LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter Two

      “Don’t know if you’ve heard,” Ash whispered in Falcon’s ear as they crouched around the white stone circle near the canyons that night, “your sweetie’s in town agitating.”

      He couldn’t help a smile at the thought of Taylor “agitating.” She was a firecracker, and he was dying to light her on sexy fire. “What’s up?”

      Ash seated herself cross-legged on the ground and grinned. “First, it seems she has a problem with the way one of her neighbors is treating his horses. Taylor’s been making noise about someone needing to take the animals from their owner. Then,” Ash continued, as if that wasn’t enough for one woman to tackle, “Taylor’s decided the town elders need to do something about the panty raid the high school kids had on Friday night. Some people thought it was harmless fun, but some people thought the kids ought to get suspended, since all the panties ended up on the lawn of Miss Lyda’s old folks home south of town.” His sister laughed, delighted.

      Truthfully, he didn’t care much about the shenanigans of the high schoolers, and preferred to spend some time thinking about the type of panties Taylor might wear. “What’s Taylor agitating for?”

      Ash grinned. “She thinks the high schoolers involved need to be commissioned for a sing-in on the porch of Miss Lyda’s, to entertain the live-in residents. And she wants them to spend an afternoon painting Miss Lyda’s fence and porch to freshen it up a bit. Miss Lydia does her best, but everybody’s wallets are a little thinner these days. She could use the help. Taylor believes the kids need to spend a little time around their elders, who could teach them a thing or two about life. Panty raids are fun, she told the town council, but life lessons are important, too.”

      And that’s why Diablo loved her. Falcon grunted. “If she gets it arranged, I’ll put up the paint.”

      “You will?” Ash stared at him.

      “Yeah.” He shrugged. “The town’s wallet isn’t so full these days, either. And I’ll go check out the farmer whose horses Taylor thinks aren’t in great shape.”

      “Why are you doing this?” Ash demanded. “I mean, I guess it’s obvious, but it’s not necessary, just because you lost your mind for a moment and proposed. You don’t have to convince her you’re a saint.”

      “I’m no saint.” That was absolutely true. Falcon couldn’t care less if people thought he was saint or devil. “I need to get off my butt, anyway.”

      “Yeah. Right.” Ash gave him a sidelong look. “We prefer to keep your goodness under wraps, you know. Your Boy Scout side is for family consumption only. You’re going to make Taylor fall in love with you.”

      “That’s the plan.”

      Ash shook her head. “I’m beginning to think you honestly mean that.”

      Taylor was strong, strong enough to match him and stand up to him. She wouldn’t wither away under the stress of his lifestyle.

      Their grandfather came to the circle and lit the small fire.

      “You remember that you were brought here to protect Rancho Diablo, the Diablo spirit mustangs and your cousins,” Running Bear said. “The Callahan bond to earth and sky is strong.”

      His brothers and Ash nodded. Falcon stayed still, his gaze on his grandfather’s weathered face.

      “More importantly, you know that you protect your parents, Julia and Carlos, and the parents of your Callahan cousins, Jeremiah and Molly, from discovery. From attack. Dark forces have gathered on the land in the canyons and gorges. In the last year, three mercenaries have followed your every move, even kidnapping one of your women.”

      Falcon glanced at his brother Sloan. Sloan’s wife, Kendall, had been briefly kidnapped by one of the mercenaries, who’d turned out to be a family relative—Uncle Wolf, brother to Jeremiah and Carlos, and determined to harm his own brothers. Wolf was the dark, fallen angel of the family.

      “Now that the Diablo Callahans remain in Hell’s Colony, Texas, it should have become quiet here at Rancho Diablo.” Running Bear looked at the sky for a moment, thoughtful. “You will be stretched a little thin when Dante and Tighe leave.”

      Falcon stared at his brothers. The twins looked a bit sheepish in the face of their family’s shock.

      “What do you mean?” Ash demanded. “Where are you going?”

      “We might try our hand at rodeo,” Dante said. “We’re not cut out for this detail. The constant waiting is making us crazy.”

      “Yeah,” Tighe said. “It’s like we’re waiting for a war that never starts.”

      “Finks,” Ash told her brothers. “How can you turn your backs on family? Jonas and Aunt Fiona and Uncle Burke wouldn’t turn their backs on you!”

      Dante and Tighe looked crestfallen at their sister’s criticism.

      “Let them go,” Running Bear said. “Dreams cannot be ignored. They must be lived.”

      “Oh, bother.” Ash glared at her brothers. “Well, maybe I’ll go off on a toot myself. Maybe we’ll all just pack up and go off chasing rainbows and unicorns.”

      “You can’t,” Dante said. “Who would watch over Fiona?”

      “It’s all right,” Falcon said, opting to play the role of peacemaker. “The ranch will survive.”

      Ash turned her head away from Dante and Tighe. Falcon thought his brothers seemed to shrink at her obvious censure of them.

      “I agree with Falcon,” Galen said. “We’re all following our own dreams. We have to live our lives to some extent. This commission is going to take years. Besides, Falcon’s proposed to a woman in town. Sloan’s married. Life goes on.”

      “We just don’t feel like we’re doing anything,” Tighe said. “The mercenaries haven’t been around in months. For all we know, they’re gone.”

      They all looked at Running Bear. He shrugged. “Tonight, you must focus on deciding to stay here or to go. This ring of stone and fire is your home, for as long as you want it to be.”

      “We’re never going back to the tribe, are we?” Jace asked.

      Running Bear shook his head. “That path would

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