HUGE SPREAD in Hell’s Colony, Texas, was a compound, actually, owned by the Phillips family. Beautiful Kendall Phillips had married his brother Sloan, and when the Callahans had needed a place to hide out for a while, Kendall had offered her family home. It had turned out nicely for all because it kept all the Diablo Callahans together, and safe from those that meant them harm.
The Callahan children loved being together. Halloween night was no exception, and almost two dozen diminutive ghosts, tiny pumpkins, some petite pea pods still in carriers and a few larger Cinderellas and Zorros ran around holding pillowcases for the treats they hoped to collect. Moms were dressed as anything from Raggedy Ann to Glinda the Good Witch from Oz, and Dante laughed at some of his cousins and their getups. He was feeling pretty good about his own costume—a black mask, black cowboy hat and jingling spurs. He was channeling “cowboy rascal”—maybe the outfit wasn’t far off enough to be a costume—when Ana slinked past him wearing what could only be termed as a nurse’s uniform, and suddenly Dante lacked the serenity he’d previously boasted of to his twin. Oh, he guessed it wasn’t a sexy costume in the classical sense; she didn’t wear garters, and there were none of the frills that went along with the tacky version of the nurse’s uniform. She was simply dressed in purple scrubs. Purple top, purple pants, long hair up in a streaming gold ponytail, and high tan cork sandals. It wasn’t supposed to be sexy. She was, after all, a nanny—or bodyguard, take your pick—to Sloan’s twins, but as far as Dante was concerned, Ana could wear a plastic trash sack and his adrenaline would still jet into overdrive.
Tighe had been so right.
Blast.
“Hi, Dante,” Ana said, and he gulped.
“Hi, Ana.” He wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked, but he didn’t want to sound like a thickheaded sad sack, which his brothers would tell him he was. So he swallowed his real thoughts back.
“Long time, no see.” She beamed at him as if he was a man among men, and he grew uncomfortably hot under his black mask. “How’s the rodeo?”
“Good enough.” He was tongue-tied, which only happened around her.
“I’m off to take the children through the haunted house. It’s really a couple of rooms in one of the guesthouses we set up with Clifford the Big Red Dog story time and a Candyland trail. Joining us later?”
Emerald eyes blinked at him sweetly. He could think of nothing he’d like more than to join her in a haunted house, or any house at all. “Sure.”
She gave him a last big smile and stalked off, pantherlike and graceful, and Dante knew he was doomed. Tighe could probably pick up his heated brain waves from seven hundred miles away and was doubled over laughing, not to mention counting off the three weeks he expected his twin to last under the onslaught of blinding lust Dante experienced around Ana.
“Have you been putting a little adult additive into the cider, bro?” Ash asked, looking up at him, concerned. “Your eyes are all glazed over.”
“I wish. Got any?”
His sister giggled. “Nope. Around the kiddies we abstain. After they go to bed, though, I heard Fiona’s got special libations for us. Black martinis and bloody rum punch, if I heard her right. We all only get one, so you better hustle to claim yours if you want to enjoy the paranormal experience. You’ve been assigned to the sponge piñata event. I’ve got to go shepherd pitching pennies into pumpkins.” His sister went off, throwing herself into the kiddie fray with enthusiasm.
It was so good to be home. Dante went to run the sponge piñata, pretty certain he needed more than a howling-good drink if he was going to survive staring at Ana with no kisses planned for him on her Hallows Eve schedule.
* * *
AFTER THE MUNCHKIN MAYHEM, the evening was quiet. The adults sat around the kitchen, satisfied that the children had gone to bed with visions of candy corn and Clifford the Big Red Dog dancing in their heads. Dante sucked at his black martini, happy he hadn’t missed the mayhem. It really was the best part of being in a large family, which he was, now that his clan had found the long lost Callahans of his missing father’s brother, Jeremiah.
He and his six siblings were helping their Callahan cousins until the evil had passed from their home in New Mexico. The cousins stayed here in Hell’s Colony with the wives and children, and Dante and his siblings tried to stay one step ahead of trouble at Rancho Diablo. Basically bodyguards for hire, assigned by the head of the Callahan clan, Chief Running Bear.
It wasn’t always easy. So far on their watch, three kidnappings had taken place—two of the women and one brother, Falcon. He and his six siblings were military operatives, raised in the tribe and tough to sneak up on—yet despite their best efforts, they’d found themselves under attack, too.
When Tighe had taken off to rodeo, Dante had joined him, though he’d felt like a traitor to his Callahan cousins, his brothers and sister and Aunt Fiona by leaving.
Ashlyn plopped down next to him, a pile of candy corns in a bowl her offering to him. “Cheer up. The kiddies didn’t beat you with the sponge bat. The ghost piñata was popped, and candy dispensed. Good times, good times.”
He grinned at his silver-blond-haired sister who was dressed like a sparkling fairy sprite. “How come you got to go off post tonight? Thought all the operatives were staying at Rancho Diablo to be on the safe side.”
“Because I’m fun. We flipped for it, and Jace, Galen and Falcon came up short. Sloan got to come for the fun because his twins are almost old enough to know what’s going on. They were darling little pea pods.” She grinned. “That’s why Ana and River are here.”
He glanced at the nanny bodyguards as surreptitiously as possible, caught Ana sneaking a peek at him. He remembered he was still wearing his black mask and removed it, figuring he didn’t need the Lone Ranger vibe anymore.
“I missed you, you know, even if you’re a schmuck,” Ash said cheerfully. “Staying awhile this time?”
“I’m back for good.”
“You won’t run away from your heart again?”
He sighed, sipping the martini, thinking it wasn’t any blacker than his hopes at the moment. “I’m in for the long haul.”
“Good.” She looked satisfied. “Shall we make a wager?”
“If we must.”
“I wager you’ll figure out a way to romance Ana by Christmas.” She grinned. “Sloan and Falcon fell much more easily than I ever dreamed. You should be a piece of cake. You’re a softie and already have your target in sight.”
He’d already fallen, so the wager was lopsided. Ana had never given him the time of day, no more than River gave Tighe any reason to hope. Only Jace seemed to hold the key to the bodyguards, and that alone was annoying. “Trust me, I’d be more than willing to wager whatever you wanted, if I thought there was half a chance. I don’t wager when the house deck is stacked against me.”
“It’s for charity,” Ash said. “I’m trying to raise five hundred bucks for the horse rescue in Diablo. Pony up, bro. If you win—which would actually be losing, but never mind—I’ll give you your money back.” Her face held nothing but purposeful honesty. “You can trust me.”
“Okay.”
