Tina Leonard - A Callahan Christmas Miracle

“We should go back and check it out more thoroughly, maybe in daylight.”

He looked at her, stunned. “You sound way too much like my sister. Don’t even think about going back there without me.”

Rose smiled, and his slow-working brain went blank as he stared at her mouth. Those lips were just made for him to kiss. He could feel it, the call of the wild screaming through his blood.

“I won’t,” she said, and he snapped back to the present.

“I’ll fire you if you do, on the spot, no questions asked,” he warned, suddenly afraid that Rose was indeed just like his sister, with an impetuous, adventuresome nature that bordered on wildness.

Or bravery. The military would call it bravery.

His sister was too brave for her own good. And this spunky woman on the end of his bed was beginning to sound very much the same.

“I promise,” Rose said. “It wouldn’t be any fun without you, anyway.”

“I wouldn’t call what we did tonight fun.”

She smiled again. “It was a lot of fun.”

“You realize we were within a rabbit’s foot of getting shot at.”

“You had us covered. I trust your marksmanship.”

Galen closed his eyes for just a moment, opening them to stare at her. In the photo she’d snapped of the weapons cache, there’d been a few AK-47s, and a few more exotic styles of weaponry. Someone was gearing up for battle, and he wondered if Rose recognized just how little protection his rifle would have been against, say, a clip with multiple rounds in it. “While my marksmanship is decent, we didn’t want to get caught.”

“That’s true.” Rose stood, her look teasing. “Still, it was something to tell the grandkids, wasn’t it?”

He shook his head. “God, no. Monkey hear, monkey do. Didn’t you ever tell your parents, ‘Well, you did it, why can’t I?’ As far as the kids are concerned, one should never admit to anything more than sitting in church seven days a week. At least that’s my plan.”

Rose laughed. “Not a very believable one, but whatever. When you have kids, you can revise your strategy.” She went to the door. “Good night, Galen.”

He watched her disappear into the hallway. When the door closed, he turned off the lamp and tried to settle back into a relaxed state conducive to sleeping.

It wasn’t going to work. Between the tale of the tunnel under Rancho Diablo, and the sweet woman he knew was sleeping just down the hall, Galen wasn’t certain he would ever relax again.

His phone buzzed with an incoming text. He glanced at it, his gaze widening with each word.

You know a tunnel under Rancho Diablo means this ranch is sitting on Dante’s Inferno? And maybe the nine circles of Hell? You should let me go down there again to find the entrance. I just need a little more time and equipment. If there’s a tunnel, it’s reinforced, so it would be a great find to turn over to the local authorities.

Galen’s blood chilled. Rose would do it. She wouldn’t think anything about turning over information about what she’d found to the sheriff, or probably even to the government. He thought he remembered hearing that her father had been in the military in a secret division, and then was a Texas Ranger before being voted Tempest’s sheriff many years ago.

Mr. Carstairs had spawned a fighter.

Nothing good could come of such a darling girl with the genes of a warrior sitting in her bed, pondering the next phase of an adventure she was itching to ignite.

Then again, there was no reason the two of them couldn’t ignite things together. Why start a fire by yourself when you could invite a friend to create mayhem with you?

Galen jumped out of bed, tossed on a T-shirt and jeans and headed down the hall.

Chapter Four

Rose raised a brow as Galen tore through her bedroom door. “Well, hello. Come to tell me what a great idea I had?”

“No,” he said, surprising her by hopping under the covers with her. “I’ve come to put my cold feet on you, which you richly deserve, after writing me that nonsense. And if you think I’m going to argue with you by text, you’re badly mistaken. Now turn off the light, and let’s talk this out.”

She complied as he got comfortable under the duvet. “You do have cold feet.”

“Remember that,” Galen said. “Cold feet, warm heart.”

“So I hear.” They lay side by side in the dark. “I don’t usually have a cowboy jump in my bed, so I’m not sure what the standard protocol is, but do you want a cookie, and maybe a sip of hot tea? It’s not as hot as it was, because I was down in your room, but it’s still good.” She reached into the bag on her nightstand and offered him a cookie. “I’ve developed an addiction to your aunt’s baking.”

“No cookie. No tea. You’re changing the subject, trying to get my mind off your text with some sugary lures.”

“Maybe.” She sipped her tea in the darkness, loving the feel of the big, strong man tucked up next to her in bed. She could definitely get used to this. “I’m right.”

“But you won’t go through with it on your own.”

She sighed. “Just think about my plan for a few days. You’ve got to find out what’s happening under your own ranch.”

“You won’t tell a soul,” Galen said. “Not Ash, not Jace, not Fiona, not anyone.”

“Of course I won’t. It’s your ranch, your family.” She put her teacup back down. “I always dreamed of having a room like this.”

“Didn’t you have a girlie room?”

“Sort of girlie. Not very. My mom died when I was very young.”

“I’m sorry,” Galen murmured.

“I was, too.” Rose took a deep breath. “Anyway, after college I began a busy job at a financial planning company. Didn’t have time to girlie up my room. Lived in a square box in Manhattan with no closet to speak of.” She laughed. “I look back on those days with a smile, because I learned a lot. This room is a treat.”

“You got me off the subject again.”

“You asked. Anyway, I already swore myself to silence. Your secret is totally safe.”

“All right. Then I’ll head back to my own bed and leave you to your snack.”

She giggled. “Fiona says she’s baking gingerbread tomorrow. I’m going to get fat.”

“I very much doubt it. But a pound or two will only enhance those great curves you’ve got going on.”

The man was born to flirt. She tried not to take it too seriously, decided to turn the topic back to business. “You know, if I quit eating Fiona’s treats, I can easily fit back through that opening—”

“No. If anybody goes back down in that hole, it’s going to be a Callahan. Maybe Ashlyn.”

“You wouldn’t put your sister in danger,” Rose said. “That much I know about you already. In fact, you won’t even want your sister to know it’s there.”

“A truer statement was never spoken in this room.” He got out of bed. “See you at breakfast.”

“Bye,” Rose said, catching a glimpse of his physique as he passed the window. He was a scrumptious hunk of man, and she should tempt him to stay longer. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

He closed the door, and Rose leaned back in bed. She put the cookies down, drank the rest of her tea and then got up to brush her teeth. The cookies had been a sugary lure, as Galen had noted.

Tomorrow, gingerbread.

* * *

GALEN DIDN’T GET much sleep, but then again, sleep wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. The gaping problem they’d unearthed last night deeply concerned him.

In the morning, he went to the canyons to try to root out his grandfather. Running Bear sat at the fire ring, the stone circle where he’d brought them when they’d first arrived at Rancho Diablo. The chief had told the Chacon Callahan siblings that this was now their new home.