remember feeling—not even when he was in Afghanistan with Dante and they were trying to keep from picking grit out of their teeth and bullets out of their appendages. He had the scar from one he hadn’t managed to avoid, which had lodged itself in his biceps, right under the lightning strike tattoo all the Chacon Callahan siblings wore: the sign of their bond.
“I’m not sure where there may be a vacancy,” Tighe murmured doubtfully, trying to hang on to whatever fragments of good sense he possessed.
“And you probably won’t find one now. Everything is full.”
Dante and he had never worried much about where they were going to stay. One or the other of them always made a reservation, or they slept in their trucks. Might have been an awkward lifestyle with anyone else, but he and Dante had been each other’s shadow all their lives, and especially on the rodeo circuit. No one knew Tighe like Dante did.
In fact, it had been a little lonely since Dante had gotten married. Not that he wasn’t extremely happy for his knuckleheaded twin—but Tighe did miss his shadow on occasion.
“Come on,” River said, “get your stuff. I promise not to lay a hand on you, big guy.” She turned and walked off, leading the way, hips swaying, the lure of the wild loudly calling to Tighe, and all he could think was Rats. Kinda wish she wasn’t so good at keeping promises.
Riding Firefreak for the full eight seconds was more likely than him catching that hot angel.
He grabbed his duffel and followed.
* * *
RIVER SNEAKED TIGHE in under cover of night, through a back door so none of the other guests—nor Anne Sherby—would notice she was keeping company. For one thing, everyone staying at Sherby’s was female, and River wasn’t sharing. For another, what good was it to have a secret crush if the whole world figured it out?
Catching a Callahan wasn’t easy, and tonight, she intended to catch this one in a snare that might interest him. She had a deck of cards and a bottle of something Ashlyn said the Callahan guys liked to sip on in their upstairs library meetings at Rancho Diablo—and a comfy bed. Oh, she had absolutely no plans to seduce this cowboy—that would be dirty pool—but it wouldn’t hurt a bit if they spent a little time together away from the Callahan clan of prying eyeballs and matchmaking roulette. Just to see what would happen...
“Put your duffel there,” she said, pointing to a spot under the window in the tiny room.
“Whoa,” Tighe said, observing the twin bed in Miss Sherby’s B and B. “Do you think maybe Ms. Anne’s got a futon or a sleeping bag we could discreetly inquire about?”
River smiled. “We’ll manage.”
“I’ve seen baby cribs bigger than that bed.”
“Dante says you guys have shared a truck many times. This bed is about the size of a cab, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but he’s my twin.”
She smiled and pulled out the deck of cards and the whiskey bottle. “I don’t drink, but Ash says this is your favorite.”
“Wait a minute, little lady,” Tighe said. “What’s going on here? I’ve known you for about two years, and we’ve rarely been in the same room, much less a bed. And you brought my drink of choice. Are you setting me up?”
Of course she was setting him up. She wasn’t certain it was the best idea, but she’d been asked to play this role by the Callahans. So here I am.
“You mean am I seducing you?” River considered him. “Do you want me to?”
His handsome face was puzzled, maybe even perplexed. He was such a gentleman—all the Callahans were—and all that chivalry kept him from wanting to make a mistake of the sexual variety.
“Don’t worry,” River said. “If you’re that concerned about it, I’ll flip you for the bed. Or beat you at twenty-one for it.”
He grinned. “You can’t beat me, lady. I was born playing cards, pool and hooky.”
She poured him a drink. “You’re going to need a shot of this for courage.”
“For Firefreak? I don’t need anything to give me courage for that oversize piece of shoe leather.” Still, he gulped down the whiskey.
“It’s getting late,” River said.
“True. I’ll let you have the bed, gorgeous, and I’ll take the floor. Use my duffel as my pillow.”
“All right. I’m going to change.” She slipped into the bathroom, took off her dress, put on a pair of sleep shorts and a T-shirt. Very modest, but still feminine. Why had she allowed the Callahans to talk her into this caper? Sawyer claimed that the only way to a man’s heart was making him see you, really notice you. So that you were unforgettable to him.
River was pretty certain she’d been forgettable to Tighe for the two years she’d been guarding Sloan and Kendall’s twins. Taking a deep breath, she thought about those dark navy eyes, the longish, almost black hair that begged her to run her fingers through it, the hard, strong muscles...and then she opened the door to do her job.
“Hey,” Jace said, and River nearly shrieked.
“He found me,” Tighe said. “He’s like a homing pigeon. An ugly one, but just the same, a pigeon.”
“Hi, Jace,” she said, not surprised at all to see him. The plan was proceeding as outlined, even if she didn’t feel all that good about the plot on Tighe.
“He’s got no place to stay, either. Mind if he bunks with us?” Tighe asked.
“I promise not to snore.” Jace poured himself a drink. “Ms. Sherby sure knows how to stock the stuff a guy likes.”
“Fine by me.” River wished Jace hadn’t shown up so soon. Secretly she’d been hoping for just a couple moments alone with her dream cowboy. She sat on the bed, waited for Jace’s signal.
“You’re the luckiest woman in town, spending the night with two Callahans,” he said as he dumped his duffel on the floor, not sounding anything like a man who was out to derail his brother.
“Good times, good times,” River said, but her insincerity was lost on the two men as they shuffled the deck, splayed the cards on the small table and began a spirited game.
“You’re just determined to ride that piece of ugly spotted steak tomorrow, aren’t you?” Jace asked.
“You better believe it. I’m going to ride him like a little girl’s pony.”
River rolled her eyes. “Sexist, much?”
“Not at all. But we give gentle rides to the ladies,” Jace said. “You wouldn’t want to give a woman a mount that might harm her in any way.”
River rolled her eyes at the typical Callahan nonsense she’d heard many times. “Jace, why aren’t you riding tomorrow?”
“Thought about it. Decided I’m too good-looking to risk injuring myself on a bull.”
