you. Nice to meet you, Rose.” He went off, forcing himself not to watch her curvy backside as she followed Fiona out of the room. It was clear his aunt was interested in hiring her. He didn’t think his brothers would get a thing done with Rose around. The scenery would be just too tempting.
Then it occurred to him that he and Jace were the only bachelors left at Rancho Diablo. Sawyer was doing her best to monopolize Jace, though Galen wasn’t certain how effective her barrage of attention was on his brother’s single status.
But that left him as the lone available Callahan. The Lone Ranger of Rancho Diablo.
Neither Rose nor Somer might make the cut with his five brothers and headstrong sister. His brothers were dumb as woolly mammoths, and his sister, well, Ash was unpredictable at best. Her mind stayed on Xav Phillips. She could go thumbs-up or thumbs-down on either woman. Plus, there were a number of other applicants.
He was thumbs-way-up-high on Rose.
He’d just let the situation develop and hope that Rose and her playful, kid-friendly gypsy costume were voted yes by the family council. There was something so sexy and darling about a woman who came dressed to play.
Jace followed Galen into the upstairs library for the meeting. “Did you see that that woman from the Christmas ball year before last showed up?”
“I did.” Galen ignored his brother while he dug through some paperwork. “Let’s lay out our battle plan. We need a new strategy, or have to improve on the old one. Something has to change.”
“I might ask her out,” Jace said. “You know, she’s from Tempest. Not that far down the road—and we’ve got family and friends there. Our cousins have the Dark Diablo ranch in Tempest. It’s a nice place. And Rose is probably a real nice gal. Looks like it, anyway.” He grinned at his brother.
Galen hesitated, suddenly losing interest in the stack of papers. “Why?”
“She’s hot as an oven, dude.”
Galen swallowed. “Poetic.”
“I know, right?” Jace grinned, pleased with his announcement. “If Fiona hires her, I’m definitely going to think about it.”
“I almost hate to ask, and we do have greater matters to discuss other than your love life, but don’t you and Sawyer have kind of a secret thing going on?”
Jace shrugged. “If it’s a secret, why are you asking? And no, we don’t. Sawyer is a pretty girl. That’s all. I think she flirts with all the guys. She’d probably flirt with you, if you’d unbend.”
Galen decided he didn’t care about Jace’s love life. “Whatever.”
“Why? Do you want to ask Rose out?”
“No, I don’t.” Damn straight, I do.
“Because if you want to,” Jace said, like a dog with a juicy bone, “I wouldn’t stand in the way. I wouldn’t want to make you look bad. You’re not getting any younger, old-timer.”
“As if you could make me look bad.” Galen glanced toward the door. “Where’s the rest of the team?”
“I think they saw the other candidates and stopped to chat. I, on the other hand, stick to the assignment.” Jace poured himself a whiskey with a huge grin. “What’s up with your face, bro? Look like you have a stomachache. Need a soother?” He waved the bottle Galen’s way.
“I do not need a soother.” He sat on a sofa, dismissing his brother, and pondered what he should say about Somer. She’d definitely gone after the job, and he felt vaguely uneasy about her aggressiveness. He was the eldest Callahan, a doctor, a man who believed that fate and hard work brought many gifts. Why should Somer bother him so much?
“One of the candidates took off by herself to tour the ranch,” Galen said.
“Oh.” Jace seated himself at the opposite end of the sofa. “The tall, hot brunette? I think I heard Fiona tell her to go let her horse have some exercise. She pointed her in your direction, knowing the two of you would meet up. Fiona would never send a female onto the ranch without protection, but she knew you were on your way back, and that Ash was out there, too.”
Now that made more sense. Aunt Fiona’s fey mind at work, probably culling the tempting beauties from the herd and dangling them in front of the remaining single Callahans. “Why’d she bring her own horse?”
“Probably because she’d be expected to ride here? This is a ranch, you know.”
It all sounded reasonable.
“Gorgeous piece of flesh, if you ask me.” Jace’s grin was so irritating Galen wished he could bean him one across the head as he had when they were children. He’d given up beaning his siblings when they went off to boot camp.
“Are you planning on asking her out or not?” Galen asked.
Jace gave him an annoyed look. “The horse was a gorgeous piece of horseflesh,” he said, emphasizing the word as if Galen were stupid. Then he grinned again. “Galen, my brother, has a woman finally walked into your path that stirs your quiet, hard-to-reach soul?”
“No,” he said, thinking, Yes, that petite blonde with big eyes, but I’m not about to give you anything to crow about.
The rest of their brothers filed in, as well as Ash, whose grin was big as the quarter moon.
“What’s going on with the fire?” Galen asked her.
“Sheriff says he’s got men over there checking it out. We’ll know soon enough.”
He studied his brothers, grateful that he’d been able to keep them on the right path, the path of men committed to the fight. Strong, brave, true. Of course, Grandfather Running Bear had set the path for all of them. When their parents had gone away from the tribe, Galen returned home from his medical studies and raised his brothers and sister. They’d been a headstrong bunch, fierce and courageous. All of them had opted to join the military—and then retired to quiet lives. Then Running Bear had reached out with his astonishing instructions that they come to Rancho Diablo and protect cousins they’d never known they had. Protect a heritage they’d never known was theirs.
That decision had been the turning point that marked them all, and changed their lives.
“Excuse me,” Fiona said. Their aunt poked her head into the library. “I know the family meetings are sacred, but Rose is about to head back to Tempest. Are there any objections to her being hired on here?”
Jace looked at him. “Yes, Galen, are there any objections?”
Galen grimaced. “Why would I care who is hired as a nanny here? I don’t have children.”
“Well, you always seem to have an opinion about everything, relevant or not,” Fiona replied. “And you’ve met Rose before, so I just wanted to make certain there’d be no awkwardness. Awkwardness is bad when we all live as closely as we do.”
His frown deepened. “Why would I feel awkward around Rose? I barely know her.”
The rest of the family was quick to sense that
