Settle Down, Cowboy!
Marriage isnât in Dante Callahanâs short-term plans. But Ana St. John is! After the gorgeous nanny bodyguardâand woman of his fantasiesâturns the tables and seduces him, Dante is suddenly corralling his inner wild man. Now Ana is having his babyâ¦and refusing to say âI do!â
Thereâs no denying Anaâs powerful feelings for Dante. But is the footloose rancherâand the hottest cowboy in New Mexicoâready to hang up his spurs for married life? According to the legend of the magic wedding dress, heâs not.
Danteâs not one to fool with family lore. But heâs got to provide a major Cinderella moment to win over his prospective bride. He may be crazy for pulling out all the stops to get Ana to marry himâbut thatâs part of the fun of being a Callahan!
âYou like me.â
He pulled her to him. Dante didnât allow himself to consider defeatâhe knew Ana was crazy about him. No woman made love to a man the way Ana did with him and honestly believed she wasnât in love with him.
No. Not just in love. She was crazy for him, just as much as he was for her.
It was the baby thing bugging herâhe knew it had to be.
âMarry me.â
He surprised both of them by saying it. But he felt great the moment he said it. Anaâs eyes widened, and he thought, bingo, that was the right thing to say.
But then she shook her head, sending his world into dust. âI canât, Dante. You donât understand. Iâ It wouldnât work. Weâre not right for each other.â
âYouâre exactly right for me.â
Dear Reader,
In this eleventh book of the Callahan saga, we learn a lot about true love in the face of adventureâwhich is just what we want from our heroes and heroines! Summer is a wonderful time to dream about brave men and women fighting to do whatâs right, even if doing whatâs right isnât easy.
Dante Callahan, the first of the Chacon Callahan twins to suffer what he believes is unrequited love with the beautiful nanny bodyguard Ana St. John, sets out to prove himself on the bull-riding circuit. But he finds his place is back with the familyâ¦yet danger lurks. Dante never imagines that the way heâll finally get the bodyguard of his dreams in his arms is by allowing her to protect himâa difficult thing for a tough guy to accept! Ana St. John isnât about to give up on her man, however; sheâs been waiting a long while to find out if the rangy cowboy is the man of her dreams. According to the magic wedding dress, maybe heâs notâ¦if the Callahan legend is to be believed.
Yet we know thereâs always a happy ending at Rancho Diablo! And I hope youâll join me and the Callahans on this next book in the journey of the Callahan family toward happiness and true love.
Best wishes always,
Tina Leonard
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tina Leonard is a USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of more than fifty projects, including several popular miniseries for Harlequin American Romance. Known for bad-boy heroes and smart, adventurous heroines, her books have made the USA TODAY, Waldenbooks, Ingram and Nielsen BookScan bestseller lists. Born on a military base, Tina lived in many states before eventually marrying the boy who did her crayon printing for her in the first grade. You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Many thanks to the wonderful readers
who have taken the Callahans into their hearts
Chapter One
âIf someoneâs looking for a fight with a Callahan, heâll sure find one.â
âBode Jenkins, neighboring ranch owner to a
reporter asking questions about the Callahan legend
Dante Callahan stared at the enormous spotted bull pawing the ground and tossing its huge horns before climbing over the chute with a sense of impending doom. For his ride heâd drawn Firefreak, a bounty bull, and heâd started to wonder why heâd let his twin, Tighe, talk him into this. Dante had been working at the rodeo, practicing being a barrel man, doing a little mutton busting setup for the kiddies on the side, simply trying to keep Tighe out of troubleâthough his twin seemed hell-bent on finding said trouble. Today his sole goal was to survive Firefreak, legendary badass rank bull. The last cowboy whoâd ridden himâtried to ride himâhad ended up in the hospital with broken bones.
All of this was to avoid Dante mooning over Ana St. John, the hot babe bodyguard who worked at Rancho Diablo.
Ana, whoâd never glanced his way except by accident.
Dante got on the bull, settled himself with a choke hold on the rope, mashed his hat down on his head. Cowboys yelled encouragement, instructions, some various bits of garbled wisdom and maybe a prayer or two. He took a deep breath, noddedâand the chute burst open.