Read Online BRANDED BY A CALLAHAN by Tina Leonard - Free Book Online

and shy curves—
    He shook his head. Glanced at the thing again, wondering if it was taunting him with frosty white luminosity, daring him to touch it. “I have to put you back in your bag,” he told it. “You’ve caused quite enough trouble for one day. And I have to say, why you had to pick on my lady, I really don’t know. Were ten Callahan brides your limit? Did you run out of magic?”
    The gown was hardly a fitting foe, troublesome rag that it was. And it really didn’t deserve his animosity, even if it had made Ana cry. Sighing, he reached for the hanger.
    To his astonishment, the gown filtered away, disappearing into the thin Rancho Diablo air that existed, indeed lived for, mysticism and tales of legend. He waited, astonished, his blood pounding.

Chapter Six
    He was in all kinds of trouble.
    Dante replaced the hanger and tried to assess what he was doing in his doughty aunt’s attic with a disappearing dress. “If you could reappear, you’d make my life a lot easier,” he said out loud, mainly to calm his racing heart.
    Nothing.
    He sank into a window seat and pondered what to do next. SEALs assessed, they didn’t panic. He had an upset lady on his hands, who had tangled with the supposed magical purveyor of happy wedding dreams. Obviously that scenario hadn’t gone well, not to mention that her sweet attempt at seducing him had ended with them both trussed in the back of a pickup, and that had hardly been the stuff of a woman’s fantasies. He had a gown that had hit the road—or air—and that wasn’t going to go well when he had to go downstairs and put in the report to Fiona. “Nuts. I’m beginning to get cranky,” he muttered, stating the obvious to himself, which didn’t help much.
    Apparently, the lesson was that everything was out of control at the moment, no different from when he’d been on top of Firefreak, hanging on for dear life and preservation of limb. He’d survive this, as he’d survived more dire circumstances in his life. But things had gotten sticky. Dante got up, grabbed the plastic cover that was supposed to protect the magic wedding gown, zipped the bag up and shoved it back into the closet. The bag hung limply, devoid of its charmed contents. Shaking his head, he turned off the lights and went downstairs to check on his aunt.
    She sat in bed, surrounded by adoring family. Her silver-white hair was pulled back in an elegant coil, and she wore a gray lace dressing gown that made her look like a queen holding court, though that court was just his brothers—the family jesters—and his capable sister.
    “Here’s my able-bodied nephew,” Fiona said. “Did you take care of it, Dante? I know you did, I don’t even have to ask. You’ve never messed up a mission.” She smiled, trusting him.
    Was it worth upsetting her? The regal aunt still looked so pale. Maybe it was best to wait until she was stronger to mention that her treasured mystical apparel had shazamed. On the other hand, perhaps he’d better just suck it up and confess that there was a great chance he’d offended the gown with his cursing, and it had hustled back to magic land. Fiona looked at him expectantly, confident that her nephew would have taken care of the matter as a Callahan did, with efficiency and thoroughness. Ash blinked at him, wondering at his hesitation. Jace frowned, Galen raised his brows, and Tighe— “Hey, twin. When did you get here?” Dante demanded, shocked to see his brother.
    “About five minutes ago, and clearly not a moment too soon.” He glared at Dante. “I let you go off on your own, and apparently you’ve lost your mind.”
    “Probably.” He thought about the gown and shook his head. “I’ve got it together more than I look like I do.”
    Tighe didn’t look convinced. “I stopped by to see River. Apparently, Ana packed up, gave notice and headed out.”
    “What?” All his confidence slid away. Dante stared around at the pitying expressions of his family,