HER CALLAHAN FAMILY MAN by Tina Leonard Page B

intention of keeping these babies inside her for at least the next two months.
    “Jace,” Sawyer said suddenly, “I’m going to stay at Uncle Storm’s place. Not his town house, but his place you bought, next door to Rancho Diablo. Since he and Lu are staying there now, they can keep an eye on me. It makes sense for everybody involved.”
    He glanced at her. From the back of the van, there wasn’t a peep. Fiona and Ash weren’t going to say a word—and that was exactly why she’d brought up her request now. Jace was far less likely to deny her wishes with his sister and aunt hearing what Sawyer felt was best for herself and the babies.
    And for Jace, if he only knew it.
    “If that’s what you want,” he said, his tone remote, and she felt a dagger of sadness lacerate her heart. He’d given up easily, more easily than she’d imagined, and that was good.
    The problem was, she didn’t know if she could make him understand that it wasn’t him she was running from this time.
    * * *
    J ACE MOVED S AWYER into Storm Cash’s place because that’s what she wanted—not because he felt good about it. He didn’t. A wife belonged with her husband, but Sawyer had made it clear more than once that she simply wasn’t comfortable with him, and he supposed he couldn’t blame her.
    They’d been so far apart for so long that maybe there wasn’t a way to bridge the gap. He knew she felt that he didn’t trust her—what Callahan trusted a Cash, anyway?—and the truth was, anybody on the outside looking in would probably say Sawyer didn’t deserve to be trusted.
    He knew her better than she knew herself, though. She was the answer to everything he needed in his soul, and that made her good for Rancho Diablo.
    “So now what?” Ash demanded when he returned to Rancho Diablo at midnight. His sister sat in the kitchen, perched on a bar stool like a fey elf, discreetly waiting up for him, probably. She pushed a cup of coffee his way and pointed to a plate of gingersnaps that were on the counter. “I advise that the two of you do not separate for two months, and then try to kiss and make up when the babies are born. Not that you asked my opinion. No one ever does.”
    He ruffled his sister’s hair and sat down next to her. “Thanks for the joe.”
    “Don’t sit down. There’s a family meeting upstairs.”
    “Now?” He was exhausted, his mind consumed with Sawyer.
    “Yep.” Ash rose. “Pretty cool about the hidden passage, huh? Freaked you out a little.”
    He followed his giggling sister, carrying the plate of cookies and his mug with him. “If I got freaked out every time Rancho Diablo revealed one of its secrets, I’d have to go sit in the canyons and stare at cacti and mumble to myself.”
    “That’s actually not a bad life. I wouldn’t mind it,” Ash said wistfully as they went upstairs. “I’m going to tell Galen tonight that he has to split Sister Wind Ranch with all of us, the big egghead.”
    “It’s Loco Diablo, and Galen won’t do it. You don’t even have a family yet, and as we established, you’re not ready to settle down. So you wouldn’t be up for the ranch, anyway. Fiona’s rules are clear.”
    “I’m a rule breaker. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
    Ash pushed open the library door, ushering him by. The plate of cookies was promptly descended upon by his brothers. Tighe and Dante stuck their big paws in first, the latter tossing one to Galen.
    “Like little piglets,” Ash said with a sigh as Sloan reached to grab a few, and Falcon snagged the last. “Now that your munchies are satisfied, let business begin. Galen,” Ash said. “We’ve got trouble around here. The place is crawling with reporters and Feds. I came across a treasure hunter the other day trespassing with one of those treasure-hunting rigs.”
    “Metal detector,” Jace clarified.
    “Not only did it detect metal,” Ash said, “but this one could detect graves, hidden chambers, crypts and caves. Very