James Bravo's Shotgun Bride

James remembered standing on the porch of his nearly finished new house ten miles outside his hometown of Justice Creek, Colorado. It was a cool and sunny March afternoon. He’d been gazing off toward the big weathered barn at Red Hill, hoping that Addie would soon ride by on one of those horses she boarded and trained.

The crazy old coot must have come up on him from behind.

Cautiously, James inquired, “Er, Mr. Kenwright?”

“No need for formalities, son,” Levi replied downright pleasantly as he continued to point the shotgun at James. “We’re gonna be family. I want you to call me Levi.”

Had the old man just said they were going to be...family? James’s head hurt too much for him to even try to get a handle on that one. “Levi it is, then.”

A wry little chortle escaped the wild-haired old man. “That’s better.”

Better? Better would be if Levi put down the gun and untied him immediately. But James didn’t say that. For the time being, he would say nothing that might rile his captor. A riled Levi could suddenly decide to fire that shotgun. That would be good and bad. Good, because James would no longer have a headache. Bad, because he wouldn’t have a head, either.

“Levi, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“You go right ahead, son.”

“Why am I tied to a chair in the basement of your house?”

Another chortle. And then, very slowly, Levi lowered the shotgun. James drew a cautious breath of relief as Levi replied, “Good question. And one I am sure you will know the answer to if you just give it a little more thought.”

James closed his eyes. He thought. But thinking gave him nothing, except to make his head pound harder. “Sorry, but I honestly have no idea why you’re doing this to me.”

“Well, then.” Levi backed three steps, sank into the battered leather easy chair behind him and laid the shotgun across his knees. “Allow me to explain.”

“Wonderful. Thank you.”

“Think nothin’ of it—I know you know my granddaughter Addison.”

“Of course I know Addie.” Was she somehow involved in this? Why? He’d done nothing to cause her to make her grandfather hit him on the head, drag him to Red Hill and tie him to a chair.

Had he?

“Means everything to me, that girl,” Levi said. “She and her big sister, Carmen, are what I got that matters in this world—well, them and my great-grandkids, Tammy and Ian, and their dad, Devin. A fine lad, Devin. Like you, he needed a little convincing. But once he understood the situation, he stepped right up. Same as you’re gonna do—and where was I?”

“Uh, Addie and the rest of your family mean everything to you?”

“Right. Family, son. Family is everything. So you can imagine my concern when I recently discovered that Addie’s in the family way.” Addie pregnant? Could that be true? Levi went right on. “Naturally, I want my new great-grandbaby to have two parents. That’s the old-fashioned way, which is to say, it is God’s way. And that means it’s the best way. And of course, I know very well that you are my new great-grandbaby’s daddy. So I’m just helping things along a little here, just nudging you down the path known as doing the right thing.”

James cleared his throat. Carefully. “Hold on a minute...”

“Yeah?”

James had a strong suspicion that there was a lump on the back of his head where Levi had hit him. The lump throbbed. It felt like a big lump, a lump that was growing bigger as he tried to make sense of what Addie’s crazy grandpa said to him. “Did you just say that Addie’s having my baby?”

Holding the shotgun between his two gnarled fists, looking weary as a traveler at the end of a very long road, Levi rose to his feet again. “Your baby needs a daddy, son. And my Addie needs a husband.” He raised the gun and aimed the damn thing at James’s aching head once more. “So tell me, is the path becoming clearer now?”

James had never had sex with Addie. Never kissed her, never done more than brush a touch against her hand. True, he would very much have liked to do any number of things to Addie. But he hadn’t. So if Addie had a little one on the way, he wasn’t the man responsible.

And that he wasn’t really pissed him off.

But James’s jealousy of some mystery man who got a whole lot luckier than he ever had was not the issue here.

The issue was that Levi had kidnapped the wrong guy.

Not that James had any intention of setting the old codger straight. Not at the moment, anyway. James had more sense than to argue with a man who’d already coldcocked him, abducted him and tied him to a chair.

Yeah. Levi meant business, all right. And it was looking more and more likely that the old guy had a screw loose. James was a lawyer by profession. He’d dealt with more than one screwball client in his career. Arguing with a nutcase had never gotten him anywhere.

So instead of insisting he’d never laid a hand on Addie, James announced with all the sincerity he could muster, “Levi, the right thing is exactly what I want to do.”

“Glad to hear it, son.”

“Great, then. If you’ll just untie—”

“Not. Quite. Yet.” Levi shook his head, but at least he lowered the gun again.

Keeping it cool, James breathed slowly and carefully. “All righty, Levi. When, exactly, do you plan to untie me?”

“Soon as I’m absolutely certain you’re not gonna pull any tricks on me. Soon as I know I can count on you to...” Levi’s sentence died unfinished as a door slammed shut upstairs. The old man gasped. His rheumy eyes widened as footsteps echoed from above.

Addie. James’s heart leaped as his head pounded harder. Had to be Addie.

And it was. “PawPaw!” she hollered, the sound far away, muffled, not coming from whatever room was directly overhead. “Where are you?”

James and Levi both stared at the ceiling, tracking the path of her quick, firm footsteps on the floor above as those footsteps came closer.

And closer...

They passed right overhead.

The basement door squeaked as it opened. James couldn’t see that door, not from where he was tied in the middle of the basement floor. But he heard Addie crystal clear now as she called down the stairs, “PawPaw?”

“Don’t you come down here!” Levi glared at James and waved the shotgun threateningly for silence. “I’ll be up in a minute!”

The door only creaked wider, followed by more creaking: footsteps on the stairs. A pair of tan boots appeared, descending, bringing with them shapely legs in a snug pair of faded jeans. “What are you up to down here?” The curvy top half of Addie came into view, including those beautiful breasts of hers in a tight T-shirt and all that softly curling ginger hair. About then, she turned and caught sight of James. Big golden-brown eyes went wide in surprise. “What the...?” She stumbled. A frantic screech escaped her as her booted feet flew out. She windmilled her arms.

“Addie!” James and Levi shouted their useless warnings simultaneously.

But then, with another cry, she grabbed the iron stair rail and righted herself just in time to keep from tumbling the rest of the way to the concrete floor.

“Get hold of yourself, girl,” old Levi grumbled as she made it down the last step and sagged against the railing. “A woman in your condition has got to be careful.”

Those baby-doll lips of hers flattened in a scowl and two bright spots of color flared high on her round cheeks as she put a hand to her stomach and tried to catch her breath. “PawPaw, you’re scaring me to death. Put down that gun and untie James immediately.”

Levi lowered the gun, but he didn’t put it down. “Now, Addie honey.” His tone had turned coaxing. “I can’t untie him right yet. First, James and I need to come to a clear understanding.”

“An understanding of what?” Addie drew herself up, stuck out her pretty, round chin and glared daggers at Levi, who stared back at her sheepishly but didn’t answer. He must have known she would figure it out—and she did. Her eyes went wide again as she put it together. “Have you lost your mind? I told you. James is not the guy.”