chapter Three
Briar, Thorn, Skye and Valor—all strong names. Xav looked at his children with amazement and some lingering shock. How had this happened? How had he become a father of four, as easily as if a Fiona-style fairy godmother had waved her magic wand at him, gifting him with a full-blown family?
God, he couldn’t blame this on Fiona or even a fairy godmother, even though Fiona had totally and not too subtly plotted to enlarge her Callahan family tree. All the Callahans, every last one of them, had fallen to Fiona’s legendary and epic lures and chicanery to see her family with families of their own, but Ash won the prize for secret babypalooza. He stared in shock at his four offspring, trying to figure out how his world had changed when he wasn’t paying attention.
The “magic” had simply been an old-fashioned condom malfunction and his own raging desire to have the blonde sylph currently sitting on the sofa every which way from Sunday any chance he could reel her in.
She’d not been as reelable as he would have liked, and consequently, he’d spent most of his years with a serious case of unrequited longing. And every time he’d thought he’d had Ash, she’d disappeared again, leaving him satisfied for the moment but drained emotionally because who knew how long he’d have to wait until the next time she showed up in the canyons wearing a smile that made him virtually her love captive?
Undaunted, he’d played a waiting game, slightly uncomfortable because he felt guilty luring the sister of the men whom he considered good friends and employers. So he had to wait for Ash to come to him to lessen his guilt, when he really wanted to ride off with her into the canyons and drown himself in her for days.
“I left the middle names for you,” Ash said, snapping him out of his tangled thoughts. “I thought you’d want to have some say in naming your children.”
So Ash had eventually planned to tell him. He felt a little better. “How did four happen?”
She shrugged. “I wanted them, and they wanted me.”
What kind of an answer was that? Coming from Ash, it was almost reasonable, but he needed more grounding. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“I asked the spirits for a big family. I always wanted four children. I didn’t realize I’d get them all at once, but I feel really blessed.” She smiled, and she was the most beautiful woman in the world to his Ashlyn-starved eyes. “These babies agreed to be my family.”
The answer somehow made absolute sense to him. Whatever Ash wanted, Ash believed she would get—and so her wishes usually happened exactly the way she dreamed them. It was her force of spirit and confidence that commanded the earth and stars around her.
Except for Wolf, who she had no command over, and the reason she was here.
“Look, Ash, I know why you went away. I know you think you’re the hunted one your grandfather always warned about. But I shot Wolf. So you’re not the hunted one.” It was so important that she understand this, because they needed to put their family together.
He needed this family. He needed her.
Xav pulled her toward him, wrapped her in his arms. She seemed so surprised she didn’t fight him, so he took advantage of her momentary lull in willpower and enjoyed the moment. Memories washed over him. “You still smell like peaches, you’re still soft as rainwater and you still fit right under my heart.”
“I am the hunted one,” Ash said quietly. “You’re trying to protect me.”
“Gage, Shaman, Kendall and Ashlyn,” he said against her hair, drinking in the scent of her and the feel of her in his arms.
“What?”
“Those are the middle names I choose. And you should be impressed with my ability to select names when I didn’t even know I was a father four hours ago. Briar Kendall, Skye Ashlyn, Valor Shaman and Thorn Gage. Phillips. Named after my brothers and sister. Have to have the other side of the family represented.”
She moved out of his arms, and he decided not to try to pull her back. “Callahan, not Phillips.”
He hauled her into his lap as he sat down on the poufy old-fashioned sofa. “Here’s the deal. You marry me and you can pick all the names.”
“No,” Ash said, “I like the names you chose.”
“Great. Now,” he said, taking the diamond-and-sapphire ring from his pocket, “here’s what I was going to give you the last night we were together. Put it on your delicate little finger and tell me when and where we’re going to gather for a wedding.”
She stared at the ring. “Were you really going to give that to me before Wolf ambushed us?”
He nodded. “It was a very disappointing interruption, I’ll admit.” Nine months of an interruption. “I would have proposed at some appropriate point after I shot Wolf, but you disappeared. Which I would appreciate you not doing again.” He looked at his children. “I want to give these children my name as soon as possible.”
She handed him back the ring. “As beautiful as this ring is, I can’t marry you.”
“I can’t make love to you until you do.”
Ash cocked a brow. “Who says I want you to make love to me?”
He kissed her, taking his time, before she finally pushed him gently away. “You want me to make love to you right now, Ashlyn Callahan.”
Ash got out of his lap. “Xav, you don’t understand.”
“I understand that we belong together. That’s all I need to know. The only reason you’re saying no is because you don’t believe that I shot Wolf. Let me tell you how that went down,” Xav said. “I had unloaded your gun.”
“No one gets my gun away from me.” She looked at the babies with a fond smile. “Of course, that was before I became a mother. Now I never carry.”
“I made love to you, and while you dozed, I took the precaution of removing the bullets from your gun.”
“Why?” She shot him a suspicious look.
“Because, my sweet peach, you have your unpredictable moments, and I was about to propose.” He waved the ring box at her. “I figured my chances were fifty-fifty that you might say yes. Or you might decide to tell me to walk the plank.” He grinned, pleased with himself. “I’m a cautious man.”
“You thought I’d shoot you over a marriage proposal?”
“It was just a precaution. I like putting odds in my favor. I’ve learned a lot from the Callahans over the years.”
She sighed. “Xav, I appreciate you trying to lift the burden of guilt from me, but your story makes no sense whatsoever. I’d know if a gun I fired didn’t have a round in it. But you’re a hero for trying to make me think I’m not the hunted one. I know I am.”
She drifted out of the room, his gaze longingly on the petite body he remembered so well. Missed so much. When she was gone, he looked at his four children. “If you four got even a teaspoon of your mother’s obstinate streak, you’ll be able to survive anything the world throws at you.”
Mallory came in, set a tray in front of him. “Green chili? Tea?”
His stomach rumbled a bit since he hadn’t touched the cake she’d brought in before. “Both. Thanks.”
Mallory sat across from him, busied herself with the tray. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“All good, I hope.”
“You definitely live up to Ash’s description.”
“Which was what?”
“Tall, dark, handsome.”
Mallory had a wealth of freckles, sparkling eyes, and dark hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. She radiated good humor. “Thanks for helping out with my crew.”
“Ash also mentioned you weren’t the settling-down type,” Mallory continued.
“I just proposed,” Xav said. “Although the lady hasn’t accepted yet. She’s thinking it over.”
Mallory smiled. “Ash said she chased you for years, but that you weren’t a man who could be caught.”
He wondered why Ash would tell her friend such a story. “My proposal even came with a ring.”
“I believe you,” Mallory said. “I’m just giving you a little tip. I’m off to bake cupcakes before the babies wake up. They don’t sleep long during the day. Or the night. It’s nice to meet you, Xav. Feel free to stay in our home if Ash invites you.”
She left, and Xav considered his options. Of course he was staying here with his children!
Actually, Ash hadn’t invited him. He might not be invited. Even offering an engagement ring, a guy might find himself sleeping in his truck. And what was that business about him not being a man who could be caught?
It was Ash Callahan who’d run like the wind during their entire courtship, if one could call it a courtship.
He didn’t know what he was going to do with that crazy little gal. She had certain ideas about how things had been and how they hadn’t been—and the funny thing was, she was the mother of his children.
He was going to have to figure this out—fast.
He heard a snuffle from one of the bassinets, a small mewl, and he went to check on Skye. “Hey,” he whispered to his daughter, “you want to be picked up?”
The baby let out a tiny noise so he picked her up, nestled her against his chest. And something amazing, something strong, fabulous and true, landed right in his heart, igniting a burning love he’d never experienced before. He held his child, smelled her powdery skin, felt her soft, soft helpless body in his arms, and knew that he’d go to the ends of the earth to be with these children, to protect them, to shelter them, to shield them.
With every last breath in his body.
* * *
ASH STARED AT the big sexy cowboy sprawled out on the delicate curved sofa, sound asleep, his boots carefully hanging off Mallory’s beloved if old-fashioned furniture. He held Skye against his chest, and the two of them slept peacefully, like two parts of the same body.
Tears jumped into Ash’s eyes. Of all the ways she’d imagined Xav interacting with her babies, this wasn’t it—and it was better than she could have ever imagined.
She felt her heart spiraling into that same love-struck groove it had always been in where Xav was concerned.
It was the most helpless feeling in the world.
He opened his eyes, smiled at her. “Have a good shower?” he asked softly, so he wouldn’t wake the baby.
“I’m a new woman.” Ash sat in the chair across from him, the table in between. Mallory had obviously visited with her comfort food, and Xav had partaken. The homey scents of soup and cinnamon drifted to her. “Do you want me to take Skye?”
“She’s fine.” He stroked his daughter’s back. “She’s a content little thing once she’s picked up and held.”
“She’s an angel.” She looked at her children, all silent for once, a rarity. “I love these babies so much.”
“So how’d you end up here?” Xav asked, his gaze piercing as he stared at her. His seen-better-days cowboy hat had slipped forward just a bit as he napped with Skye; he’d probably thought he was lying down for a moment to comfort the baby and didn’t think he needed to take it off, then fell asleep. She wanted to remove it for him, smooth the long, dark hair with her fingers.
“Running Bear knew Mallory.”
“Of course he did,” Xav said. “All these months he kept your location secret from everyone?”
“Grandfather knew I needed to get away. He said I’d be safe here. Mallory’s married to a man in law enforcement. He works in another county so I’ve never met him, but all the local law enforcement and their wives keep a very close eye on Mallory. She’s a favorite town daughter.” Ash shrugged. “Running Bear said not only would I be safe here, I’d have a mother figure in my life. I said I didn’t need one, and he said maybe one day I would.”
“So he knew you were pregnant?”
Ash shook her head. “No.” She didn’t want Xav upset and thinking that the Callahans had been in on a plot to keep him from his children. “Well, no one really ever knows what Running Bear knows. He seems to discern things before anyone else does.”
Xav grunted. “I’d like to have known some things about your life, Ashlyn Callahan. About four really small things that should be wearing my last name.”
“I don’t blame you one bit for feeling that way.” Xav was a man of his word, he’d spent several years of his life dedicated to the Callahan cause. “I’m so sorry, Xav. I couldn’t tell anyone. And I didn’t know I was pregnant with multiples until my ob-gyn here sent me to Houston for a consultation with a doctor who specialized in high-risk pregnancies.”
“I would have taken care of you, Ash. Whatever you needed. I wish you’d have let me help you out. I’m sure it was hard to be away from your family while you were pregnant.”
It had been. “I was lonely, I’ll admit. It was a long time to be confined to a bed. I was often worried about my children.” She swallowed. “It was the first time in my life I knew real fear.”
“You’re a warrior, Ashlyn Callahan. Tough as rocks.”
“I know.” She smiled a little wistfully. “But even the toughest mother feels a bit helpless when she’s not sure if she can bring four babies into the world safely.”
“Come sit by Skye. She wants to hold your hand.”
She gave the hot cowboy a wry look, knowing very well who wanted to hold her hand. “She’s only going to sleep another five minutes. Then she’s going to wake up—and so will all of her siblings—and the circus begins again. I suggest you rest up, cowboy. You’re going to need your strength.”
* * *
IF XAV NEEDED STRENGTH, it wasn’t for the “baby circus” to which Ash referred. The strength he required was for going slowly, gingerly, trying to fit into her life, instead of trying to make her fit into his desperate wish that she’d marry him.
That conversation hadn’t gone off exactly as hoped, with an enthusiastic “Yes, I’ll marry you, Xav!”
But he’d been expecting that, and a man who planned well had backup paths to his desired outcome. After the circus—as Ash called it—was completed and the babies were snug in their bassinets and satisfied for the moment, Xav gestured to the babies who lay in the soft glow from the Christmas-tree lights. “I’ve been thinking, actually the children and I have been thinking. Skye suggests that if her mother is the hunted one, who is destined to bring hellfire and danger to Rancho Diablo and its inhabitants, you’re going to need backup. I’m applying for the job. Thorn said he thought it was about time I stepped up, and Briar said a father would make her feel safer than even the Marine Corps at her back. And Valor said it’d be good to turn the responsibility over to me until he’s old enough to handle it himself.”
Ash stayed far away from him at the other end of the sofa. “You’ve been conspiring with my children?”
“I’ve been conspiring with our children, yes. And we’ve come up with quite the remarkable plan. They’re very bright, you know.”
Ash let out a breath that sounded a bit exasperated. But he thought he was winning her over, because she said, “What is this remarkable plan?”
“You marry me, and we produce a formidable team that faces all challenges together. Including the damnation of being the hunted one.” He thought about that for a moment. “I’m still not sure about all the ramifications of that particular designation, but let the record reflect that I face it fearlessly.”
“I didn’t make the decision to come here lightly. I wouldn’t have left Rancho Diablo if I hadn’t known that it was best for everyone.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t make the decision to come here lightly, either. Let’s consider you stuck with me.”
“That’s your marriage proposal?”
“Sure. It’ll probably work better with you than the old-fashioned, hearts-and-flowers, on-bended-knee routine.”
“Maybe,” Ash said, sounding as if she might actually be considering his counterproposal, until the front door crashed open so hard the drapes at the window flew.
“Don’t move,” Wolf said, “or this time this kid gets it.”
He pointed a gun at Skye, and Ash gasped. Wolf’s right-hand man, Rhein, slipped in behind his boss, aiming his gun at Ash. “And little mama gets her payback for nearly killing you, Boss.”
Xav had never felt so helpless in his life. He’d taken off his holster after entering the house—not wanting to carry when he was around the children. That left him unarmed now, at the worst moment of his life. There was blood in Wolf’s eye and he was out for the prize, the biggest Callahan prize of all—the silver-haired only daughter of the Callahan clan—and right then Xav knew that Ash had been right all along.
She was indeed the hunted one.