LITMIR.BIZ

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in their circumstances. What must it be like to live in this mansion, on this enormous ranch, with a wife and kids you adored?

      “Falcon’s thirty-three,” Ashlyn continued. The brother in question inclined his head to Kendall, then looked around at his new cousins. “Falcon’s a bit wacky. He’s smart as hell. Can wear you out with minutia. Loves puzzles. Will go off for days when he’s thinking about something.” She grinned at him. “Isn’t that right, Falcon?”

      Falcon grunted at his sister, who was delighted with her teasing. Sloan squirmed a bit, knowing he was up next on the roll call. No one could ever be certain what Ashlyn was going to say.

      “Sloan’s my hero,” Ashlyn told Kendall. “He’s third in the family tree, thirty-one years of loner tough guy. Can go for months without talking, can’t you, Sloan?” she asked, winking at him.

      “Not months,” Sloan said.

      “Okay, he’ll allot himself a word a day.” Ashlyn shot him a gleeful look. “He’s picked up a few decorations, is a really good shot with just about any gun on the planet—”

      “That’s enough,” Sloan said. “They don’t want to hear everything about me.”

      Beside him, he could feel Kendall’s eyes on him. “I don’t know,” she said. “It can’t hurt to know more about the family I’m in charge of. Every detail helps.”

      He looked at her. “In charge of?”

      Kendall nodded. “Jonas has assigned me to seeing to your family’s comfort. ‘Liaison’ really means ‘take care of.’”

      “Here’s the thing,” Sloan said, addressing his remarks to Jonas, but looking at Kendall, since he just couldn’t seem to help himself. “We don’t need anyone assigned to us for our comfort. No offense, Kendall.”

      “None taken,” Kendall said. “I’m just following orders.”

      He recognized his own words coming back to him. “We can survive no matter the terrain, and you wouldn’t see us for six months.”

      “That’s kind of creepy, though a great talent,” Kendall said. “Jonas, this is your call.”

      Sloan wasn’t certain how he felt about the tiny doll calling him creepy. He glanced around at his brothers and sister, puzzled.

      “It is creepy,” Falcon said. “I mean, when you think about it, on the surface.”

      Ashlyn laughed. “Actually, it’s not creepy to Sloan. He likes roughing it. When we were kids—”

      Sloan put down his napkin and pushed back his chair. “Fiona, thank you kindly for breakfast. It was delicious.”

      His brothers nodded in agreement.

      “Jonas, can I talk to you? Privately?” Sloan asked.

      “Sure,” Jonas said.

      Kendall watched the two big men go off together. “Well,” she said, “Mr. Stoic certainly wants to talk now.”

      Ashlyn craned her head to stare after Sloan, who’d cornered Jonas in the den. “He’s going to be hard to drag in from the cold. Me, I’m never going to pass up delicious food.”

      Fiona smiled at her. “I’ll put some meat on your bones.”

      Kendall laughed at Ashlyn’s perplexed expression. “Fiona wants to put meat on everyone’s bones.”

      “Okay,” Ashlyn said. “If you think you can, I won’t say no.”

      “I won’t, either.” One of the Callahans who hadn’t gotten an introduction yet reached across the table to shake Kendall’s hand. “I’m Jace. Sorry about my brother’s rudeness. He’s pretty much the lone wolf in the family.”

      Kendall sneaked a peek into the den at the lone wolf. As wolves went, Sloan wasn’t all that feral. In fact, he was darn handsome, even better than she’d originally realized, now that she could see him in good light. “Hi, Jace. It’s nice to meet you.”

      “Jace is our earth soul,” Ashlyn said. “He’s about to hit the big three-o, so he spends a fair amount of time with the ladies.”

      “Ash,” Jace said, “it’s all friendly. Although, if you have a sister, Kendall...”

      Everyone laughed at Jace’s obvious hint to Kendall. She felt herself blush a bit.

      “No sister. Sorry. It’s just me and three brothers. You’ll meet them soon enough.”

      “Your twin, Xavier, came out to our campsite with you this morning,” Ashlyn said.

      Kendall nodded. “And then there’s Gage and Shaman. They’re around here somewhere, probably out feeding the horses at this hour.”

      “Don’t mind Sloan.” Another Callahan reached over to offer his hand. “He’s a little harder to get to know than the rest of us. I’m Tighe, by the way, and Dante here is my twin.”

      Hot as the dickens, both of them. Kendall shook their hands, ignoring the words about not minding Sloan. Why should she? She didn’t know any of them. Getting bent out of shape about Sloan’s obvious prickliness would be unprofessional.

      “Wild at heart,” Ashlyn said, pointing her fork at Tighe, “will never settle down. A shame, because he’d make a great husband for some lucky woman, and that’s not just a sister’s pride talking.”

      Kendall smiled at Tighe. “Be warned that men seem to drop like flies around here, if you’re really determined to hang on to your bachelor status. Fiona has a major matchmaking streak going.”

      Tighe went a little pale. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

      “And Dante,” Ashlyn said, “let’s just say that he’s the head of mischief in our family. Great to have at your side in a fight, but isn’t above letting you sweat it out, either. And if you don’t like snakes or other creepy-crawlies, don’t tell him. He’ll put them in your bed just to give you a little fright.”

      Kendall leveled round eyes on Dante. “Remember I hold the key to the breakfasts, Dante.”

      He laughed. “You’re safe.”

      Sloan slid back into the seat next to her.

      “Get it all worked out?” Kendall asked.

      He looked at her. “Jonas has pointed out a few things I was overlooking.”

      Kendall smiled. “So you’re stuck with me.”

      His lips twisted. “It appears that way.”

      “I won’t wear any more white skirts around you.” Kendall sipped her coffee, her expression innocent.

      “You’ll stay in good enough condition as long as you don’t sneak up on me,” Sloan said.

      “I’ll wear a bell around my neck,” Kendall said, and Ashlyn said, “That won’t be necessary. Now that you’ve caught Sloan napping, you’ll never get within a hundred feet of him again without him knowing.”

      Annoyance crossed Sloan’s face. “I wasn’t expecting a woman to sneak into camp.”

      His brothers stared at him. Sloan looked a bit edgy. Kendall went back to picking at her food, not certain why Sloan didn’t seem to like her. But he didn’t, that was clear as day. Jonas glanced her way, shrugging.

      There was nothing that could be done about it. They were all going to have to get along, one big happy family, until whatever reason these new Callahans had been sent here no longer existed.

      “It’s so nice to meet all of you,” Kendall said politely. “Welcome to Rancho Diablo.” She went to help Fiona clean the kitchen. This was just a job, and if she was a pain in Sloan’s hiney for some reason, then the feeling was certainly mutual.

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