was one of Diablo’s “best” girls. She had a reputation for being wild at heart. Untamable. Men threw their hearts at her feet.
She walked on those hearts with a sweet-natured smile, and guys ate it up with a spoon.
Falcon Chacon Callahan studied the well-built brunette in Banger’s Bait and Tackle. He’d talked the owner of the diner, Jillian, into selling him one last beer, even though the diner usually closed at the stroke of midnight on weekends. It was his Saturday night and he hadn’t wanted to do anything but relax and consider what he was going to do with his life once his job at Rancho Diablo was over.
Taylor was a more immediate interest. She smiled that cute pixie smile at him, and Falcon sipped his beer, deciding on a whim—some might call it a hunch—to toss his heart into the Taylor-tizzy. Intuition had been known to save his life on several occasions, so Falcon believed in living by his spontaneous side. “I need a wife,” he said, and she grinned.
“So I hear. So we all hear.” She came and sat on the bar stool next to him. “You’ll get it figured out eventually, Falcon.”
Taylor worked hard to support herself and to help out her sick mother. There was no Pop Waters anymore, just mother and daughter trying to manage things on their own. Falcon understood how tough it was to be without a parent. “Marry me, Taylor.”
“I’ve only served you three beers and a plate of fajitas. I know you’re not drunk enough to propose, Falcon. You’re just crazy, as everyone in Diablo already knows.” She smiled so adorably all the sting fled her words. In fact, she was so cute that Falcon felt his chest expand with admiration.
“I leave crazy to my brothers. My sister is the nutty one. Me, I’m somewhere on the other side of the spectrum.” He leaned over and kissed Taylor lightly on the lips, not caring anymore that he had spent much of his life avoiding the marriage trap. To win the land north of Rancho Diablo, across the deep, winding canyons, he had to have a wife and family. Taylor would do just fine. She packed a generous fanny, and he thought that boded well for childbearing. She also had a nice rack, and that boded well for him.
He grinned. “What’s your answer, cupcake?”
“You’re not serious.” Taylor shook her head. “I’ve known you for over a year. Of all the Callahans, you’re the one the town’s got odds on being last to the altar.” She got up, sashaying to the register. His eyes followed her movements hungrily. “A girl would be a fool to fall for you, Falcon Callahan.”
That did not sound like a yes.
“Aren’t women supposed to be happy to do all that wedding stuff? Trust me, my offer’s good as solid gold.”
She laughed. “Jillian, Falcon wants to marry me.”
Jillian barely glanced up. “Don’t do it, honey,” she said. “No need for you to marry down.”
“Wait a minute,” Falcon said, sitting up straighter. “Marrying down is just as honorable as marrying up. Don’t tell her to pass on a rascal on principle, Mrs. Banger.” He looked at Taylor. “Good advice isn’t something you want to take every time, sugar.”
“Oh, goodness.” Jillian finally gave up on the receipts she’d been studying. “Falcon, why in the world would Taylor want a wild man like you?”
He smiled. “I didn’t say it was a good deal for her. It would be a good deal for me.”
“That’s not the way marriage works.” Taylor lightly tossed a dish towel at him as he got up from the bar stool. “It’s supposed to be good for both parties.”
“Some things would be very good. You would not lack for the things ladies really like.” He noted Taylor’s blush with a satisfied smirk. “I could convince you to like me if you give me a chance, Taylor. Just think about it. I’m offering you a helluva good time.”
“How could I ever pass an offer like that up?”
He grinned at her freckle-sprinkled nose and sexy, full lips. “Modestly as I can say it, you shouldn’t.”
“Let me butt in,” Jillian said. “Here’s what I think, Falcon. This is August. If by Christmas you’re still interested, you can ask Taylor again—after you’ve got your act together. It’s only about three and a half months. The best things are worth waiting on.” She said it kindly, but very seriously, and Falcon knew that Taylor was taking Jillian’s words under advisement. The little brunette was studying her boss as if Jillian was some kind of oracle.
Or fairy godmother.
Interfering fairy godmothers could be a bad thing. He knew this from experience. His spry and determined aunt Fiona occasionally tried to play at good-natured manipulation of people’s lives, with mixed and sometimes disastrous results.
Falcon sighed. “I really didn’t want to have to work hard for a bride, Mrs. Banger. I wanted this to be an easy thing.”
Taylor raised a brow. “Whoever told you I was easy?”
He put up a soothing hand before female hackles rose. “I never said that. I said I wanted an easy marriage. Maybe even a quick baby. I leave that part up to you.”
“And then?” Taylor asked.
“Hell, I don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Falcon said honestly. “I guess if we could stand the sight of each other after nine months of baby-making, we’d still sit on the porch together.”
“You’re not serious.” Taylor laughed. “Why don’t you just order a bride? Or meet a woman on one of those internet sites?”
“Because,” Falcon said, considering her sweet lips and friendly face, “I might not like her the way I like you.”
“You don’t like me,” Taylor said. “You’ve been coming in here for months, and you’ve never asked me out. Never did more than sit here and eat fajitas and drink a beer or two.”
“A guy just doesn’t blurt out that he thinks a girl’s got a fine butt and a nice, uh, smile, the first time he comes into her diner. I was working up to it.”
He paid his tab, realized he hadn’t completely made his case. “So what happens in December, Mrs. Banger?”
“Oh, a lot happens before December,” Jillian said. “I’m going to fix Taylor up with every eligible man I know, and every bachelor the ladies of the Books’n’Bingo Society know, and I’m sure Taylor’s aunt, Nadine Waters, knows quite a few. And then if Taylor wants to marry you come December, then I guess I won’t be able to stop her.” She smiled. “They say nothing gets in the way of true love, Falcon.”
He put his hat on. “Yes, ma’am.” He went over and kissed her on her cheek, as he always did. “I’m going to live up to your expectations. You just wait and see.” He glanced at Taylor, who leaned up against the bar, her arms crossed, watching him. “You pick out your wedding gown. A Christmas wedding will work fine for me.”
“Good night, Falcon.”
That was all she said. It was enough. Jillian could fix Taylor up with all the men she liked, but in the end, Taylor was going to choose him.
He would see to that. Nobody had said romance and lovemaking were off the list—just no marriage proposal—and he did his best convincing in the sheets.
Those terms suited him just fine.
* * *
F ALCON ’ S BROTHERS, along with their sister, Ashlyn, were sitting in the upstairs library of Rancho Diablo when he walked in the next night. As he headed over to fix himself a whiskey before the weekly meeting, an explosion of colored confetti showered down on him. His siblings roared with laughter.
“What the heck’s going on?” Falcon demanded.
“We heard about your marriage proposal, brother dear,” Ash said. “We wanted to celebrate your effort,