“So?” she pressed.
“My laziness is probably a good place to start.” His dark blue eyes twinkled. “I’d like to hire you in the spirit of laziness.”
She shook her head. “I can already tell I should refuse.”
“You haven’t even heard what I want to hire you for,” Sam said. “There’s no conflict, I swear.”
“There’s a conflict anytime a Callahan is involved.” Seton sat up. “I wouldn’t be comfortable working for you, considering my relationship to the Jenkinses.”
“An unfortunate relationship, considering that Bode is a slimy dog,” Sam said. “But I can overlook some of your flaws.”
Seton stared at him. “I don’t want to work for you.”
He waved a hand, dismissing her objection. “At least hear me out. You might like what I’m offering you.”
“I doubt it.” She sighed, then leaned back. “But go on. Five minutes.”
“Back to not knowing who I am,” Sam continued. “I think it’s important for children to know these things.”
“You want me to look up information on your parents?” Seton asked. “Won’t your aunt Fiona tell you everything you want to know? She was your guardian since you and your brothers were very young, right?”
Sam shook his head. “I’m not so worried about me at the moment,” he said. “I’ll figure myself out one day.”
“Okay,” Seton said. “What do you want me to do then?”
Sam’s expression turned serious, which made him look even more handsome, if possible. It was annoying. “I’d like to hire you to be my wife,” he stated. “Although not in the traditional sense.”
Seton held back a gasp. “I’m sorry. Not that I expected anything about this conversation to be normal or usual—”
“I’m sure you’re aware,” Sam interrupted—just like a Callahan, “that my aunt has the ranch divided among the six of us. We get our portions when we marry.”
“Yes, I’ve heard of Fiona’s wild plan to put enough wives and babies on Rancho Diablo to keep it from being taken over.” Seton frowned. “It’s unorthodox.”
“Maybe,” Sam said, “but it’s working.”
She looked at him. “The only thing that’s kept the ranch in your family is your legal expertise.” Seton reconsidered her words. “Some call it your legal maneuvers. I’ve even heard it referenced as shystering and sleight of hand.”
“That Bode,” Sam said, shaking his head. “He’s such a die-hard fan of mine.”
“Anyway,” she said, “was that your proposal? Because I have no intention of being involved in one of the famous Callahan plots.” She glanced at her watch. “My next appointment should be here any moment.”
“We’ll worry about that when your victim arrives,” Sam said. “I’m offering you the chance to marry into one of the greatest families around. We’re all really nice, contrary to what you hear from ol’ Toady Stinkens. But here’s the catch, which may be a problem for you. You won’t have a shot at becoming a mother, which is probably important at your age.” He winked at her. “I don’t want children. I don’t even want the ranch, honestly. I could make that confession to my family, but they wouldn’t believe it, nor accept it, anyway.” Sam shrugged. “I’ve spent years fighting for it, because they asked me to. At one time I even let my brothers talk me into being the fall guy for ownership of the ranch, which I would have then turned over to them. I would have been a puppet owner,” Sam said, sounding pretty happy about being the figurehead winner of Fiona’s race-to-marriage-and-munchkins.
After a deep breath, he continued. “But control isn’t my thing. I’d rather slide away from the responsibility, if you know what I mean. A wife like you would make everyone think I was falling in with the plan. Except I wouldn’t be.” His eyes glinted mischievously. “After a while, when the lawsuit is settled and my brothers are in full lockdown mode at the ranch, you and I will quietly divorce. I plan to take off to Alaska and do some fly-fishing. Then again, I’ve got a yen to see the Amazon rain forest. There’s so much I want to do,” Sam said, his voice thoughtful, “and none of it involves a wife, and definitely not children. As I say, that may be a problem for you, since your biological clock is probably set on high alert.”
Seton debated taking off her black patent high heeled pump and stabbing the crazy cowboy with it, deciding it wasn’t worth ruining the only pair of pretty shoes she had. “I’ll pass. And I think the shameful way you refer to Mr. Jenkins hardly speaks well of your maturity. Toady Stinkens, indeed.”
Sam laughed, clearly amused. “Think about it,” he said, rising. He grinned and put his hat on. “Of course, we would draw up a contract negotiating the assets you’d receive from such a transaction. Our marriage would be, after all, merely a business agreement.”
Seton stared at him, astounded. All the other Callahan brothers had romanced their women like princes of yore. They’d practically thrown themselves at their lady of choice, not content until they’d won her over with great fanfare and a wedding at Rancho Diablo. The brides had all worn the infamous and stunning magic wedding dress, and the wives still glowed, as if marriage to a Callahan was the best thing next to breathing air and drinking water.
“Are you insane? Certifiably insane?” she demanded, reconsidering using her high heel to deliver his just deserts.
“No,” Sam said, “just lazy, like I said.” He grinned the famous Callahan smile that made ladies swoon. “Think about it, Nancy Drew. Let me know if you change your mind.”
“I won’t,” Seton said. “You can bet your boots on that, Counselor.”
“It’s a good offer. Probably the best one you’ll ever get.” He winked again.
“Like the offer you made Mr. Jenkins recently? That if he dropped the lawsuit you wouldn’t sue him for his land and every last dime he had?”
“Aw,” Sam said, walking to the door, “I was trying to go easy on the old dog. I’d considered bringing up charges for bribery, misuse of taxpayer funds, et cetera, et cetera. There were about twenty charges I could have brought, none of them frivolous, and some with certain jail time attached. But at the end of the day, I decided to give the old fart a break.” Sam tipped his hat to her. “I have a kind and generous soul.”
He walked out, whistling as he went down the hall. Seton moved to the window, watching him amble across the street to Banger’s Bait and Tackle. Several bachelor-ettes accosted him, and Sam put his arm around them all. They moved as a group into the restaurant, like an amoeba that grew as it moved.
“The most annoying man on the planet,” Seton muttered. She locked her office door—there was no appointment, of course; she didn’t have any scheduled for the entire week—and took an aspirin. Then she sank into her wooden chair, looked around her bare office and wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake returning to Diablo to see if there was anything between Sam and her.
“Take off to Alaska,” Seton said, disgusted, and closed her eyes. “More like slither off.”
If that was the famous Callahan idea of romance, she wanted no part of it.
“YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND the Callahans,” Corinne Abernathy said two hours later, when Seton had sufficiently gotten over her desire to go after Sam and tell him what he could do with his stupid “proposal.” “Sam especially is an unusual case, because he came last. Youngest children are always different. He didn’t mean to offend you, Seton. In his mind, and with a man’s limited scope, he was being efficient.”
Seton sat ramrod-straight on her aunt’s flowered sofa and tried not to get steamed all over again. “He’s a male chauvinist,