generous soul.”
He walked out, whistling as he went down the hall. Seton moved to the window, watching him amble across the street to Banger’s Bait and Tackle. Several bachelor-ettes accosted him, and Sam put his arm around them all. They moved as a group into the restaurant, like an amoeba that grew as it moved.
“The most annoying man on the planet,” Seton muttered. She locked her office door—there was no appointment, of course; she didn’t have any scheduled for the entire week—and took an aspirin. Then she sank into her wooden chair, looked around her bare office and wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake returning to Diablo to see if there was anything between Sam and her.
“Take off to Alaska,” Seton said, disgusted, and closed her eyes. “More like slither off.”
If that was the famous Callahan idea of romance, she wanted no part of it.
“YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND the Callahans,” Corinne Abernathy said two hours later, when Seton had sufficiently gotten over her desire to go after Sam and tell him what he could do with his stupid “proposal.” “Sam especially is an unusual case, because he came last. Youngest children are always different. He didn’t mean to offend you, Seton. In his mind, and with a man’s limited scope, he was being efficient.”
Seton sat ramrod-straight on her aunt’s flowered sofa and tried not to get steamed all over again. “He’s a male chauvinist, and maybe odd.”
Corinne laughed, her blue eyes serene behind her polka-dotted spectacles. “One might say that about all the Callahans. They’re wired differently, I suppose.”
“That’s no excuse.” Seton gratefully accepted a cup of tea from her aunt. “What am I supposed to do with a proposal like that? I was so surprised I couldn’t even throw him out on his ear, as I would have if I’d been thinking more clearly.”
“Well,” Corinne said, sitting on the divan across from her and putting a tray of tiny cookies on the coffee table. “I’d call his bluff.”
Seton stared at her. “You don’t mean accept his lunatic offer?”
She shrugged. “He’s a renegade lawyer, Seton, and coincidentally, a very good man from a very good family. And you’re in love with him. What do you have to lose by playing along?”
“I never said I was in love with Sam. I said—”
Her aunt waved a hand. “Seton, I may not know you as well as I know my own daughter, but I do know what a woman in love looks like. And I knew you loved Sam Callahan when you came back to Diablo. Why else would a woman return to a one-stoplight town to open up a gumshoe office?”
“I don’t know. But I do intend to find out.” She looked at her aunt, who was nibbling at a pink-frosted cookie. “He wasn’t the only reason I came home. I like spending time with you, too.”
“Oh, I know.” Corinne’s eyes sparkled. “It’s just gravy that’s there’s an adorable man here you’ve got your eye on.”
“I should have resisted my curiosity.”
Her aunt sipped her tea. “Have you ever thought that it’s a bit strange he made his offer to you? There are lots of ladies in Diablo who’d jump at the chance to say I do to Sam.”
Seton looked at her. “I simply figured I was the new face in town. Sam strikes me as being somewhat opportunistic.”
Corinne laughed. “He’s testing you, Seton.”
“For what?”
“Your interest level,” her aunt said calmly. “Play it out awhile. See what happens. What have you got to lose? You’ll find out if you’re actually in love with Sam, and he’ll get what he’s hoping for, which is to convince himself he’s not going to fall in love.”
Seton blinked. “Why would he want that?”
“Because he doesn’t think he belongs,” Corinne said. “He said as much to you with the whole ‘I don’t know who I am’ thing. It was sort of a confession—and a glimpse into his tortured soul.”
“Really?” She wrinkled her nose. “I just thought he was being dramatic so I’d feel sorry for him.”
Corinne smiled. “He wasn’t asking for your pity, he was asking for a snap wedding.”
“Well, he’s not going to get what he wants.”
Her aunt’s brows rose. “Don’t you want to get married?”
“Yes, but not now. And probably not to him.” Seton thought about children and wondered why Sam Callahan didn’t want any. She did—just as he’d said. “You have to remember I’ve been married before, Aunt Corinne. It fell apart when I had an ectopic pregnancy and lost a fallopian tube. When I have another life partner, I’d like him to be committed to having children. Sam made it plain that he isn’t in father mode. And I still think he might be odd.”
“They’re all a little different, as I say. But in a good way, Seton, if you have the courage to walk a different path. I’ve known their aunt for many years, ever since she and Burke came to Diablo, and I can honestly say that family is salt of the earth. If you think you might be in love with Sam, you could do worse, honey.”
“I don’t know.” Seton shook her head and stood. “Thanks for letting me stay here until I find a place, Aunt Corinne.”
“It’s a pleasure to have you. You go upstairs and think over your options, dear. I’m sure the just-right solution will come to you.”
Seton went upstairs to call her sister, who had once lived with the Callahans. Sabrina would certainly tell her to stay clear of Sam, which any sane woman would surely do.
Except for the single women in town who’d been hanging all over him as he’d gone into Banger’s today. Seton frowned and picked up the phone.
“YOU’RE AN IDIOT,” Jonas Callahan told his youngest brother. “Seton is never going to go for a dumb proposal like that.” He laughed, throwing his head back, then flipped the burgers on the grill. “When you said you weren’t going to be a sap and fall all over a woman like our brothers did, you went so far the other way it’ll be a miracle if Seton ever speaks to you again. Ha, ha, ha.”
Sam rolled his eyes and sucked on his longneck beer without much interest. “Well, she didn’t exactly run screaming from the idea.” Seton hadn’t looked thrilled, either. Maybe more murderous than anything. “She’s such a professional I figured the professional approach was best.”
“You were protecting your own hide.” Jonas grinned at him. “Your own emotions. That woman is so radioactively hot and major-league intelligent that she doesn’t have to put up with a bozo marriage proposal.” He waved the metal spatula. “Good money says she never speaks to you again.”
Sam nodded and took another swig. “Probably not,” he said cheerfully.
His brother eyed him. “Wait a minute. That’s why you did it, you loser.”
He raised a brow. “Did what?”
“Went
