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The baby let out a tiny noise so he picked her up, nestled her against his chest. And something amazing, something strong, fabulous and true, landed right in his heart, igniting a burning love he’d never experienced before. He held his child, smelled her powdery skin, felt her soft, soft helpless body in his arms, and knew that he’d go to the ends of the earth to be with these children, to protect them, to shelter them, to shield them.
With every last breath in his body.
* * *
ASH STARED AT the big sexy cowboy sprawled out on the delicate curved sofa, sound asleep, his boots carefully hanging off Mallory’s beloved if old-fashioned furniture. He held Skye against his chest, and the two of them slept peacefully, like two parts of the same body.
Tears jumped into Ash’s eyes. Of all the ways she’d imagined Xav interacting with her babies, this wasn’t it—and it was better than she could have ever imagined.
She felt her heart spiraling into that same love-struck groove it had always been in where Xav was concerned.
It was the most helpless feeling in the world.
He opened his eyes, smiled at her. “Have a good shower?” he asked softly, so he wouldn’t wake the baby.
“I’m a new woman.” Ash sat in the chair across from him, the table in between. Mallory had obviously visited with her comfort food, and Xav had partaken. The homey scents of soup and cinnamon drifted to her. “Do you want me to take Skye?”
“She’s fine.” He stroked his daughter’s back. “She’s a content little thing once she’s picked up and held.”
“She’s an angel.” She looked at her children, all silent for once, a rarity. “I love these babies so much.”
“So how’d you end up here?” Xav asked, his gaze piercing as he stared at her. His seen-better-days cowboy hat had slipped forward just a bit as he napped with Skye; he’d probably thought he was lying down for a moment to comfort the baby and didn’t think he needed to take it off, then fell asleep. She wanted to remove it for him, smooth the long, dark hair with her fingers.
“Running Bear knew Mallory.”
“Of course he did,” Xav said. “All these months he kept your location secret from everyone?”
“Grandfather knew I needed to get away. He said I’d be safe here. Mallory’s married to a man in law enforcement. He works in another county so I’ve never met him, but all the local law enforcement and their wives keep a very close eye on Mallory. She’s a favorite town daughter.” Ash shrugged. “Running Bear said not only would I be safe here, I’d have a mother figure in my life. I said I didn’t need one, and he said maybe one day I would.”
“So he knew you were pregnant?”
Ash shook her head. “No.” She didn’t want Xav upset and thinking that the Callahans had been in on a plot to keep him from his children. “Well, no one really ever knows what Running Bear knows. He seems to discern things before anyone else does.”
Xav grunted. “I’d like to have known some things about your life, Ashlyn Callahan. About four really small things that should be wearing my last name.”
“I don’t blame you one bit for feeling that way.” Xav was a man of his word, he’d spent several years of his life dedicated to the Callahan cause. “I’m so sorry, Xav. I couldn’t tell anyone. And I didn’t know I was pregnant with multiples until my ob-gyn here sent me to Houston for a consultation with a doctor who specialized in high-risk pregnancies.”
“I would have taken care of you, Ash. Whatever you needed. I wish you’d have let me help you out. I’m sure it was hard to be away from your family while you were pregnant.”
It had been. “I was lonely, I’ll admit. It was a long time to be confined to a bed. I was often worried about my children.” She swallowed. “It was the first time in my life I knew real fear.”
“You’re a warrior, Ashlyn Callahan. Tough as rocks.”
“I know.” She smiled a little wistfully. “But even the toughest mother feels a bit helpless when she’s not sure if she can bring four babies into the world safely.”
“Come sit by Skye. She wants to hold your hand.”
She gave the hot cowboy a wry look, knowing very well who wanted to hold her hand. “She’s only going to sleep another five minutes. Then she’s going to wake up—and so will all of her siblings—and the circus begins again. I suggest you rest up, cowboy. You’re going to need your strength.”
* * *
IF XAV NEEDED STRENGTH, it wasn’t for the “baby circus” to which Ash referred. The strength he required was for going slowly, gingerly, trying to fit into her life, instead of trying to make her fit into his desperate wish that she’d marry him.
That conversation hadn’t gone off exactly as hoped, with an enthusiastic “Yes, I’ll marry you, Xav!”
But he’d been expecting that, and a man who planned well had backup paths to his desired outcome. After the circus—as Ash called it—was completed and the babies were snug in their bassinets and satisfied for the moment, Xav gestured to the babies who lay in the soft glow from the Christmas-tree lights. “I’ve been thinking, actually the children and I have been thinking. Skye suggests that if her mother is the hunted one, who is destined to bring hellfire and danger to Rancho Diablo and its inhabitants, you’re going to need backup. I’m applying for the job. Thorn said he thought it was about time I stepped up, and Briar said a father would make her feel safer than even the Marine Corps at her back. And Valor said it’d be good to turn the responsibility over to me until he’s old enough to handle it himself.”
Ash stayed far away from him at the other end of the sofa. “You’ve been conspiring with my children?”
“I’ve been conspiring with our children, yes. And we’ve come up with quite the remarkable plan. They’re very bright, you know.”
Ash let out a breath that sounded a bit exasperated. But he thought he was winning her over, because she said, “What is this remarkable plan?”
“You marry me, and we produce a formidable team that faces all challenges together. Including the damnation of being the hunted one.” He thought about that for a moment. “I’m still not sure about all the ramifications of that particular designation, but let the record reflect that I face it fearlessly.”
“I didn’t make the decision to come here lightly. I wouldn’t have left Rancho Diablo if I hadn’t known that it was best for everyone.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t make the decision to come here lightly, either. Let’s consider you stuck with me.”
“That’s your marriage proposal?”
“Sure. It’ll probably work better with you than the old-fashioned, hearts-and-flowers, on-bended-knee routine.”
“Maybe,” Ash said, sounding as if she might actually be considering his counterproposal, until the front door crashed open so hard the drapes at the window flew.
“Don’t move,” Wolf said, “or this time this kid gets it.”
He pointed a gun at Skye, and Ash gasped. Wolf’s right-hand man, Rhein, slipped in behind his boss, aiming his gun at Ash. “And little mama gets her payback for nearly killing you, Boss.”
Xav had never felt so helpless in his life. He’d taken off his holster after entering the house—not wanting to carry when he was around the children. That left him unarmed now, at the worst moment of his life. There was blood in Wolf’s eye and he was out for the prize, the biggest Callahan prize of all—the silver-haired only daughter of the Callahan clan—and right then Xav knew that Ash had been right all along.
She was indeed the hunted one.
Chapter Four
“Don’t even think about heroics,” Wolf said. “Here’s where you get lucky. I happen to be in a giving mood tonight. I take my niece, and leave you here alive with these bundles of joy.”
Ash looked terrified—and mad—as Rhein held her arms together, quickly binding them with nylon cuffs. Xav feared for her if things got out of control. Ash had a fiery temper and he hoped she didn’t unleash it. He started to say, “She’s nursing these babies, don’t be an idiot, take me instead,” then realized he couldn’t offer that deal because Wolf didn’t know these were Callahan children.
If Wolf knew, he’d be just as likely to kidnap them all.
“You don’t want her,” Xav said. “Taking her will bring down Callahan wrath on you.”
“I know what I’m doing. Thanks, though, for the generous advice.” Wolf jerked his head at Rhein to depart with Ash. She kicked Rhein in the shin, and he slapped her. Xav grit his teeth, reminding himself that the patient man left himself the most options.
“If you call the law, we’ll kill her,” Wolf said, waving his gun for emphasis.
“You’d kill your own niece,” Xav stated, his voice deadly quiet. Wolf had a hair-trigger temper as the door hanging by a hinge illustrated. He’d been spoiling for revenge for months.
“I probably will anyway, but that’s not your concern.” He glanced at the babies in the bassinets, sleeping soundly for the moment, thankfully. “Let me tell you how this is going to go down. This isn’t about you, it doesn’t concern you. If you come after us, we’ll shoot her on the spot. But if you give us an hour’s head start, she’ll live. Best deal I’ll offer you. Don’t make me have to shoot you, too,” Wolf said. “I’m kind of in a killing mood, to be honest. In case you don’t know, my dear angelic niece nearly killed me. She and I have things to talk about, but that’s none of your business.” He stared Xav down. “You get me?”
“I do. One hour head start, no more.”
“That’s all I need for the party I’m planning.” Wolf followed Rhein to his black truck.
Mallory peeked around the corner. “What is going on?”
“Just an unforeseen event that requires a bit of attention. Can you move the babies to the back of the house, quickly?”
Mallory grabbed up a baby, then another, and scrambled down the hall. Xav didn’t move, but watched Ash put up a helluva fight as Rhein and Wolf tried to get her into the truck. Mallory had the other two babies moved while Ash struggled, and Xav got his gun from the holster he’d laid on the sofa, unlocked it and checked the magazine.
“Do you want me to call the sheriff?” Mallory whispered from the kitchen.
“In a minute you’re going to hear two shots. After the second shot, you can call the sheriff.”
“Okay.”
He heard the kitchen door close and trained his eyes on Ash. Rhein and Wolf had finally managed to wrangle her into the truck, and were driving away when suddenly she fell out of the vehicle and started to run toward the woods across the street. The truck stopped and Wolf and Rhein ran after her, and from the front door, Xav fired once, twice.
He smiled.
Ash whirled to stare at him from two hundred yards away. Her hands were still bound. She bent down to stare at her uncle and gave Rhein a cursory glance. Stomping toward the house, she met him on the porch, her eyes blazing.
“You killed him!”
Xav shrugged. “He said he was in a killing mood. I decided to take care of his mood.”
“Running Bear said no one was to harm his son!”
He stared at the silver-haired spitfire he adored from her small feet to her big, wide navy eyes—Callahan eyes. “Your grandfather said none of you Callahans were to harm him. Me, I’m not a Callahan. I’m a Phillips. And as your uncle so clearly pointed out, his problem had nothing to do with me.” He tugged Ash to him, removing his knife from his boot to cut her free. “Now, the mother of my children has everything to do with me. There was no way on this planet I was going to let him drag off my babies’ mother.”
Ash slowly nodded and drew a shaky breath. “Thank you.”
He enveloped her in his arms. “I take it you’re not going to fire me, Callahan?”
She sniffled against his chest, and he realized his nerves-of-steel lady was shaken, frightened. He decided it was best not to injure her pride by commenting on her tears. Stroking her back, he let her know she was safe.
“Where are the babies?” she asked, her voice slightly unsteady.
“Safe in the nice warm kitchen with Mallory. She’s called the sheriff. You should go take a bath, try to relax.” He ran a hand down her long blond ponytail.
She drew in a hiccup breath. “I think I’ll go call Running Bear.”
“Even better idea.” The chief would calm Ash down, relieve her anxiety. She disappeared, and as the sun began setting in the sky, sending the gray of winter into the living room, Xav glanced at the empty bassinets and thought how lucky it was that he’d found Ash when he had. Things could have turned out so differently if Wolf had gotten here before he did.
But knowing the chief the way he did, the timing was probably no accident at all.
* * *
“THERE’RE NO BODIES anywhere out there,” Sheriff Lopez said thirty minutes later. He and his deputies had scoured the fields and woods across the way, returning to the house to make their report. “Are you sure you hit them? Because we find no evidence of blood or any type of struggle.”
Ash and Xav shared a startled glance. “I know they were dead,” Ash told the sheriff. “I’m sure Rhein was. And Wolf didn’t look very lively.”
They stood inside at the fireplace, warming themselves as the sheriff wrote up their statements. She’d offered him some hot cocoa, which he’d accepted gratefully. The weather outdoors was a bone-chilling fifteen degrees, and the sheriff and his men had been searching for Wolf and Rhein with no luck. Now it was dark—solidly black outside the big window. The Christmas-tree lights twinkled with soft color, but Ash didn’t feel any sense of holiday peace.
Not now.
“I shot both of them.” Xav leaned against the mantel, stared down at the fire. “I didn’t aim to merely wound. I saw them hit the ground.”
“Well, it’s a mystery,” Sheriff Lopez said, his tone cheerful for a man who’d been out hunting for dead thugs. “You should get some sleep, Ash. I’m sure those four angels of yours keep you quite busy.”
He tipped his hat to her, thanked her for the cocoa, told her to say goodbye to Mallory for him and slipped out the front door. She turned to Xav who studied her with his dark, intense gaze.
“That’s odd. Don’t you think? There’s no way the bodies weren’t out there,” Ash said.
“I know. I don’t understand it.”
She wanted to walk into Xav’s arms and stay there forever. She couldn’t. He’d killed two men because of her. She had brought darkness and devastation to him, just as Running Bear’s warning had foretold. “You’d never killed anyone before, had you?” she asked, destroyed by the knowledge he’d crossed a place in his soul he could never return from because of her.
“That’s not something I’m going to discuss.”
“You shouldn’t bear that because of me, because of my family.”
“I don’t bear anything, Ash. Two armed men entered your home with full intent to kidnap you. Perhaps they would have returned for the children.” He shrugged. “If there was a burden for me to bear, it would have been calling your brothers and telling them I’d let Wolf kidnap you. He clearly intended to harm you. I feel no burden at all. Besides which, your brothers don’t even know that you’ve had children. If they knew that you’d just been attacked, this place would be swarming with Callahans rushing to protect their sister. No, I feel no burden at all, just a sense of peace.”
“I don’t feel peace.” She glanced toward the window, at the darkness shrouding the house. “I feel unsettled. It didn’t take the sheriff but maybe thirty minutes to get here. What happened to the bodies?”
“I don’t know.” He pulled her into his arms and she went willingly. “But they were dead, Ash. They’re not ever coming back to hurt you or the children.”
“I know.” Goose pimples ran over her arms just the same, and a dizzying sense of worry swept her.
“I thought some potato soup and hot apple cider might be the thing to settle everyone’s nerves,” Mallory said, poking her head into the room. “Oh, the sheriff’s gone. Let me bring you two something to eat.”
“Thank you,” Ash said, glad for the interruption even if she didn’t feel like eating. Anything to feel like life was normal, and not a horrible nightmare from which she couldn’t wake.
“I would swear I’ve seen Mallory somewhere before,” Xav said, staring after the older woman. “I have the strangest feeling I know her.”
“You’re from Texas. Were you ever in Wild?”
“No. Kendall, Gage, Shaman and I have been through lots of the state with Gil Phillips, Inc., but somehow we never made it to Wild.”
“Maybe she reminds you of someone you met.” Ash left his arms and went to the tray to pour a cup of cider for him and one for her. “She’s been very good to me. Motherly, in a way.”
“I’m glad.” He sat across from her, took the mug she handed him. “What did Running Bear say when you called him?”
“That things happen the way they are meant to. That I should take care of the babies now.”
“He wants you to return to Rancho Diablo?”
