His Valentine Triplets

Rafe shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now.” He got in the passenger seat and pondered how he might ever put his plan of The Seduction of Julie into place. As Sam had said, she was not an easy woman to sway—and she seemed to hold him in as much esteem as a rattlesnake.

If he didn’t know better, he would think she hadn’t enjoyed his lovemaking.

But he did know better. Judge Julie didn’t have a faking bone in her body, and the woman put on no grand act. He’d be forever thankful for his steer getting tangled in her fence in the first place. Okay, maybe making love in a field on a blanket he’d grabbed from his truck wasn’t a woman’s idea of My First Time, but by golly, he’d waited for years to hold Julie Jenkins, and he’d made the most of it. He’d had her sighing and moaning like crazy, a yearning cat under his fingertips. Today, he’d tried to make her second time something she’d remember with a heaping helping of must-have-more. “I’d just put it up to the fact that she’d heard of your reputation, bro, and went down before the fight.”

Sam shook his head. “There’s something funny about Judge Julie calling uncle that easily. Bode’s hired one of the best teams of lawyers around.”

Rafe clapped his brother on the back. “No one’s as good as a Callahan.”

And it’s true, Rafe thought. I’ve had it from Judge Julie’s own lips. Maybe not in those exact words. Maybe not in any words at all. But I know Julie Jenkins digs her some Callahan cowboy.

FOR A WEEK, ALL WAS SILENT. Rafe saw his brothers at mealtimes and at work, and everybody seemed preoccupied. He wrote it off to the heat. Jonas was moody, but what the heck. When one was a retired surgeon turned rancher, perhaps one got moody. Jonas had always been a brooding cuss, anyway, and as far as Rafe could tell, his oldest brother had been eyeing Sabrina McKinley for the past couple of years, and nothing had changed. If there was one thing guaranteed to put a man off-kilter, it was the unrequited desire for the love of a good woman. It could kill a guy. “Or at least the lust for a good woman,” Rafe amended out loud, earning a glance from Sam, who was studying a mass of papers almost as thick as the Bible. Rafe went back to considering the sales figures for Rancho Diablo, but his mind wasn’t on it. Sam works too hard. He’s been trying to save this ranch for nearly three years now, and I don’t think he’s even looked at a woman in all that time. Callahans should have it easier getting sex than we do.

“The problem,” Rafe said out loud, “is that we all work too hard. And we’re picky.”

“What, ass?” Sam said. “Do you mind taking your braying elsewhere? These briefs are eating me, and I can’t think with you chattering like a teenage girl.”

His brother definitely needed a woman. “You know, Sam,” Rafe said, “since I’m the thinker of the family, I’ve been thinking. And I think it’s time we got you out of the house.”

Sam glared at him. “Thank you, Sophocles, for that bit of news I can’t use.”

“Dude, this lawsuit has sucked you dry.”

“You have a solution?” Sam shrugged. “I’m not giving up on Rancho Diablo, no matter what barrel Bode Jenkins thinks he’s got us over.”

“Yeah.” Rafe considered his brother. “Nothing seems to be working, does it? Aunt Fiona’s Plan has gone off the rails. We’ve had weddings and babies out the wazoo around here, and our brothers have populated a small town all by themselves, and still we can’t convince the courts that we should have our own zip code free of Jenkins.”

“Do you mind, Hippocrates? Can I get back to this?” Sam waved some documents.

Rafe grunted. “I’m just saying maybe you ought to get some fresh air. Or get lucky, alternatively, if that’s in the range of your possibilities.”

Sam laughed, and it wasn’t a pretty sound. “And when, pray tell, was the last time a woman opened her door for you, Einstein?”

Rafe couldn’t brag. It would make Sam feel bad. He probably felt that they were brothers in bachelorhood. Of the six Callahan boys, only Sam, Rafe and Jonas were unmarried. No woman was going to throw her cap at Jonas, because he was about as much fun as a wart. Sam had an easygoing style, when he let himself hang loose, which wasn’t often.

Of the three of them would-be champions to Fiona’s Plan to get all the Callahans married—and then award Rancho Diablo to the brother with the largest family—Rafe figured he had the best chance. I have the highest IQ, I have the best hair, I fly the family plane and girls love geeky guys like me. “If you knew anything at all about Hippocrates, brother, you would know that he believed the body must be treated as a whole and not just a series of parts. Therefore, with your mind in overload over Rancho Diablo’s attempt to free itself from Bode Jenkins, you’re under too much stress. We’ve got to find you a woman.”

“Excuse me,” Sam said, “but I didn’t hear you tell me when you last saw a woman naked and welcoming you.”

Rafe didn’t reply. He didn’t want Sam to feel bad, and he would never let the cat out of the bag about the judge. Especially since Sam was pitting his wits against Julie’s father.

“That’s what I thought, genius.” Sam went back to glaring at the mountain of paper in front of him.

“Never say I didn’t try to help,” Rafe stated, and leaned back to continue studying ranch paperwork.

The bunkhouse door blew open with the speed of a rocket, crashing against the wall. Rafe’s jaw sagged as Bode Jenkins barreled into the room.

The old rancher was holding a rifle in his hands, pointing it at him.

“Jesus, Bode,” Sam said. “Put that popgun down before someone gets hurt.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Bode said, glaring at Rafe. “You dirty, thieving dog!”

“Are you talking to me?” Rafe stood, pushing Sam behind him. “What the hell, Bode?”

Fiona burst in behind their neighbor and faced him, before kicking him a smart one on the shin. “Bode, give me that gun, and cool your head. Whatever’s gotten up your nose now, it isn’t worth doing time in jail.”

Burke appeared and snatched the gun from Bode, who seemed to give it up without much fight. All the other Callahans filed in, glaring at the rancher, then glancing around the room to make certain everyone was in one piece.

“Do you mind telling us what’s going on?” Jonas demanded.

“I’ll tell you,” Bode said, his voice quavering. The man’s face was red, pinched with fury as he glared at Rafe.

“No, you won’t.” Julie winked and shoved a few Callahans out of the way so she could reach her father. “Dad, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack. Calm down.”

Rafe blinked at Julie, who was stunning in a summery sundress and sandals, with her inky hair swept up in a ponytail. There was just something about her that hit him like a fist to the solar plexus every time he saw her. He liked her in her judge’s robe, he liked her in a dress, and he loved her naked in the moonlight.

But something had her wound up tight. More than the court case. “What’s up?” he asked her. “What’s got Bode steamed this time?”

That got Julie’s laserlike attention. She practically stabbed him with her eyes as she sent him a particularly poisonous glare. “Now is not a good time for you to be speaking disrespectfully to my father. I just saved you from being shot, Mr. Callahan, so if you don’t mind, zip your lips.”

Well, wasn’t that a big dose of judgelike attitude? He grinned at Julie. She liked him, he could tell. No woman was that starchy around a man unless he rattled her love cage. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

“Bode, the next time you come running onto our property like a madman—and may I remind you this is not the first time you’ve acted crazy…” Fiona began.

Bode pinwheeled his arms with frustration. “You Callahans make me crazy. Why can’t you just git? This is my land, my property, but you’re like fleas. You multiply like fleas—”

His face turned redder, as if he’d just thought of something horrific. He glared at all of them, reserving his most potent fury for Rafe. “You—”

“Dad,” Julie said, “we’re leaving right now. Come on. There’s nothing here we want.”

Rafe watched her go, tugging her protesting father along with her. Of course there was plenty here Bode wanted. He wanted the ranch, he wanted their home, he wanted the Diablos and the rumored silver mine—

Bode whirled, punching his finger toward Rafe as he escaped his daughter’s clutches. “You’re not winning,” he told him. “You haven’t won.”

Julie dragged her dad from the bunkhouse.

“Damn,” Rafe said, “I believe Bode’s finally gone over the edge.” He sank onto the leather sofa. His brothers and Fiona and Burke gathered around. “I thought he had a caretaker over there to keep an eye on him.”

“Seton’s busy, I think,” Fiona said. “She’s been over here helping Sabrina with some things for me.” Their aunt shrugged. “Seton does have time off, and she chooses to be here with her sister. That has nothing to do with Bode’s visit, because he seemed mostly upset with you.” Fiona looked at Rafe. “Didn’t he say he was going to kill you?”

Rafe shrugged in turn. “I took that ‘you’ in the global sense, as in all of us. I don’t think he meant me personally. If he wants to kill anyone, it would probably be Sam, who is beating him all to hell in court.”

“Oh.” Fiona nodded.

“I swear,” Rafe said. “I didn’t do anything to the old man. We all agreed we’d abide by the law, and the decision of the courts, and I’m cool with that.” He held up two fingers in a V. “Peace, brothers. It’s all chill in the house of Callahan.”

Jonas snorted. “Yo, thinker, don’t do anything stupid. The man is tense, and next time we might not be around to save you.”

“Save me?” Rafe shook his head. “He’s crazy. Everyone knows it.”

“Everyone may know it, but that won’t save you if Bode decides to get crazy on you.”

Burke looked at Fiona. “Actually, that’s the most upset I’ve ever seen our neighbor. Thankfully, his firearm wasn’t loaded, although they say there’s really no such thing as an unloaded gun.”

“He is crazy,” Fiona agreed, “but he’d been quiet for a while. Which made me nervous in a different way. But now I’m really nervous.” She looked around the room at all the brothers. “Now is as good a time as any to tell them,” she said to Burke, and Rafe thought, oh, that didn’t sound good.

“It’s up to you,” Burke said, moving his hands to her shoulders.

Fiona looked down, allowing Burke to massage her shoulders, which was strange, for this independent woman rarely accepted anyone’s comfort. Rafe could tell his little aunt was struggling to put her thoughts in order. Bode’s untimely visit had put speed to something that had been on her mind. Rafe waited, feeling tense himself now.

“Burke and I believe that Bode’s ill feelings in this suit have largely been directed at me. I’ve been a thorn in his side for quite some time,” she said.

The room was so silent Rafe thought he could hear Sam’s heart beating beside him, which was really annoying. It should be my heart I hear beating. Sam’s always been one for attention. It’s why he’s a lawyer.

“Remember the Plan I put forth to all of you? How I put Rancho Diablo in trust for whichever of you married and had the largest family?”

They all nodded. A couple of his brothers looked pretty proud, because they figured they were in the lead. Rafe snorted. It didn’t matter. They’d decided among themselves that, whoever won it, they were going to divide ranch ownership between them equally, in spite of Fiona’s Plan. And once he got started making a family—when he finally decided to settle down—Rafe would make all his brothers look like beginners, anyway. There was such a thing as proper planning, which all men of deep thought knew. Strategy. Chess players understood the importance of strategy, for example.

“Well, after a great deal of thought, worry, prayer and yes, even strategic plotting, Burke and I have decided,” Aunt Fiona said, taking a deep breath, “to move back to Ireland.”

Chapter Two

“Now see what you’ve done, brain man,” Sam said beside him, and Rafe turned.

“What?” he demanded. “What did I do?”

“You’ve upset Fiona.” Sam shook his head. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t ticked off Bode and his precious pumpkin, Julie. By the way, did you get my play on words? Brain man? Like the movie Rain Man?”

“Yeah, a laugh riot.” Rafe turned to face his aunt. “Okay, before everything gets really out of hand, I suggest we discuss topics of concern that affect the ranch and its future.” He went to Fiona and patted her on the back. “Let’s meet in the library in thirty minutes, which will give everyone time to finish what he was doing just as our neighbor had another of his dramatic fits.”

The brothers went off in separate directions, muttering and murmuring. Rafe looked down at Fiona. “It’s going to be all right. You can’t let Bode upset you every time he decides to be a clown. Because he does it so often.”

She stared up at him, her eyes bright. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I know, in my raising of you boys and the management of this ranch. But I cannot let something bad happen to any of you.” Fat tears plopped down Fiona’s wrinkled cheeks.

He hugged her. “We’re grown men, Aunt. You don’t have to worry about us anymore.”

“That’s not what that rifle said.” She sniffled.

“Yeah, but we all know Bode’s a terrible shot.”

“Eventually even a bad shot finds a mark.”

That might be true. Rafe pondered the wisdom in his aunt’s words as he held her to him. He looked at Burke over Fiona’s head. The only father figure most of the brothers remembered shrugged helplessly.

“All right, no more tears. We’ll get this figured out.” Rafe patted Fiona on the back and let Burke lead her away.

She was shaken, of course. They all were. Except him, for some reason. Staring down the barrel of that gun didn’t upset me like it should have.

Bode was just superhot under the collar because the Callahans made his precious lamb recuse herself from the lawsuit. He’d expected Judge Julie to be his ace in the hole.

Ha.

“Crazy old man,” Rafe muttered under his breath.

But an annoyed Jenkins was not to be treated lightly. Rafe remembered the time Julie had been teed off with him, and his brothers had let her into the bunkhouse where he’d been sleeping off a bender, and she’d drawn about fifty tiny red hearts all over his face with indelible marker. It had taken a week for those suckers to wear off. He’d been the laughingstock of Diablo.

He still had a bone to pick with her about that.

She hadn’t looked too happy with her father’s attempt to put a piece of lead in him today, but it wasn’t because she cared what happened to Rafe. All Julie cared about was her old man.

“Which means,” Rafe muttered as he left the bunkhouse to head to the family council, “that the next time we make love, I’m going to have to make certain that the folks all the way over in Texas hear my darling little judge banging her gavel as I completely disorder her sweet little court.”

“YOU REALIZE HE’S AN ASS,” Julie Jenkins snapped to Seton McKinley thirty minutes later, after she’d remanded an exhausted Bode back into Seton’s care.

The blonde and beautiful care provider blinked at her. “Your father?”

“No,” Bode interrupted, impatient for the story delay. “Rafe Callahan. He’s an ass. An eight-point horned ass.”

Julie sighed. “Dad, calm down. Put all this behind you. Most importantly, it’s against the law to go waving rifles at people and threatening them. I know you don’t realize this, but you jeopardize my career when you lose control.”

“I would never do that.”

Bode looked at her with big eyes. Julie sighed again, realizing only too well how much the Callahans got under her father’s skin. “Dad, you did. I could be in trouble for not calling the sheriff out on you.”

“This is what I’m talking about.” Bode waved a hand at her and Seton. “The Callahans are always at the root of every problem.”

“Usually I agree with you wholeheartedly.” Most especially, she would agree with him that Rafe was something of a rascal. No sooner had his longhorn gotten caught on her land then Rafe had shone all his legendary Callahan charm on her. And she, like a weak, silly princess in a fairy tale, had let him wake her up from her self-imposed sleep, and then made certain she’d not had a night since when her dreams weren’t interrupted by his devilishly handsome, always grinning face. She didn’t even want to think about what he’d done to her last week in her own chambers—and yet she hadn’t had five minutes where she didn’t remember his mouth all over her body, tasting her hungrily as if he’d never had a meal so good. It sent shivers shooting all over her just thinking about it.

“This time, I can’t agree with you. You’re at the root of this problem.” Julie settled a red-and-black plaid blanket over her father and left him to Seton, who seemed to have decent luck soothing Bode. Once again the situation was equally split, with blame for both sides. Her father was angry that the Callahans had asked her to recuse herself, and the Callahans were doing what they had to do to keep their ranch. It was all pointless. In the end, Bode would get Rancho Diablo. Her father always got what he wanted.

She should have taken herself off the case long ago. But she’d wanted to stay in control as long as possible to make certain the Callahans didn’t pull any of their numerous tricks on her father.

Callahans were famous for practical jokes on people they considered friends, and dirty tricks on those they didn’t.

She had to protect her dad.

“I gave him a shot of brandy, and he went right to sleep.” Seton walked into the kitchen and handed a glass to Julie.

“Oh, no, thank you.” She waved away the crystal glass and reached for water.

“I’m not sure what set him off,” Seton said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when he got emotional.”

Julie shook her head and began unloading the dishwasher. “Trust me, there wasn’t anything you could have done. When Dad gets his mind made up, off he goes. Wild horses couldn’t hold him back.”

“Do you know what was bothering him?”

Julie didn’t turn around. “The Callahans. They always bother him,” she said simply, but she knew the truth wasn’t simple at all. “Don’t worry about it, Seton. Dad gets worked up about once a month. It always blows over.”

“All right. Let me know if you need anything.”

She nodded, and heard Seton leave the kitchen after a moment. Julie kept straightening, her mind not really on the task. After she finished the dishes, she closed the dishwasher and went out to the den to look at the black-and-white photos on the mantel. Almost every picture was of her and Bode. Riding horses. Swinging on the porch swing. Hunting deer. Skiing in Albuquerque. She’d framed them all in black frames so they matched, a chronology of their years together. Just the two of them—except one photo.

That picture was of her, Bode and her mother. The three of them, a family, before Janet Jenkins had passed away from cancer. Bode had been a different person before her mother died. He was pretty focused now on wheeling and dealing, the thrill of the hunt.

Julie didn’t think her father had ever mentioned the Callahans except in passing before he’d become a widower. His hatred of that family knew no bounds now.

Of course, the Callahans stirred the pot like mad. Fiona was no wimp at plotting herself, and seemed to take particular delight in keeping Bode wound up.

Julie had gotten revenge once, but even when drawing hearts all over Rafe’s face, she’d known she was totally attracted to him. Like his twin, Creed, he was lean and tall, with dark hair and a chiseled face. Creed’s nose looked a bit broken, but Rafe’s certainly wasn’t, despite the fact he’d rodeoed and been in numerous fights. He was totally, hauntingly masculine. Julie couldn’t touch his skin and not know he was totally delicious.

But she’d never dreamed she’d slip under his spell and willingly shed her dress and her inhibitions for him—cross line, father and court to experience the wonder of making love with Rafe Callahan.

“He’s still a jackass,” she muttered. Rafe did not like her. She was pretty certain their day in court had been a game, a Callahan hookup, for which the cowboys were famous. She looked at the picture of herself as a small child held by her mother, and knew there were some things she couldn’t even tell her father. He was just too mentally fragile these days—and some things were too terrible to confess.

Especially when they had to do with Callahans.

Unfortunately, she was pretty certain she was under the spell of a certain black-haired, crazy cowboy.

“THERE IS NO REASON for us to pay any more attention to Bode than we have before,” Rafe said. He looked at Fiona, who was seated next to Burke in the upstairs library. Each brother had joined in the family council to discuss the next move, and Fiona’s startling pronouncement.

Rafe took a sip of brandy from a crystal glass. “The strain of the suit is no doubt taking a toll on everyone, but there’s no reason for you to feel that you’re the problem, Aunt Fiona.” He shrugged. “Bode’s just getting himself caught in his own game, and it’s making him a little nutty.”

“That’s right,” Jonas said. “There’s no reason for you to go back to Ireland, when we need you here.”

“I second that,” Pete said. “Who would watch my three bundles of joy? Jackie needs help now more than ever.”

“I third that,” Creed said. “I’ve got my hands full with kinder now that Aberdeen’s expecting again. Her sister Diane living on the ranch with Sidney means three more toddlers on top of that. Who has the energy to keep up with all these children besides you, Aunt Fiona?”

She gave them all a leery glance. “Do not try to entice me with babies.”

“But that was The Plan all along, wasn’t it?” Judah grinned. “The Plan was to get us married and in the family way as quickly as possible. You wanted babies, and we complied.”

“And have been having a lot of fun doing it,” Pete said, and everyone booed him.

“It’s true, though.” Creed glanced around at his unwed brothers with a big grin. “The fifty percent of you who haven’t joined in Fiona’s Grand Plan don’t know what you’re missing out on.”

Rafe rolled his eyes. “Dirty diapers? Sleepless nights? Pint-size potties?”

Creed raised his glass. “Nightly lovemaking that you don’t have to go hunting for.”

“Afternoon quickies on call,” Pete said with a smile.

“Booty that has your name on it,” Judah said with a big grin, “and furthermore, has her name on yours, as much as you can stand it.”

Rafe blinked. “Jeez. Is it all about sex with you knuckleheads?”

“Yes,” his three married brothers said in unison, and Rafe sighed.

He knew exactly how they felt. If he could go home to Julie every night, he’d beg her to cook naked for him. He’d make certain she had see-through baby doll nighties that he could tear off her every night, a different one for every day of the month. He’d—

Damn. They’re getting to me. My own brothers.

He looked at everyone staring at him, and swallowed hard. Creeps.

“Anyway, what I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Rafe said with a glare for the married side of the room, “is that if you leave, Aunt Fiona, you cede the field to Jenkins.”

“Which is a bad idea,” Judah said, “because you’ve been running Rancho Diablo for over twenty years. There’s no reason for you to let him run you off.”

“And besides,” Pete chimed in, “someone’s got to marry off the rest of our brothers. We don’t need half of us causing trouble in our bachelor phases.”

“Jonas, Sam and Rafe.” Creed shook his head. “My twin, Rafe, and Jonas, the eldest of the bunch, and Sam, the youngest of the bunch. I’d say we still need you, Aunt Fiona.”