by Tina Leonard
“Fine by me.” River wished Jace hadn’t shown up so soon. Secretly she’d been hoping for just a couple moments alone with her dream cowboy. She sat on the bed, waited for Jace’s signal.
“You’re the luckiest woman in town, spending the night with two Callahans,” he said as he dumped his duffel on the floor, not sounding anything like a man who was out to derail his brother.
“Good times, good times,” River said, but her insincerity was lost on the two men as they shuffled the deck, splayed the cards on the small table and began a spirited game.
“You’re just determined to ride that piece of ugly spotted steak tomorrow, aren’t you?” Jace asked.
“You better believe it. I’m going to ride him like a little girl’s pony.”
River rolled her eyes. “Sexist, much?”
“Not at all. But we give gentle rides to the ladies,” Jace said. “You wouldn’t want to give a woman a mount that might harm her in any way.”
River rolled her eyes at the typical Callahan nonsense she’d heard many times. “Jace, why aren’t you riding tomorrow?”
“Thought about it. Decided I’m too good-looking to risk injuring myself on a bull.” He laughed. “My brother here is on his own personal mission to separate his brain from his skull.”
“Why?” River looked at Tighe, and he glanced at her, his gaze catching on her lips, it seemed, and then lower. It was the first time she could ever remember him looking at her for more than a second. She decided to see if she could get his attention off his cards, let him slowly figure out what he was missing out on. “What do you have to prove?”
“Nothing.” Tighe tossed his cards onto the table, grinned at Jace. “You lose. Deal.”
Clearly, he wasn’t going to take the bait. Jace poured his brother another shot. Tighe slurped it down, sighing with happiness. “This is fun. I’m finally starting to relax.” He glanced at her, his gaze hitting about chest level. “Anybody else think it’s hot in here?”
Jace glanced at River, surreptitiously winked. She shrugged, then got up and raised the window, which would only serve to heat the room a little more. “Maybe the breeze will help.”
Tighe seemed to find her legs quite interesting as she sat cross-legged on the bed.
“I win,” Jace said. “What do you know? I finally beat you.” He scooped the cards up, but Tighe didn’t take his gaze away from River.
“Let’s see what’s in this goody basket.” She rose, checked out the treats Ms. Sherby put in every room.
“I’m getting tired,” Tighe said. “Think I’ll call it a night. My ride’s at ten, and I want to be ready to rock.” He got down on the floor, shoved his duffel under his head. “This is great. Thanks, River, for letting us stay.”
“Have another toddy,” Jace said. “It’ll help you sleep.” He handed his brother another shot, which Tighe quickly downed.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you kids were trying to get me tipsy. Won’t work, you know. I’ve got a hollow leg.”
“Excuse me,” River said, “did you say you have a hollow head?”
“Ha. You sound like one of my brothers now. Actually, like my sister, Ash.”
Tighe didn’t say anything else, and a moment later, sonorous snoring rose from the floor.
“That’s it,” Jace said, “he’s out like a light. Never could hold his liquor.”
“Now what?” River stared at the example of her perfidy sleeping like a baby at the foot of her bed. “Seems so mean to try to keep him from riding. He says it’s his holy grail. Aren’t Callahans fairly wedded to their holy grails? Seems like bad juju to try to keep one from his goal.”
“Trust me, Tighe can’t ride worth a flip. He’s really only suited for the kiddie calf catch.” Jace shrugged, then grinned the famous Callahan grin. “Now you just head off to your room, and I’ll take care of Brother Bonehead.”
Certainly, no one could say the Callahans weren’t a different breed. A job was a job, and this caper had been part of hers. Even the beloved aunt of the Callahan clan, Fiona, had been in on this gig, sanctioning Jace to do whatever he could to keep Tighe off Firefreak. “If you’re sure. I’m next door, if you need anything.”
“One thing about you, River, we know we can always count on you to do whatever has to be done.”
She wasn’t sure she felt good about that compliment at the moment. With another glance at the handsome hunk on the floor, River grabbed her stuff and headed to her own room.
It might be the only time she ever had Tighe in a bedroom, and oh, how she hoped it wasn’t. But once he figured out her part in this escapade, there was no way he’d see her as anything but the woman who’d destroyed his dream, smashed his holy grail to pieces.
Which was no way to catch the man you’d been fantasizing about for the longest time.
She went into her room and closed the door. Got into bed, stared at the ceiling. As a bodyguard, she stuck to her assignment. Watching over the twins, Carlos and Isaiah, was her pride and joy.
Tonight had been a mission, no reason for regret. Tomorrow, she’d be back with Sloan and Kendall’s little boys, and that was all that mattered.
Wasn’t it? Not that sleeping cowboy she was helping to divert from his dream?
He was never going to forgive her for her role in his distraction.
* * *
RIVER HAD NEARLY fallen asleep, was drifting on a cloud of guilt and soft-focus sexy fantasies of Tighe, when she heard the door quietly open. She sat up, peering through the darkness. “Sawyer?”
“Not exactly, gorgeous,” Tighe said, sliding into bed, pulling her up against his rock-hard body. “You shouldn’t let Jace talk you into things, babe, he’s a newb.” Tighe kissed her neck, and hot, dizzying tingles shot all over her. “But since you’re just so darn sweet—and because I know Jace dragged you into his dumb scheme—I’m going to give you another chance to try to keep me off that bull.”
Chapter Two
The next afternoon, River sat in the bleachers at the rodeo, waiting for Tighe to get himself squished. Jace seemed certain his brother couldn’t ride very well. River had no reason to doubt Jace and Ash’s reasoning for trying to stop Tighe, or their aunt Fiona’s, for that matter, although Fiona’s motives could be suspect at times.
After Tighe made love to her last night, he’d kissed her, told her she was darling and cute as a button, and that he’d think about her every second today, except when he was on the back of Firefreak.
Tighe was, in a word, an ass.
Jace slid onto the bleacher next to her, handing her some popcorn.
“Hey,” he said. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Yeah. You, too.” She overlooked the corny greeting, her gaze searching for Tighe among the cowboys in the arena.
“Funny thing. I lost sight of my brother last night.”
“Did you?” River didn’t dare glance his way. The Callahans might have hatched a plot to keep Tighe off his nemesis, but she’d been completely unable to resist his charming persuasion.
“I did. Tighe was nowhere to be found.” Jace shook his head. “I think I might have sipped a little too liberally from Tighe’s libation. My head’s killing me.” He handed her a soda off a cardboard tray he’d carried into the bleachers. “You didn’t see him?”
She shook her head. It wasn’t a total fib—she hadn’t seen Tighe in the darkness. But she’d felt him, and he’d made glorious love to her that she’d remember for days.
“Don’t know where he went. I looked for him near the pens, but no one’s seen him.” Jace shrugged. “He hasn’t scratched, either, which is a bad sign that our plan didn’t work.”
“Your plan,” River said. “I refuse to take further part in keeping Tighe from his...goal.”
Jace glanced at her. “I don’t blame you. He’s a rascal.”
“You’re all rascals. Including your sister, Ashlyn, and your aunt Fiona.”
Jace laughed. “No argument there. But we’re doing what’s best f
or him. Ever since Tighe was little, he thought he was a big shot.”
“How is he different from, say, you?”
“Because I can do what I brag about. Tighe isn’t Dante. He isn’t smart like Galen. He’s not tough like Ash. If it’s true what Grandfather Running Bear says about one of us being the hunted one, the one who’ll bring destruction to the family, it’d be Tighe. He’s always on a quest, but he never quite achieves it. You get what I’m saying?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” River said, “I’ve worked for the Callahans for quite a while. I know the drill.”
“I wouldn’t have thought you’d feel guilty, River. Your job is to be a bodyguard. Protecting Callahans is what you do, right?” Jace leaned back, a popcorn-eating philosopher. “Protecting Tighe from himself is no different from your normal job description.”
“Whatever.” River’s nerves were jangling. “I don’t feel guilty, just for the record.”
“You did the best you could.”
“Shush, Jace,” she said, “I can’t hear the announcer. I don’t want to miss Tighe ride.”
“True, if we blink we’ll miss him,” Jace said, laughing.
“You guys are mean. Tighe’s on a mission.” River felt compelled to stand up for him, even if she’d been part of the plot to keep him off the bounty bull. Secretly, she hoped Tighe met his desired goal, whatever it was that urged him on—because then...
Then he might want to settle down like his Callahan brothers, Sloan, Falcon and Dante.
That was treacherous thinking. One night of sexy lovemaking didn’t mean anything—at least, it probably hadn’t to Tighe.
But it had to her. If the opportunity presented itself again, she doubted she’d refuse another night in Tighe’s arms.
In fact, she knew she wouldn’t.
She might even instigate it.
* * *
IT WAS TIME: the moment of truth. Either he could take it or he couldn’t; it was time to find out if he could pin the tail on the donkey.
“Good luck,” said Galen, who’d come out to watch his fall from grace. But Tighe had told him in no uncertain terms that he was going to stay on Firefreak for the whole eight seconds, come hell or high water.
“Thanks.” He took a deep breath, approached the chute. “Is River watching?”
“I’m sure she has every intention of watching you win the buckle, bro,” Galen said, and Tighe swallowed hard.
“Great.” He had to make eight seconds. What price being a hero? Priceless, no matter how many bruised ribs. He got on the chute amid muttered encouragement from the other cowboys helping load up Firefreak’s slayer. He mounted the massive body, which had been relatively still until he seated himself, and began wrapping his hand—then crashes, curses and fear rang through his ears in a tunnel of mindless noise. He nodded, the chute jerked open and Firefreak burst into action.
Tighe stared up at the arena ceiling, shocked to find himself on his back. A bullfighter yelled, helped guide him in a headlong rush to the corral side as Tighe gasped from the pain flooding his leg. Firefreak danced a wild jig of triumph before being chased from the ring.
Tighe glanced at the time.
Three seconds. He’d made it three seconds.
And he was pretty certain he’d done something to his leg. Heat and white-hot pain shot up to his groin. Worse, he’d proved his family right—in front of River.
“Are you all right, Tighe?” River asked, suddenly at his side as Galen checked him over.
Tighe stumbled toward a bench and let his brothers help him out of his gear. “I’m fine. Nothing damaged but my pride.”
“And his leg,” Galen announced. “Brother, you’re going to be bed-bound for a while.”
“I’m fine.” Tighe was bothered that he hadn’t had the epiphany he’d been expecting while on Firefreak. True, Dante had been known to exaggerate—and maybe he’d even told a wee fib just to goad Tighe on. But Dante had sworn to his siblings that for the few seconds he’d been on that bull, he’d been absolutely, mindlessly free of his demons.
“You’re not fine.” Galen moved a practiced hand over his leg, divining what would take other doctors X-rays to learn. “You have a fracture, brother. And a groin tear. You’ll be out of commission a good six weeks.”
“And we were already shorthanded,” Ashlyn said, not sparing words as his other siblings grouped around him. “You’ll have to learn to take care of yourself from your bed. None of us can give up ranch duties to tend you, when we told you that riding Firefreak was practically a death wish for you.”
He wasn’t the big zero on the back of a bull they thought he was. “I’ll be fine.” He looked at River, saw the worry on her face, tried to smile reassuringly. “I am fine.”
“I’ll nurse him.” She looked at him, then around at his siblings. “Goodness knows he’s a pain, but I can bring the twins and watch all three of them.”
“Three children,” Ash said. “Somehow seems fitting.” She glared at her brother.
“You guys can be as annoyed as you want,” Tighe said. “As soon as I’m healed, I’m getting right back on that ornery son of a gun.”
“He hit his head.” Jace shook his own numskull, not understanding his brother’s determination. “You must have, or you wouldn’t say something so dumb.”
“I’m getting back on him,” Tighe repeated, “Firefreak is a pussycat.”
“Maybe you can talk some sense into my intelligence-challenged brother,” Ash whispered to River.
Tighe smiled. Dante said that riding Firefreak had brought him closer to Ana, and now River was going to take care of him while he was bed-bound.
Firefreak’s the best thing that ever happened to me. “Awesome,” Tighe said, swallowing back a slight moan as Galen and Jace began fitting a board to his leg so they could get him to a hospital. Tighe winked at River, the woman to whom he’d made love last night—sweet as an angel—the only woman worth pulling his groin over just to get her attention.
* * *
AFTER A TRIP to the hospital and then a visit to an orthopedist that didn’t do much for his mental state, which at the moment was black and aggrieved, Tighe sat in Jace’s truck, his leg up on the backseat, thrilled to be going home. The seven-chimney, Tudor-style mansion that Molly and Jeremiah Callahan had built long ago to house their young family of six sturdy Callahan boys—the Chacon Callahans’ cousins—rose like a beautiful postcard from its New Mexico grounds. Backed by panoramic spools of canyons and gorges, Rancho Diablo was an amazing sight. Tighe didn’t think he’d ever get over the breathtaking beauty of the ranch. He’d been born and raised in the Chacon tribe, then served in the military, where life was a whole lot different than here. He loved the ranch and the small town of Diablo, loved being with his family, enjoying a new closeness they hadn’t been able to share in many years. Even the constant threat of danger couldn’t always rub the shine off Rancho Diablo’s surroundings.
But the truck didn’t turn toward the main house, and Tighe’s radar went on alert. “Why are you taking me to Sloan and Kendall’s house?” Something was most certainly afoot.
“Since River has agreed to be your nurse—I can’t imagine why—” Ash said, “Kendall says it would be best for you to be here. This way River can keep an eye on all her charges. It’ll be better if the twins’ normal schedule isn’t interrupted.”
This didn’t sound good at all. “Much as I love my little nephews,” Tighe said, “I don’t want to stay at Sloan and Kendall’s. I’ll stay in my own room in the bunkhouse.” How could he ever be alone with River if he was sharing space with little Carlos and Isaiah? They were active, trying to pull themselves up on unsteady feet, eager to find their range and explore.
There would be no time for romancing the tall, delicious bodyguard with two busy rug rats taking up her every second. “Not to be selfish or anything,” he said, and Ash said, “Go ahead and admit it, you’re selfish. I can hear the wheels turning in your head. ‘How can
I be alone with River if I’m laid up with my darling nephews?’” she added in a high voice, mimicking what she thought he was thinking, and in fact, what he had been thinking.
“I am selfish.” Tighe sighed. “Something’s happened to me. I used to be footloose and, well, footloose.”
“Now it’s just your head that’s loose. Come on, brother. Let me help you inside.” Ash hopped out, opened his door.
He glared at her. “No. Take me to the bunkhouse, or the main house. I would rather suffer in silence than be just another—”
“Helpless person River has to keep an eye on?” Ash prodded.
“The trouble is, you don’t suffer in silence. Come on.” Jace put his shoulder under Tighe’s to give him support as he unsteadily maneuvered himself out of the truck. “You’re lucky we don’t just leave you out in the peacock pens to heal, where we can’t hear you moan and groan.”
It was too humiliating. He wouldn’t look like a warrior, wouldn’t be a hero with badass courageous qualities if his woman tossed him in with the kiddies as an extra responsibility.
“Either you take me to the bunkhouse or I’m going to the canyons.” After making fierce love to that little lady practically all night long, he wasn’t about to appear anything less than a stud—and he couldn’t be that if he was laid out on a sofa. “The weather’s fine. The canyons suit me just as well as anywhere.”
“Be a sitting duck for Uncle Wolf and his cretinous crew,” Jace said. “Come on, be practical, bro.”
Jace didn’t understand practical. Practical was when you could think past the sirens that screamed in your head every time the woman you had a thing for got within ten feet. Tighe had lost his practicality a long time ago. “Canyons or bunkhouse. Take your pick. Can’t promise to stay either place.”
Ash sighed. “Flip a coin. Either decision is bad. Fiona will roost on the bunkhouse if you stay there, she’ll be so worried that you’re an easy mark. The canyons and you’re even more of a sitting duck.”
That sounded very much like conditions he’d lived under in Afghanistan. He could survive there by his wits, and wouldn’t be taking up any of the family’s time. Tighe brightened. “The canyons. Who’s riding canyon right now?”