A CALLAHAN CHRISTMAS MIRACLE Read Online Free PDF Page B

it’s still good.” She reached into the bag on her nightstand and offered him a cookie. “I’ve developed an addiction to your aunt’s baking.”
    “No cookie. No tea. You’re changing the subject, trying to get my mind off your text with some sugary lures.”
    “Maybe.” She sipped her tea in the darkness, loving the feel of the big, strong man tucked up next to her in bed. She could definitely get used to this. “I’m right.”
    “But you won’t go through with it on your own.”
    She sighed. “Just think about my plan for a few days. You’ve got to find out what’s happening under your own ranch.”
    “You won’t tell a soul,” Galen said. “Not Ash, not Jace, not Fiona, not anyone.”
    “Of course I won’t. It’s your ranch, your family.” She put her teacup back down. “I always dreamed of having a room like this.”
    “Didn’t you have a girlie room?”
    “Sort of girlie. Not very. My mom died when I was very young.”
    “I’m sorry,” Galen murmured.
    “I was, too.” Rose took a deep breath. “Anyway, after college I began a busy job at a financial planning company. Didn’t have time to girlie up my room. Lived in a square box in Manhattan with no closet to speak of.” She laughed. “I look back on those days with a smile, because I learned a lot. This room is a treat.”
    “You got me off the subject again.”
    “You asked. Anyway, I already swore myself to silence. Your secret is totally safe.”
    “All right. Then I’ll head back to my own bed and leave you to your snack.”
    She giggled. “Fiona says she’s baking gingerbread tomorrow. I’m going to get fat.”
    “I very much doubt it. But a pound or two will only enhance those great curves you’ve got going on.”
    The man was born to flirt. She tried not to take it too seriously, decided to turn the topic back to business. “You know, if I quit eating Fiona’s treats, I can easily fit back through that opening—”
    “No. If anybody goes back down in that hole, it’s going to be a Callahan. Maybe Ashlyn.”
    “You wouldn’t put your sister in danger,” Rose said. “That much I know about you already. In fact, you won’t even want your sister to know it’s there.”
    “A truer statement was never spoken in this room.” He got out of bed. “See you at breakfast.”
    “Bye,” Rose said, catching a glimpse of his physique as he passed the window. He was a scrumptious hunk of man, and she should tempt him to stay longer. “Good night.”
    “Good night.”
    He closed the door, and Rose leaned back in bed. She put the cookies down, drank the rest of her tea and then got up to brush her teeth. The cookies had been a sugary lure, as Galen had noted.
    Tomorrow, gingerbread.
    * * *
    G ALEN DIDN ’ T GET much sleep, but then again, sleep wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. The gaping problem they’d unearthed last night deeply concerned him.
    In the morning, he went to the canyons to try to root out his grandfather. Running Bear sat at the fire ring, the stone circle where he’d brought them when they’d first arrived at Rancho Diablo. The chief had told the Chacon Callahan siblings that this was now their new home.
    Galen loved this land.
    “Chief,” he said, and the old man seated on the ground, eyes closed, face raised to the sky, nodded.
    “When you have a moment, I need to pick your brains.”
    “I have many moments.”
    Galen seated himself on the earth next to his grandfather, felt the spring sun warm his skin. “There is no place like Rancho Diablo.”
    “There are many spirits here. Mother Earth is strong and beautiful in this place.”
    “But there’s a bad current running under her, Grandfather.”
    “I know.”
    Galen sighed. His grandfather was always one step ahead of them, and knew the beginning, middle and maybe even the end of the journey they were on. Running Bear had also warned the siblings that one of them was the hunted one, the one who would bring danger to the family.