Jace watched his delicate wife as she chatted with the owner of the small mom-and-pop restaurant. Roadside places this size could be greasy spoons, but this one was warm and welcoming. He liked the white paint on the building and the blue shutters that seemed to welcome weary travelers. The full parking lot had been testament to the good eats inside.
“She won’t like it,” he told his sister.
“We all agree that’s the likelihood. We hasten to warn you that Sawyer has left before, when she felt things were not optimum between you. This time, you’ll have to figure out how to keep her on the road with you. Unless you can convince her to go into temporary hiding, at least until after the babies are born. We had a family council, and we vote unanimously that less of you is more. Besides, you deserve a honeymoon, brother.”
He could hear his sister’s giggle loud and clear. “I’ll do my best.”
“Then that should be good enough. Tell Sawyer hello from the Callahan clan, and congratulations again. There must be a hundred wedding gifts here that she can open when you lovebirds return.”
Ash hung up, and Jace went inside to sit in a sunny, cushy booth across from his wife.
“I ordered for you.”
“Thanks.” He glanced around, checking the other diners. “Ash says the family sends their...” He groped for a word she’d find acceptable.
“Felicitations?”
“Exactly.” A waitress put a steaming cup of coffee in front of him, and Jace waited until she was gone. “She says a few wedding gifts have arrived.”
“I’ll write thank-you letters when we get home.”
“Yeah, about that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Ash also says that we need to stay gone awhile longer.”
Sawyer gazed over her glass of tea at him. “Reason?”
He hated to be the bearer of bad news. “Security.”
“Your family’s afraid I’m on the other side.”
“Will you stop?” he demanded impatiently. “They’re worried you’re a target now that your uncle has crossed Wolf, and therefore the cartel that Wolf is in cahoots with. It’s a dangerous situation for all.”
Her brow furrowed. “I never thought of that.”
“Yeah, well. Neither did I. I’d like to say Ash has worry overload, but considering the knife in the cake—”
“Accidental. Don’t let the Callahan love of drama make you see things that weren’t there.”
His gaze drifted out the window. He saw a truck pass that looked a lot like the one that had been following them on the way to Vegas—and a lightning bolt hit him. The driver of the truck that had been following them had delivered the wedding cake. Maybe Jace couldn’t swear to it in a court of law, but there’d been something so familiar about those men.
They’d hijacked the cake and stuck a warning in it.
His neck prickled as he glanced around the diner again, scanning each patron.
“So that’s all it is? The reason your family thinks we should stay on the road? Just garden-variety Callahan worry?” Sawyer looked hopeful.
“No,” he said quietly. “Ash and my brothers are right. It would be best if we stayed away from the ranch for now.”
“If I stay away from the ranch,” Sawyer said. “You aren’t supposed to go back to your home because of me.”
“We’re together,” Jace said. “A team.”
“Being married isn’t about being guarded, and that’s what you’re doing.”
He shrugged. The waitress laid a piece of apple pie in front of him and a salad in front of Sawyer. She topped off his coffee, then left.
“Salad for you, pie for me?”
Sawyer arched a brow. “I’ve worked for the Callahans long enough to know what acts like a charm around Rancho Diablo. Nothing brings you running like Fiona’s fresh-baked pies and cookies.”
This was true. He eyed her salad. “And you don’t have a sweet tooth, or are you eating healthy for the babies?”
She waved a fork at his pie. “Just eat, cowboy. I’ll take care of myself.”
“What would you say,” Jace said, looking into her beautiful blue eyes, “to honeymooning in Paris?”
“I would say no, thank you. I’m going back home. A honeymoon isn’t necessary.” She ate her salad with apparent contentment, which was sort of funny, because he had the calorie-laden, sugar-sprinkled treat, and it tasted like paste to him. It was probably a delicious pie, but he couldn’t focus on the tastiness thanks to the woman across from him.
He remembered how good Sawyer’s lips felt under his, how amazing it felt to hold her. The pie just wasn’t as satisfying.
“I’d take you anywhere in the world you want to go.”
“I know.” She looked up from her plate. “I get that. I appreciate that you’re trying to keep me safe.”
“You and my children.”
“But you need to be working at Rancho Diablo. You don’t need to be babysitting me. I’ll be fine.” She went back to eating. “Nothing should change because of a wedding ring.”
“Everything changed.” He drummed the table. “You know that Wolf and the cartel have tunnels running under the land across the canyons? We’ve bought the property, but there’s very little we can do about the underground infrastructure that’s already in place. We’re pretty certain Wolf intends—or the cartel intends—to try to attack Rancho Diablo from their underground operations center.”
“You think they’ll eventually tunnel under Rancho Diablo? Why wouldn’t they stop at the land across the canyons?”
“Because the goal is to take over the whole ranch.” Jace sighed heavily. “Wolf wants the Diablos that live in the canyons. He wants the fabled silver mine, not to mention the ranch itself.”
“Is it true about the silver treasure at Rancho Diablo?” she asked curiously.
He started to say, “Hell, yeah, it’s true,” and stopped himself.
In that moment, he saw the light of curiosity in his wife’s eyes die.
But he couldn’t tell her the truth.
“I shouldn’t have asked,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry. I forgot I’m Storm’s niece, an outsider, a woman whose uncle once trusted Wolf. Uncle Storm regrets that. He’s said a hundred times he wishes he’d never listened to Wolf’s lies about your family. But what’s done is done.”
“Sawyer—”
“It’s okay. Really. I’ll wait for you in the truck. We need to get on the road if we’re going to make it back to Rancho Diablo by nightfall.”
She left, and Jace closed his eyes.
She was right on so many levels. And he didn’t see any way to change that conflict between them.
Without honesty, a new marriage would have a tough time, especially when it had started as theirs had. Sawyer knew that, too.
He refused to face that ending.
* * *
AS JACE DROVE, Sawyer sat quietly, regretting that she’d mentioned the fabled silver treasure supposedly buried somewhere