Cowboy Sam's Quadruplets

She looked at him again. “One can’t really call that a proposal, Sam. It was all about business. Your business. The only thing you forgot was something for the other party. Negotiations tend to be short-lived when one party wants something and the other wants nothing.”

“I mentioned there would be financial compensation, Seton,” Sam said.

“Which sounds unethical.”

“Oh,” he said. “I see where you’re coming from.”

“I doubt it.” Her tone was cool as she returned her gaze to the computer screen. “But in the spirit of friendship, and I suppose we’ll have to have some kind of friendship since we’re both living in Diablo, I did a little searching for you.”

“I don’t need you to search out a wife for me,” Sam said, feeling crusty. “I’m not going to make my offer to just any woman. Thanks.”

“About your parents,” Seton said, shooting him a glare. “Forget about the marriage bit—that horse isn’t going to run. Let’s focus on the real problem you have, which is that you said you didn’t know who you are.”

He raised a hand. “I’m not in a hurry to find out.”

“It seemed like that was your big hang-up when you were in here the other day. Your real reason for wanting a wife. An anchor, if you will.”

Sam shrugged. “Wrong theory, Miss Marple. Anyway, you’re going out of order. I came here to talk about marriage. Not myself.”

“I’m not accepting your proposal.”

Well, wasn’t she just the most stubborn little thing? It was almost cute. There was something between them, even if she didn’t care to notice it. Sam supposed a woman didn’t decide to become a detective without some good ol’ ornery in her makeup. Seton was so no-nonsense she probably scared most men.

Sam liked a challenge, and the more pretzel-like the chase, the better. He figured he’d be a pretty poor lawyer if he didn’t crave a good knuckle-cracking challenge. He leaned his chin on his fingertips and tried to think where he was going wrong here. It was really important that Seton say yes. Marriage would solve everything for him. He wouldn’t be the last one on the range. What man wanted to cross the finish line last? He sure as hell didn’t. Jonas would be much better at being the family wallflower. Frankly, things were awkward now at family gatherings. There were all his brothers, their wives, their children—and him and Jonas. Like a date, or an old pair of doting uncles who couldn’t measure up to what a woman needed in life. He hated being Sam the Single Callahan.

Besides, he had a yen for Seton.

He sighed. “So what did you find, Snoopy?”

“Snoopy?”

“Did I ask you to snoop around in my life? I asked you to marry me, not go on a hunt for clues.” Sam couldn’t help the grieved tone in his voice. “I guess that would come with the territory, though.”

“What territory?” Seton shot him an annoyed glance of her own.

“Marrying a private investigator. You’d always be digging around, looking for stuff. Frankly, I don’t have that many fossils to unearth.” He spread his hands wide. “I’m a pretty simple guy, actually. I just want a companion. I want to get married so Fiona won’t fix me up.”

“She’s in Ireland.”

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking that matters,” Sam said darkly. “Fiona would send over a mail-order bride if she could find one who could finesse me to the altar.”

“Maybe she should,” Seton said sweetly. “Since all you want is a name on a piece of paper.”

He looked at her. “All right. I get that you’re not impressed. But what would you do in my place? Just think about it for a moment.”

Seton shook her head. “Maybe this will help you. There are no records of your parents in Diablo. Not their births, obviously. But there are no records of their deaths.”

“Did I ask?” Sam snapped.

She narrowed her gaze on him. “If you don’t want to know what I found, I certainly won’t reveal it, Sam.”

“I’m not paying for it.” He leaned back again, noting that his gut was all churned up.

She shrugged. “I didn’t ask you for anything.”

This was true. He chafed at the reminder that only he seemed to want something. He admired her independence, even while it annoyed him. “I don’t appreciate you being nosy,” he said.

She turned off her computer. “I apologize.”

“You were trying to help me find myself,” Sam said, “but see, I don’t want to be found.”

She looked at him. Confronted with knowing that his past was a very empty one made him irritable. If there were no death records in this county, then his parents had died somewhere else. Fiona had never been clear on that. They’d always known they should have asked her, but Sam more than anyone didn’t want to know. Because once he asked, he was going to find out that his parents weren’t the same as his brothers’. There was no other reason for Jonas to remember that Sam had come “later”—after their parents had died.

He stood. “You’re right. We wouldn’t suit. I’m looking for a simplifier in my life. You wouldn’t be simple.”

She blinked. “Sam, I apologize for offending you. I just searched public records. It wasn’t like it took me more than five minutes to look through records that are open to anyone—”

He shoved his hat on his head. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Thanks, though.”

He departed, and Seton thought she’d never seen Sam move so quickly. She sighed. It was going to be awkward now every time they ran into each other in town. He hadn’t wanted to know anything about his life—had run from learning anything at all.

How did a woman accept a man’s offer when he claimed he didn’t know who he was?

Seton turned back to the case she’d accepted yesterday, involving a woman who thought her sister was siphoning off her funds by using her identity. Identity theft wasn’t as interesting as missing persons work, but Sam didn’t want to be found, and this job paid, so Seton sent Sam out of her mind.

She had to stop thinking about how very much she’d actually considered saying yes to his outrageous proposal.

“MAYBE AUNT CORINNE HAD a point,” Sabrina said when Seton called her that night. “Maybe you should have played it out awhile, at least until you’d figured out what he really wanted. The Callahans are crazy, but they’re crazy like foxes. There’s a method to their madness. And I think Sam wasn’t being honest with you or himself about his true motivation.”

Seton shifted on her hard wooden chair in her office. “He’ll have to find someone else to fill the check box on his life list.”

“Maybe that’s not all Sam wants.”

“It’s all he thinks he wants,” Seton pointed out.

Sabrina laughed. “I don’t remember any of the Callahan brothers going down easily.”

“We have nothing in common,” Seton assured her older sister, “and I don’t want a second failed marriage.” She idly rearranged the pencils and pens in her desk. “What would you do if Jonas came to you with the same proposition?”

“Why do you bring up Jonas?”

Seton heard the sudden tension in her sister’s voice. “Sam seems to think Jonas is calling you for a reason.”

“Probably. The Callahans do very little without a reason. It’s usually nothing that reveals itself to a serene mind, though. And I aim for serenity, as you know. So I don’t think about why he calls. I just chat with him for a minute or two until he gets it out of his system, and then I make an excuse to get off the phone.”

Seton wrinkled her nose. “Still, what would you do if Jonas offered you what Sam offered me?”

There was silence for a few moments. “Well,” Sabrina said, “since I’m pregnant, I’d very likely say yes.”