by Tina Leonard
He really admired her bravery.
“Where’d you go today?” he suddenly demanded of Jace. “You disappeared for hours.”
“I was running errands,” his brother replied.
“All day?” Galen frowned. “Weren’t you scheduled for patrol?”
“I swapped with Sloan, no worries,” Jace said, but Galen thought his brother looked a little too eager to end the conversation.
Still, he supposed it was none of his business.
“I’m glad none of you are angry about me buying the land. The idea was Running Bear’s, so I hope it’s a good one. Storm must have learned that something was going on with Wolf and his henchmen, because he was pretty eager to sell. We’re not paying top dollar by any means.”
“We’ll all be happy to pitch in pennies,” Tighe said.
“I still don’t know if I trust the man,” Galen admitted, “but I suppose since we’re hiring his kin all over the place, I’ll have to get over it.”
“True,” Ash said cheerfully. “Especially since Jace has got an epic thing going for Sawyer.”
Jace turned a bit red. “Did I say that?”
“No,” his sister said, delighted to be able to yank his chain. “Her cousin, Somer, did. By the way, I heard Somer had her eye on you at one time, Galen.”
He started. “I don’t think so.”
“Apparently, she did. But,” Ash continued in merry fashion, “she quickly figured out your interests lay elsewhere. She’s now dating Dr. Brody, the vet in town.” Ash looked at Galen with glee. “We’re all betting the other interest is Rose.”
“Don’t bet,” he said. “It’s a dumb thing to do with hard-earned cash.”
The siblings rose, signaling an end to the meeting. Ash grinned at him.
“I know you’re not going to open a dude ranch, Galen. I was just giving you a roast.”
“Thanks. I always need a good needling from my sister.” He ruffled Ash’s pale hair, which had now grown to her shoulders, and thought what a shame it was that Xav had tossed away the best girl on the planet.
Best girl besides Rose.
“What are you going to do about Rose?” Ash asked. “All the babies and children are going to have to leave, obviously, if you’re fixing to swarm this place with Feds. So nannies aren’t necessary here. And she’s not a bodyguard or sniper type of girl. Probably has never fired a gun.”
“I suspect you’re wrong about that.” He figured Mack Carstairs was likely the kind of man who’d take his daughter hunting with him. And his grandchildren.
Galen’s breath caught at the thought of grandchildren. “Holy smokes,” he muttered.
“What?” Rose said. “What is it?”
He’d just spent a glorious night making love to Rose every which way from Sunday. If he was lucky, he might do it again tonight. What if he ended up like his bucket-headed brothers? Pregnant and no ring?
Rose wasn’t the kind of woman to jump into a marriage just because she was expecting a child. They’d used a condom. Everything was probably fine.
He glanced over at Sloan, Tighe, Falcon and Dante, who were huddled in a corner discussing the tunnel problem. Dissecting it from every angle. Not thinking about women, because they had theirs.
Galen didn’t have the one he wanted. And Rose wouldn’t be an easy catch. She wouldn’t want to go home and tell her big, tough-minded father that she was expecting a child out of wedlock.
“You look like a ghost has infested our ancestors’ graves,” Ash said. “What’s wrong, Galen?”
“I—” he began, but sudden thunder boomed outside, pounding and rhythmic. He and his siblings gazed out the many windows. “Look,” he murmured, though there was no need. The Diablo mustangs were galloping through the canyons, a dark, twisting ribbon.
“Legend has it they’re a mystical portent of things to come,” his sister murmured.
Galen felt a shiver touch him—not a ghost, but a stern premonition from out of nowhere.
“It’s the Diablos,” he said, suddenly hit by blinding clarity. “Wolf’s tunneling under the canyons because they intend to destroy the Diablos.”
The heart and soul and very spirit of Rancho Diablo.
Chapter Seven
When Galen didn’t show up that night to share a midnight snack, Rose went looking for him. She tapped softly on his bedroom door, glancing around to make certain no one saw her there.
Galen opened it, glanced up and down the hall, then directly at her. “Nice pj’s. I like the satiny look. Elegant.” He dragged her inside and closed the door.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking at the model of Rancho Diablo he’d built on a table in his room.
“I’m trying to prove my hypothesis,” Galen said. “I think Wolf and his men built those tunnels because they’re after the Diablos.”
“Why?” She studied the very detailed map. “I thought the point was to get to Rancho Diablo and wreak havoc from underneath. And probably above, eventually. All it would take would be a helicopter or two, or a few cameras fitted on the oil derricks.”
He stopped what he was doing and stared at her. “That’s an angle I hadn’t considered.”
“Good.” She looked at the model again. “So back to the Diablos.”
“Those mustangs are the lifeblood of Rancho Diablo. This may be hard to explain,” Galen said, “but we believe in spirits. We believe in our ancestors. This ranch was foretold in a dream to Jeremiah Callahan, who built it and this house we’re currently living in.”
It was a fabulous mansion, with seven chimneys, and done in the Tudor style. Rose had fallen in love with it at first glance, as did everyone else. Jeremiah and Molly Callahan had put every ounce of love and hope into the home, and then started their family here.
Only to have to give it all up, just like Galen’s parents had.
Rose resolved to help Galen if she could. “How would Wolf destroy the Diablos?”
“By destroying their habitat. The canyons are a spiritual place for the mustangs. They don’t live anywhere else. They’re safe there. No one can capture them. They stay free, like our ancestors believed man and everything under the sun should be.”
She looked at Galen, admiring the long hair falling carelessly across his collar as he stared at the model, at his big shoulders, strong and sexy under his shirt. “Can Wolf be stopped?”
“We will find a way. Somehow.” Galen looked up at her, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, kissing her deeply until it felt as if her breath left her and became his.
“Hey,” he said, “we’re going to get married.”
She couldn’t have been more shocked if the ground had opened up beneath her feet. “We are?”
“Yes. As soon as possible. Tomorrow.”
Rose moved away from his side, trying to take in what was the strangest proposal she’d ever heard. “Why?”
“Because I need to take care of you.”
She blinked. “I’m taking care of myself just fine. But thank you for the offer. I guess.”
He shook his head. “It’s not an offer. It’s a marriage proposal. I want you to marry me.”
“I always heard Callahans were terribly hard to tie down. That they avoid the altar like the plague.” She moved to the opposite side of the table, putting the model between them. “What’s going through your head, Callahan?”
“That I don’t want to end up like my brothers—running around in circles trying to win their woman. I want to be married now. I want it to be right.”
“They’re married. They’re happy. What’s wrong with how it happened?” Rose was puzzled. “Not that I want to turn down a marriage proposal, but I would like to understand what I’m turning down.”
“You’re turni
ng me down?”
“I don’t even know what you’re asking, exactly,” Rose said, exasperated.
“I’m asking you,” Galen said, pulling her gently toward him, “to marry me, be my wife.”
“We’ve only known each other a few days.”
“But we’re sharing midnight snacks. And a little more. It’s the little more that convinces me I’m marrying you.”
She looked at him. “Galen, I’m trying to understand the workings of your mind, but it’s like looking at a maze. Are you saying that because we’ve slept together, we should automatically get married?”
He nodded. “I waited a long time for a woman like you. If you become pregnant, I don’t want you running off. Women that get attached to my brothers tend to do that.” He looked alarmed at that prospect. “You can call me crazy if you like. I think I’m being smart.”
He kissed her again, and she sensed he really was convinced of his plans. She gently moved back a step, needing to clear her mind, which she couldn’t do while he was kissing her breathless.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Except for yes, there’s nothing else I want to hear you say,” Galen said, reaching for her again.
“I need to think about it. Probably you should make love to me while I think.”
“Okay, that works just fine,” he said, and proceeded to convince her.
* * *
THREE DAYS LATER, Galen had Rose in Santa Fe at a justice of the peace before she could change her mind. “I’m a big believer in striking while the iron is hot,” he told Jace, who’d come to stand in as witness. “The branding iron,” he finished with a proud grin.
“Not to be chauvinistic or anything,” his brother said, slapping him on the back. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d hotfoot it to an altar.”
“Me, neither.” Galen glanced over at Rose, who stood nearby, talking to her father and Ash, who had been her witnesses of choice. Mack had beaten them to Santa Fe, dressed in a Western tux and boots. Ash came along to serve as Rose’s maid of honor, even though there was no such requirement. She’d said she had really come along just to see Rose put the ball and chain on her big brother, and wouldn’t miss that for the world.
His family could laugh all they liked. He wasn’t nervous. Rose was meant to be his—even if she didn’t seem one hundred percent convinced that this was how she wanted to be married. But when he’d told her that she ought to grab him while he was up for grabs, she had shaken her head and said, “Guess that’s an offer I shouldn’t refuse. Consider yourself grabbed.”
He’d rewarded her with a kiss and more.
“Here we go,” Jace said cheerfully. “Time to help my brother commit himself to a lifetime of misery. I mean, happiness and joy.” He grinned, pleased to jab at Galen. “And may I never follow in your footsteps.”
Galen ignored him and took Rose’s hand to step up to the justice. She smiled at him a little shyly, and he thought he was the luckiest man in the world to win such a cute little darling girl. His brothers had done things all wrong. They were cart-before-the-horse kind of guys.
Me? My horse is always in front of the cart.
* * *
“CONGRATULATIONS,” HIS BROTHERS SAID after they’d flung rice on them at the top of the drive upon their return. Fiona and Burke had birdseed in tiny paper cups for the children to throw, and everything was right in Galen’s world as he brought his bride home this beautiful late May day.
“As I said, you weren’t getting any younger,” Sloan said. “It’s a good thing you tied him down,” he told his new sister-in-law, with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. “He needed it so badly.”
Galen heard Rose laugh. “I hope so,” she said.
“I heard him say ‘I do’ with my own ears,” Ash announced. “It was surreal, but worth the drive.” She hugged Rose. “And I got a new sister to help me keep you ruffians in line.”
“As if you really needed any help with that,” Rose said, sending Galen a wink.
He felt warm all over.
“Bride,” he said, “can I see you alone for a moment?”
“Now?” Rose asked. “I think Fiona wants us to cut the cake.” She glanced around at the friends who’d stopped by to welcome them, and the family members, especially the brothers, who were eyeing the wedding cake with interest. The kids stood nearby, transfixed by the sight of cake, a punch bowl with floating fruit in it and gifts overflowing on a nearby table. “We’ll be alone tonight, you know, and you can tell me anything you want.”
Galen nodded, gave a put-upon sigh. “I guess I’ll have to wait,” he said in a low voice only she could hear. “But I plan to make up for it later. You know I’ve arranged for a pup tent in the canyons for our honeymoon night, just the two of us under the stars, listening to the coyotes and the crickets.”
“A pup tent?”
“Sure. We want to be close.” He grinned at her. “A pup tent sounds romantic, don’t you think?”
She giggled at his teasing, her eyes wide and happy as she looked at him, and Galen felt as if he was king of the world.
* * *
SIX WEEKS LATER, Galen knew for sure he was king of the world.
“I’m pregnant,” Rose said.
Galen laughed out loud. “That’s awesome!” He held in the window-shattering yell he wanted to let out, and hugged his bride instead. “Let’s celebrate with another night in the pup tent.”
“No, thank you. Did I mention we’re having triplets?”
He stared, staggered. “Triplets?”
She nodded, and Galen shook his head in disbelief. “Are you sure?”
Rose smiled. “I’d been having symptoms that weren’t usual for me. I was tired a lot, among other things. Went to the doctor, who thought she heard more than one heartbeat, and recommended an ultrasound. Three little dots that are supposedly the hearts convinced the doctor that we’re starting a family in a big way.”
Galen wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. “Talk about a woman who can keep a secret. We’re going to have to make some changes in our routine, babe. I want you doing nothing but sitting around looking pretty.”
She kissed him on the mouth. “Right. That’s going to happen.”
He could tell his wife was of no mind to listen to his opinion on her resting.
“I have to go help Fiona at the Books’n’Bingo Society tearoom. I promised to help her and her committee plan the Christmas ball for this year, of which you will no longer be a part. Will you miss being put up for auction?”
“Nah. You caught me fair and square.” He kissed her on the lips, lingering, wishing it was bedtime already so he could celebrate their happy news in naked fashion. She went out the door, looking darling in light blue shorts and a white blouse, and Galen congratulated himself again on being smart enough to put the horse in the forward position, cart behind.
Still, he was stunned, rocked by Rose’s news. Overjoyed. He’d been wise to avoid his brothers’ path of pregnancy first, proposal second. “An intelligent man learns from others’ mistakes,” he told himself, still in congratulation mode as he walked out the front door.
Storm was getting out of his truck, and Galen walked forward to greet him. “This is a surprise, Cash.”
“Callahan.” Storm nodded at him. “We need to talk about the real estate transaction we agreed upon.”
“Everything’s being handled by our agents. What’s to talk about?”
“Let me congratulate you first on your recent wedding.”
Galen nodded. “Hope to be hearing about yours and Lu’s soon enough.”
Storm shifted, looked toward his property. “Callahan, I don’t want to be in the middle of your family’s misery, as I believe I’ve mentioned, although perhaps not with those exact words.”
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“We don’t invite anyone into our misery, Storm. Doubt you’d be the first to get an invitation.” Galen frowned. “What’s up?”
“I got a visit last night from the sheriff. He wants to use my property as a staging area. Looks like you’re fixing to bring in some extra manpower.”
Galen’s frown deepened. “I’ll have to talk to the sheriff. He hasn’t mentioned this to me. Probably looking to see how an operation might proceed.”
“I’m well aware that there’s nothing I can do if the Feds are getting involved, and I’ll make my peace with that.” The big rancher’s face wore a heavy look of concern. “But it was the second visit that has me perturbed.”
“Why don’t you come in the house and tell me exactly what’s going on.” Galen led him inside, though they’d never invited Storm in before. With two of Storm’s nieces employed by Rancho Diablo now, maybe it was time to extend the olive branch.
He sat on the leather sofa in the den, looking around appreciatively at the Native American rugs and art. “Nice.”
“Thanks. As you were saying—”
Fiona hurried in, a pink sun hat on her head, her hair slightly mussed. “Galen,” she said. “Oh, hello, Storm,” she added in the next breath, and then looked at her nephew with huge, worried eyes. “There’s some strange men heading this way, and Burke doesn’t like the look of—”
Sudden yells erupted outside. Loud shouting, and what sounded like thunder. Galen jumped up, rushed to a window. “Wolf’s men, no doubt,” he said, and raced out the door.
“You best stay inside, Miss Fiona,” Storm said, looking out a window. “He should have taken a gun with him.”
“Oh, he’s armed,” Fiona said, bringing a rifle out of the kitchen. “Don’t you worry about that.” She opened a window and pointed the barrel out. “If you’ll excuse me, Storm, I’m going to keep my eye on our visitors.”
“That’s just the thing, Miss Fiona,” Storm said. “I’m here for your protection.”
He gently took the rifle from her. Fiona straightened, gave him her frostiest glare. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Wolf sent me here to keep an eye on you especially.” He sighed. “I really didn’t want to be a part of this.”