Chapter Three

      After he’d packed up some gear and run the gauntlet of a protesting aunt Fiona and family, River hustled Tighe into the military jeep and steered it toward the canyons. He glanced over at the goddess next to him, trying to decipher the change in her mood. She certainly wasn’t the cooing, sexy tigress he’d had in his arms last night.

      He’d have to call River’s mood elusive, which didn’t sit well with him at all. It almost felt as if she was abandoning him without a thought.

      “Thanks for the ride. My siblings weren’t going to bring me.”

      Glossy dark strands of hair blew around her face as she drove, rather speedily, he thought, given the uneven terrain. She could at least quit mashing the pedal.

      “It’s not my worry if you’ve got a death wish. I have no desire to keep you from your fondest desires, Tighe.”

      That didn’t sound right. She was his fondest desire. “I don’t have a death wish.”

      “Don’t you?” She leveled him with brown eyes that held not a care in them. “First Firefreak. Now sleeping in the open, when you know that the ranch has been under siege for forever. For longer than either you or I have even been here.”

      Aw, she was fretting about him, the cute little thing. He reached over and gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

      She batted away his hand. His brows rose. “Regretting last night?”

      She turned to him, her forehead pinched in a frown. “Regretting what?”

      He hardly knew what to say, since this darling angel seemed to have suddenly sprouted a ten-inch layer of cactus needles around herself. “You and me.”

      “Hardly,” she shot back. “It didn’t mean a thing, cowboy.”

      He tried not to let his jaw fall open. “Nothing?”

      “Should it have?”

      It certainly had to him. Hell, he’d gotten on Firefreak for her! Making love to her, plus facing his greatest challenge since coming to Diablo—well, it was the greatest cocktail of adrenaline and gut-punching life he’d ever experienced. “You know me. It’s just all about getting naked,” he bragged, trying to sound like his old self, the self he’d been before they’d made love. His whole world had changed—shouldn’t hers have, too?

      “Where am I dropping you off?”

      She sounded completely unworried. Tighe comforted himself that that was because everyone knew he could take care of himself. “At the stone ring, please.”

      At that news, she did look a little alarmed. “You’ll be out in the open. I think your family assumes you’re at least taking shelter in one of the caves or overhangs.”

      “Wouldn’t do any good. Wolf will find me if he wants to, and frankly, I don’t care if he does.”

      “You’re injured, Tighe. I know you don’t like to admit to mortality, but you do recall that seven goons tied up your sister and Xav Phillips just last month?”

      Tighe had no intention of hanging out in a cave like a cowering dog, away from the stars he loved and the fresh breezes that stirred his soul. “It’s just a little groin pull, darling. No worries. However,” he said, perking up, “maybe you’d like to hang around and nurse my groi—”

      “And a hairline fracture,” River interrupted.

      “I mend best in the open. I lived in the tribe. Was deployed to some hellish places. Don’t you worry about me, beautiful.”

      “I’m not,” she snapped. “I think you’re an idiot.”

      Well, that wasn’t how a man wanted the angel of his dreams to view him. “Harsh.”

      “Honest.”

      She pulled up to the stone ring. Large rocks, one set for each of the seven Chacon Callahans, encircled a small glowing fire. His grandfather, Chief Running Bear, tended the blaze. The chief said this place was their home now, while they protected Callahan land, and the mystical black Diablos, the spirit horses that lived in the canyons. They were the true wealth of Rancho Diablo.

      “Home sweet home,” Tighe said.

      “Then get out,” River said, “if this is where you want to be.”

      He turned to look at her. “Gorgeous, I’m pretty sure I showed you a good time in bed. Is there a reason you’re all prickly suddenly?”

      She met his gaze. “I told you. I’m pretty sure you’re the loose cannon I always believed you were.”

      He winced internally. This was true. But it wasn’t necessary to rub in the fact that he’d clearly failed to change her mind. “All right, sweet face. Try not to miss me too much,” he said, getting out of the jeep and managing his crutches a bit more slowly and painfully than his jaunty tone implied.

      “I won’t miss you at all.” She wheeled the jeep around and drove away, apparently not even curious as to where he planned to lay his bedroll.

      “Guess that means we won’t be sharing the old pillow tonight. It’s a shame, because I’m pretty sure you’re kidding yourself, my hottie bodyguard.” He hobbled around, trying to find a place to settle, not altogether surprised when his grandfather appeared.

      “Howdy, Chief.” Tighe tossed his bedroll down. “Haven’t seen you since Dante’s wedding.”

      “I’ve seen you.” Running Bear picked up the bedroll. “Come.”

      Tighe followed as fast as his crutches would allow. “Where are we headed?”

      The chief disappeared behind some thick cacti. A threadlike stream encircled a wide stone dugout tucked back and hidden so well that Tighe would never have seen it even if he’d been looking for it. He had a feeling his brothers and Ash had no idea about Running Bear’s lair. Well, Ashlyn might; she seemed to know more than most. But he thought Galen, Jace, Falcon, his pinheaded twin, Dante, and Sloan were just as in the dark as he was. “Nice digs, Grandfather.”

      Running Bear