SWEET CALLAHAN HOMECOMING (12 page)

“We don’t know anything,” Ash pointed out. “If a fire was set by a mercenary who’s not working with Wolf, we could be in a more difficult situation than ever. We don’t have the resources to fight off several attacks.”

They pondered that.

“Oh, hell,” Galen said. “Let’s just kidnap Uncle Wolf, tie him to a rock and leave him in one of his caves to rot.”

They all stared at Galen.

“You’re a doctor,” Ash said. “This is contrary to your calling. You’re tired. We’re all tired. Let’s give up on this for now and plan our strategy tomorrow.”

“Seconded,” Sloan said. “Which means we can concentrate on the fact that Xav is trying to slink out of town with our sister.”

Xav’s jaw dropped. “Slink! She’s the mother of my children! I think I can do a little more than slink with her.”

“Think you already did,” Jace said, “and we consider that sufficient. Heaven knows we’ve all had our little surprises, but this is our
sister.
” He shot Xav a meaningful look. “We feel you can do better by her than an Elvis wedding.”

“Some of the people in this room were married in Vegas, I feel it’s only fair to point out, and durn happy they were to get married anywhere at all,” Xav said in his defense. “We could do it better later. But I feel it’s important now to get her to an altar.” He looked around at the men who would be his brothers-in-law. “You should be grateful to me, after all. In the olden days, you’d be getting me to the altar with a shotgun.”

Ash said, “Excuse me?”

Xav quickly said, “Speaking strictly in a historical sense.”

“The thing is, Fiona will be disappointed. This is her only niece,” Falcon said. “You understand that Ash’s wedding will be the only Callahan female wedding Fiona will ever get to preside over.”

“Yes, I see,” Xav said, “but we’ve already got four children. It’s time for me to get your sister married.”

“We understand you’re eager,” Dante said, slinging an arm around his shoulders in a brotherly fashion, “but we’re just not ready yet. We want things done right.”

“Once again, excuse me?” Ash said. “Am I really standing right here listening to all of you try to run my life?”

“Yes, you are,” Tighe said, “and it’s important that you listen to us. We’re your brothers. We know what’s best.”

“No, no,” Ash said. “I’ve been taking care of all of you for years. I don’t need anybody taking care of me.”

“That’s the thing,” Galen said. “There’s no reason to get married in a quickie, half-assed wedding if you’re sure this is your prince.” He came over to hug his sister. “If you love Xav, and he loves you, there’s no reason to rush. We have time to allow Fiona to plan a beautiful wedding for you. Get out the magic wedding dress and have your special day. You deserve it, Ash.”

“I don’t want to wear the magic wedding dress,” Ash said, and everyone gasped, including Xav.

What Callahan bride didn’t want to wear the auspicious, enchanted gown? He knew for a fact Ash had been up there at least twice to check it out. And she’d told him that wild tale of it going up in smoke, but that was utterly impossible. Just like the barn, if the dress had caught fire, the whole attic would have gone up.

Maybe she didn’t want to marry him. Hell, it hadn’t even been that good of a story she’d concocted.

He pushed the doubt away.

“Fiona’s heart will break if you don’t wear her charmed dress,” Jace said. “You know how she dotes on her own legend. And she’s kind of getting up there in years, had a small cardiac event when I was trying to drag Sawyer into hiding. Of course, it all worked out for the best, but you don’t want to deprive the aunt of her only niece walking down the aisle in serious Callahan magic.”

“Ash, you always wanted to wear it. Has he told you that you shouldn’t?” Sloan demanded, staring at Xav. “This quickie wedding business is for the birds. You stay right here and do the whole thing right.”

“I’m not wearing the dress,” Ash said.

Xav replied, “If she doesn’t want to, it’s her decision.”

That earned him a grateful glance from Ash. Xav felt better. It was hard standing in the face of disapproval from her family, but if she didn’t want to wear the gown, it made no difference to him. He had her back.

But of course she should wear it because it would be beautiful on her, and she was the most beautiful woman in the world, so she deserved beautiful things.

He looked at Ash, saw the unhappiness in her big blue eyes and realized her ham-headed brothers were right about one thing: they were moving too fast, needed to slow down.

“It wouldn’t hurt to let Fiona do some wedding planning,” he said slowly. “You’ve been through a lot, Ash. I want you to look back on your wedding day as a special day, the day all your dreams came true.”

“That’s a pretty tall order, isn’t it?” Dante said, and the Callahan brothers roared with laughter at his expense.

Xav sighed. “What do you not get? I am marrying your sister. It can be here, or it can be in Vegas. It can be in Timbuktu, I don’t care. But I’m marrying her as soon as she’ll have me.”

“There you go,” Sloan said cheerfully. “All roped and tied, sister, ready for you to put out of his misery.”

Ash looked at him, and Xav met her gaze with a grin.

He felt very confident that he was wooing Ash the way a woman should be wooed, was stocking up all kinds of points by putting her brothers in their places.

Ash walked to the door. Xav straightened, waiting for her pronouncement that they were leaving for Vegas.

“I’m going to bed,” Ash said. “I leave all the conjuring of baddies and staking out of Uncle Wolf to all of you with full confidence that nothing will get done up here at all except the release of lots and lots of hot air.”

Chapter Twelve

“Uh-oh,” Dante said. “Boy, is she ticked with you!”

“Me?”
Xav really had no good way to refute that—Ash had been aggravated. “I’m crazy about her. She’ll eventually say yes to the dress idea, but she doesn’t want six or more noses in her business. Anyway, I know my girl, and she’s annoyed with you lot.” He sighed, knowing exactly why she’d told her brothers she didn’t want to wear the magic wedding dress—because she thought it was gone.

It was worth a recon mission into the attic to find out exactly what was going on. “Is this meeting over? I’ve got things to do, and Ash is right. Nothing’s getting done here.”

“You’re just itching to run off and get yourself in our sister’s good graces,” Tighe said. “We respect that. We’re married. We know how to keep our nests properly feathered.”

Xav frowned. “You guys need to give your sister some space. Ash will do what she wants when she’s good and ready. In the meantime, I’m out of here.”

He exited the library, not sure why the Callahans were so riled about their sister getting married. He’d never seen them so protective, in such a stew over their petite, precious Ash. Xav understood, but at the same time, he figured they ought to be darn grateful she was going to marry him—a long-standing friend of the Callahan family..

“I’m the man for her,” he muttered, heading up the attic stairs. “Magic dress or no. Interfering, overprotective brothers or not.”

But he had the feeling she really wanted exactly what her brothers had been advising: A home wedding, surrounded by family and friends, wearing the gown that was meant for her—the only Callahan female—to wear.

Of course she did.

Up in the attic, he jerked open the closet, cursed just a bit when it felt as if the doorknob burned his hand. That was totally his imagination running wild, spooked by Ash’s tale.

There was the white, poufy bag, just as Ash had described it. He unzipped it, stared at the voluminous white gown inside.

He blinked.
Holy crap. Something’s terribly wrong here.

Grabbing his cell phone from his pocket, he called Ash. She picked up, sounding as though she was out of breath.

“Hello?”

“Gorgeous, can you come up to the attic for a second?”

“No,” Ash said slowly, “I most certainly can’t.”

“You need to see this.”

“Xav,” she said impatiently, “I know what you want to show me, and while I appreciate your attempt at romance, I’m not in the mood at this moment. I’m changing the babies into warmer clothes to take them out for a bit.”

The gown didn’t shimmer, didn’t change, didn’t go poof. He shook his head. “I’m going to send you a photo of something. Hang on.”

He snapped a photo and texted it to her.

“What do you think about that?” he asked.

“Oh, Xav,” she said. “That’s so sweet of you. But not necessary.”

“What’s not necessary?” A wedding dress felt very necessary to this situation.

“That you found another gown to replace the one I burned up. But it doesn’t really work that way. It’s not like buying another fish to fool the children when their pet fish dies.”

“I didn’t buy this fish—er, gown!”

“Someone did,” she said patiently. “That isn’t the magic wedding dress.”

He eyed the white lacy material. “How can you tell? Wedding dresses all look the same to me.”

“I know it’s not because I saw it burn,” Ash said. “Believe me, it was a horrible moment.”

He sighed. “So this one won’t do?”

“Not really. You can’t just buy a gown for a woman and expect that she’ll love it. It’s got to be
hers,
” Ash explained.

Maybe it was time to go back to the Vegas plan. “Maybe we could do a casual wedding in blue jeans and cowboy boots? Dress the babies up to match and take a family photo?”

“I think my brothers were right,” Ash said. “As much as I wanted to disagree with them. I think we’re going too fast.”

“I can never go fast enough with you. In fact, this thing’s moving so slow, I’ll probably have gray hair by the time I get around to being a proper husband. I don’t just want to live with my girl and my children. It’s a matter of my reputation.”

“I don’t think the Phillipses ever worried much about their reputations.”

She had him there. “Are you sure you don’t want to come see this? I’m no expert but it may not be half-bad.”

“It could be a tablecloth, Xav, and you wouldn’t know the difference.”

Damn, she’d pinned him again. He zipped up the garment bag and headed down the stairs to find her, phone still in hand. “I think you ought to marry me before I change my mind.”

She took the phone from him, switched it off and put both their phones down. Handed him Skye, who snuggled into his shoulder as if she was part of his heart. Which she pretty much was.

“I think my brothers are right about letting Fiona plan a big wedding. I’m her only niece, and she’s waited a long time for this. Somehow I’m going to have to confess that the gown and I were a terrible match, and that it didn’t want me anywhere near it.”

“Is that what you think happened?”

She nodded. “I’m the hunted one. The gown didn’t want me to ruin the magic. So it destroyed itself. That’s exactly what happened.”

“Argh,” Xav said, kissing the top of Skye’s downy head. “Can we at least set a date?”

She kissed him, and he felt a little better.

“You’re not ticked at me? Because it seemed like you were when you left the library.”

“I was ticked at my brothers, who were being knuckleheads. But then I realized they’re pretty much right.”

“I don’t know,” Xav said. “I think they’re enjoying watching me twist in the wind.”

“Believe me, if they thought for one minute that you didn’t have honorable intentions, they would have rolled you into a cave and kept you there until you agreed to marry me.”

“I want to marry you. I wanted to marry you before you went away.”

She put Thorn into the stroller. “That makes no sense.”

“Hey, I’m not exactly lightning. But I did buy out your bid last year at the Christmas ball. I didn’t want anyone else to have you.” He looked at Ash. “That ought to speak volumes about how I’ve always felt about you. I just don’t think you feel quite the same about me,” he said with a sudden strike of intuition. “Ashlyn Callahan, I believe you just wanted my hot, godlike body.”

“I chased you for years,” Ash said. “I’m crazy about you.”

“So you’re ready to do the big
I do.
”

“We just need time.”

“If I was milk, I’d have curdled by now I’ve had so much time. Hell, I’d have aged into cheese. These babies need a family, and nothing else matters.”

Ash shook her head, put the other babies in the large stroller. “Nothing good can come of you marrying me.”

“I don’t believe in curses or bad karma or jujitsu,” Xav said flatly. “And even if there were such things, I’m a pretty hard-baked guy. I can take care of myself.”

“Juju,” she murmured, “not jujitsu.”

“Whatever. What I do believe in is hearing wedding bells.”

“Christmas Eve,” she said suddenly.

He narrowed his gaze. “You want to get married on Christmas Eve? I can do that.”

“Then tell my brothers the plans, and pick a best man.”

“One of my brothers, of course. Shaman or Gage.”

“Fiona can be my matron of honor.” She looked at him. “Christmas Eve will give her time to do plenty of planning.”

He wondered about her sudden change of heart. “Less than two weeks isn’t plenty.”

“It is for Fiona. She’s got all her notes and routes planned. She can run a wedding like nobody else.”

He turned her back toward him as she started to wheel the babies out the door. “Why are you changing your mind?”

“I just don’t want a quickie in Vegas.”

“But you’ll still be cursed by Christmas Eve, won’t you? Not that I care, I kind of like you that way, obviously. In fact, maybe I don’t want you uncursed. It’s not affecting my desire for you, so don’t worry about that, sugarplum. In fact, it’s probably got me hotter than ever. Obviously your bad-girl vibe works for me quite well.”

She shook her head. “Xav, never tease about such things.”

“It’s hard not to. I’m a facts-and-figures kind of guy. My father was a hard-core pragmatist. In fact, some people called him a hard-core asshole. I’m just saying, I don’t normally let myself be bothered by—”

He stopped at the look in Ash’s eyes, quickly noting he was walking on thin ice.

“I don’t worry too much about things I can’t see,” he finished. “So, I can tell the deacon to get his rig ready for Christmas Eve? We’d better do it really early, like three in the afternoon, if we don’t want to conflict with the Christmas Eve church schedule.”

“It will be all right.” She pushed the bundled up babies out the door, and he stared after her.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“To see my grandfather,” she said. “He hasn’t been to see his great-grandchildren, and I’m going to make sure he meets them.”

“I’ll go with you,” Xav said quickly, not wanting his tiny wife out near the canyons by herself with their four babies. He settled Skye in the stroller.

“This is something I have to do on my own,” Ash said and, blowing him a kiss, she rolled off.

He was probably going to have a heart attack, courtesy of his independent wife.

* * *

X
AV
PACED
,
THEN
HEADED
to the burned-out barn. If the lady didn’t want to be accompanied, he knew Ash well enough to understand that there’d be all kinds of blowback if he shadowed her journey. He didn’t like it, but he had to trust that she knew what she was doing.

He tried to comfort himself with her promise to marry him soon.

Those two weeks were going to feel like a lifetime. Xav had the worst feeling that time was not his friend; craziness had been known to hit the fan around Rancho Diablo with the speed of light.

Xav studied the barn’s blackened beams, the remaining walls that were covered with soot. The sheriff had come out to take a look and insisted on an arson team taking a look, as well. Whoever had set the fire had been too clever to leave any trace of accelerants around, nor any overt sign of arson. They were left with the sheriff’s pronouncement that the fire might have been started by something as simple as an electrical failure, given the barn’s age.

Xav doubted it, and he didn’t think the Callahan brothers thought much of that, either.

He heard something move behind him, braced himself for whatever lurked in the barn. The fire had eaten holes in the roof, leaving it unusable until it was repaired, so there was plenty of light in the building on this sunny but cold day. Xav glanced around, tensed to pull his firearm.

Nothing but a cold, stern breeze whipping through the building from end to end. Xav walked outside, looked toward the canyons to see if he could see the jeep. He figured Ash must be planning to hunt Running Bear up in the canyons. The elderly Navajo chief hadn’t been around the house as much as he had been in the past, enjoying Fiona’s baking. Why hadn’t he yet visited the babies?

This seemed highly unusual to Xav, but the chief had a lot on his hands. Xav shrugged it off.

He tried to shrug off the noise he’d heard in the barn, too—nothing but creaking timbers weakened by the fire.

Maybe he’d just head out and pretend he had canyon duty. The truth was he had no duty at the moment, his future brothers-in-law telling him he needed to spend time with his children. He went to the main barn to saddle his horse and then walked him out into the sunshine.

“Where are you going?” Fiona demanded as she walked past him with an armload of Christmas decorations.

“The canyons.”

“Ash went that way,” Fiona said, indicating the main road with a nod. “She was trundling toward town.”

He frowned. “Are you sure? She said she was going to hunt up Running Bear.”

“I’m sure,” Fiona said. “You’re not far behind her, I’d imagine.”

He wheeled his horse in the direction of Diablo and called over his shoulder, “Thanks, Fiona!”

She went in the house, and he went after Ash at a cautious canter, not wanting her to yell at him for creeping after her. She’d tell him he was overbearing, that she could take care of herself, it was a bright, sunny day and Wolf wouldn’t bother her in broad daylight—he could hear everything she’d say.

And those reasons made him even more nervous.

* * *

T
HE
ONLY
WAY
to find out the truth was to draw Wolf into the open. Ash strolled her babies toward the main road, and when Dante pulled up at their meeting place, she put the babies in the car seats in his truck.

“What’d you tell Xav?” Dante asked.

“That I was going to find Running Bear to show him the babies. It’s partially true.” She looked at her brother. “Is everyone in position?”

“Yes. Your beau’s going to chew all our ears off for letting you do this.”

“He’s not a Callahan. Drive.”

Dante nodded and pulled away. Ash pushed the stroller toward the main road, her scalp prickling. If everything went as they’d planned, hopefully Wolf would follow her right into the trap they’d set for him. As Xav had said, a lone wolf was dangerous. Now that his right-hand man was dead, Wolf had every reason to want to strike.

She heard a horse canter up behind her, turned. “Xav!”

He pulled alongside her. “Hi, babe. What’s up?”

She stopped, caught.

He looked in the stroller, met her gaze. “Where are the babies?”

She sighed. “Headed back to the house.”

“You’re running an operation?” He sounded outraged, and she couldn’t blame him.

“Yes, we are. I couldn’t tell you because this isn’t your problem.”

She could see her big, sexy cowboy didn’t appreciate being left out of the plan.

“I’m going with you,” he said.

“You can’t. Wolf will never show himself if you’re with me.”

He got off the horse, put his hand on the stroller. “You’re bait?”

“I’m just drawing him out in the open for my brothers,” Ash said. “It’s really not dangerous at all. I’m simply a decoy.”