thought I’d shoot you over a marriage proposal?”
“It was just a precaution. I like putting odds in my favor. I’ve learned a lot from the Callahans over the years.”
She sighed. “Xav, I appreciate you trying to lift the burden of guilt from me, but your story makes no sense whatsoever. I’d know if a gun I fired didn’t have a round in it. But you’re a hero for trying to make me think I’m not the hunted one. I know I am.”
She drifted out of the room, his gaze longingly on the petite body he remembered so well. Missed so much. When she was gone, he looked at his four children. “If you four got even a teaspoon of your mother’s obstinate streak, you’ll be able to survive anything the world throws at you.”
Mallory came in, set a tray in front of him. “Green chili? Tea?”
His stomach rumbled a bit since he hadn’t touched the cake she’d brought in before. “Both. Thanks.”
Mallory sat across from him, busied herself with the tray. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“All good, I hope.”
“You definitely live up to Ash’s description.”
“Which was what?”
“Tall, dark, handsome.”
Mallory had a wealth of freckles, sparkling eyes, and dark hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. She radiated good humor. “Thanks for helping out with my crew.”
“Ash also mentioned you weren’t the settling-down type,” Mallory continued.
“I just proposed,” Xav said. “Although the lady hasn’t accepted yet. She’s thinking it over.”
Mallory smiled. “Ash said she chased you for years, but that you weren’t a man who could be caught.”
He wondered why Ash would tell her friend such a story. “My proposal even came with a ring.”
“I believe you,” Mallory said. “I’m just giving you a little tip. I’m off to bake cupcakes before the babies wake up. They don’t sleep long during the day. Or the night. It’s nice to meet you, Xav. Feel free to stay in our home if Ash invites you.”
She left, and Xav considered his options. Of course he was staying here with his children!
Actually, Ash hadn’t invited him. He might not be invited. Even offering an engagement ring, a guy might find himself sleeping in his truck. And what was that business about him not being a man who could be caught?
It was Ash Callahan who’d run like the wind during their entire courtship, if one could call it a courtship.
He didn’t know what he was going to do with that crazy little gal. She had certain ideas about how things had been and how they hadn’t been—and the funny thing was, she was the mother of his children.
He was going to have to figure this out—fast.
He heard a snuffle from one of the bassinets, a small mewl, and he went to check on Skye. “Hey,” he whispered to his daughter, “you want to be picked up?”
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
