HER CALLAHAN FAMILY MAN by Tina Leonard Page A

passageways, you know.”
    He glanced at the small elevator that had been disguised behind the wall he’d always thought held the locked and secret gun cabinet. There was no time to ask questions about this newest bit of Rancho Diablo information. Jace filed it away for later reference and scooped his wife up, carrying her to the van.
    “I feel awful, Jace. My stomach hurts so badly.”
    Sawyer laid her head against his shoulder, and Jace’s heart bled at the deep sadness and fear in her voice.
    He’d brought this on her by making love to her last night. He shouldn’t have; he’d known that deep in his heart. And yet, selfishly, he couldn’t resist her.
    He’d never been able to resist her. Which was what made him ripe for the fact he’d fallen for a woman who’d been working against his family.
    That couldn’t matter now. His children were in trouble. Sawyer’s pale face scared the hell out of him.
    He didn’t know what he’d do if something happened to her. She’d become his very life.
    Gently, he put Sawyer in the ranch van, and his sister and Fiona jumped in to comfort her as he sped toward the hospital, fearful that everything he loved most might be snatched away from him by the cruel winds of fate.

Chapter Nine
    “Bed rest,” the doctor pronounced after Sawyer had been thoroughly examined. “Absolute bed rest. I’ll let you go home, because you’ve been stabilized for the moment with medication, but there’ll be a nurse out to check on you tomorrow, and I don’t want to hear that you’ve moved one inch from your bed. This is very serious,” he told Sawyer. “I know you’re used to a lot of activity, but you can consider yourself bedbound for now. It won’t be forever, but it’s important that we keep your babies inside you as long as we possibly can. The longer, the better,” he emphasized one last time. “No stairs, no nothing. The nurse will come out and give you medication by IV if you have any further cramping.”
    “Thank you,” Sawyer murmured, exhausted and frightened. She couldn’t look at Jace’s worried face again. His every thought was hidden behind a stoic expression, but she could read him every time he glanced at her.
    He was afraid they’d endangered the babies.
    She’d never be able to convince him that their lovemaking hadn’t negatively affected her pregnancy. He wouldn’t come near her now; that was clear in his stiff posture as he helped her slowly move to the wheelchair to be taken to the van.
    Her husband had heard the doctor’s warnings, and he wouldn’t take any chances.
    They already had too many things to regret. “Jace,” she said, as he pushed her wheelchair down the hall. “The doctor said what we did last night probably didn’t have anything to do with this.”
    He didn’t say anything, just silently wheeled her to the van, which Fiona and Ash had brought around for them. The ladies hopped out to help her, and Sawyer felt silly and useless as she was assisted into the front passenger’s seat.
    Everything hurt more than she dared to let on. Already Jace looked as if he was ready to lash her to a bed and keep her in it, so she didn’t say anything else as he closed the van door. A small tear threatened to fall from her eye, but she wouldn’t allow herself to feel hurt over the sudden distance she was picking up from her husband.
    She put a hand on her stomach, comforted by the doctor’s words that everything would be fine as long as she rested. Didn’t move.
    Jace would be tied to her. He wouldn’t want to let her out of his sight, which wasn’t good for Rancho Diablo. As a one-time ranch employee, she knew that every person had their job and their role. Rancho Diablo had stayed out of Wolf’s hands this long because all members of the family worked as a team.
    She wasn’t really part of the team.
    But that didn’t mean she wanted Jace having to stop his job to stand over her, guard her, for the rest of her pregnancy. She had every