A Callahan Christmas Miracle. Tina Leonard

to dig deeper if he’d ever heard one. “Storm, you might as well get it off your chest. Skeletons don’t go away, you know. They have a disturbing tendency to hang around and rattle when you least expect it.”

      “True,” his neighbor said, “but it’s not the skeletons I’m worried about.”

      “So it’s the mercenaries,” Galen stated, and Storm looked him straight in the eye.

      “Look, I’ll sell the land to you for a quarter less than I paid for it. I just want rid of it, Callahan. Take it or leave it.”

      Galen watched his expression carefully. Storm had less of a poker face than he might have imagined. The man seemed concerned about something. Galen decided to be the needle that dug out the splinter. “That’s quite a loss you’ll take on the asking price.”

      “I’ve got a beautiful fiancée. I don’t have time to oversee an enormous ranch,” Storm said.

      “I think there’s more to the story.”

      His neighbor gave him a dry look. “I don’t want to get caught in the middle of anything.”

      “Nothing to get caught in the middle of. We’re the good guys.” A sudden thought occurred to Galen. “Wait a minute. You’ve come to our ranch a couple of times mentioning that you’d found stragglers camping on your land. That there were trespassers you couldn’t control. You haven’t been threatened in any way, have you?”

      “If you want to buy the land across the canyons and my land, you’ve got yourself a deal, neighbor. We’ll leave it at that.”

      Galen blinked, caught off guard. “You planning to move away, Storm? You haven’t been on this spread but about four or five years, have you?”

      “Think I’ll move into town, to Lu’s place,” Storm said evenly.

      The rancher had been threatened. Galen’s sixth sense was going wild with warning. “What does Lu think about that?”

      Lu Feinstrom was Storm’s lady friend. She was a great cook and quite a woman. Storm had gone down like a sack of hammers for her and her cooking.

      “She’d rather live here. But what can I do?” He glanced at the sky. “Looks like a storm is coming, Callahan. I’m going to have to bring some livestock in. Have your lawyer or agent send me an offer. Then we’ll smoke on it.”

      “I’ll do that.” Galen watched as the big man headed off in his truck, then got in his and drove back to Rancho Diablo.

      * * *

      “IT’S BEAUTIFUL, FIONA,” Rose said, gazing at the wedding dress on her bed. “But I don’t know anything about modeling wedding gowns.”

      “Sure you do,” Fiona said brightly. “Just hop in that one and let’s see what you see. I mean, let’s see how it fits you.”

      “What is this big event Rancho Diablo is hosting?” Rose couldn’t say why she didn’t want to put the gown on, she just didn’t.

      On the other hand, she couldn’t disappoint Fiona, whose face was bright and expectant.

      “I’m just about out of bachelors, except for Jace,” Fiona told her. “So this Christmas, for the Christmas ball, I’m going to do a bride-a-thon. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

      “You’re planning early.” Rose’s heart shifted a bit. “How can you be out of bachelors?”

      “I just ran out of available options.” Fiona snapped her fingers. “I can’t raise enough money for the charity projects I’m working on by selling cookies and pies, you know. So this time I’m going to have a bride-a-thon to end all bride-a-thons.”

      Rose backed up a bit farther from the gorgeous gown. “What about Galen?”

      “Oh, Galen’s a pinhead and Jace is loosey-goosey. Couldn’t get much for either of them. No, this year we’re going for the bachelorette angle. Much more lucrative, I’ll bet. Sure you don’t want to try this on? It’s still got the price tag attached.”

      Rose didn’t think there could be anything more lucrative than Galen strutting on stage in front of a couple hundred leering ladies. “I bid on Galen year before last,” she said. “I’d bid again.”

      Galen walked into her room just as the words left her mouth. He grinned and gave her a sly wink.

      “I really appreciate that vote of confidence, doll face. I’m sorry you didn’t win me. Maybe another time.”

      “I don’t think so,” Rose said. “Your aunt says you’re unavailable.”

      Galen raised a brow. “Am I, aunt?”

      “I think it’s a terminal thing,” Fiona muttered, gazing at the dress with some sadness. “I had great hopes for you and Jace, but the truth is, you two may be runts.”

      Rose laughed, the idea of this tall man being a runt too ludicrous to imagine. “Poor Galen.”

      He grabbed his aunt to him and gave her a big smooch on the cheek. She squealed and wriggled out of his arms. “Who’s the victim that’s going in that white shroud, aunt?”

      “I was trying,” Fiona said with some asperity, “to get Rose to put it on, but it seems she doesn’t fancy white shrouds, as you so illustratively call this delightful creation.” She sailed from the room, murmuring about needing to redo her victim list.