Read Online HER CALLAHAN FAMILY MAN by Tina Leonard - Free Book Online Page A

honeymoon, he didn’t know what was. Jace went to the fridge and grabbed a beer to mask his grumpiness.
    “The chief says he doesn’t want any trouble this time,” Ash said. “I’m here as an equalizer should any trouble try to rear its head.”
    “If you’ve been sent to help, does that mean this is home for a while?” Sawyer asked.
    Ash shrugged, crossing her legs underneath her as she finished off her brother’s plate of food. “The Feds plan to dynamite the tunnels under Sister Wind Ranch.”
    “Under Loco Diablo,” Jace automatically said, and Ash said, “Whatever. It’s going to be my ranch.”
    “What does Galen think about that?” Jace asked. “His ranch being dynamited?”
    “Who cares what Galen thinks?” She smiled at Sawyer. “I don’t pay attention to what any of my brothers think if I can help it.”
    “About the tunnels,” Sawyer said. “If they’re being dynamited, then that’s going to flush out Wolf and his gang, isn’t it?”
    “That’s the problem,” Ash replied. “Wolf blames this whole situation on your uncle.”
    Jace watched his wife’s expression turn fearful. “It’ll be all right,” he said quickly, but Sawyer stared at Ash.
    “How could it be my uncle’s fault?”
    She shrugged. “Wolf let your uncle know that he blames him for the deal falling apart. If Storm had stayed put and not sold his place to us, then Wolf would have continued to have ranch land he could operate from that bordered ours. Now he’s out in the open.”
    “What does that have to do with the tunnels?” Jace asked.
    Sawyer looked at him. “Your uncle Wolf thinks I turned on my uncle to marry you.”
    Jace started to shake his head, then noticed his sister was nodding hers. “I don’t exactly get it.”
    “You’ll have to tell him one day,” Ash said to Sawyer, who slowly nodded.
    “You remember that I told you my uncle wanted me to report to him on anything suspicious your family might be doing, because he wasn’t sure who the bad guys and the good guys were?”
    “Yeah,” Jace said, aware by the pained look on his sister’s face that he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear, “but I don’t care about that. You’re my wife. You’re having my children. Everything else is in the past.”
    “I told my uncle that your family was thinking about leaving the ranch one day,” Sawyer said. “Especially since so many of you were married. And since Galen had bought the land across the canyons.”
    “Sister Wind Ranch,” Ash said.
    “Loco Diablo,” Jace said, trying to figure out why Sawyer was so upset. “I don’t see what’s wrong. We will go home eventually. When the land and the family are safe again, we’ll go back where we came from, and our cousins will return to their home.”
    “I told my uncle that the Callahans could return home any day,” Sawyer said miserably. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just wanted to calm him down. He’s been so worried for so long. Wolf has really kept him rattled. He started out so friendly, but over time began to change, got more threatening. Uncle Storm panicked, knowing that Wolf’s men were close, and realizing that major trouble was coming if your family left Rancho Diablo. As far as my uncle is concerned, your family is strong, and maybe the only people capable of keeping Wolf at bay. So he sold out—to you. Wolf wanted him to sell to him,” Sawyer finished. “He’s furious with my uncle and promised to take revenge on him the moment his back was turned.”
    Jace frowned. “This is typical Wolf stuff. If I listened to every threat that came out of Uncle Wolf, I’d be deaf.”
    “But then the tunnels were reported to the Feds,” Ash interjected, “and Wolf believes Storm ratted him out.”
    “How could he? Storm didn’t know about the tunnels.”
    “He did,” Sawyer said with a sigh, “because of me.”
    Jace felt a dawning sense of dread wash over him. “So? Wolf couldn’t know that your uncle