phone. “Hello, Grandfather.”
Whenever Chief Running Bear spoke, everybody listened. The man said almost nothing unless it was important. Sawyer couldn’t tell much of what was being communicated, but it was clear Jace’s attention was clearly engaged.
“That’s interesting news. I’ll see what I can do.”
He hung up, then steered the truck back onto the highway again. “Running Bear suggests we go into hiding immediately.”
Sawyer gasped. “Hiding! Why?”
“Apparently Wolf’s right-hand man, Rhein, was arrested today on suspicion of smuggling. This means the Feds have decided to clamp down on the illegal operations that are being run across the canyons. Running Bear says this will have the effect of ramping up Wolf’s goal of taking over Rancho Diablo. He says that because of your pregnancy, it would probably be best. Wolf will post bail for Rhein soon enough, and no doubt the sheep will hit the fauna.”
Sawyer shook her head at his attempt to be lighthearted about something that wasn’t funny at all. “I’m not going into hiding.”
“I thought you’d feel that way,” Jace said. “We have another option.”
She didn’t smile at the devilish wink he sent her. “What option?”
“I’ll guard you.”
“You mean I would be assigned to you as a bodyguard,” Sawyer said. “You have no experience.”
He grinned. “However you want to play it, babe. I’d let you guard my body any day.”
“It won’t work. You wouldn’t take it seriously.” She shook her head. “Once I’m on bed rest, you’d drive me insane. The two of us working together would be an unfocused assignment.” She thought about the babies, and what she would do once they were born. They’d be targets; they’d need special protection. She’d worked for the Callahans long enough to know that Running Bear’s words were worth heeding. If he said that Rhein’s arrest would add to the heat at Rancho Diablo, it couldn’t be ignored. “If that was your only option, it wasn’t a serious one.”
“We’re either on the road in hiding, or we stick together like glue. I guess it’s going to depend on how you feel. When will the babies be born?”
“I’m five and a half months pregnant. I’m hoping to make it at least as far as April. But I know your sisters-in-law didn’t carry their twins and trips quite as long as they would have liked. I’m in good shape, and the doctor says I’m on track for a normal pregnancy. So we’ll see what happens.”
“Okay. The goal is keeping you stress-free and resting. Hard to rest if you’re on the run.”
“Are we seriously talking about this?” She looked at him. “It’s not in me to be afraid.”
“I’ll do it for both of us.” He glanced at the rearview mirror. “In fact, we’re being followed, and it’s not by a Callahan. Aren’t you glad you won me now, beautiful?”
Chapter Three
Jace didn’t want to scare Sawyer, but she’d been around Rancho Diablo long enough to know the odds against them were long. There wasn’t time to coddle her into seeing things his way. He was going to have to give her a push; Sawyer and the babies were his number one priority right now. “How are you for train travel?”
“I’m not,” Sawyer said, “going into hiding. I’m not running.”
“We are going into hiding. Take your pick. It’s either a sunny locale or the mountains. What’s your preference?”
“My preference is that you take me home right now. I’ll stay in the house my uncle is selling your family, so I’ll be close enough for you to keep an eye on.”
“This isn’t a game,” Jace said quietly. “You know that, Sawyer. You know what Wolf is capable of. He means business. I’m not going to risk anything happening to you and the children.”
The thought filled him with dread. There was good reason to worry. Taylor, his brother Falcon’s wife, had been kidnapped and taken to Montana for months during her pregnancy. Aunt Fiona had been kidnapped, and she’d burned down Wolf’s hideout during her rescue. The memory made him smile—but it was also a compelling reason to treat this newest threat seriously. Wolf had a long memory.
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do. We’re driving to Texas,” Jace said. “We’ll get married, and we’ll call our long road trip a honeymoon.”
“You’re not going to whitewash us going into hiding by calling it a honeymoon.”
He had one unhappy lady on his hands. But what else could he do?
In Texas he had family. He couldn’t go to Hell’s Colony—it was too hot right now with the Wolf situation, and there was no reason to bring the heat to his Callahan cousins. But they could find a nice, out-of-the-way cabin deep in the piney woods of East Texas that would be really hard for Wolf to find.
If Jace had learned anything from the past few years of being hounded by Wolf, it was that caution was as important as bravery.
His mind made up, Jace sped toward Vegas and, hopefully, a slew of Wedding Elvises eager to say wedding vows as quickly as possible.
* * *
“I ABSOLUTELY AM not going to marry him,” Sawyer told Ashlyn Callahan when they met at the chapel in Vegas. The place was white, but that was its only concession to being a wedding stop.
Ash glanced at the pastor and his doughy little wife. The man had on a tall top hat and wore a white satin suit. His wife was arrayed in a vintage period gown, purple with red feathers. “Maybe it wouldn’t be my first choice, either. But it’s a good first start.”
“First start?” Sawyer stared at Jace’s silver-blond-haired sister. Ash had always seemed like an ethereal fairy to her—and yet it was said that of all the Callahans, she was the most dangerous. “A marriage only gets started once, doesn’t it?”
Ash shrugged. “Where you say the words isn’t important. Getting you and my niece and nephew safe is.”
A chill swept Sawyer. How did Ash have so much information about her pregnancy, so soon? Callahan gossip always spread like wildfire.
“I just figure it’d be like Jace to split the deck. No commitment.” Ash looked at her. “Except to you, it seems.”
Sawyer shook her head. “Jace isn’t committed to anything except his children. And Rancho Diablo.”
“Don’t go on what he says, is my advice. My brother never really was much of a talker, not about anything that made much sense.” Ash smiled, looking pleased with herself when she realized Jace had caught her jibe. He came over to ruffle her hair.
“Jace, if you mess up my hair, you’ll have a scary sister in your wedding photos,” she complained. “Your bride thinks you have commitment issues.”
He looked at Sawyer and grinned. “I do. But not to the
