A CALLAHAN CHRISTMAS MIRACLE Read Free Page A

her words. “It’s just the way it has to be for the sake of liability and the protection of our employees.”
    “That’s fine,” Rose said. “I completely understand.”
    The older woman beamed. “That’s it, then. I’ll let Jace go over the paperwork with you. Mealtimes are posted in the kitchen, as is what’s being served.”
    Rose glanced one last time at the door Galen had passed through. All the Callahans had been rumored to be hard to tame—but once tamed, they made wonderful husbands and fathers.
    If any man needed taming, it was Galen Callahan.
    * * *
    R OSE ’ S EYES SNAPPED OPEN in the night and she pulled the crocheted duvet up to her throat, telling herself she was nervous for no reason. She’d gone home and retrieved her things, and her father had sent her off full of dire warnings: Don’t go anyplace by yourself, and don’t let any of the Callahan men turn your head. They were rascals and scoundrels, and loved women like bees loved honey.
    Her dad had no idea how much the thought of a rascal Callahan appealed to her. But the other warnings had scared her a bit. She’d heard tales of the danger that circled Rancho Diablo.
    The door eased open, and she held her breath.
    “Knock, knock,” she heard a man’s voice say softly.
    “Yes?” At least it was a friendly visitor.
    “It’s Jace. Got a second?”
    Rose wondered if this was a Callahan ritual. “Do you always make nocturnal visits?”
    “Sometimes. Depends. She’s in here, Galen. She says we can come in.”
    She hadn’t said anything of the sort, but since Galen was around, Rose pushed herself eagerly to a sitting position. “What’s going on?” she asked, flipping on the tiny lamp on her nightstand. “Oh, my goodness! What did you do to yourself?”
    Both men were covered in mud from head to toe.
    “Don’t you dare get near my bed!” The pretty white coverlet wouldn’t stand mud on it—she’d never get it out. “Step on that rug, and don’t either of you move!” She hopped out of bed and pulled a robe from her closet, putting it on over her smiley-face pajamas.
    Galen grinned at her. “Cute.”
    “Thanks.” She wished she was wearing something sexier than the pajamas she’d had for the past two years, but she hadn’t expected two handsome cowboys to visit her in her bedroom. “What have you been into?”
    “We want you to come down to the canyons with us,” Galen said. “We need a small, delicate person like you to do something.”
    Rose eyed the mud that covered their jeans and smudged their handsome faces. “You two are nothing but trouble, I can tell. It’s written all over you.”
    “That’s what they say,” Jace said, and he looked so pleased about it that Rose wondered if either of these men could be tamed. She looked carefully at Galen.
    “If I come with you, and I’m not saying I will, what is it that you want me to do? Because I don’t want to come back looking like you. I don’t think crawling around in canyons was in the employment contract I signed.”
    “We’ll give you combat pay,” Jace said. “Fiona baked fresh chocolate chip cookies tonight. You’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.”
    “I bet. Occasionally, my dad sends me to Diablo to the Books’n’Bingo Society tearoom for cookies. We have a bakery in Tempest, but Dad likes what your aunt and her friends make better.” Their cookies were lures, and the Callahans had other lures, too. Her gaze longingly touched on Galen’s biceps, his broad chest, his lean hips in blue jeans.
    Even caked in mud, he was so sexy she ached.
    “So anyway,” Rose said, “I assume this outing is dress-down?”
    “Something a little less bright than smiley faces,” Galen said cheerfully, and his brother glared at him.
    “We’ll step out while you change,” Jace said, dragging him from the room.
    Rose dressed quickly. Even though it was June, it could be cool in the canyons. She pulled on jeans she wouldn’t mind getting filthy, a