Colters' Lady (Colters' Legacy #2)(21)

“She’s homeless.”

Ryan’s face darkened. “What?”

“She’s homeless. Seth served her in the soup kitchen where he volunteers. He about lost his mind over the idea of her being on the streets. Took her home with him and then I showed up the next morning. She disappeared. We went looking for her, and she took a bullet in some drug dealer war downtown.”

“Well, hell,” Ryan muttered. “So you two don’t know anything about this woman.”

“About as much as you knew about Mom when you pulled her out of the snow,” Michael said pointedly.

Ryan held up his hands. “Point taken. I just think you should be careful.”

“That’s all well and fine to say, but I’m already all rolled up in this thing, Dad. It’s crazy, but from the moment I looked at her, I recognized her. She’s mine. I can’t walk away.”

“Not crazy,” Ryan said. “I know exactly where you’re coming from.”

“I just hope to hell I know where I’m going,” Michael muttered.

Seth poked his head into the small office to see Callie with her head bent over a stack of papers.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Her head whipped up and joy lightened the deep shadows under her eyes.

“Seth!”

She leaped up and hurled herself across the room at him. He caught her and staggered back, laughing at her exuberance.

“What are you doing here? Are you okay? How is your shoulder?”

“Whoa, one question at a time. And I’ll do the asking, missy.”

She frowned and stepped back. “Who ratted me out?”

“Take your pick,” Seth said. “They’re all worried about you, Callie. What’s going on? And what’s with you coming through Denver without stopping by? I didn’t even know you were home until one of the dads told me.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her long, dark brown hair. “I’m fine. Really.”

Seth pinned her with his stare.

“Seth, don’t. Okay?”

“Don’t lie to me, Callie. Not me. I know you better than that.”

Pain flashed across her eyes, and panic snaked down his spine.

“What happened to you, baby?”

Tears glistened for the briefest of moments before she blinked, and the vulnerability was gone, replaced by a hard shell.

“I’ll be all right. I just needed…I just needed to be home.”

“I understand that, and I’m glad you’re here. You know you can talk to me about anything.”

She smiled. “I know. What about you? Are you home for a while?”

It was then he remembered Lily, sitting at the bar by herself. He glanced at his baby sister, and whatever she saw in his expression, she latched on with both hands.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

“You hold out on me and then expect me to spill my guts?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m down, Seth. Not out. I need to get over it before I can talk about it. Now what about you?”

He sighed, knowing Callie would find out in a few minutes anyway. Better to prepare her now.

“I’ve met someone,” he began. “Her name is Lily.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Mom will be over the moon. I can practically hear her breathing the word grandchild.”

“Yeah, well there’s a slight problem.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Michael met her too.”

For a moment her eyes were blank and then understanding flashed and her mouth rounded in surprise.

“Oh shit,” she breathed.

Chapter Ten

Lily shifted on her stool and leaned forward on the bar, keeping the arm in the sling pointed away. It actually bothered her more today than it had right after she’d gotten shot. She should have asked for more ibuprofen before she and Seth had left Michael’s cabin, but she’d been too nervous—and curious—about where he was taking her.

She’d picked up enough of Seth and Michael’s conversation to know that Callie was their sister, that she’d recently returned from Europe and that the entire family was worried about her.

Michael and Seth were probably the best big brothers on the planet. Everything she’d seen of them only cemented her opinion that they were generous to a fault and extremely caring.

The door to the pub swung open, and she yanked her gaze in that direction, surprised when a tall, muscular man with tattooed arms, a backward baseball cap and an earring dangling from his ear sauntered inside.

She didn’t know whether to be frightened or fascinated, but he hadn’t seen her yet, so she shrank against the counter, content to watch him from a distance.

He was a big man. Lean-hipped but broad at the shoulders. His tight T-shirt showed off a solid wall of muscle for his chest and the short sleeves cut into his bulging arms.

Intricate tattoos snaked down both arms and wrapped around his wrists. Other than the earring, he wore no jewelry or adornment, and his hair, which she might have expected to be long, was barely visible beneath his cap.

He was…delicious. That was the word that popped into her head before she could ponder the absurdity of the observation. Delicious and fascinating with vivid pale green eyes surrounded by lashes that would make a grown woman weep with envy.