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“I can take care of myself.”
This was true. “Let me go with you. I’m feeling a need to ride and clear my head.”
“And babysit me,” Ash said disapprovingly.
“It’s my sense of adventure. If I don’t hang out with you, I’ll probably end up following in Tighe and Dante’s footsteps.”
“Traitors. Both of them.”
“No.” Falcon shook his head. “All of us have a destiny to follow.”
“Whatever. Destiny is just a pansy word for shiftless. Lazy. Spineless. Maybe it was my destiny to get up this morning and eat chocolate chip cookies and drink beer for breakfast, but I didn’t. I told Destiny to get the heck away from me.”
“And ate rocks instead,” Falcon said. “You have to forgive people who aren’t as strong as you.”
“Whatever,” Ash said. “Tighe and Dante are strong. They just want to chase buckle bunnies. Their pride’s a bit stung because they got smacked down by River and Ana. And right they were to turn my brothers down, since they’re spineless weenies.” She turned her horse and took off like the wind, riding across the flat land as if demons were after her.
Falcon checked his gun, made sure it was locked, and tucked it into his jeans. Then he followed his sister at a leisurely pace, his mind turning to Taylor again. Seemed as if he thought about her a thousand times a day. Maybe more.
It felt great.
* * *
T WENTY MINUTES LATER, Ash finally stopped her horse, slid off and tied it to a wizened tree where it could get a bit of shade and cool off in the late evening air. Falcon stopped next to his sister, knowing exactly what she was up to now.
“Looking at this land isn’t going to do anything but make you hungrier for it,” he said, dismounting.
“I like being hungry.” Ash stared at the wide expanse of empty land. In the distance a small traditional adobe stood, marking the emptiness. “You’re hungry, too, or you wouldn’t have proposed to that town girl. You barely know her.”
“I don’t have to know Taylor. I like the way she looks.” He watched as his sister pulled out small binocs and peered toward the farmhouse.
“It’s going to be mine,” Ash said. “You can propose to fifty girls, but this is going to be Sister Wind Ranch.”
“Nice. But I have a different name in mind. Thanks.”
She glared at him. “You don’t have a name for it.”
“I do.”
“What is it?”
Okay, so he didn’t have a name. He hadn’t thought about it much. He just knew he hadn’t wanted to get beat by his siblings in the race for the ranch. “It’s on the tip of my tongue.”
“And there it will stay. Fibber.” Ash put away the binocs. “Come on. Let’s walk to the farmhouse.”
“Why?” He followed behind her. “This is private property.”
“Yeah, it’s private. Fiona owns it.”
“Do we know that for sure?”
“She said the Callahan estate bought it.”
He wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but Ash had a determined tilt to her posture, so he went along for the adventure.
A man came out from the house and walked to meet them. “What brings you out here, folks?”
Ash glanced around. “I didn’t know anybody still lived here.”
“Of course I live here. This is my ranch.” The white-haired farmer shrugged. “Been in my family for years.”
“Oh.” Ash looked concerned. “You didn’t sell this property?”
“Thought about it. Had a couple offers. One from a little old woman who lives across the canyons, and a bigger one from an older gentleman who rode in here one day and told me whatever the old lady paid, he’d pay more.”
“Was his name Wolf?” Falcon demanded.
“It was.” The farmer nodded. “In the end, I decided I didn’t want to leave my place. It’s been in my family for years,” he reminded them.
“I see,” Ash said. “We’re sorry to have bothered you.”
“No bother at all.” The rancher went off, his stooped body heading back toward the coolness of the adobe.
“Fiona told a whopper,” Ash stated. “It’s just like she did to our cousins. Got them married off, made sure there were lots of babies, then pow! So happily married they never battled for Rancho Diablo.”
He laughed. “Let’s not tell our brothers.”
“Why not?” Ash looked at him as they walked back to their horses.
“It’ll be fun to watch them work hard for something they’re not going to get.”
Ash mounted, waited for him. “I like the way you think. And now you can tell Taylor you don’t need her anymore. You’re a free man. There’s no ranch to win. No ranch, no wedding.”
He wasn’t about to do anything of the sort. “So you’re going to quit chasing Xav?”
“I don’t chase him,” Ash said. “And no, I’m not. Pretty sure he needs the exercise. But Taylor might just let you catch her. And you wouldn’t like that, Falcon. You know you aren’t the committing sort.”
They rode along in silence after that. Falcon tucked his hat down low on his brow, letting his horse follow Ash’s. It was true. He wasn’t the committing sort, and there was no prize. Fiona had set them up.
But Ash was wrong about one thing. He was certain he’d like Taylor letting him catch her. “I can keep a secret if you can.”
“I’m not telling a soul. I’m going to watch Tighe and Dante run away from their destiny, and watch our other brothers get hitched and have families. Watching Fiona spin her web is fun, now that I’m onto her.”
Falcon wasn’t sure they weren’t all caught in Fiona’s web already. He was. But he didn’t tell Ash, because Ash didn’t believe in destiny.
He did. He wanted a date with destiny.
Chapter Three
Falcon waited on Taylor as she got off work, his game plan in hand. “Hi, beautiful.”
Taylor stopped, turned to look at him. He leaned against his truck, giving her his best devil-may-care-and-be-damned smile. She studied him for a second, then walked over to him.
“What are you doing, Falcon? You look pleased with yourself, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
He laughed. “Ride with me.”
She raised a brow. “Why? And where?”
“Ride with me because I’m trying to bend Jillian’s rules. Where—that’s a surprise. A guy has to have some secrets. Then he’s in touch with his feminine side, right?”
Taylor shook her head, clearly considering the wisdom of taking off with him. Falcon gave her plenty of time to talk herself out of it. He knew she wouldn’t.
She might be taking Jillian’s advice, but this little lady liked him. He could feel it.
“Didn’t you agree not to date me?”
He smiled. “I said I wouldn’t ask you to marry me. Dating’s optional.”
“I see.” She considered that. “Where are you taking me?”
He reeled her in slowly. Taylor wasn’t the average girl who’d be satisfied with a regular evening of food and awkward chat. “Ghost-busting.”
She blinked. Hesitated.
He had her.
“Okay,” she said. “But I can’t be gone long. Maybe just an hour or two. I’m pretty sure we’re not operating in the spirit of Jillian’s challenge. You might be cheating.”
He opened the truck door for her. “Might be. We’ll see.”
“It doesn’t surprise me you’d bend the rules, to be honest, Falcon.”
“Good guys finish last, they say.” Sometimes that was true. Most times it wasn’t. He was a good guy who intended to finish first, just as he always had. He drove for about twenty minutes, then turned down a deserted, dark road toward the canyons.
Taylor peered out the window. “So what are we really doing? Ghost-busting doesn’t sound like your thing.”
He smiled. “One thing you should know about me is that I never lie. We truly are looking for ghosts.”
“There are no such things.”
“Oh, Taylor. We’re going to have to work on your appreciation for spirits.”
She sighed. “I hope I don’t regret doing this.”
“What’s life without a few regrets?” He stopped the truck several feet back from a narrow gorge he knew well. “Helps you appreciate life when you get it right.”
“Whatever, cowboy. Let’s go find this apparition of yours. It’s dark enough for one to appear.” She hopped out of the truck. “Not that I think you’re doing anything but dragging me out here because you didn’t want to go alone.”
“Is there anything wrong with wanting a woman’s touch on a ghost hunt? I heard paranormal phenomena are much more sensitive to a female presence. Or it could be that females just have better imaginations.” He laughed at the eye-roll she performed for his benefit.
“All that time you sat at the bar watching me I never would have dreamed you have the soul of a romantic. Or something. So what game are you really up to?”
He took her arm. “Walking my romantic soul. Giving it a chance to breathe.” Taking her in his arms, he kissed her on the lips, intending for it to be a quick one. But he found himself caught into lingering at the softness he encountered.
Kissing Taylor was so much more amazing than how he’d imagined it might feel that he didn’t want to stop.
He pulled himself away with effort as Taylor stepped back.
“Is your soul done breathing?” she asked.
“For the moment.” Falcon grinned, switched on a flashlight and pointed it on the ground. “Watch your step.”
“I don’t know how much longer I can stand the suspense,” Taylor said. “It’s well known in Diablo that you and your brothers and your sister, and all the Callahans, are pretty much one step from... Did you hear that?”
Falcon stopped beside her, swinging the flashlight toward the slight scuffling noise. “Probably just an owl.”
“Owls don’t land on the ground near people,” Taylor said. “It’s not really their desired activity.”
“Okay, Nancy Drew. I was just trying to keep you from being scared.”
“I’m not scared. I think you dragged me out here just to kiss me.”
“Are you complaining?”
“Stating a fact.”
“Fact noted.” Beneath the banter, Falcon’s radar was up. Taylor fell silent beside him, and he put a hand out to keep her near. He was packing a semi in his waistband so was prepared for anything, but the sound had been almost too deliberate to ignore.
It was like something was out there, following them. Years in the military had taught him caution, and he knew with sudden prescience that things weren’t right.
“Where are we going, anyway?”
“I was going to show you the top of a cliff,” Falcon said. “It’s a full moon, and on a night like this you can see sky for miles from atop that cliff. You can see—”
His words broke off. “Falcon?” Taylor didn’t move, her body suddenly tense. “Falcon?”
He’d been at her side a second ago, almost annoyingly overprotective. Now she couldn’t feel him. It was as if he’d disappeared. There was no sound except the slight soughing of wind through the canyons. The flashlight was on the ground, pointing its beam toward black nothingness. Taylor picked it up and switched it off. She stayed completely still, listening.
There were three obvious scenarios here. Taylor considered her options. One, Falcon had brought her out here on a lark to give her a good scare, so she’d jump into his arms when he “rescued” her.
Fat chance. She wasn’t falling for that.
Two, he’d stepped into a crevasse of some kind, which had happened around here. Caves abounded in this area, and it was possible he’d simply disappeared into some hole—or they were nearer a canyon than he’d realized. But she’d have heard noise if he’d rolled down a gorge.
She discarded that notion. If he’d fallen into something, they were both in trouble because he had his truck keys. And she had no idea where she was, so walking back was out of the question. No one knew where they were, so this could turn into a tricky situation.
Next scenario: someone or something had grabbed him. Again, entirely unlikely, as Taylor felt certain she’d have heard signs of a struggle. A man as big as Falcon couldn’t be easily dragged off in utter silence, and there would certainly be tracks.
