only his grandfather and family knew where to find him. He didn’t even have a landline, cable or electricity, preferring fires and kerosene lamps.

He couldn’t raise a family under those circumstances. He thought about Kendall’s fabulous home. He couldn’t live like that, either. Just the thought of it made him feel vaguely rattled, somehow caged in. The Phillipses’ compound was enormous, bigger than Rancho Diablo, which was huge.

“I don’t know where I’ll be, Aunt Fiona,” he said.

She looked at him, a soft smile in her eyes. “You’ll know someday. And when you do, you can decide if you want to be the one who gets the land, and raise your family there. You wouldn’t want your brothers’ families to have more than yours would, I imagine. Kendall can take care of the children on her own, of course, but every father wants to provide his best, doesn’t he?”

He looked at her. “Are you coaching me?”

She smiled. “I just don’t want you left out. Your siblings are very competitive. I favor all my nephews and my niece, but it’s also my duty to try to help all of you make decisions that benefit you. No regrets.”

He enveloped her in his arms. “You are a good aunt.”

“I know.” She sniffled against his chest. “I am.”

“Unorthodox, maybe.”

“Yes. Proud of it.”

He laughed. “I’ll take your counsel under advisement.”

Yet how could he ask Kendall to live the way he’d be living for the foreseeable future?

Chapter Fifteen

At the same time Sloan heard the Diablos thundering through the canyons, he also saw a rider coming up the road, his tall horse easily recognizable even at a distance. Sloan turned toward the canyons, searching for the wild black mustangs. Like Jonas’s peacocks, which strutted during the day at the front of the property, the Diablos were something special that set Rancho Diablo apart. The first time he’d heard them running, the sound had been unmistakable and stirring.

He turned to face Storm Cash as the neighbor neared.

“Callahan,” Cash said.

“Storm,” Sloan said. “What brings you around?”

“I’ve been having some vagrants camp on my property. Was wondering if you were having the same problem.”

Sloan shook his head. “Not to my knowledge.”

Storm leaned back in the saddle, glanced around.

“Looking for something?” he demanded.

Cash turned to look at him, his expression amused. “Haven’t seen your wife around in a while.”

“Why would you see her, anyway?” His annoyance level began to rise.

“Met her once before the new bunkhouse was framed. She said she was in charge of the project. Noticed she hadn’t been around to check on it.”

Sloan leaned a boot against a fence rail. “My wife is not your concern.”

“I meant nothing by it. I was only asking after her health.”

Sloan had to admit to himself that he simply didn’t like the big rancher. He was the kind of hombre women would call handsome. But Sloan had never gotten over the suspicion that Cash had thrown that rock through the library window. And what fool asked after another man’s wife? “What the hell do you want?”

“Just being neighborly.”

“I don’t want to be neighborly.”

Cash nodded. “I’ve heard you’re a loner. Clearly an unfriendly one at that.”

“State your business and head on,” Sloan said. “I’ve got horses to tend.”

Cash sighed. “Heard in town you’re a new dad. Brought a gift by for the babies. I have no children of my own.” He handed over a small box, white with aqua-colored ribbons. Obviously, professionally gift-wrapped. “Congratulations on becoming a father.”

Sloan scowled. “I don’t want a gift.”

“What harm is a baby gift between neighboring ranchers?”

Ash came to stand at Sloan’s side. “Hi,” she said to Storm.

He smiled, and Sloan’s irritation reached fever pitch. The rancher extended his hand for Ash to shake, and Sloan was curious to see if his sister would pick up anything about their unwanted visitor.

She glanced at Sloan. “The guys need you in the barn, brother.”

He nodded. “Be seeing you,” he said to his unwanted visitor.

Sloan couldn’t force himself to thank him for the gift. There was just something off about the man, and he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“You’re not really needed in the barn,” Ash said when they were out of earshot. “I could see your head steaming all the way from the upstairs window. What is the matter with you?”

“I just don’t like him.”

She laced her arm through Sloan’s. “You don’t like anyone.”

“I like everyone until they give me a reason not to.” He headed to the barn, anyway. “Did you see his aura?”

“Blue,” Ash said. “Nothing unusual.”

It wasn’t much of a tell. But Ash would have noticed if there was anything to be suspicious about. He couldn’t say why he didn’t trust Storm Cash, but he didn’t. “Maybe I’m not used to somebody asking after my wife and bringing a gift.”

“It’s a baby gift, not flowers and a candy heart, bro.” Ash smiled. “You are a jealous, jealous man.”

He pulled up. “Is that what’s wrong with me?”

She laid her head on his shoulder as they walked. “Partially.”

“Don’t spare me.”

“I won’t, brother dear. It’s not my style.”

Sloan smiled to himself. In a way, his sister reminded him so much of Kendall, another independent, free spirit.

He and Ash walked into the barn, which was quiet except for blowing fans oscillating overhead, and an occasional horse whinny. Their brothers sat around in worn chairs, mending tack and saddles.

“Storm Cash says he’s had trespassers on his place.” Sloan sat down to join them. Ash settled nearby, reaching up to pet a horse’s nose that stretched over a stall door.

“If he’s got trespassers, he needs to hire more help,” Falcon said.

“I believe he was trying to warn us.” Among neighbors Sloan cared for, the warning would have been appreciated. He set the baby gift on a table, staring at it. “Tighe. Dante. Go over and pay Cash a visit. Take a look around. See what he’s working over there. We need to know, since his ranch flanks us to the west.”

Tight and Dante left the barn. Falcon looked at Sloan. “What if Cash is on our side? What if those trespassers are the mercs? They may have realized they can stay on his land and not be detected. We keep a pretty tight eye on things around here, so we know our ranch is relatively safe. His is open land.”

Sloan thought about the mystical Diablos he’d heard galloping, their spirits wild and free, a sure portent of things to come according to Running Bear. Maybe that had been the warning. He’d forgotten to ask Jonas how the spirits worked.

Of course, spirits were unpredictable. That was their prerogative.

“Hi,” he heard a female voice say, and Ash jumped to her feet.

“Kendall!” Ash ran to throw her arms around her sister-in-law. “You brought the babies!”

Sloan’s heart leaped—then sank. He was so glad to see the lights of his life. “You shouldn’t be here, Kendall.” He enveloped his family in his arms. “My God, I’m glad you’re here with me.”

She leaned up to kiss him. “I’ve missed you so much. And the boys are growing so fast. We need you, Sloan. We need to be with you.”

“Let me hold my nephew,” Ash said, taking Isaiah from Kendall’s arms.

“I’ll hold the other one, if you don’t think he’ll cry,” Galen said.

“I’d cry if I was a baby and saw your face,” Ash told him. “Grab the baby and quit being so scared, Galen.”

Sloan held his wife. “You can’t stay here. Just for the night. Maybe two.”

Kendall stepped back from him. “Sloan Callahan, I’ve come to negotiate a deal with you.”

His brothers and sister laughed. Sloan took note of the determined gleam in his wife’s eye and prepared himself. “I’m listening.”

“Either I stay here or you go back to Hell’s Colony with me. Or we go somewhere else.” She took a deep breath. “Or we get that divorce we agreed on. It’s your choice. But I’ve had enough of our family being apart just because your family’s running from ghosts.”

It hit him that Kendall was right. He
was
afraid. Deeply afraid. There’d been times in the military when he’d been worried, scared, intimidated, even wild-eyed with anger. But this woman and two small boys had heated his emotions to a new, raw level. Kendall was fearless.

He’d been too afraid to be with her. To make his family his priority.

“You’re right,” he said, and his brothers and Ash drifted away. “We’ll work it out.”

She backed up. Wearing her sky-high, flamingo-pink heels, a lime-green business suit that skimmed her curves and a smile just for him. “I hope we do. Because we need to give our marriage a chance. And it can’t wait forever.”

He took a deep breath. “I can’t leave here. I can’t leave my family right now. I can’t leave Fiona and Burke.”

“I understand.” She walked out of the barn.

He followed in a hurry. “Isaiah and Carlos shouldn’t be here.”

“I’m not putting them in danger.” Kendall went to her Range Rover, began pulling out luggage. “When your family believed that you were too sidetracked by me to do your job, I left. But the bad guys don’t want me, Sloan. I already gave away the secrets. So I figure there’s nothing else that can go wrong now. Except my marriage.” She handed him a couple of baby bags. “Can you carry those inside? Fiona says we’re to have the upstairs master. The nursery’s closer to it.”

“Fiona?” He followed after his wife as she walked to the front of the house. “You’ve been talking to Aunt Fiona?”

“Fiona was the one who called and told me to come.” Kendall gave Sloan a smile he could only classify as sexy and devious. “Be warned. I’ve brought assistance.”

He realized a black Range Rover that matched
Kendall’s had pulled up behind hers. Two women got out, a redhead and a brunette—and if he hadn’t been a married man, he would have said they weren’t exactly hard on the eyes.

But it was their demeanor and carriage that alerted him to what Kendall was up to.

He looked at his wife.

“Fiona said I could bring some friends. So I brought nannies.”

They walked like lions, smoothly and purposefully, gazing around them as they moved, their eyes alert. He knew at once what he was looking at. “I’d say those are bodyguards masquerading as nannies.”

Kendall smiled. “I prefer to think of them as companions. And they’re not available, so tell your brothers not to get any bright ideas. My nannies are not here for Callahan matchmaking.”

Sloan grunted. Things were already tense on the ranch. Some of his brothers suffered more than others from itchy feet. Throwing hot, gorgeous, tough-minded females into the mix could only make a difficult situation hit the boiling point.

* * *

K
ENDALL
SITUATED
her babies and installed her “team” in their rooms. She hadn’t been entirely honest with Sloan about the “nannies,” but Fiona had heartily endorsed the plan. In fact, it had been Fiona’s idea to bring “friends,” to soothe Sloan’s concerns about Kendall being at the ranch.

Fiona had called—to meddle, she said—and stressed her opinion, which was that it was important for a husband and a wife who had two new babies to spend time together as a family, if possible. Otherwise, mischief could set in. Families fell apart with too much time away from each other, especially when newlyweds didn’t know one another very well. Kendall had taken Fiona’s advice as a sage warning.

The extra protection gave Kendall a chance to return to Rancho Diablo. She wanted to look in on the bunkhouse project—but the thing she wanted above all was redemption. It wasn’t easy knowing she’d given away crucial information to the enemy.

She had a lot to make up for.

It was the only way to keep her husband. And she intended to fight with everything she had for their marriage. For Isaiah and Carlos, she would do whatever she must to make sure their father understood just how much he meant in their little lives.

And in her own.

* * *

“T
HERE
’
S
A
LOT
HAPPENING
at Rancho Diablo,” Fiona Callahan told her three friends as they sat at the Books’n’Bingo Society tearoom and bookshop with her. Here was the heartbeat of Diablo, New Mexico. Men might think they ran the show in town, but behind these flowery walls the social and civic decisions—plots, some said—were masterminded. “I fully expect fireworks.”

Mavis Night, Corinne Abernathy and Nadine Waters gazed at her eagerly. “Tell us everything,” Corinne said.

These were her best friends, her comrades-in-cahoots. From the first moment she’d arrived from Ireland to raise her nephews, these women had offered their friendship. In time, they’d taught her how Diablo worked, and they’d become her treasured sisters. “The mercenaries who hunted my sister and her husband are still plotting against us. They’ve sent a new group, which has caused no end of trouble, because this team is quite a bit more aggressive than the hired gun sent out before. They already kidnapped Kendall to get information out of her.” Fiona sighed. “They didn’t keep her long, but she’s still living through the aftereffects of that.”

“Oh, my,” Nadine said. “Poor Kendall.”

“So,” Fiona said, “all my Callahans left. The chief brought in Jeremiah’s brother’s family, who are fairly hardened, well-trained individuals in their own right.”

“Gracious,” Mavis said. “It sounds like all-out war.”

Fiona nodded. “It is. Running Bear didn’t want the babies on the ranch. No potential for hostages. The children and their families have responded wonderfully to their new lives. While they don’t live under assumed identities or anything like that, they’re surrounded all the time by staff, and their families, of course. The boys run ranch operations and Jonas’s world-building projects quite easily from the Phillipses’ compound and Dark Diablo. But,” Fiona said, barely taking a breath, “Sloan and Kendall came to an impasse. He didn’t want her here, because she’d been kidnapped, and that just about killed him. Of course, he can’t be in Hell’s Colony with her because his grandfather has got him here defending the ranch.”

“My,” Corinne said. “And those poor newborns need their parents to be together.”

“Exactly.” Fiona sighed. “That’s the part that’s killing me. Even when your nieces, Sabrina and Seton, had children by Sam and Jonas, we managed with pretty good success to keep them all in one place, despite great odds.”

“For the most part.” Mavis nodded. “So what are you planning?”

“Well,” Fiona said, sipping her tea from a blue-willow cup, “I had Kendall bring friends with her from Hell’s Colony. And when I say friends, I mean the kind that can kick ass and take names.”

“Oh, happy day,” Nadine said. “Sloan can’t complain too much about Kendall being at Rancho Diablo, then.”

“Exactly.” Fiona’s voice was triumphant. “And those two are just going to have to work out all their issues. Hopefully, they’ll realize how much they belong together—with their babies.”

“We’ll do whatever we can to stir the pot,” Corinne said, her blue eyes sparkling behind her polka-dotted glasses. “I mean help out, of course.”

“Of course,” Mavis said.

“Naturally,” Nadine said. “We just love
helping.
”

Fiona smiled. She had her own team right here—and they’d never let her down before.